In Psychogeography 101 we discuss contemporary urban exploration practices with cultural theorist and psychogeographer Tina Richardson. After tracing back to the mid-twentieth century work of the Situationist International, we outline what doing psychogeography looks like today and how it could—and should—be part of the practice of anyone seeking a better understanding of their own geographical imagination.
In EPISODE TWENTY FOUR, Countries & Capitals, we seek to increase our geographic literacy by reviewing country names (in the order of most to least populated) while locating each within its region and naming its capital city. At the same time we also critique the very same geographical imagination this limited view of geography constructs in our minds. Test your skills by following along with this map.
Maps are ubiquitous in today’s world. Our geographical imaginations are both expanded and limited by their form. But, what is a map? Roughly 25 years ago academic geographers began to seriously question their taken-for-granted history. Rogue map deconstructionist Denis Wood explores with us Google Maps, critical cartography, the geo-body, Winnie the Pooh and North Carolina.
In EPISODE TWENTY ONE, Seeing Heimat Through a Lens, we discuss the power of photography to shape and frame sentiments and ideas about place-based national and regional identities in 1930s Austria. Art historian Dr. Elizabeth Cronin of the New York Public Library guides us back to this key moment in the construction of a contemporary Austrianness rooted in tradition and the rural on the one hand, yet striving to be modern and urban on the other.
In EPISODE TWENTY, Sitting Near Borges, we look at the geographical imagination of the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges. We visit a park bench in Cambridge, Massachusetts in order to conjure up the spirit of his writings and discuss Borgesian “thought experiments” with literature scholar Bill Richardson of the National University of Ireland, Galway. Photo taken along the Rhône River in Geneva, Switzerland.
In the show’s 19th episode we test locals on their knowledge of the country of Paraguay while locating their own geographical imaginations along the way. We also invite two of the three Paraguayans living in Salzburg, the musicians Francisco González and Raúl Rolón, to share traditional Paraguayan music and discuss–in English, Spanish and Jopará–cultural geographical mixing between Paraguay and Austria.
