Ben Anderson

Ben Anderson @benandersongeog.bsky.social · 14d

A great issue!

TIBG @tibg.bsky.social · 15d

📢New issue of TIBG📢

Transactions' September Issue features two interventions on environmental crisis & geographies of creativity, 21 papers, and two commentaries on the war in Ukraine.

22/25 pieces are #OpenAccess and available to read here⬇️

rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14755661...

A graphic showing the title page of Transactions on a read background with TIBG in large letters on the right hand page. On the left hand page are eight tiles with 2 interventions and 6 standard articles, with the names of papers in the issue.

1) 'On limit and love in times of environmental crises' by Ihnji Jon
2) 'Geographies of creativity/creative geographies' by Pat Noxolo
3) '‘My body was no longer a problem’: Electric mountain biking, disability, and the cultural politics of green exercise' by Jim Cherrington & James Brighton
4) '‘A wonderful day and a wonderful crossing!’: Internment (im)mobilities, ambivalence, and the residual tourist gaze in Second World War Britain' by Michael Holden & Peter Adey
5) '‘Smartness’ narratives: A critical discourse analysis of smart eldercare in urban China' by Yi Yu
6) 'Critique beyond relation: The stakes of working with the negative, the void and the abyss' by David Chandler & Jonathan Pugh
7) 'Poetics in the work of three urban photographers: Love for the chaotic city from the site of urban rooftops' by Paulina Nordstrom
8) 'Places as refrains: A non-constructive alternative to assemblage thinking' by Peter Merriman

A graphic showing the title page of Transactions on a read background with TIBG in large letters on the right hand page. On the left hand page are nine tiles with standard articles, with the names of papers in the issue.

1) Climate change, bodies and diplomacy: Performing watery futures in Tuvalu
Liam Saddington
2) Digital animal deathscapes: The online circulation of animals killed for conservation
Alexandra Palmer
3) The medium is the message: The geographies of cryptocurrency remittances to Venezuela
Daniel Robins
4) ‘One school, two systems’: Navigating the geographies of alternative education in an elite primary school in China
Zhenjie Yuan, Huiyu Xie, Hong Zhu
5) Translating India to India: Travelling translations, Patanjali Ayurveda, and the visual language of spiritual consumerism
Raksha Pande, Alastair Bonnett
6) Urban political ecologies of sewage surveillance: Creating vital and valuable public health data from wastewater
7) Constructive (in)visibility and the trafficking industrial complex: Leveraging borders for exploitation
Audrey Lumley-Sapanski, Katarina Schwarz
8) Translations, translocations, and pluralism: A transnational and multilingual analysis of the circulation of radical geographical knowledge
Federico Ferretti
9) From biopower to affirmative biopolitics: A (bio)political ecology of becoming with wolves
Valerio Donfrancesco, Chris Sandbrook

Reposted by Ben Anderson, Katherine Brickell

TIBG @tibg.bsky.social · 15d

📢New issue of TIBG📢

Transactions' September Issue features two interventions on environmental crisis & geographies of creativity, 21 papers, and two commentaries on the war in Ukraine.

22/25 pieces are #OpenAccess and available to read here⬇️

rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14755661...

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Reposted by Ben Anderson

Mark Rhodes @cartomark.bsky.social · 15d

Just received my copy of the open access Promise of Cultural Geography edited by @vickiezhang.bsky.social & @benandersongeog.bsky.social. Happy to have contributed!! Honestly, I'm surprised it survived the post, though: they saved me the trouble of opening anything 😄!

Cover of The Promise of Cultural Geography.

Back cover of The Promise of Cultural Geography.

Targeted maintenance grants for students to be reintroduced

Ben Anderson @benandersongeog.bsky.social · 17d

This is good. But, not good for some disciplines … it’s clearly part of a broader direction of travel in HE policy - to concentrate funding to subjects that align with ‘missions’/industrial strategy (it’ll be interesting how they manage fluctuations in international fee income re the levy)

Steve Peers @stevepeers.bsky.social · 17d

UK government to reintroduce maintenance grants (rather than loans) for students from the lowest income families
www.gov.uk/government/n...

Disadvantaged students studying priority courses will benefit from extra financial support to access and excel in higher education.

www.gov.uk

Targeted maintenance grants for students to be reintroduced

by Steve Peers — Reposted by Ben Anderson

Steve Peers @stevepeers.bsky.social · 17d

UK government to reintroduce maintenance grants (rather than loans) for students from the lowest income families
www.gov.uk/government/n...

Disadvantaged students studying priority courses will benefit from extra financial support to access and excel in higher education.

www.gov.uk

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Reposted by Ben Anderson

Anna Secor @ajsecor.bsky.social · 17d

London people come discuss and celebrate with us! A launch event for The Politics of Feeling on 25th November at the October Gallery, with @will-davies.bsky.social and @jemgilbert.bsky.social. Eventbrite link below! 🥂
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-politi...

The Politics of Feeling and this Conjunctural Crisis

A workshop on the politics of feeling in this conjunctural crisis, with Anna Secor, Ben Anderson, Will Davies, Jeremy Gilbert.

The Politics of Feeling and this Conjunctural Crisis

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Reposted by Ben Anderson, Jason Dittmer

Will Davies @will-davies.bsky.social · 20d

Looking forward to discussing @benandersongeog.bsky.social & Anna Secor's brilliant new @goldsmithspress.bsky.social book, The Politics of Feeling, with the authors and @jemgilbert.bsky.social on 25th Nov - all welcome, register here www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-politi...

A workshop on the politics of feeling in this conjunctural crisis, with Anna Secor, Ben Anderson, Will Davies, Jeremy Gilbert.

The Politics of Feeling and this Conjunctural Crisis

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Reposted by Ben Anderson

Geography at Durham @geogdurham.bsky.social · 20d

Book launch workshop event with our colleagues @benandersongeog.bsky.social & @ajsecor.bsky.social entitled 'The Politics of Feeling and this Conjunctural Crisis'. The event in London, also involving Will Davies & Jeremy Gilbert, is on Tuesday November 25th:
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-politi...

A workshop on the politics of feeling in this conjunctural crisis, with Anna Secor, Ben Anderson, Will Davies, Jeremy Gilbert.

The Politics of Feeling and this Conjunctural Crisis

by Ben Anderson — Reposted by Ben Anderson

Ben Anderson @benandersongeog.bsky.social · 20d

Link here:

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-politi...

A workshop on the politics of feeling in this conjunctural crisis, with Anna Secor, Ben Anderson, Will Davies, Jeremy Gilbert.

by Ben Anderson — Reposted by Ben Anderson

Ben Anderson @benandersongeog.bsky.social · 20d

London launch event for The Politics of Feeling on 25th November at the October Gallery, with @will-davies.bsky.social and @jemgilbert.bsky.social We’ll be thinking from the book about the politics of feeling in the post General Election/US Presidential election period. Eventbrite link below

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Reposted by Ben Anderson

TIBG @tibg.bsky.social · 23d

#OA in TIBG:

'Later life mobilities at the margins of urban geography' by James Esson et al.

This paper examines how older people navigate African cities, focusing on Ghana, & contributes to reimagining how knowledge is produced with & about cities in the Majority World.

doi.org/10.1111/tran...

Screenshot of a paper abstract in Transactions by James Esson, Ebenezer F. Amankwaa, Katherine V. Gough, Peter Mensah, Katie McQuaid & Ross Wignall (2025) entitled: 'Later life mobilities at the margins of urban geography' with a red banner at the top.

The projected increase in older people within the African population, alongside rapid urbanisation, points to the growing importance of understanding how older people navigate towns and cities across the continent. This aligns with wider concerns that geographical scholarship needs to pay more sustained attention to ageing in Global South contexts. Rather than treating these developments as problems or absences, we approach them as opportunities to explore how geographies of later life can generate new ways to conceptualise the urban experience. To this end, the paper draws on the local vernacular of older residents in the Ghanaian cities of Accra and Sekondi-Takoradi to decentre, contextualise and expand the vocabulary used to depict and interpret urban mobilities. The findings reveal ‘hidden geographies of ageing’ through three forms of mobility practice: Mpanyinfo ho hia (respectful mobilities), YƐ mboa nkoa (collective mobilities) and Me te fie (retired mobilities). These insights enrich conceptual understandings of city life by showing how older people navigate, engage with and shape social hierarchies, communal support networks and economic rationalities. By amplifying the voices of a population often overlooked in epistemological and policy deliberations, this intervention supports interdisciplinary efforts to reimagine how knowledge is produced with and about cities in the Global South. Crucially, the paper challenges the Southern urban critique to better reflect the plurality of marginality that influences everyday life in the Majority World.

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Ben Anderson @benandersongeog.bsky.social · 24d

It’s disgusting, so little care or empathy for people. I’ve a lot of friends who face their lives being upended, or, at best, a period of intense uncertainty

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Ben Anderson @benandersongeog.bsky.social · 28d

Has anyone written or read something on the US right’s demonisation of ‘ANTIFA’? The demonisation and the construction of ‘ANTIFA’ as threat is now crossing over into the U.K. right (and I can’t get over the stunning dissonance of it all)

Ben Anderson @benandersongeog.bsky.social · 29d

Reading this collection of essays in appreciation of Lawrence Grossberg’s work. It’s never really been engaged with in cultural geography, apart from edges of affect work, which is a shame (and indicative of pathways not taken, one that expended the whole way of life tradition of thinking culture)

US cash turned Tommy Robinson into the poster boy of UK f...

by Ben Anderson — Reposted by Jason Dittmer

Ben Anderson @benandersongeog.bsky.social · Sep 14

Far right supported by billionaires in a new media ecology that amplifies intensity

observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Outside the Old Bailey in 2018, a reinvented Tommy Robinson flashed his perfect new teeth to 2,000 diehard supporters at a “free Tommy” rally on a stage ...

observer.co.uk

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Ministers ‘want to shift funds away from low-quality research’ - Research Professional News

Ben Anderson @benandersongeog.bsky.social · Sep 12

How many times - if an institution makes any kind of claim about ‘research led’ (or ‘informed’ or ‘based’) teaching, research is not unfunded (but, of course, really what matters is affirming research - the generation of knowledge - as a good in and for itself)

Research Professional News @resprofnews.bsky.social · Sep 12

Ministers ‘want to shift funds away from low-quality research’ .

Universities UK president says institutions cannot afford “unfunded hobbyist research”.

www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...

Universities UK president says institutions cannot afford “unfunded hobbyist research”

www.researchprofessionalnews.com

Ministers ‘want to shift funds away from low-quality research’ - Research Professional News

Research Professional News @resprofnews.bsky.social · Sep 12

Ministers ‘want to shift funds away from low-quality research’ .

Universities UK president says institutions cannot afford “unfunded hobbyist research”.

www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...

Universities UK president says institutions cannot afford “unfunded hobbyist research”

www.researchprofessionalnews.com

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Ben Anderson @benandersongeog.bsky.social · Sep 11

There’s something utterly dissonant about the online right convincing themselves they are the party/movement of peace and non-violence - whilst calling for violent elimination against ‘the left’. So much needs to be disavowed and repressed for that fantasy to hold.

Ben Anderson @benandersongeog.bsky.social · Sep 10

This decision completely passed me by, as I suspect it has many people. Some important accounts of what happened linked below - vote in elections!

Matilda Fitzmaurice @matildaf.bsky.social · Sep 8

I want to be very clear: we tried to stop this. We urged HEC to look at context and evidence, we were ignored and accused of 'betrayal'. Our full @ucucommons.bsky.social HEC report is forthcoming. If you want things to change at national level, you need to VOTE IN THE ELECTIONS.

Jo Edge 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @hagenilda.bsky.social · Sep 8

We tried. I’m sorry. The vote was very close and our pleas for common sense and taking our time to work out next steps were met with accusations of ‘betrayal’ from the usual suspects. Commons HEC report imminent.

No, I don’t enjoy this.

Dismantling Tech Fantasies (Edinburgh) - Take One Action!

Reposted by Ben Anderson, Shannon Vallor

Karen Gregory @karengregory.bsky.social · Sep 10

Dismantling Tech Fantasies (Edinburgh) | September 20th
www.takeoneaction.org.uk/event/disman...

Prompt: interrogate the false promises and hidden costs of artificial intelligence. Generate: your own conclusions.

www.takeoneaction.org.uk

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Reposted by Ben Anderson

Matilda Fitzmaurice @matildaf.bsky.social · Sep 8

I want to be very clear: we tried to stop this. We urged HEC to look at context and evidence, we were ignored and accused of 'betrayal'. Our full @ucucommons.bsky.social HEC report is forthcoming. If you want things to change at national level, you need to VOTE IN THE ELECTIONS.

Jo Edge 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @hagenilda.bsky.social · Sep 8

We tried. I’m sorry. The vote was very close and our pleas for common sense and taking our time to work out next steps were met with accusations of ‘betrayal’ from the usual suspects. Commons HEC report imminent.

No, I don’t enjoy this.

David Kernohan @dkernohan.bsky.social · Sep 8

UCU will be balloting for strike action over pay - because clearly HEC have identified a large pot of money that providers who are currently laying off vast numbers of staff and closing courses could be using to sweeten the pay offer.

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Ben Anderson @benandersongeog.bsky.social · Sep 5

Hadn’t seen that! Is there an ecosystem that isn’t?

Ben Anderson @benandersongeog.bsky.social · Sep 5

No one needs another Substack, maybe?, but thinking of setting one up to track the affective politics of the ascendant U.K. far right in real time as we hurtle towards what feels like disaster

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Vallance announces three-month pause in REF - Research Professional News

Ben Anderson @benandersongeog.bsky.social · Sep 4

This isn’t really a pause. It’s a delay in issuing guidance. It leaves anyone with responsibility for REF submissions in a place of heightened uncertainty. As someone who spent a lot of time on our last REF submission, the promise, again, of reducing administrative burden is funny

Research Professional News @resprofnews.bsky.social · Sep 4

🚨BREAKING🚨

Patrick Vallance announces three-month pause in REF.

Science minister announces hiatus but says results for next Research Excellence Framework still on track for 2029.

Free to read:
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...

Science minister announces hiatus but says results still on track for 2029

www.researchprofessionalnews.com

Ben Anderson @benandersongeog.bsky.social · Sep 4

That guy showed more courage, and moral clarity, in one interview than Starmer has. Starmer has been part of a whole political-media culture that tells them, implicitly and explicitly, that they are the righteous ones. Terrifying

Ben Anderson @benandersongeog.bsky.social · Sep 4

Basic contradiction is between a) a shift to evaluating system ‘inputs’ - ‘research culture’ etc and b) universities in crisis, people leaving, mergers, restructuring etc, which undermine the very thing this REF was due to give more weight to (which no one can agree on how should be measured anyway)