The People's Geography Project (www.peoplesgeography.org)
is establishing a clearinghouse of materials - lesson ideas, syllabuses,
resources, commentaries, etc. - that can help us create a useful,
public, and critical geography of the roots, effects, likely consequences,
and changed geographies resulting from this weeks terrorist attacks
in New York and Washington (including the plane crashed in Pennsylvania).
We think geographers - through their teaching and research - can
help people understand what has happened and to see alternatives
to escalating war. We think we can help people also understand the
geographically, socially, and politically uneven roots and consequences
of this attack. We also know there are a whole range of issues thatneed
to be understood - the geopolitical and destructive power of the
U.S. and SW Asia, the privatization of airport security in the US
(and its operation as a "low-bid" business), the nature of urban
and architectural symbolism, the power of the media, the transformation
of the state, the roots of terrorism, the on-going struggles of
Palestinian peoples, etc.
We know that many of you have been teaching about this week's
events in your courses and lectures, have been pulling together
resources, have written analyses, etc. We think it would be especially
useful, to geographers and to the general public, to pool our collective
knowledge and understanding, as well as to see where gaps remain.
The purpose of the clearinghouse will be to provide a resource
for teachers (at all levels), for the lay public, and for geographical
researchers.
If you have outlines of lectures or exercises, know of good web
and paper resources, have written analyses that touch on this weeks
events, their roots, or their likely consequences, please send them
to me at dmmitc01@maxwell.syr.edu
or to Rich Van Deusen at rwvandeu@maxwell.syr.edu.
We also welcome any ideas about the sorts of materials we should
be gathering, analyses that need to be made, means of teaching that
need to be explored.
We will endeavor to post materials to the People's Geography Website
(www.peoplesgeography.org)
as quickly as possible and to spread the word among teachers, interested
publics, etc. about their availability.
Over time we hope to be able to put together teaching packets,
pamphlets, and other materials, written in accessible language that
can then be distributed to any who wants them.
We look forward to hearing from you soon.
Don is the Director of the
People's Geography Project at Syracuse University.
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