Representation- Revision Flashcards
GT
Representation can be viewed either as a verb (action) in the form or presenting something
or as a noun (thing) in the form of referring to a concept or thought
Representation is a powerful tool often
wielded by the priveleged to construct certain perceptions and ideas
Universities and libraries are regions of knowledge and power
they are intimidating places for the power and knowledge the represent
writing is a common form of representation
printing press therefore massively increased colonial control
European Enlightenment
universalied european knowledges as representation was used as tool to consolidate this
representation is influenced by geopolitics
academic institutions dominate knowledge production –> influences who has access (GN)
maps are often swayed to produce certain perceptions e.g. NH often enlarged
capitalism –> representations that support profit focused work
Media representations also play a large role
they can perpetuate certain beliefs or ideas which are not necessarily representative e.g. Aladdin
they can also on the other hand act as a form of empowerment e.g. Black Panther and Ms Marvel
Representations in physical geography (climate modelling) –> simplifications of the environment
AGCM and COAGCM –> poor SST biases over the IO and therefore wet biases when prediction E.Africa precipitation (Hirons et al., 2018)
Convective parameterisation –> CMIP models –> simplified convective processes –> decreased model representability of short rain simulations (Wainwright et al., 2021).
Filming and writing –> imbued with power
they are not complete forms of representation as they cannot produce holistic understandings of the world (Williams, 2020).
fictional stories
effective ways to understand abstract elements as they are easy to interpret
NRT –> 1980s cultural turn (Williams, 2020) –> criticisms of cultural geography (Jacobs and Nash, 2003)
NRT criticises the use of textual and language-based representation – > world is not complete (Cresswell, 2013; Greenhough, 2013) –> their meanings are separate from pre-constructed societal structures and focus on the philosophical and spiritual elements of society as they aim to produce knowledge via relational not cartesian understandings (Cresswell, 2012)
NRT criticsms by Cresswell
dance –> subjective –> is accessible –> power is not imbued
NRT criticisms
dominated by white males (Bristol Boys) –> less women taking up the theory/feminist geographers tend to critique (Cresswell, 2012)
difficult to escape the confines of academic writing, even NRT uses it –> undermines (Cresswell, 2012)
Universalises knowledge production –> assumes actions produced are the same across bodies –> not correct (Toila-Kelly) (Lorimer, 2008)
lots of the criticisms of representation already conducted by feminist and marxist geographers (Cresswell, 2012)
it has a lack of structure and does not have clear methodologies (Cresswell, 2012)
Writing within academia –> filled with incorrect citations (Haussmann et al., 2013) –> calls for a peer review citation review process
often a result of being written too quickly, limited article access and language barriers –> correlation between more popular the paper the better referenced it is
anthropocene has been presented through a variety of means
science fiction e.g. The Great Bay
Imagery from space highlighting the changes on the surface of the earth over time (Lekan, 2010)
Maps are performative and can be deconstructed –> continually being constructed –> only way to detangle these is through deconstruction –> done through Actor Network Theory (Del Casino and Hanna, 2005)
NRT criticises maps –> takes the ability to deconstruct them and instead reinscribes binaries by producing representation|non-representation (Del Casino and Hanna, 2005)
Map of Richmond, Virgina and Washington (Del Casino and Hanna, 2005)
interconnectedness of maps –> planning routes on imagined activities –> hotspots of interest –> tour operators plans –> all interact on a map
research is conducted via writing –> polished and enhanced to convey ideas in a formal, professional way
the process of ‘doing’ writing is important and must be values –> writing impacts those reading as well as producing
Moving imagery –> more-than-human research –> ‘moving’ draws together the human and nonhuman interactions (Lorimer, 2010)
moving images –> transcend text as everyday actions are replicated e.g. videos slowed down, sped up, replayed
moving imagery on elephants (Lorimer, 2010)
elephant behaviour –> rocking –> lack of stimulation/exercise
Eric Laurier –> dog walking as a practice
elephants and disney (Lorimer, 2010)
Dumbo –> recreates human experience (rejected due to his big ears) and resembles human features to recreate their emotions.
elephants in documentaries –> sound alongside movement to evoke the audience to feel a particular way e.g. David Attenborough –> climate activism
Martyn Colbeck documentary –> encourage activism through following the daily life of elephants.
storytelling as a form of representation – used to sway behaviour in response to events e.g. climate change
climate/energy research –> storytelling to get people to be more environmentally friendly e.g. smart meters –> climate research needs more qualitative data
social science –> tends to avoid storytelling as it has no theory (Moezzi et al., 2017)
stories have a start, middle and an end –> technically a framework –> can they therefore act as a model
NRT focuses too greatly on performativity
and not enough attention is brought to embodiment e.g. dance as a way to enact everyday life (Thirft, 1997) but does not consider the deeper relational understandings (Jason and Nash, 2003).
Sonic geogrpahies –> music and the soundscape as a tool to conduct geograpphic research –> avoids verbal and textual forms of understanding (Paiva, 2018)
fits NRT as it focuses on the way the body responds to music –> affective and emotional practices e.g. cities and noise pollution as annoying (Amphoux, 2017)
sonic geogrpahies as a nrt method still privilieges certain knowledges
different languages make different sounds –> English will dominate the research (Paiva, 2018).
misrepresentations in the media
Disney –> Aladdin –> blends all non-western culture into an ‘other’ (Said, 1978; Disney+, 1992) –> viewed as inferior and lacking in cognitive ability.
geopolitical discourse –> 2018 migrant crisis with migrants being presented as exploitative and a drain on resources (Agnew, 2020) –> public opposition when they were refugees seeking asylum due to the dangers in their home country (De Genova, 2010).
Dear Science -> uses storytelling and the biological innate process it provides in learning about the world
black stories -> drawn upon this and produce knowledges from an ethical distance (McKittrick, 2021)
cultural geography has reevaluated criticisms of representation and acknowledged that the way things are represented can provide more societal context
reparative and descriptive forms of analysis have emerged to facilitate this (Anderson, 2019)
NRT -> emerged in the late 1990s/2000s by Thrift
since rejected nrt but the long-term influence of questioning the role that representation plays is still present within current research (Anderson, 2019)
‘crisis of representation’ -> 1980/90s
forms of representation being deconstructed and analysed (Barnes and Duncan, 1991)
