Representation- Revision

Question 1

Representation can be viewed either as a verb (action) in the form or presenting something

Answer 1

or as a noun (thing) in the form of referring to a concept or thought

Question 2

Representation is a powerful tool often

Answer 2

wielded by the priveleged to construct certain perceptions and ideas

Question 3

Universities and libraries are regions of knowledge and power

Answer 3

they are intimidating places for the power and knowledge the represent

Question 4

writing is a common form of representation

Answer 4

printing press therefore massively increased colonial control

Question 5

European Enlightenment

Answer 5

universalied european knowledges as representation was used as tool to consolidate this

Question 6

representation is influenced by geopolitics

Answer 6

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

Question 7

Media representations also play a large role

Answer 7

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

Question 8

Representations in physical geography (climate modelling) –> simplifications of the environment

Answer 8

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).

Question 9

Filming and writing –> imbued with power

Answer 9

they are not complete forms of representation as they cannot produce holistic understandings of the world (Williams, 2020).

Question 10

fictional stories

Answer 10

effective ways to understand abstract elements as they are easy to interpret

Question 11

NRT –> 1980s cultural turn (Williams, 2020) –> criticisms of cultural geography (Jacobs and Nash, 2003)

Answer 11

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)

Question 12

NRT criticsms by Cresswell

Answer 12

dance –> subjective –> is accessible –> power is not imbued

Question 13

NRT criticisms

Answer 13

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)

Question 14

Writing within academia –> filled with incorrect citations (Haussmann et al., 2013) –> calls for a peer review citation review process

Answer 14

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

Question 15

anthropocene has been presented through a variety of means

Answer 15

science fiction e.g. The Great Bay
Imagery from space highlighting the changes on the surface of the earth over time (Lekan, 2010)

Question 16

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)

Answer 16

NRT criticises maps –> takes the ability to deconstruct them and instead reinscribes binaries by producing representation|non-representation (Del Casino and Hanna, 2005)

Question 17

Map of Richmond, Virgina and Washington (Del Casino and Hanna, 2005)

Answer 17

interconnectedness of maps –> planning routes on imagined activities –> hotspots of interest –> tour operators plans –> all interact on a map

Question 18

research is conducted via writing –> polished and enhanced to convey ideas in a formal, professional way

Answer 18

the process of ‘doing’ writing is important and must be values –> writing impacts those reading as well as producing

Question 19

Moving imagery –> more-than-human research –> ‘moving’ draws together the human and nonhuman interactions (Lorimer, 2010)

Answer 19

moving images –> transcend text as everyday actions are replicated e.g. videos slowed down, sped up, replayed

Question 20

moving imagery on elephants (Lorimer, 2010)

Answer 20

elephant behaviour –> rocking –> lack of stimulation/exercise
Eric Laurier –> dog walking as a practice

Question 21

elephants and disney (Lorimer, 2010)

Answer 21

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.

Question 22

storytelling as a form of representation – used to sway behaviour in response to events e.g. climate change

Answer 22

climate/energy research –> storytelling to get people to be more environmentally friendly e.g. smart meters –> climate research needs more qualitative data

Question 23

social science –> tends to avoid storytelling as it has no theory (Moezzi et al., 2017)

Answer 23

stories have a start, middle and an end –> technically a framework –> can they therefore act as a model

Question 24

NRT focuses too greatly on performativity

Answer 24

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).

Question 25

Sonic geogrpahies –> music and the soundscape as a tool to conduct geograpphic research –> avoids verbal and textual forms of understanding (Paiva, 2018)

Answer 25

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)

Question 26

sonic geogrpahies as a nrt method still privilieges certain knowledges

Answer 26

different languages make different sounds –> English will dominate the research (Paiva, 2018).

Question 27

misrepresentations in the media

Answer 27

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).

Question 28

Dear Science -> uses storytelling and the biological innate process it provides in learning about the world

Answer 28

black stories -> drawn upon this and produce knowledges from an ethical distance (McKittrick, 2021)

Question 29

cultural geography has reevaluated criticisms of representation and acknowledged that the way things are represented can provide more societal context

Answer 29

reparative and descriptive forms of analysis have emerged to facilitate this (Anderson, 2019)

Question 30

NRT -> emerged in the late 1990s/2000s by Thrift

Answer 30

since rejected nrt but the long-term influence of questioning the role that representation plays is still present within current research (Anderson, 2019)

Question 31

‘crisis of representation’ -> 1980/90s

Answer 31

forms of representation being deconstructed and analysed (Barnes and Duncan, 1991)