Post-colonial careering and the discipline of geography: British geographers in Nigeria and the UK, 1945-1990

Few geographers wrote explicitly about decolonisation. Yet the ends of empires wrought substantial changes to the discipline of geography. It impacted the places studied, the approaches deemed appropriate, the sites of geographical knowledge production, the lecturing jobs available, and the shape and extent of transnational networks. Focusing on the ‘post-colonial careering’ of British geographers who worked at the university at Ibadan, Nigeria before returning to academic posts in UK geography departments, this paper explores the interconnections between academic careers, geographical knowledge and decolonisation. It argues that that we can understand these connections in three ways. First, geographers’ careers were shaped in important ways by decolonisation; second, these experiences in turn shaped the discipline of geography in the (post)colonial world and the UK; and third, geographers’ work at colonial universities and in Britain was not only influenced by, but was itself part of the process of decolonisation. The article contributes to understandings of decolonisation as registered, and actively produced, through academic research and careers, institutional development, and transnational networks. Uncovering the (post)colonial connections which shaped British geography in the post-war period broadens understandings of disciplinary history beyond those which focus on Anglo-American networks and offers opportunities to consider the lessons of these past disciplinary patterns and practices for contemporary geography

Because the Trent Book Shop is in Nottingham

In 1972 Stuart Mills, co-founder of the Tarasque Press, made the following comment in the catalogue for the exhibition ‘Metaphor and Motif ’ held at Nottingham’s Midland Group Gallery: This exhibition, in its own way, sets the balance straight. If it is seen, if the catalogue is read widely enough then it should be clear that something surprisingly consistent has been going on in Nottingham for the past few years. This chapter is an attempt to explain some of the activities to which Mills was alluding. It is a story of an overlooked literary and artistic life in Nottingham from 1964 to 1972 which centred on the Trent Book Shop. This was a brief but significant period when avant-garde bookselling and the British Poetry Revival came to the East Midlands

Post-colonial careering and urban policy mobility: between Britain and Nigeria, 1945-1990

This paper sets out the value of the concept of ‘careering’ to understanding the global mobility of urban policy across historical and contemporary contexts. Through a case study of one colonial and post-colonial career in urban development, we demonstrate the material and ideological connections between late colonial development in Nigeria, British reconstruction, and international consultancy. Empirically, the paper provides novel post-colonial perspectives on Britain’s post-World War II reconstruction spanning the mid-to-late-twentieth century, globalizing the geographies of the British New Town. Conceptually, the paper argues that careering provides a valuable tool for progressing the study of urban expertise and its mobility in four ways. First, it provides a tool for connecting geographically distant urban development projects. Second, careering allows us to explore intersections between urban development policies and geopolitical transformations. Third, careering allows us to see the impact of ideas, skills, experiences, affiliations and contacts formed at different stages of a career on later professional practice, slowing down and lengthening out our understandings of the processes though which urban policy is made mobile. Fourth, careering as a method demonstrates the continued value of biographical approaches to urban policy mobility, highlighting in particular professional lives worked with colleagues and contacts rather than in isolation, and foregrounding the everyday embodied nature of urban expertise. The article concludes by suggesting such approaches could be productive for the writing of new post-colonial histories of geography and its allied disciplines

Civic Geographies of Architectural Enthusiasm

Our decision to take part in the civic geographies exhibition was motivated by a desire to explore some of the resonances between notions of what civic geographies might look like in theory, but also in practice. We based our contribution upon our British Academy funded research that focuses on how twentieth century architecture is understood, valued, cared for and protected by members of The Twentieth Century Society[1]. The group was initiated to safeguard Britain’s post-1914 architectural heritage. At the end of 2012, the Society’s membership stood just under 2000, made up of architects (retired and in practice), architecture students, builders, civil servants involved in planning, as well as other interested publics. Lobbying, campaigns and casework are central to the Society’s activities, for example in the early nineties the Society persuaded the National Trust to take on the Hampstead house of the Hungarian émigré architect Erno Goldfinger at 2 Willow Road, London, NW3 (see Figure 1). Employing two full-time and two part-time staff, the Society has a statutory role in relation to twentieth century listed buildings in England. This means that local planning authorities have to consult the Society in relation to any threats of demolition or alterations