Minding Geography. 19th Annual Gregory Lecture with Professor Chris Philo Event

Abstract
Recently, geographers have been paying attention to the embodying of geography, which means at least two things: (i) considering how human (and even non-human) bodies dwell in, interact with and ‘sense’ their environing world; and (ii) exploring how different human bodies, ones whose appearance and comportment mark them out as ‘other’ to certain norms, may become the target of socio-spatial exclusions. Less has been said about what might be termed an equivalent en-minding of geography, albeit signposts in this direction can be found scattered throughout the history of our discipline. Reflections have occasionally been made about the character of human ‘minds’ as relevant to geographical inquiry: think of claims about homo economicus or homo psychologicus, about the role of the pre-conscious or the unconscious, about needing to do away with a concept of ‘mind’ altogether. Other studies, meanwhile, notably in the field of mental health geographies, have examined how people with ‘minds’ supposedly departing from standard models of mental functioning have ended up subject to distinctive socio-spatial interventions, banishment to ‘the lunatic asylum’ being but the most obvious example. Rarely if ever have these issues been combined for sustained critical inspection, and arguably, as a result, there is a curious hole – and lack of joined-up thinking – at the heart of contemporary human geography. It is the purpose of this lecture to offer experimental thoughts about what such critical inspection might entail, at the same time as fashioning a lens to turn on elements of my own research old and new: from my long-running studies of asylum geographies to very current studies of ‘new spiritualities’.