New Books for Geographers

New Books: July 2018

July 15, 2018

Every month the AAG compiles a list of newly-published books in geography and related areas. Some are selected for review in the AAG Review of Books.

Publishers are welcome to send new volumes to the Editor-in-Chief (Kent Mathewson, Editor-in-Chief, AAG Review of Books, Department of Geography and Anthropology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803).

Anyone interested in reviewing these or other titles should also contact the Editor-in-Chief.

PLEASE NOTE: Due to current public health policies which have prompted the closing of most offices, we are unable to access incoming books at this time. We are working on a solution during this transition and will continue our new books processing as soon as we can. In the meantime, please feel free to peruse previous books from our archived lists.

July 2018

All the Agents and Saints: Dispatches from the U.S. Borderlands by Stephanie Elizondo Griest (University of North Carolina Press 2017)

Atmospheric Things: On the Allure of Elemental Envelopmentby Derek P. McCormack (Duke University Press 2018)

The Bohemian South: Creating Countercultures, from Poe to Punkby Shawn Chandler Bingham and Lindsey A. Freeman (eds.) (University of North Carolina Press 2017)

The Bolivia Reader: History, Culture, Politics by Sinclair Thomson, Rossana Barragán, Xavier Albó, Seemin Qayum, and Mark Goodale (eds.) (Duke University Press 2018)

China and Russia: The New Rapprochement by Alexander Lukin (Polity Books 2018)

Climate Change and Human Mobility: Global Challenges to the Social Sciences by Kirsten Hastrup and Karen Fog Olwig (eds.) (Cambridge University Press 2017)

Earth Repair: A Transatlantic History of Environmental Restoration by Marcus Hall (University of Virginia Press 2018)

Evergreen: The Garrett Family, Collectors and Connoisseurs by Evergreen Museum & Library (Johns Hopkins University Press 2017)

GIS Tutorial for Crime Analysis, second edition by Wilpen L. Gorr, Kristen S. Kurland, and Zan M. Dodson (ESRI Press 2018)

The Geopolitics of Spectacle: Space, Synecdoche, and the New Capitals of Asia by Natalie Koch (Cornell University Press 2018)

Global Cities: Urban Environments in Los Angeles, Hong Kong, and China by Robert Gottlieb and Simon Ng (The MIT Press 2017)

The Golden Age of Piracy: The Rise, Fall, and Enduring Popularity of Pirates by David Head (ed.) (University of Georgia Press 2018)

Grounded Authority: The Algonquins of Barriere Lake against the State by Shiri Pasternak (University of Minnesota Press 2017)

Hairy Hippies and Bloody Butchers: The Greenpeace Anti-Whaling Campaign in Norway by Juliane Riese (Berghahn Books 2017)

Imagining the Arctic: Heroism, Spectacle and Polar Explorationby Huw Lewis-Jones (I. B. Tauris 2017)

Island, River, and Field: Landscape Archaeology in the Llanos de Mojos by John H. Walker (University of New Mexico Press 2018)

Migrant Returns: Manila, Development, and Transnational Connectivity by Eric J. Pido (Duke University Press 2017)

Ogallala: Water for a Dry Land, Third Edition by John Opie, Char Miller, and Kenna Lang Archer (University of Nebraska Press 2018)

The Promise of Infrastructureby Nikhil Anand, Akhil Gupta, and Hannah Appel (eds.) (Duke University Press 2018)

Pushing Our Limits: Insights from Biosphere 2 by Mark Nelson (University of Arizona Press 2018)

Science and Environment in Chile: The Politics of Expert Advice in a Neoliberal Democracy by Javiera Barandiarán (The MIT Press 2018)

Tap: Unlocking the Mobile Economy by Anindya Ghose (The MIT Press 2017)

Transboundary Environmental Governance Across the World’s Longest Border by Stephen Brooks and Andrea Olive (eds.) (University of Manitoba Press 2018)

Understanding Conflicts about Wildlife: A Biosocial Approachby Catherine M. Hill, Amanda D. Webber and Nancy E. C. Priston (eds.) (Berghahn Books 2017)

Wildlife Crime: From Theory to Practice by William D. Moreto (ed.) (Temple University Press 2018)

Newsletters

Newsletter – July 2018

July 11, 2018

PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

Toddlers and Tears on the Texas Border

By Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach

Sheryl-col1-illo-sq-290x290 This column begins with special thanks and recognition of our outgoing President Dr. Derek Alderman, and outgoing Past President Dr. Glen MacDonald. Please join me in recognizing their leadership in moving the association forward on so many important fronts, ranging from civil rights to environmental security. We must carry this momentum forward from the strong foundations they established, and I am honored to take up the baton as your new AAG president… In my first presidential column, I address a matter of human rights and global understanding, to which geographers have much to contribute.

Continue Reading.

ANNUAL MEETING

Registration Opening Soon for #aagDC

washington dc Take-a-stroll-along-the-Tidal-Basin-in-the-spring-to-catch-a-glimpse-of-the-Jefferson-Memorial-and-the-iconic-Cherry-Blossom-trees-courtesy-of-washington.org_ The 2019 AAG Annual Meeting takes place from April 3-7, 2019. Participants and attendees can start to register for the meeting at the end of July. Please check your email in the coming days for an important announcement regarding the 2019 Annual Meeting fee structure. And remember, register early for the best rates!

Learn more about the 2019 Annual Meeting.

Annual Meeting Hotel Discount Rates Now Available

The official #aagDC conference hotels are now open for reservations. As you prepare to travel to Washington, DC, explore the Marriott Wardman Park and the Omni Shoreham – the co-headquarters for the 2019 AAG Annual Meeting. The Marriott and Omni are conveniently located directly across the street from each other in DC’s Woodley Park neighborhood. #aagDC will overlap with DC’s renowned Cherry Blossom Festival, which attracts more than a million tourists each year. Because of this, AAG has reserved a block of discounted rooms for Annual Meeting attendees.

Lock in your rate.

“Focus on Washington, DC and the Mid Atlantic” is an ongoing series curated by the Local Arrangements Committee to provide insight on and understanding of the geographies of Washington, DC and the greater Mid Atlantic region in preparation for the 2019 AAG Annual Meeting.

American Indians of Washington, D.C., and the Chesapeake

Become familiar with the Washington, DC and Mid Atlantic region of the US before you visit for the 2019 AAG Annual Meeting with monthly articles in “Focus on Washington, DC and the Mid Atlantic.” This month, hear from Doug Herman, senior geographer at the National Museum of the American Indian. Herman reflects on the cultures indigenous to the geographic area surrounding the Chesapeake and explains the political policies that have shaped their historical and contemporary geographies.

Read more.

ASSOCIATION NEWS

Meet the Editors of AAG Journals: David Butler and Nik Heynen

Published six times a year since 1911, the Annals of the American Association of Geographers is one of the world’s foremost geography journals. The articles in the journal are divided into four theme sections that reflect the various scholarship throughout the geographic discipline: Geographic Methods; Human Geography; Nature and Society; and Physical Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences. There are editors responsible for each of the four themes. This month, meet two of the Annals editors – David Butler and Nik Heynen.

Find out more about the AAG Journals editors.

AAG Welcomes Three Summer Interns

2018-Summer-Interns The AAG is pleased to have three interns join the AAG staff this summer. Alex Lafler, a junior at Michigan State University, is pursuing a BS in Geographic Information Science and a BA in Human Geography (along with a Minor in Environment and Health), Christian Meoli, a senior at the University of Mary Washington, is double majoring in Geography and Environmental Science with a certificate in GIS, and Jenny Roepe, a senior at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, is pursuing a B.A. in geography with a minor in geographical information systems and urban and public issues.

Meet the 2018 summer interns.

RESOURCES & OPPORTUNITIES

Geographers on Film Series Available through Library of Congress

GOF-art The AAG is excited to announce that the first 30 of 308 films in the Geographers on Film series have been digitized and are now available online from the Library of Congress. Geographers on Film is a collection of recorded video interviews conducted with hundreds of geographers between August 1970 and the mid-1980s, including scholars who have shaped the discipline such as Carl Sauer, Richard Hartshorne, Wilbur Zelinsky, Richard Chorley, Mildred Berman, Harold Rose, Jan Monk, Yi-Fu Tuan and Rickie Sanders. The late Maynard Weston Dow (1929 – 2011), Professor Emeritus at Plymouth State College, and Nancy Dow largely produced the series over 40 years.

View the archive.

Ask a Geographer Program Update: Volunteers Needed

The AAG is currently updating the Ask a Geographer program, an AAG outreach project that offers the media, government agencies, teachers, and students links to experts in various fields of geography. Are you looking for a fun service opportunity to support geography by helping others learn more about it? No matter your career status, consider volunteering for the AAG Ask a Geographer program!

Volunteer to promote geography today.

AAG Seeks Editor for ‘The Professional Geographer’

The American Association of Geographers seeks applications for the position of Editor of The Professional Geographer. The new editor, whose responsibilities include overseeing the solicitation, review, and publication of scholarly articles for the journal, will be appointed for a four-year editorial term beginning July 1, 2019.

Learn more about the editor position.

PUBLICATIONS

Read the July 2018 Issue of the ‘Annals of the AAG’

The Annals of the American Association of Geographers is published six times a year. Issue 4 of Volume 108 is now available to read online as part of the AAG membership benefits. This issue features an editors’ choice article on the racial nature of gerrymandering in the US.

Full article listing available.

Volume 4, Issue 1 of ‘GeoHumanities’ Online Now

GeoHumanities features articles that span conceptual and methodological debates in geography and the humanities; critical reflections on analog and digital artistic productions; and new scholarly interactions occurring at the intersections of geography and multiple humanities disciplines. There are full length scholarly articles in the Articles section and shorter creative pieces that cross over between the academy and creative practice in the Practices and Curations section.

View the manuscripts.

New Books in Geography — May 2018 Available

New-books1-1

Keep up with the latest publications in geography and related disciplines with the New Books in Geography List, published monthly. The May 2018 list, which features books on topics such as health, geopolitics, environmentalism, and postcolonial analysis, is now available to view.

Browse the list of new books.

May 2018 Issue of the ‘Professional Geographer’ Published

The Professional Geographer Cover Flat

The Professional Geographer, Volume 70, Issue 2, has been published. Of note to geographers interested in the Public Engagement theme for #AAG2018, the focus section in this issue is Out in the World: Geography’s Complex Relationship with Civic Engagement. The issue also includes short articles in academic or applied geography, emphasizing empirical studies and methodologies.

See the newest issue.

Spring 2018 Issue of ‘The AAG Review of Books’ Now Available

AAG Review of Books Spring cover Volume 6 Issue 2 Volume 6, Issue 2 of the quarterly The AAG Review of Books has now been published online. In addition to scholarly reviews of recent books related to geography, public policy and international affairs, this issue features longer book review fora of Refugees in Extended Exile: Living on the Edge, The Rise of the Hybrid Domain: Collaborative Governance for Social Innovation, and The Great Baseball Revolt: The Rise and Fall of the 1890 Players League.

Read the reviews.

OF NOTE

Africa Specialty Group congratulates Dr. Padraig Carmody, recipient of the 2018 Kwadwo Konadu-Agyemang Distinguished African Scholar Award

Carmody Padraig

Dr. Carmody teaches Geography at Trinity College, the University of Dublin, where he did his undergraduate and masters work and is a visiting associate professor at the University of Johannesburg. His Ph.D. is from the University of Minnesota in the United States. He also taught briefly at the University of Vermont after his graduation from Minnesota. At TCD, he currently directs the Masters in Development Practice. His research centres on the political economy of globalisation in Africa and he has published in journals such as European Journal of Development Research, Review of African Political Economy, Economic Geography and World Development. He has also published seven books, including The New Scramble for Africa (Polity, 2011), the Rise of the BRICS in Africa (Zed, 2013) and as part of the Royal Geographical Society-Institute of British Geographers’ book series with Professor James T. Murphy, Africa’s Information Revolution: Technical Regimes and Production Networks in South Africa and Tanzania (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015). He has won research grants from the United States National Science Foundation, European Commission and Irish Research Council. His current research examines the impacts of large scale land acquisitions in Africa. He sits on the board of Political Geography and African Geographical Review and is a former editor-in-chief of Geoforum (Elsevier) and is a Fellow of Trinity College. He was elected to the Royal Irish Academy in 2018.

GEOGRAPHERS IN THE NEWS

IN THE NEWS

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American Indians of Washington, D.C., and the Chesapeake

July 3, 2018

When Captain John Smith sailed up the Potomac River in 1608, he found 13 American Indian villages along its banks. Spanish incursions beginning in 1521 brought diseases, land grabs, resource destruction, military assaults, and slave raids. Nonetheless, there were several large villages and fortified towns by the time of John Smith’s 1608 visit. At that time, three major political groups vied for power in the region: the Susquehannock in Pennsylvania; the Piscataway Chiefdom in southern Maryland; and the Powhatan Chiefdom in Virginia and farther south.

Every place in the Western Hemisphere has an ongoing American Indian story, and the Washington, D.C., area is no exception. People had settled on the shores of Washington’s Anacostia and Potomac rivers as early as 9,500 BCE. Their descendants still reside here. The Nacotchtank Indians of what is now D.C. were part of the Piscataway Chiefdom, with settlements stretching along the Potomac River. Anacostia, a rendering of the word “Nacotchtank” by the English Jesuits who came with Leonard Calvert in 1634, was the home of their most important leader.

Captain John Smith’s map (1612) showing Nacotchtank details (Library of Congress)

Indians of the Chesapeake Bay would form early and lasting impressions on the newly-arriving European settlers. This is where Pocahontas met Captain John Smith, after all, setting up one of the great legends of early American settlement. But the presence of Indians also played a role in racial segregation laws that were only recently changed.

Chesapeake Indians were riverine communities, drawing sustenance from the waterways for as much as 10 months of the year. The Powhatan confederacy of Indians that greeted the Jamestown settlers included tribes from the Carolinas to Maryland. The Piscataway often sided with the Powhatan Chiefdom against the English, and when the Powhatan were defeated in 1646, English settlements quickly expanded. King Charles deeded Piscataway territories to Lord Baltimore in 1632, and European settlements reached what is now Washington, D.C., by 1675.

British settlement during the 17th century followed the usual pattern of expansion. Indians were pushed off their lands. Treaties and alliances were made, then promises broken. Frontiersman pushed into Indian land at the expense of the communities. Epidemics of introduced diseases decimated the Indigenous population, down to perhaps a tenth of its former number.

“There is petition after petition, speech after speech, on record by the chiefs to Maryland Council, asking them to respect treaty rights,” says Gabrielle Tayac, niece of Piscataway Chief Billy Tayac. “Treaty rights were being ignored, and the Indians were getting physically harassed. The first moved over to Virginia, then signed an agreement to move up to join the Haudenosaunee [Iroquoise Confederacy]. They had moved there by 1710. But a conglomeration stayed in the traditional area, around St. Ignacious Church. They’ve been centered there since 1710. Families mostly still live within the old reservation boundaries.”

Map of the American Indian Tribes of the Chesapeake region (courtesy Doug Herman)

“By 1700, the English had settled and established plantation economies along the waterways, because they are shipping to England,” says anthropologist Danielle Moretti-Langholtz at the College of William and Mary. “Claiming those pathways pushed the Indians back, and the back-country Indians become more prominent. Some Natives were removed and sold into slavery in the Caribbean. This whole area was kind of cleaned out. But there are some Indians that remain, and they are right in the face of the English colonies. We can celebrate the fact that they’ve held on.”

But it was racial laws and policies that pushed for the near “disappearance” of Indians from the region. In Bacon’s Rebellion of 1676, white indentured servants united with black slaves in an uprising against the Virginia governor in an attempt to drive Indians out of Virginia. They attacked the friendly Pamunkey and Mattaponi tribes, driving them and their queen Cockacoeske into a swamp. Bacon’s Rebellion is said to have led to the Virginia Slave Codes of 1705, which effectively embedded white supremacy into law, driving a wedge between whites and blacks that came to dominate American social dynamics.

Perhaps most damaging of all was the Racial Integrity Act of 1924, pushed forward by the white supremacist and eugenicist Walter Ashby Plecker, the first registrar of Virginia’s Bureau of Vital Statistics. This Act made it unsafe—and, in fact, illegal—to be Indian. Plecker decreed that Virginia Indians had so intermarried—mostly with blacks—that they no longer existed. He instructed registrars around the state to go through birth certificates and to cross out “Indian” and write in “Colored.” Further, the law also expanded Virginia’s ban on interracial marriage.

While many Indians simply left, the Mattaponi and Pamukey stayed isolated, which protected them. They kept mostly to themselves, not even connecting with the other Virginia tribes. But they continue today to honor their 340-year-old treaty with the Governor of Virginia by bringing tribute every year.

On the Eastern side of the Chesapeake Bay, the Nanticoke mostly fled into Delaware, while a small band called the Nause-Waiwash moved into the waters of the Blackwater Marsh. “We settled on every lump,” said the late chief Sewell Fitzhugh. “Well, a lump is just a piece of land that is higher, that doesn’t flood most of the time.”

The remnant Maryland tribes consolidated under the name of Piscataways, and around 1700 removed to southern Pennsylvania. There they came under the protection of the Iroquois, where they became known as the Conoy. By the end of the 18th century their official numbers had been reduced to 320 persons. Their lands and political autonomy were completely destabilized, and reservation boundaries were not respected past 1700.

Virginia’s ban on interracial marriage would not be overturned until 1967, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Loving v. Virginia. Mildred Loving is often identified as black. She was also Rappahannock Indian. But consequent to Plecker’s actions, Virginia Indians faced considerable challenges proving their unbroken lineage—a requirement necessary for achieving status as a Federally Recognized Tribe. The Pamunkey received Federal recognition in 2015, and six other Virginia tribes in January 2018—500 years after Pocahontas.

The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian located on the National Mall, welcomes you to visit and learn more about the Piscataway and other Indigenous peoples of the Americas during your visit to Washington, D.C., for the 2019 AAG Annual Meeting.

AAG Welcomes Three Interns for 2018 Summer

July 2, 2018

The AAG is pleased to have three interns joining the AAG staff for the summer of 2018!

Alex Lafler is a Junior at Michigan State University pursuing a BS in Geographic Information Science and a BA in Human Geography (along with a Minor in Environment and Health). Alex previously interned at the St. Joseph County Land Resource Centre (Centreville, MI). After Graduation, Alex hopes to pursue a career in GIS or a related field. In his spare time, Alex likes to watch movies and sports (Go Green!), walk as much as he can, and create videos and podcasts.

Christian Meoli is a senior at the University of Mary Washington, double majoring in Geography and Environmental Science with a certificate in GIS. He has interned for the town planning departments in his hometown of Maryland and in his college town in Virginia. Most recently he interned for the Sierra Club in Boston where he explored urban environmental geography. He hopes to bring his academic perspective and enthusiasm for geography to the AAG. In his spare time he enjoys traveling, hiking, and playing tennis.

Jenny Roepe is a rising senior at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, pursuing a B.A. in geography with a minor in geographical information systems and urban and public issues. Last summer Jenny interned for the Fairfax County Park Authority Planning and Development Division. During her time at FCPA, she designed trail maps using GIS software. The maps were posted for public use at various parks in Fairfax County. After graduation, Jenny hopes to pursue a career that combines her passion for the environment with her skills and background in Geographical Information Systems. In her spare time, Jenny likes to read, hike and travel to new places.

Journals

Meet the AAG Journals Editors – David Butler and Nik Heynen

July 2, 2018

Published six times a year since 1911, the Annals of the American Association of Geographers is one of the world’s foremost geography journals. The articles in the journal are divided into four theme sections that reflect the various scholarship throughout the geographic discipline: Geographic Methods; Human Geography; Nature and Society; and Physical Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences. There are editors responsible for each of the four themes, two of which are David Butler and Nik Heynen.

The Physical Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences section editor of the Annals of the American Association of Geographers is David Butler. Butler is a Texas State University System Regents’ Professor in the Department of Geography at Texas State University where he teaches courses on geomorphology, landscape biogeography, biogeomorphology, and Nature and Philosophy of Geography. With research interests that include geomorphology, biogeography, natural hazards, mountain environments and environmental change, Butler has considerable experience working with physical geography topics. He has also been the recipient of several awards during his career including the Distinguished Career Award from the Biogeography Specialty Group, the Geomorphology Specialty Group, and the Mountain Geography Specialty Group of the AAG as well as a variety of teaching and mentoring awards.

Aside from working with the AAG Journals, Butler has editorial experience that includes serving as Section Editor for Geomorphology for the AAG International Encyclopedia of Geography, as a section editor for the international journal Progress in Physical Geography, and as long-time book review editor for the journal Geomorphology. He has also guest edited/co-edited nine special issues of the journals Physical Geography and Geomorphology.

As an editor for AAG Journals, Butler feels a sense of satisfaction that he is helping to advance physical geography within the discipline. In his mind, the most pressing issue within physical geography right now is “figuring out how to address the concept of the Anthropocene in classical physical geography research and teaching.” For those who are looking to publish research in physical geography, David says to be sure potential authors completely understand and respect the journal to which they wish to submit research. He adds, “Beyond that, don’t give up! If you feel like you have something important enough to say to be published somewhere, you’re probably right. If your first journal of choice ultimately rejects you, take to heart their critiques and try another journal!”

Nik Heynen is the Human Geography editor for the Annals of the American Association of Geographers, a Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Georgia, and an adjunct Professor in the Department of Anthropology. At the University of Georgia, Heynen teaches mostly large introductory classes, in addition to graduate seminars.

Heynen’s research, for which he has won several awards including the AAG’s Glenda Laws Award for geographic contributions to social justice research, focuses on urban geography, especially urban social movements and urban political ecology. He is also interested in environmental justice; food/hunger studies; race, class, and gender, and science and technology studies.

While also serving as an AAG Journals editor, over the last seven years Heynen has invested time helping to establish UGA’s Center for Integrative conservation (CICR) and for over three years served as the Director of the Integrative Conservation (ICON) PhD Program that was established by a group who came together through CICR. He recently became the Director of the Geography of the Georgia Coast Domestic Field Study Program based on Sapelo Island.

In addition to the teaching and administrative activities he does at UGA, and he is also currently an editor at a variety of outlets in addition to the Annals. He serves as an editor for Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space and was also the founding editor of UGA’s Geographies of Justice and Social Transformation book series. Since 2006 he has been involved with the journal Antipode, first as the Book Reviews and Interventions editor, than as a general member of the editorial collective and he continues to serve as a trustee of the Antipode Foundation, a U.K. based charity. Part of the work he still does at Antipode is Chair Antipode’s Institute for the Geographies of Justice (IGJ).

Heynen enjoys seeing the work of his colleagues and, as an editor, helping their work develop and be published. He believes that both Black geographies and Feminist geographies are the two most exciting areas of geographic thought at this time, but continues to find great value in Marxist Geography.

Learn more about Nik’s research by visiting his website: nikheynen.com.

President's Column

Toddlers and Tears on the Texas Border

July 1, 2018

his column begins with special thanks and recognition of our outgoing President Dr. Derek Alderman, and outgoing Past President Dr. Glen MacDonald. Please join me in recognizing their leadership in moving the association forward on so many important fronts, ranging from civil rights to environmental security. We must carry this momentum forward from the strong foundations they established, and I am honored to take up the baton as your new AAG president. I offer many thanks to the AAG staff, and to current and outgoing council members, as well for their hard work on difficult issues, and welcome new AAG officers, councilors and committee members. It takes dedicated volunteers to make our association a community that makes a difference, and I thank all of you for serving, especially our first cohort of AAG Fellows. Finally, I ask us to thank and recognize the dedicated work and many accomplishments of AAG Executive Director Dr. Douglas Richardson, who announced his countdown to retirement at the New Orleans AAG meetings. There is much work to do to ensure a smooth transition and AAG’s continued positive trajectory, contributions, and influence. In my first presidential column, I address a matter of human rights and global understanding, to which geographers have much to contribute.

I began writing this column in the back country of the Petén, Guatemala, having journeyed by bus and 4WD pickup truck through lively Guatemalan towns and villages, on muddy track roads to the field camp of El Zotz. In Belize the week before, and also at El Zotz, our team was field validating some of the latest findings in airborne LiDAR mapping: fabulous stone structures, temples, settlements, waterworks, and agricultural features of the ancient Maya Civilization, more numerous than ever imagined. Our research questions are about resilience and collapse, long-term environmental change, and about population, landesque capital, technology, agriculture, and sustainability, all in a changing and challenging environment. Meanwhile, on our way from the modern world to this ancient world emerging from the Petén jungle, we passed a busy market square where, since my last visit, motorized tuk tuks spewing exhaust have replaced three wheeled bicycles for local transport on narrow streets. As the day turned to dusk and then into night on our journey towards field camp, glimpses of modern Central American life continued to pass by, people gathered for discussions and cold drinks in LED-lit tiendas, in church halls softly illuminated by candlelight and song, and families cooking dinner at home, some over smoky cookfires in outdoor kitchens, together with their children. Which family will have enough to eat? Enough clean water? Mosquito nets? Pencils and notebooks for school? And, which child could be the next Sally Ride? The next Albert Einstein? So much potential, and so much poverty. How do we extend the opportunities we Americans have to the next generation, and across borders, to understand and move our global society and environment forward, together?

After our field research ended, I took another bumpy, muddy, and dusty truck ride out of El Zotz, and a bus from Flores, Guatemala to Belize to fly home to Austin, Texas, with no trouble crossing the borders and no visa required. I recall an earlier Belize-Mexico border crossing and the Mexican Green Guardians who kindly helped us with a flat tire; and recall the many kindnesses our Central American hosts have bestowed over the years. Back home in Texas, a dead-serious drama is currently playing out on the border of my adopted home state as I continue this column for the publication deadline. Central American families seeking asylum from deplorable conditions, threats, and abuses, and seeking better lives for their children, are being arrested under a U.S. government zero-tolerance policy for illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. Children, some too young to even write or know their parents’ formal names, are being separated from their mothers and fathers and placed into caged warehouses, with no clear reunification plan. Those families have names and dreams, and they have deep care for and hope for their children. I have seen the hope and optimism with which parents escort their children to school in small villages in Mexico. Are former big box store warehouses the best America can offer to our tired, poor, and huddled masses? America offered far more to my immigrant Czech great-grandparents. But our American tolerance and generosity seem to come in waves: despite the welcome my Czech family received in California, WWII saw internment camps arise and imprison their Japanese-American neighbors. How can 21^st century America slip so easily back into an “us vs. them” mindset? Not all hope is lost, airlines and local governments are beginning to publicly resist complicity in related federal actions. As of press time, the U.S. President has signed an executive order, after repeatedly blaming others and denying the ability to do so, to suspend the family separation orders for families arrested crossing the border. This order solves few problems, because there is no clear plan in place for the thousands of children who remain separated from their parents. As Glen MacDonald’s past president’s address called us to action on the environment, and Past President Derek Alderman called us to action on civil rights, I call us to action now on human rights, which encompasses both, and takes positive steps towards solving long term environmental and social crises driving migrants from their homes.

Make a Difference with a Focus on Human Rights

This leads us to one of the major themes for my presidential year, and that is Science, Geography and Human Rights. We too, the American Association of Geographers, are 12,000 individuals who can, will, and do make a difference. Under the bold leadership of outgoing President Derek Alderman, we have strengthened our commitment to civil rights, to saying no to bullying, violence, harassment and discrimination. Under the inspiring leadership of Past President Dr. Glen MacDonald, we have recommitted ourselves to protecting and cherishing science and our environment, culminating in his tour de force 2018 past presidential address calling us to action on the grand challenges of climate change and environmental degradation. I call upon us now to broaden our scope to human rights, where on the world stage science, society and the environment can all benefit from the expertise and unique global and spatial perspectives that geographers bring to bear. It is the moment where “we, too” can change the world.

A specific area for geographers to take action is within the AAAS Science and Human Rights Coalition, by becoming involved as an independent scholar. AAG, under the leadership of Executive Director Doug Richardson, was a founding member organization for this coalition in 2009, and has participated ever since on multiple projects, working groups and biannual meetings on a variety of human rights themes. A quick way to become involved is through the AAAS On-call Scientists, to target assistance where it is needed the most, by sharing your respective regional and systematic expertise in geography. Many universities may also have human rights and law centers seeking volunteers or affiliates. Imagine 12,000 geographers working together to solve the most difficult global challenges.

Recognize Those Who Make a Difference, and Stay Involved

I close this column with a reminder that there are numerous committees and awards for which to nominate AAG Members. Please honor those who work hard to make a difference by nominating someone today. Also, begin plans for your active participation in sessions, papers, posters, and field trips at the AAG Annual Meeting in Washington D.C. April 3-7, 2019. The AAG meeting themes for 2019 will include Geography Science and Human Rights, among others including Geography, Sustainability, and GIScience. Let’s make this our biggest annual meeting yet: we look forward to seeing you in Washington, D.C. Come home to Meridian Place!

Please share your ideas with me via email: slbeach [at] austin [dot] utexas [dot] edu

— Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach
Professor and Chair, Geography and the Environment, The University of Texas at Austin
President, American Association of Geographers

DOI: 10.14433/2017.0037

New Books: July 2018

July 2018

Newsletter – July 2018

Toddlers and Tears on the Texas Border

Registration Opening Soon for #aagDC

Annual Meeting Hotel Discount Rates Now Available

American Indians of Washington, D.C., and the Chesapeake

Meet the Editors of AAG Journals: David Butler and Nik Heynen

AAG Welcomes Three Summer Interns

Geographers on Film Series Available through Library of Congress

Ask a Geographer Program Update: Volunteers Needed

AAG Seeks Editor for ‘The Professional Geographer’

Read the July 2018 Issue of the ‘Annals of the AAG’

Volume 4, Issue 1 of ‘GeoHumanities’ Online Now

New Books in Geography — May 2018 Available

May 2018 Issue of the ‘Professional Geographer’ Published

Spring 2018 Issue of ‘The AAG Review of Books’ Now Available

Africa Specialty Group congratulates Dr. Padraig Carmody, recipient of the 2018 Kwadwo Konadu-Agyemang Distinguished African Scholar Award

American Indians of Washington, D.C., and the Chesapeake

Recommended readings:

AAG Welcomes Three Interns for 2018 Summer

Meet the AAG Journals Editors – David Butler and Nik Heynen

Toddlers and Tears on the Texas Border