cultural geographer
affect, mobilities, work
negativity
economic + affective transitions
IAG Film Shorts
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SCGRG
Bristol
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Book — “Revisiting New Words, New Worlds: A Correspondence, June-September 2024“
Last November, Chris Philo and I put out a ‘correspodence’ in the form a small self-published book (seems impertinent to call it a book, but I suppose that’s an accurate description of the physical form it takes). The correspondence reflected on the early life of the Social and Cultural Geography Research Group (SCGRG) of the RGS-IBG and its role in the emergence of the influential ‘New Cultural Geography’ in the 1980s and 90s, specifically around the publication New Words, New Worlds published November 1991.
Several timelines converged and intertwined themselves early in 2024 to bring this project to life.
The earliest goes back to Chris examining my PhD thesis in early 2021. In the years since, we’ve kept in touch, and in the course of preparing lectures for an introduction to cultural geography unit as I started at Bristol, New Words, New Worlds kept cropping up in my reading - and yet, no matter where I looked, I couldn’t seem to find a copy. Seeing the Chris was the compiler, I got in touch to ask him about it.
When the 50th anniversary of the SCGRG came up (of which I’ve been Treasurer the last few years), Chris and I came up with the idea to make NWNW available again, to honour the role of the group in bringing the original publication together, and to put some contextualising words to the life NWNW has taken in the 33 years since.
To pull this together, Chris and I exchanged emails every few weeks for much of 2024. I loved receiving each thoughtful missive, and I’m thankful to Chris for taking the time to engage so wholeheartedly in this correspondence.
Last November, Chris Philo and I put out a ‘correspodence’ in the form a small self-published book (seems impertinent to call it a book, but I suppose that’s an accurate description of the physical form it takes). The correspondence reflected on the early life of the Social and Cultural Geography Research Group (SCGRG) of the RGS-IBG and its role in the emergence of the influential ‘New Cultural Geography’ in the 1980s and 90s, specifically around the publication New Words, New Worlds published November 1991.
Several timelines converged and intertwined themselves early in 2024 to bring this project to life.
The earliest goes back to Chris examining my PhD thesis in early 2021. In the years since, we’ve kept in touch, and in the course of preparing lectures for an introduction to cultural geography unit as I started at Bristol, New Words, New Worlds kept cropping up in my reading - and yet, no matter where I looked, I couldn’t seem to find a copy. Seeing the Chris was the compiler, I got in touch to ask him about it.
When the 50th anniversary of the SCGRG came up (of which I’ve been Treasurer the last few years), Chris and I came up with the idea to make NWNW available again, to honour the role of the group in bringing the original publication together, and to put some contextualising words to the life NWNW has taken in the 33 years since.
To pull this together, Chris and I exchanged emails every few weeks for much of 2024. I loved receiving each thoughtful missive, and I’m thankful to Chris for taking the time to engage so wholeheartedly in this correspondence.
3/2025
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Citation: Philo, C. & Zhang, V. (2024). Revisiting ‘New Words, New Worlds’: A Correspondence. Social and Cultural Geography Research Group: Bristol. https://doi.org/10.71706/29b99027-6c3b-46ab-bf6b-54a74a746105
Learn more about the SCGRG 50th event and publication, and read the original New Words, New Worlds: https://scgrg.co.uk/50th
Citation: Philo, C. & Zhang, V. (2024). Revisiting ‘New Words, New Worlds’: A Correspondence. Social and Cultural Geography Research Group: Bristol. https://doi.org/10.71706/29b99027-6c3b-46ab-bf6b-54a74a746105
Learn more about the SCGRG 50th event and publication, and read the original New Words, New Worlds: https://scgrg.co.uk/50th