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Compilation — “The Promise of Cultural Geography”
What somehow has come to feel like the main thing I’ve been working on throughout 2025 has been a side project with Ben Anderson up in Durham called The Promise of Cultural Geography, put out on our new publisher, Cultural Geography (Un)limited Editions, which we (frankly) established to put out the book (more on that in a future post...). The Promises project followed on from the 50th anniversary event for the RGS-IBG Social and Cultural Geography Research Group that I last wrote about, out of which Chris Philo and I wrote the Revisiting New Words, New Worlds correspondence piece.
To pair that ‘backwards-looking’ reflection, Ben and I hatched out a plan for a more ‘forwards-looking’ (or perhaps ‘stock-taking’) project, one that hoped to grasp at the multiplicty of the sub-discipline as it was being practiced in diverse corners and quarters of the world.
At the start of the year, we sent out an open call for single-word submissions of between 1 and 1,000 words, in any style or form, in response to the question ‘What, for you, is the promise of cultural geography?’
That call-out became Promises, a compilation of 86 single- and multi-authored entries responding to this perhaps rather engimatic question. (Indeed, I enjoyed chatting to my Chinese colleagues about how to translate the different meanings and connotations of the word ‘promise’, for which there is no single equivalent in Mandarin, including the sense of a pledge, an oath, a commitment, its directedness, futurity, uncertainty, even failure...)
In addition to the open-access digital copy (‘unlimited’), we also did a short run printed book (‘limited’), which we launched at the RGS-IBG Dialogues in Human Geography Discussion Forum ‘The future of cultural geography: promises and dreams’, alongside a stellar lineup of reflections and provocations by Adam Searle, Sasha Engelmann, Anna Secor, Leila Dawney and Chris Philo.
We were absolutely delighted to have the book beautifully printed by Gomer Press in Llandysul, Wales, with a embossed hot pink cover, textured cream paper, and a flurorescent-orange-stitched naked spine. Big props go to Merle Patchett for style tips on colours and textures for the print version.
Print copies are available for £10 + £3 postage worldwide — just get in touch with me by email if you’d like a copy. We managed to sell over 100 copies at the conference — a huge thanks goes to Catherine Souch and Sarah Evans of the RGS-IBG for taking care of the books at the registration desk.
If you’re interested in hearing more about the origins and unfoldings of the project, Ben and I recently joined a podcast about the project at the Channel, the podcast of the Institute of Asian Studies at the Universiteit Leiden. We were generously hosted by Ben Linder, who got in touch with us to learn more about the project. Ben asked some really banger questions, and it was an absolute delight to speak with him.
We are so grateful to every person who saw ‘promise’ in the Promise project. Ben and I are planning another collective project in the coming year, with much more planned for ‘cg(u)le’ — so stay tuned, and please, please consider sending something in! We’d love to have you.
What somehow has come to feel like the main thing I’ve been working on throughout 2025 has been a side project with Ben Anderson up in Durham called The Promise of Cultural Geography, put out on our new publisher, Cultural Geography (Un)limited Editions, which we (frankly) established to put out the book (more on that in a future post...). The Promises project followed on from the 50th anniversary event for the RGS-IBG Social and Cultural Geography Research Group that I last wrote about, out of which Chris Philo and I wrote the Revisiting New Words, New Worlds correspondence piece.
To pair that ‘backwards-looking’ reflection, Ben and I hatched out a plan for a more ‘forwards-looking’ (or perhaps ‘stock-taking’) project, one that hoped to grasp at the multiplicty of the sub-discipline as it was being practiced in diverse corners and quarters of the world.
At the start of the year, we sent out an open call for single-word submissions of between 1 and 1,000 words, in any style or form, in response to the question ‘What, for you, is the promise of cultural geography?’
That call-out became Promises, a compilation of 86 single- and multi-authored entries responding to this perhaps rather engimatic question. (Indeed, I enjoyed chatting to my Chinese colleagues about how to translate the different meanings and connotations of the word ‘promise’, for which there is no single equivalent in Mandarin, including the sense of a pledge, an oath, a commitment, its directedness, futurity, uncertainty, even failure...)
In addition to the open-access digital copy (‘unlimited’), we also did a short run printed book (‘limited’), which we launched at the RGS-IBG Dialogues in Human Geography Discussion Forum ‘The future of cultural geography: promises and dreams’, alongside a stellar lineup of reflections and provocations by Adam Searle, Sasha Engelmann, Anna Secor, Leila Dawney and Chris Philo.
We were absolutely delighted to have the book beautifully printed by Gomer Press in Llandysul, Wales, with a embossed hot pink cover, textured cream paper, and a flurorescent-orange-stitched naked spine. Big props go to Merle Patchett for style tips on colours and textures for the print version.
Print copies are available for £10 + £3 postage worldwide — just get in touch with me by email if you’d like a copy. We managed to sell over 100 copies at the conference — a huge thanks goes to Catherine Souch and Sarah Evans of the RGS-IBG for taking care of the books at the registration desk.
If you’re interested in hearing more about the origins and unfoldings of the project, Ben and I recently joined a podcast about the project at the Channel, the podcast of the Institute of Asian Studies at the Universiteit Leiden. We were generously hosted by Ben Linder, who got in touch with us to learn more about the project. Ben asked some really banger questions, and it was an absolute delight to speak with him.
We are so grateful to every person who saw ‘promise’ in the Promise project. Ben and I are planning another collective project in the coming year, with much more planned for ‘cg(u)le’ — so stay tuned, and please, please consider sending something in! We’d love to have you.
12/2025
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Citation: Zhang, V., & Anderson, B. (2025). The promise of cultural geography. Cultural Geography (Un)limited Editions: Bristol and Durham. https://doi.org/10.71706/8dfd3ca0-0a6d-49ce-abdb-568a7ccbb807
Podcast about the project at ‘The Channel’, the podcast from IIAS at Leiden University: https://www.iias.asia/the-channel/promise-cultural-geography
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Citation: Zhang, V., & Anderson, B. (2025). The promise of cultural geography. Cultural Geography (Un)limited Editions: Bristol and Durham. https://doi.org/10.71706/8dfd3ca0-0a6d-49ce-abdb-568a7ccbb807
Podcast about the project at ‘The Channel’, the podcast from IIAS at Leiden University: https://www.iias.asia/the-channel/promise-cultural-geography
