Yes COVID19 is on my mind like on everyone else's.  This crisis is just making visible the underlying crises of our world today, and the need to work for social and environmental justice.  More about that soon I hope.  But in the meantime, two keys things:  PLEASE stay home if you are not already doing so, and encourage others to do so: https://www.commondreams.org/further/2020/03/19/stay-home-save-lives

Keep informed but also establish a routine so that you can prepare for the long haul. Below is what I made last week based on my partner Robert Redick's excellent and funny schedule (check his out on his FB page: facebook.com/robertvsredick).  Use it and modify it for yourself. And see this for context: https://www.chronicle.com/article/Why-You-Should-Ignore-All-That/248366.  Don't confuse the schedules for "productivity porn."  Use them to process how you feel and what you do during this crisis.  We all have different processes - honor yours.

Radical Geography for a Resurgent Left

I am so proud and honored to be part of the Editorial Collective of Antipode: A Journal of Radical Geography.  See the Collective's editorial statement https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/anti.12599

My review of Arturo Escobar’s new work is just out in GeoForum (free access until July 2019)

The risky streets of ontologically redesigned cities: Some comments on Arturo Escobar’s rurbanization research program

The grief of losing my mother and writing

The struggles of academic writing have a new shape this summer.   My mother, Veena Asher, was neither a formal scholar nor was she formally educated.  Yet she was my guru, my teacher.  It’s been a year and 3 months since her passing.  But the grief is still raw and I miss her acutely every day.  Almost everything I touch– clothes, jewelry, pots and pans, utensils, spices, flours, flowers—has her marks on them.  I have her mark on me—my features, body type, the way I speak, the way I engage the world. And yet the grief.  Every day I think about all the things I learnt from her and what I did not. 

I was aware of her mortality.  We spoke about death since my grandfather’s death in the 1970s.  We spoke about her death and yet nothing prepared.  We spoke about the impermanence of life, discussed the teachings of old texts and their relevance to living our daily life with dignity and care.  It takes all the strength of my will to hear these things from my yoga teacher as she reads from the Yoga Sutras.  With my mother there was space for skepticism and debate even about traditional wisdom.  Possible respect but no romance.  I learnt my philosophy and theory from her.  Long before I read Marx, I engaged in the ruthless criticism of everything with her. With her I learned nature-cultures, and understood what Donna Haraway was writing.  I wasn’t learning to do just be – strong and brave to face any situation, anywhere.  To hold failures lightly.  To celebrate successes but not fetish them. We never spoke of love, and yet her love of life and for the world upheld me.  Without her I have to build my scaffolding anew, not quite alone but without the material guidance of our weekly conversations.

As I write this I realize something odd: I don’t associate my books with her, and yet she made me a scholar.  That insight must be her gift to me today. Tomorrow I will follow up on it to guide me to a path to articulate and engage the contradictions and aporias of struggles for social and environmental justice.  

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Keywords in Radical Geography: Antipode at 50

is just out! Get free access to it, including to my chapter "Fieldwork"!

Some of my recent publications include:  Thinking Fragments: Adisciplinary reflections on Feminism and Environmental Justice   Check out the other amazing pieces in the special issue on Science out of Feminist Theory

I also have a lead piece entitled Spivak and Rivera Cusicanqui on the Dilemmas of Representation in Postcolonial and Decolonial Feminisms in a special issue of Feminist Studies 2018, vol 43, number 3 on Decolonial and Postcolonial Approaches: A Dialogue.  This special issue provokes a conversation between decolonial and postcolonial feminisms by asking what they are, how they speak about each other, and how they can speak to each other. Read together, the articles engage and sometimes trouble the temporal and spatial distinctions drawn between decolonial and postcolonial approaches. Our hope is to offer intellectual resources, through reviews of recent literature as well as summaries of both approaches, to recognize how both these formations build on similar ground. We also wanted to revisit critical insights that continue to be relevant to critiquing colonial knowledge formation. The issue also features Aimee Carillo Rowe, Amy Piedalue and Susmita Rishi, Breny Mendoza, Emily Zhang, Hyunji Kwon, Jennifer Hamilton, Banu Subramaniam and Angela Willey, Megan Kaminski, Patricia Schechter, Paulla Ebron and Anna Tsing, Raina León, Sandra Harding, Tiara Na’puti and Judy Rohrer, with a preface by Priti Ramamurthy and Ashwini Tambe. Read it at http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.15767/feministstudies.43.issue-3

Spivak, G. C.  WHAT IS TO BE DONE? Tidal: Occupy Street, Occupy Strategy, Frontier 44(31) Feb 12-18, 2012

Spivak's essay on Occupy Street, Occupy Strategy is more than relevant at this moment.

http://frontierweekly.com/archive/vol-number/vol/vol-44-2011-12/vol-44-31/whatistobedone-44-31.pdf

Feminist Scholars Statement

Statement By Feminist Scholars on the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States

Fighting White Tr[i]umphalism...

I'm in shock and grieving like so many people across the country and the world who are committed to social justice.  Yet the results of last night's elections are all too believable.   Below I share some of the many eloquent analyses of this outcome, which we hoped would not come upon us.  Of course it was about sexism (and yes women can be sexist if understand it as an ideology that governs us and traps us all), of course it was about race (white supremacy in this case), and of course it was about class (understood as the unequal positions we hold within the social relations of capitalist production).  They intersect at all times, and in the conjuncture of these elections they intersected and lit up over the kindling of race-class-gender divides that undergird this country and have done so since its inception. They do important ideological work (like the seepage of sexism into the very fabric of people's being so much so that they say that the candidacies had nothing to do with sexism).  Yes they undergird other countries, our world -- in unique and interconnected ways.  Last year (Aug 2015) I wrote about the "man's world" in Hollywood here.  It was but a reflection of the realities that are almost everywhere in this country, often just below the surface but often not so very far beneath either.

Our analyses weren't wrong before, and are not wrong now.  I think many saw and tried to show--again and again--what was coming (it's the same with climate change I think. Well, not the same but similar. It will be devastating).  No, our analyses did not fail us and remain necessary.

Nor was it lack of action--at least not in terms of the election.  There was so much mobilization to address the stark divides to prevent us from getting here.  And no, I don't believe that people are "just stupid" (no more than I believe that women are stupid or black people or colonized people or rural peoples are stupid).  What's lacking in all of us in some measure is what my favorite social theorist, Gayatri Spivak, calls "reflexes of democracy" -- those muscle have not been given a workout. What's lacking (amongst other things) is politics of the everyday kind -- politics of connections, of relations, of acknowledging that "race" is a relation, as are gender and class. Unequal relations, and ones that piggyback on each other.  That's why they are so hard to fight.  It's not about equality alone, folks. It's about justice, and the struggles for justice have been given a serious patada (kick).

There is no choice but to struggle, to rise up, to work against violence, fear and hatred, against racism, sexism, capitalism.  These are feminist struggles through and through.  Might "relations" serve as an analytical, political and personal anchor from which to begin thinking and acting?   Might connections help to think about how we find the good in each other and in the world, though it may require digging pretty deep, through layers of pain and hurt, to realize that one cannot be free until others are also?

Some key analyses and calls for action from colleagues in my department:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/09/us-election-result-misogyny-america-panel-woman

An Open Letter to Our Nation from 100 Women of Color: https://our100.org/

Ai-jen Poo's article from yesterday, "10 Things Progressives Need to Do Now": https://www.thenation.com/article/10-things-progressives-need-to-do-regardless-of-who-wins-today/

Brittney Cooper:  http://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/a8262379/donald-trump-white-supremacy/

The Spanish translation of my book was published in May 2016!

Back in the USA, which feels like a "man's world"

... Back in the US after living in Indonesia for two years.  Yes, going throug "culture shock."  For instance, went to the movies yesterday.  Granted we saw "Mission Impossible:  Rogue Nation," and granted that Rebecca Ferguson kicked butt.  But other than her, women were almost entirely absent from the movie.  They seemed to be entirely absent in the movie previews that preceded the feature.  Such poor representation begs poor questions: has the US has experienced a demographic shift such that women have disappeared from the country?  Or is this one more example of the absence of women from the Public Sphere?  Apropos which, check out Mary Beard's excellent address: http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n06/mary-beard/the-public-voice-of-women

"Doers and Done For" finally out!

Clearly I'm not too good at blogging regularly.  I compose many posts in my head.  Alas, most don't  make it to the page or the screen.  Ditto with respect to many of my intellectual and research concerns.  But I did put some of my key positions on "useful research" on paper.  They are finally in print.  Please check out my piece and those of my colleagues.

http://www.acme-journal.org/volume13-4.html

Capitalism Verde y Violento

On Nov 8, 2014, I was one of two speakers at the Cátedra Manuel Ancízar at the Universidad Nacional in Bogotá.  For a limited time, my remarks (and those of other speakers) are on YouTube.  Link below

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWq8iQnmszk&list=PL0eIMKIq57cW6e74FGVMIfYidrnE0T3y3&index=9

I entered a blog competition...

about the Sustainable Development Goals.  Click to read and vote!

Why Scientists should read the history of development...

http://blog.cifor.org/24452/whats-green-about-the-green-economy-why-scientists-should-read-the-history-of-development#.VCTVb-dmBFQ

Three photos (poster from Kunming restaurant, in Borobudur, meal in Slovenia)

Back to Bogor to become Toad Catcher-in-Chief

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        This year, 2014, I’ve traveling every month (which is a lot less than most CIFOR colleagues!) and when not traveling I’m was most happy to just “be” rather than “do”.  Or if I was doing something, it was something away from desks, chairs, or keyboards.  That meant no blog posts.  

So a overview of the trips.  Be warned that what follows reads like a travelogue, and is more romantic in the telling because it involves no fatigue other than feeling dizzy with reading!  We celebrated the new year (probably asleep) in southern India finishing up our lovely vacation in Fort Kochi (Robert must have written about it somewhere and posted pictures).  I returned to India in February for the World AgroForestry Congress in New Delhi.  At the end of March, we went with our good friends Louis and Tony to Bali for Nyepi, the Balinese new year which is celebrated in a style that is wonderful -total silence and no external light or gadgets.  We went to Candidasa, which used to be a big resort until the reefs were mined and caused the tourist industry to tank.  The reefs are being recovered, and Robert and our friends had a wonderful time snorkeling and swimming. I enjoyed the beauty of marine life vicariously through their descriptions.  Thanks to Tony, we are now fans of the French game Tarot!  In April, thanks to Louis, I got to visit Kunming, southern China to learn about some of their forest restoration work.   Every meal we eat there was spectacular and the restaurants there had this amazing poster on the walls (see photo on blog).  I tried getting the actual poster but each restaurant gets only gets one and I could get one from city hall.

-->On the way back, I met up with Robert in Bangkok for a long weekend.  I felt and thought so much in both places, and have much to say about both trips.  The month of May saw us in Jakarta for a CIFOR conference and then in Yogyakarta for a workshop.  Between work, we had a fantastic trip to Borobudur (see photo above) with our friends Manju and Kanchi, and Annie, a student-colleague from UC Berkeley.  This was my third trip Yogyakarta and the second time we stayed in the marvelous Dusun Jogja Village Inn.  There were a few public holidays later in May but I was so tired of traveling that we went no further than to Vila Botani, an organic farm on Salak, the volcano around Bogor.  With some planning we were mercifully spared traffic misadventures and had a rejuvenating day trip.

In June, I had to go to Italy and Turkey for workshops, so Robert joined me in Istanbul on his way back to the US.  Yes, we had a fantastic time walking around the streets filled with cafes and cats, eating great food and also got great views of the Bosphorus from the terrace of the apartment we rented.  The highlight of the trip was meeting up with Ipek Ozgul--one of my former students who is from Turkey.  After a few days in Istanbul, we went to Slovenia to see our friends Steve and Mia.  They were superb hosts and we were lucky that the weather was excellent while we were there.  Among the many fantastic things about the trip was eating one of the best meals I’ve had in a year or more (photo above),  hiking in the mountains, going to the Adriatic, and eating more great food from the farmers markets. Robert returned to the US from Slovenia and I returned to Indonesia and spent a month working with two student colleagues.  They also shared the house with me, and with most CIFOR scientists gone, we had a few pleasant weeks of work and play.  They latter was mainly lollygagging (in the wonderful hammock and sewing).

I went to the US in mid July and stopped in Chicago to see my mom before heading back to Massachusetts. After various minor dramas associated with resettling in the house after having rented it for a year, I flew to Charlottesville to visit the Redicks and help Robert drive back with Chloe dog.  I worked from our Massachusetts home for three weeks.  Non-work time was spent hanging out with friends, visiting old haunts, hiking or hanging out with our pets, enjoying summer and the ability to walk or drive without traffic dogging our every move!  I was lucky that the weather was perfect during my time there. The heat and humidity held off until I was in Bogor.

Back in my Bogor home I returned to the warm embrace of tropical vegetation and the bestiary of my back yard.  The black cat that lives around the yard came by just as a poor fish that had jumped out of our pond died.  No I don’t plan to adopt the cat but it serves its purpose of keeping the big rats at bay. I saw a big rat crawling down the pipe near the back of the pond.  I shooed it back up.  Too bad that neither the cats nor rats catch the toads that have somehow breached the barriers that the gardener has rigged to keep them out.  With Robert and Annie gone, I have become the toad catcher-in-chief, and taken over Robert’s job of involuntarily migrating anything that croaks!  

Following parade of rat and cats, was a bat (alliteration unintentional).  It was a medium sized one flying low in the back yard and especially over the fish pond.  I have yet to see the javanese kingfisher that comes to catch the fry from our pond.  However, the tokays have been calling all night and all day.  Love them!

Remembrances of two young friends who just died

This year I lost two good friends.  In February 2014, Jesus Alberto Valdes, our friend of over two decades died after a prolonged battle with cancer.  Beto had been our roommate in Cali and compañero at Fundación Habla/Scribe.  A few years after we left Colombia in 1995, Beto had to give up his full time work with social movements to drive a taxi to earn his living.  But he continued his engagement with social struggles and taught us so much about love, friendship, and humanity. 

In April 2014, another compañero, S. Bhupathy died prematurely and tragically. 
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/140430/nation-current-affairs/article/scientist-falls-death-agasthyamalai-hills

I met Bhupathy in 1991 on a wildlife management field course in China, and bumped into him again twenty years later.  In December last year, I contacted him when we went to Kerala for Robert's long anticipated trip there. He graciously and generously hosted us at SACON, sharing his knowledge of Indian ecology and herpetology unreservedly with us. 

Beto and Bhupathy were friends that I did not see regularly in the past, and had no hopes of seeing often in the future.  But they touched my life and made  not just my world, but the world a better place in their quiet, gentle way. 

Month four in Indonesia

... and I have been running around too much to post here.  But check out Robert's eloquent entries about his first impressions (robertvsredick.blogspot.com).  Will post here soon!

Self, Sidewalks, and Social Change (with apologies for my addiction to alliteration)

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            Just back from walking to All Fresh, a smallish upscale grocery store close to the house.  As I was walking there I passed Teman Kencana, the garden after which the neighborhood is named.  I saw a lot of dogs and heard a lot of yapping.  It seemed to be both a gathering of people who have dogs and an equivalent to a puppy mill.  A little beyond the puppy mill were several people walking civet cats on leases.  So not just a puppy mill but also a mill to buy civets, probably not just as pets but to (force?) feed them to eat coffee beans for the expensive luwak coffee.  Total conjecture on my part.  Also in the park were a bunch of guys with snakes. Yesterday in Yogkakarta, I saw a sidewalk full of birdcages with little birds flapping wilding in them.  These birds were not used to being in confined spaces yet.  A street over were vendors with baby chicks dyed in the most lurid flourescent colors. The hidden liberal in me surges up as I struggle to deal with animals in capitivity. 

            Finally got to the store which is not to far as the crow flies.  But getting through the streets clogged with cars, motorbikes, hawkers and gawkers takes time.  Only the poor walk it seems, and they don’t need footpaths (the term for sidewalks that I grew up with, and I imagine is still used in India).  Of course, if there are sidewalks or footpaths there (and in Colombia, and here) are multifunctional.   Walking on them is only possibility.  They are a great venue for warungs, penjuals or their equivalent. I’m okay with the multifunctionality of sidewalks (something that used to drive Robert crazy in Cali). But not having them makes it hard to get around, and adds another dimension to the dilemma of wanting to be car free here.  It’s a pain to have a car –it will add to the macet (traffic jams) and global warming, besides my having to deal with one more thing (the car) and one person (the driver)!  It’s also a pain to have to get around a city where on has to rely largely on public angkots.   I’ll see how far I get with this.   

            Both the examples above reveal (to me), my ineffectual struggle to come to terms with my role in bringing about the change I want. “Being the change you want to see,” is a nice slogan, but it doesn’t get me very far – literally.  But being getting very far, very fast isn’t the point.  Maybe it is our hurry to do that has brought us to the impasse of macets.  And if this were not turning into a personal blog, I’d go on to ask who is “we” and what do I mean by all the points I am making here!  But that’s for my academic writing.