Transnational Geographers in the United States

Navigating Autobiogeographies in a Global Age

Edited by Alan P. Marcus - Contributions by Heike Alberts; Stavros T. Constantinou; Ibipo Johnston-Anumonwo; Weronika A. Kusek; Wei Li; Alan P. Marcus; Heather Smith and Shaolu Yu

This volume was written by eight transnational geographers. These narratives comprise a collection of essays as a way to map personal trajectories and experiences which examine the concept of place at the micro-level. Eight transnational geographers convey their professional and personal identities in a global age. By using an approach called, autobiogeography, these narratives will be of interest to geographers and other social science and humanities scholars as well as of interest to the general public. This volume explores the concepts of transnationalism, borders, fragmentation, movement, displacement, space, place and “home.” Drawing from various national, ethnic, and cultural perspectives, the authors write about various important adjustments within contemporary global trends which in turn, reflect ever-changing ways to look at geography, migration processes, and transnationalism. Like other migrants who have left their home, they all left “something” behind.

Lexington Books

Pages: 146 • Trim: 6½ x 9¼

978-1-4985-0948-0 • Hardback • July 2016 • $98.00 • (£75.00)

978-1-4985-0949-7 • eBook • July 2016 • $93.00 • (£72.00)

Subjects: Social Science / Human Geography, Social Science / Emigration & Immigration, Social Science / Regional Studies

Transnational Geographers in the United States

Navigating Autobiogeographies in a Global Age

Hardback

eBook

Summary

This volume was written by eight transnational geographers. These narratives comprise a collection of essays as a way to map personal trajectories and experiences which examine the concept of place at the micro-level. Eight transnational geographers convey their professional and personal identities in a global age. By using an approach called, autobiogeography, these narratives will be of interest to geographers and other social science and humanities scholars as well as of interest to the general public. This volume explores the concepts of transnationalism, borders, fragmentation, movement, displacement, space, place and “home.” Drawing from various national, ethnic, and cultural perspectives, the authors write about various important adjustments within contemporary global trends which in turn, reflect ever-changing ways to look at geography, migration processes, and transnationalism. Like other migrants who have left their home, they all left “something” behind.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 146 • Trim: 6½ x 9¼

978-1-4985-0948-0 • Hardback • July 2016 • $98.00 • (£75.00)

978-1-4985-0949-7 • eBook • July 2016 • $93.00 • (£72.00)

Subjects: Social Science / Human Geography, Social Science / Emigration & Immigration, Social Science / Regional Studies

Author

Alan P. Marcus is associate professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Planning, Towson University.

Table of Contents

Preface, Alan P. Marcus
Introduction, Alan P. Marcus
Chapter 1: Navigating My Autobiogeography: From Brazil to Baltimore, Alan P. Marcus
Chapter 2: Enjoying the Best of Two Worlds or Torn between Two Places?, Heike Alberts
Chapter 3: Traversing Boundaries of Education and Geography: Sketching Stages, Spaces, and Standpoints of Transnational Self, Ibipo Johnston-Anumonwo
Chapter 4: Mobility, Time, and Home: The Experience of Two Generations of Transnational Chinese Geographers, Shaolu Yu and Wei Li
Chapter 5: Polish(ing) My Identity, Weronika A. Kusek
Chapter 6: A Transnational Life Revisited, Stavros T. Constantinou
Chapter 7: The Urban Geography of my Canadian Identity, Heather Smith

Reviews

This engaging book allows readers to grapple with the far reaching consequences of geography and transnationalism through the lens of autobiography. Complex geographical and biographical concepts are brought to life through compelling personal narrative. This text is an excellent introduction to social geography as a field and autoethnography as a method.
— May Friedman, Ryerson University

In this insightful and entertaining book, geographers from Brazil, China, Nigeria, Germany, Canada, Cyprus and Poland reflect on their own transnational lives in candid and thoughtful narratives. These are stories of spatial and social mobility told by a generation of scholars whose work emerged at the same time that transnationalism became a prominent research area. How life and scholarship mingle and mutually influence each other is the subject of the autobiogeographies they tell here. A must-read for every geographer and for everybody who wants to know what geographers do.
— Silvia Schultermandl, University of Graz

This descriptively rich and theoretically informed collection of autobiographies of transnational geographers is highly engaging. Their personal transnational experiences speak to both structure and agency at the global, national, and local geographical scales.
— Christopher A. Airriess, Ball State University