Admission to Geographic Society of Chicago lectures is free. No reservation is required.
If you think that geography is just about using maps to study foreign lands, this new series of lectures on courtesans, control of public space, and the present-day linkages of maps and empire may come as a surprise. This exploration of current issues in academic geography is organized and supported in part by the Geographic Society of Chicago, with additional support from the Department of Geography at DePaul University and the Department of Geography, Sociology, Economics, and Anthropology at Chicago State University.
Thursday, January 18, 6:00 pm
Speaker: Heidi J. Nast, DePaul University
In the 1500s, Kano (northern Nigeria) was one of the three most important cities in Africa. Heidi Nast's presentation explores the important political roles of the hundreds of royal concubines who lived in the central palace. She also will examine why palace concubinage flourished from late 1400s through the early 1700s, and why it diminished dramatically in the 1800s and 1900s.
Thursday, March 8, 6:00 pm
Speaker: Don Mitchell, Syracuse University
How has post-9/11 fear led municipalities to seek new modes of regulation of public space? Don Mitchell argues that many of these new modes are simply pretexts. Claiming to target one issue, they actually target specific classes of people. Is the novel use of no trespassing ordinances applied to public property helping to construct a city based on social prohibitions rather than social inclusion?
Thursday, May 10, 6:00 pm
Speaker: Matthew Edney, University of Wisconsin-Madison
The director of the History of Cartography Project explores the articulation of "empire" with "map" to reveal the ways in which these two concepts have reinforced each other in the modern world. In the process, he sheds light on how the ideologies of imperialism and cartography have turned maps into "natural" and unremarkable objects.
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