Political Geography
Political geography is the study of the co-production of space and power. Our research unit is particularly interested in this dynamics at the margins of a globalizing world. We study the spatial production of political order, uneven development and governance through specific discursive practices and places in Africa, South East Asia and Europe.
The political geography unit offers courses, supervises theses at both Bachelor and Master levels, and organizes field trips. For an overview over the lectures, seminars and tutorials offered, please consult Department of Geography / Studying and the electronic university calendar.
News
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Scientific images that ask questions
The SNSF Scientific Image Competition 2022 casts an unconventional light on research conducted in Switzerland. One of the winning images is by Stephan Hochleitner, a postdoc in Political Geography.
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Zu gut, um wahr zu sein
Die State-Building-Missionen des Westens sind gut gemeint, aber sie scheitern regelmässig an ihrem moralisch überhöhten Anspruch, schreiben Benedikt Korf und Christine Schenk in einem Feuilleton-Artikel in der NZZ.
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Migrant labour exploitation in agriculture
In collaboration with colleagues Ilaria Ippolito and Mimmo Perrotta, Timothy Raeymaekers launches the edited volume (in Italian) 'Braccia rubate dall’agricoltura: Pratiche di sfruttamento del lavoro migrante'.
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New Book out: The Black Mediterranean
In collaboration with Black History Month at NYU, Florence, Timothy Raeymaekers and a collective of scholars launched the edited volume “The Black Mediterranean”.
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Gatekeeping Access
Former master student Mengina Gilli, her supervisors Gretchen Walters and Muriel Côte, co-authored a paper in the journal Land entitled “Gatekeeping access: Shea land formalisation and the distribution of market-based conservation benefits in Ghana’s CREMA”
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"Reversing the Gaze": A new research project in Political Geography
How can scientific concepts and theories, developed in the Global South, help us understand phenomena in the Global North? This is the main question that guides the four-year research project co-led by Benedikt Korf.
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Arcane Geopolitics
This forthcoming paper in Political Geography, co-authored by Benedikt Korf and Rory Rowan, discusses what is at stake for a critical geography in appropriating the reactionary thought of thinkers, such as Heidegger or Schmitt.
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Geografe nüme schlafe!
In the 1980s, a group of geography students rebelled against their teachers at the Department of Geography in Zurich.
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Master graduations
Congratulations to our Master students that graduated in December 2019 and February 2020!
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In memoriam of Professor Shahul Hasbullah
On 28 and 30 January, Benedikt Korf gave a lecture in memoriam of Professor Shahul Hasbullah at the International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES) in Colombo and Kandy respectively.