Subaltern Geographies

Subaltern Geographies stands as the inaugural comprehensive
exploration into the intersection of subaltern studies’ historical
breakthroughs and the critical methodologies of cultural, urban,
historical, and political geography. Editors Tariq Jazeel and Stephen
Legg embark on an intellectual journey to scrutinize the relationship
between space and spatial categorizations, posing pivotal questions
about the methodological-philosophical potential that a geographically
grounded engagement with the concept of subalternity offers in both
historical and contemporary contexts. This edited volume seeks to
unravel the implications and impact of subaltern studies scholarship
on geographical thought, while navigating beyond methodological
nationalism and Eurocentrism. The book’s contributors, comprising
historians, geographers, urban theorists, and a social activist, present
diverse studies spanning colonial India, post-colonial Tanzania, Andean
Ecuador, Delhi’s recycling centres, Bolivian protest sites, the Indian
Ocean, and urban fragments. The volume contends that politicointellectual
skills are vital for conceiving and representing subaltern
geographies. This craft involves grappling with the complexities of
translation, mistranslation, and the untranslatability inherent in
radically different geographical descriptions. The book further explores
the challenges of retrieving notionally subaltern space from archives or
through ethnographic and textual research. Lastly, it addresses the
representational hurdles posed by ordinariness and everyday spatiality
in contrast to conventional geographical descriptions.