Gaps and overlaps between territories and maps have been debated now to no end (cf. Pickles, "A History of Spaces"; Baudrillard; Borges; Bringhurst; Brody).  There seems to be some consensus that 'the territory does not precede the map.'  This statement supposedly upends the foundational or two-tiered assumption that there is 'a' world 'out there' (or 'down there') to be grasped at by representations such as maps.  The critique extends to other representational forms such as photos (cf. Barthes; Sontag), paintings (cf. Casey), texts (cf.

Matt Sparke’s 1998 paper “A Map That Roared” has always struck me as a unique achievement.  I re-acquainted myself with the ideas and arguments Sparke puts forth in that paper when I had the occasion in a graduate seminar to read his book “In the Space of Theory” which includes that earlier paper as one of its chapters.

For a while now, I've been trying to bring elements of critical pedagogy into my classroom, inspired mainly by writers like Freire (obviously) but also Henry Giroux amongst others. I like to think that I've had a fair amount of success; I've encouraged students to negotiate their own curriculum in citizenship subjects; I've guided them to recognise ideologies and I've urged them to challenge power where they can.

I'm a bit of a cricket fan. I don't deny it. For years, I've put up with Channel 9's increasingly truncated telecasts of games. Every time an over ends, there's an advertisement. Whenever a wicket falls, there's an advertisement. If the cricket looks dull, let's go to an ad break. I mean the commentary has been painful enough. Normally I have the radio going and have the TV on mute.

It is late February in Eastern James Bay.  Wind-packed dunes of snow move under black spruce behind the new band office building.  Walking to work today over those dunes I thought about Hugh Brody's book, "Maps and Dreams".  I though to myself that those maps Brody found the people of northwestern BC using were not so different from the ones being used here in James Bay, way out across the country and at least 25 years distant from Brody's time in BC. 

There is an astounding level of hypocrisy in academia.  Critiques of power abound, while individual academics make containers of themselves, waiting for the manna of power, in the form of tenure, publication and prestige, to fall into open, waiting hands.  The abjection of power's failure to act equally abounds.  Aspiring academics, graduate students, and undergraduates are often caught in various wheels of 'knowledge production,' getting in line to have various potentials assessed, passively collecting what passes for knowledge that literally trickles down the trunks of hoary academia, because that is what they are being trained to do.  These 'lesser' receptacles' potentials, once assessed, using 'objective' criteria, are then treated and calibrated for 'success,' a

 It is important that in today’s quick paced world, teachers must understand and be able to quickly and critically evaluate technology. The teacher must decide which technology to use freely and which to control. Technology does give some educational empowerment to the teacher but it also empowers the student to learn more, faster. The student, surfing the massive technology wave, thinks on a larger platform. Not only proliferation and savvy about its usage, technology is not all about the bells and whistles of the instruments but about a framework of critical thinkers that should in turn become globally responsible citizens.

Hi All,
 
Just in time for your holiday shopping extravaganza.....!
 
I wanted to spread the news about an edited volume that was recently published. Below I'm pasting the preface, which describes the purpose of the book and provides an overview of the chapters. We are excited about the range of issues focused on consumer capitalism discussed in the book, and hope that educators interested in environmental education, consumerism, popular culture, and anti-consumption resistance will find this volume helpful!