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.