Organic Public Geographies: “Making the Connection”

Abstract: A new field of “public geographies” is taking shape ( Fuller 2008 ) in geography's mainstream journals. While much is “traditional”, with intellectuals disseminating academic research via non‐ academic outlets ( Castree 2006 ; Mitchell 2008 ; Oslender 2007 ), less visible is the “organic” work and its “more involved intellectualizing, pursued through working with area‐based or single‐interest groups, in which the process itself may be the outcome” ( Ward 2006 :499; see Fuller and Askins 2010 ). A number of well‐known projects exist where research has been “done not merely for the people we write about but with them” ( Gregory 2005 :188; see also Cahill 2004 ; Johnston and Pratt 2010 ). However, collaborative writing of academic publications which gives research participants authorial credit is unusual ( mrs kinpainsby 2008 ; although see Sangtin Writers and Nagar 2006 ). This paper is about an organic public geographies project called “Making the connection”. It is written by a diverse collection of (non‐)academic participants who contributed to the project before it had started, as it was undertaken, and/or after it had finished. This is a “messy”, process‐oriented text ( Cook et al. 2007 ) working through the threads (partially) connecting the activities of its main collaborators, including a referee who helped get the paper to publication.     

Obama's “Smart‐Power” Strategy,One Year On: The Case of the Middle East

A year ago, President Obama was cheered into the White House. His election represented hope for many, not just in the United States, but around the world. Charged with such force and charisma, unprecedented in U.S. Presidential history, he promised the much needed change that America and the world are waiting for. Obama's election was more of a rebirth that represented hope, “Yes We Can,” to regain the credibility of the United States lost during the last decade.     

The Tertiary Turn: Locating “The Academy” in Autobiographical Accounts of Activism in Manchester,UK and Auckland,Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract: Activists often strategically negotiate sectoral boundaries by switching between public, private and voluntary sectors over the life course in order to pursue their aims. This paper draws on a cross‐national study that explored the extent of this inter‐sectoral movement and the specific “career pathways” activists developed in relation to governmental, private and voluntary/community sector organisations. Using an analysis of 46 biographical narratives gathered from activists in Manchester, UK and Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand during 2007 we situate “the academy” in these life stories of activism. Teasing out from these accounts the motivations behind a turn towards tertiary education at particular moments we examine how “academia” supports and sustains individual activists while legitimising and professionalising their activism. In so doing, we track the tactical transfer of knowledge, skills and expertise effected by contact with “the academy” to make substantive and conceptual claims around the future role universities might play in the knowledge economy.     

“Under the Blood” at Azusa Street: Exodus Typology at the Heart of Pentecostal Origins

This article intends to analyse the spirituality of the Azusa Street Mission with a view to achieving two things. Firstly, I will draw attention to an emphasis that seems almost wholly ignored in studies of early Pentecostalism: the blood of Jesus. Secondly, while drawing attention to the considerable prominence of this Christological‐soteriological motif within the discourse of Azusa Street, I will seek to find a context for it that might help to explain it. This context will be explored in biblical, spiritual, and racial terms.     

“Hymns of a More or Less Idiotic Character”: The Impact and Use of “Sankey's” Gospel Songs in Late Nineteenth‐Century Australia

Through the large inter‐denominational evangelistic campaigns of the last quarter of the nineteenth century in Australia, the gospel songs commonly described as “Sankey's” were introduced to both church‐goers and the general community and came into wide public knowledge. This article explores their early acceptance, dissemination, and use, and argues that while their impact upon church‐goers was considerable since they were so widely sung in many churches, they were also known, or known about, in the wider community, occupying a significant cultural space.     

“This Special Shell”: The Church Building and the Embodiment of Memory

Religious, congregational, individual, and community memories are embodied in church buildings. Under normal circumstances these memories sit harmoniously together. Once the church building is destined for closure, however, the equilibrium of the memory platforms is disrupted, often causing conflict. The value of associating memory with a building is questioned, especially when such attachments are seen to impede the rationalisation of church assets. Through the process of closure and afterwards, the memory patterns and associations are reorganised, redrawn, and reprioritised. This article examines these memory shifts in the context of Australian religious history from the 1970s to the present day. Special attention is given to the Uniting Church in Australia.     

“The Gospel Has Always Been Disturbing”: The Centrality of “God's Will” to the Cold War Political Activism of the Reverends Frank Hartley and Alfred Dickie

Religious faith was pivotal to the personal ideologies and radical political activism of the Reverends Alf Dickie and Frank Hartley, both of whom were prominent in the Australian peace movement from 1949 until the early seventies. This article examines Dickie's and Hartley's self‐identification as prophets in the context of the optimism of the post‐war era and its subsequent retreat as the Cold War altered the political climate. It examines how their post‐war political activism was framed by a devout faith in the existence of an objective “truth” with regard to the Cold War, a “truth” based on a self‐styled notion of the “Will of God”. Further, it argues that suffering was understood by these self‐declared prophets to be inherent to their mission and was thus embraced, when ostensibly visited upon them, as an affirmation of the righteousness of their cause. For Dickie and Hartley, an active association with the radical Left was a natural expression of God's Will.     

“The Evil State of Tepidity”: Mass‐Going and Absenteeism in Nineteenth‐Century Australian Ecclesiastical Discourse*

This paper sets out to explore how the Australian Catholic Church's perceptions of Mass‐going and absenteeism evolved in the mid‐to‐late nineteenth century. By examining the Lenten pastorals of Archbishop John Polding of Sydney, along with various mission sermons, the paper argues that a decisive shift is discernible after the 1860s. Where previous emphasis had fallen on absenteeism as a breakdown in the individual's relationship with God, later understandings introduced a dominant ecclesial imperative: Catholics who failed to attend Mass were also weakening the Church and effectively aiding hostile secular and Protestant forces arrayed against her. This shift was itself the product of a critical transformation in the field of ecclesiastical discourse as it gravitated inexorably towards more agonistic expressions.     

Moody and Sankey Down Under: A Case Study in “Trans‐Atlantic” Revivalism in Nineteenth‐Century New Zealand*

This article examines the reception of revivalism inspired by the work of Dwight Moody and Ira Sankey in the Wanganui‐Manawatu region of New Zealand in the 1870s and 1880s. The success of Moody and Sankey's 1873–75 British campaign inspired interest in revivalism, and led to rapid and widespread adoption of their distinctive methods. Though it aroused opposition in some quarters, Moody and Sankey style revivalism became established as a significant feature of New Zealand religiosity at that time. Some aspects continued to appeal well into the twentieth century. This article traces the rise and growth in influence of this form of revivalism, and considers reasons for its appeal in late nineteenth‐century New Zealand.     

“The Glorified Municipality”: State formation and the urban process in North America

This article revisits the debate over whether and to what extent the cities of the United States and Canada can be understood as a common ‘North American city’ by reconsidering the role of the their common federal system of government. Drawing on a Marxist theory of the capitalist state and the municipal histories of New York State and the Province of Ontario, the article traces the institutions and patterns of urbanization in the two countries to a dialectic of political conflict between the sub-national states and the industrializing cities, conditioned by federal divisions of sovereignty and grounded in the expanding social property relations of capital. The final section connects this dialectic to historically new conditions for the expanded reproduction of capital, specifically in the constitution of land as a commodity form. It also speculates briefly on the implications of this analysis for a more spatially informed theory of the capitalist state.