IGU COMMISSION ON THE HISTORY OF GEOGRAPHY. REPORT OF THE ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT IN 2012-2016 AND WORK PLAN FOR 2016-2020 Prof. Jacobo García-Álvarez Carlos III University of Madrid, Spain Chair of the Commission in 2008-2016 Prof. Marcella Schmidt di Friedberg University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy Candidate for chairing the Commission from the 33 IGC onwards (On behalf of the Commission`s Steering Committee) 1 February 2016 1. MEMBERSHIP. 1.A) Commission’s Steering Committee members. The current Commission’s Steering Committee (henceforth CSC) comprises two Honorary Chairs (Professors Anne Buttimer and Vincent Berdoulay), a Chair, a ViceChair, a Secretary-Treasurer, and eight other members. The names and contact information of the CSC membership are listed below: Jacobo García-Álvarez, Chair Departamento de Humanidades: Historia, Geografía y Arte Universidad Carlos III de Madrid C/ Madrid 126, Edificio 14, despacho 14.2.13 28093 Getafe Spain Tel: +34 91 624 92 13; Fax: +34 91 624 85 62 E-mail: jacobo.garcia@uc3m.es Michael Heffernan, Vice-Chair School of Geography University of Nottingham University Park Nottingham, NG7 2RD United Kingdom Tel: 0115 84 66144 Fax: 0115 95 15249 E-mail: Mike.Heffernan@nottingham.ac.uk 1 Earlier versions of this document have been discussed both with the outgoing and the new proposed members of the Commission’s Steering Committee. Thanks are due to all of them, and particularly to Professors Charles Withers and Hayden Lorimer for their report on Geographers: Biobibliographical Studies included in item 4. 1 Jean-Yves Puyo, Secretary-Treasurer & Website Editor Département de Géographie Laboratoire Société, Environnement, Territoire Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour Domaine Universitaire 64000 Pau France Tel: (33) 5 59 40 72 77 Fax: (33) 5 59 40 72 55 E-mail: jean-yves.puyo@univ-pau.fr Charles W. J. Withers, Co-editor of Geographers: Biobibliographical Studies Institute of Geography University of Edinburgh Drummond Street Edinburgh EH8 9XP Tel : + 44 (0) 131 650 2559 Fax : + 44 (0) 131 650 2524 E-mail : c.w.j.withers@ed.ac.uk Tamami Fukuda School of Environmental System Sciences Osaka Prefecture University 1-1 Gakuen-cho, Naka-ku Sakai,Osaka 599-8531 JAPAN Tel: +81-72-254-9633 Fax: +81-72-254-9933 E-mail:tamami@hs.osakafu-u.ac.jp João Carlos Garcia Departamento de Geografía Facultade de Letras Universidade do Porto Via Panorâmica s/n 4150-564 Porto Portugal Tel: 22 6077189 Fax: 22 6077194 E-mail: jgarcia@letras.up.pt Guy Mercier Centre interuniversitaire d’études sur les lettres, les arts et les traditions (CELAT) Département de Géographie Université de Laval Pavillon Charles-De Koninck Local 6259 Québec G1K 7P4 Canada Phone: +1 418 656 2131 ext. 2574 2 Fax: +1 418 656 3960 E-mail : Guy.Mercier@ggr.ulaval.ca Judite do Nascimento Departamento de Ciència e Tecnologia Universidade de Cabo Verde Campus do Palmarejo Praia, Santiago Cabo Verde Tels: 00238 2621054/ 00238 2629112/00238 2629127 Fax: 00238 2627655 E-mail: judite.nascimento@adm.unicv.edu.cv Jan Vandersmissen Centre d’Histoire des Sciences et des Techniques Université de Liège 17 place Delcour 4020 Liège Belgium Tel: +32 479 930749 E-mail: Jan.Vandersmissen@ulg.ac.be Leon Yacher Department of Geography Morrill Hall 118A Southern Connecticut State University 501 Crescent Street New Haven, CT 06515-1355 United States of America Tel: (001) 203-392-5825 Fax : (001) 203-392 -5833 E-mail: yacherl1@southernct.edu Perla Zusman CONICET/Instituto de Geografía, Universidad de Buenos Aires Puán 480, 4to piso CP 1406. Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires Argentina Tel (005411) 4432-0606 int 116 Fax (005411) 4432-0121 E-mail : perlazusman@yahoo.es Honorary Chairs Anne Buttimer University College Dublin School of Geography, Planning «& Environmental Policy Newman Building Belfield Dublin 4 Ireland 3 Tel: + 353 1 7168174 E-mail: anne.buttimer@ucd.ie Vincent Berdoulay Département de Géographie Laboratoire Société, Environnement, Territoire Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour Domaine Universitaire 64000 Pau France Tel. : (33) 5 59 40 72 59 Fax : (33) 5 59 40 72 55 E-mail : vincent.berdoulay@univ-pau.fr 1.B) Number of members in the Commission’s distribution list as of 31 December 2015. The current Commission distribution list, as of 31 December 2015, includes 452 members from 52 different countries, whose regional distribution is as follows: Table 1. Members included in the distribution list of the Commission, as of 31 December 2015 (*) Region Total 224 % of the total 49,6 Europe Latin America 88 Members by country (in alphabetical order by region) Albania (1), Belgium (2), Croatia (1), Czech Republic (1), Finland (2), France (52), Germany (13), Hungary (3), Ireland/Eire (3), Italy (18), Netherlands (2), Poland (8), Portugal (11), Romania (1), Slovenia (1), Spain (76), Sweden (1), Switzerland (7), UK (21) 19,5 Argentina (4), Brazil (70), Chili (2), Colombia (1), Mexico (10), Venezuela (1) Asia 58 12,8 USA & Canada Russia Africa 33 7,3 24 21 5,3 4,6 Oceania 4 0,9 TOTAL 452 Bangladesh (1), China (14), India (4), Indonesia (1), Israel (11), Iran (1), Iraq (1), Japan (16), Pakistan (1), Saudi Arabia (1), Taiwan (4), Turkey (1), Singapore (1), Vietnam (1) Canada (9), USA (24) Russian Federation (24) Algeria (1), Cape Verde (11), Gabon (1), Madagascar (1), Morocco (2), Senegal (3), South Africa (1), Tunisia (1) Australia (3), New Zealand (1) Note *: Countries being considered are those where the institution of the author is located, not the author’s nationality. 4 1.C. URL of the Commission website: http://web.univ-pau.fr/RECHERCHE/UGIHG/ 2. MEETINGS. 2.A) Meetings organized and held by the Commission during 2012-2015. Table 2.1 summarizes the basic details of the seven meetings that have been either organised or co-organised by the Commission since 2012 to date (some of them including different thematic paper sessions). It also includes the basic information related to one more meeting (the 1st French-Brazilian International Conference on Comparative Studies in History and Epistemology of Geography), which was held in 2015 under the auspices of the Commission, but organised by other institutions. In the seven meetings which were directly organised or co-organised by the Commission a total of 180 contributions (176 papers + 4 lectures) have been presented by 153 different authors, coming from 28 countries (Table 2.2). 25 of these authors have given papers in two or more meetings. The main themes and results of those meetings are summarized in item 2.B, whereas item 2.C refers to the meetings planned by the Commission in 2016 and later years. Table 2.1: Meetings organised and held by the Commission (August 2012 December 2015). Location (Country and municipality) Dates Activities & topics and additional information Number of participants (papers & authors) 1.GERMANY (I) Leipzig & Gotha 21-25 August 2012 Two main pre-congress activities organised jointly with the Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography (Leipzig): 19 papers (by 21 authors) 1) Pre-Congress symposium on the topic "Cartography and Geographical Knowledge in the Public Sphere", Leipzig and Gotha on August 21-23, 2012 2. GERMANY (II): Cologne 26-30 August 2012 3. UNITED KINGDOM: Manchester 22-28 July 2013 2) Pre-Congress Field Trip from August 21 to August 26, 2012, including visits to Leipzig, Gotha, Eisenach and the Rhine Gorge, among other locations, with a final rail ride to Cologne. Paper sessions held within the framework of the 32nd International Geographical Congress. Session topic: “Society and Environment: conceptions and representations of Nature(s) in the History of Geography”. Symposium on the topic “Geography and its Publics”, jointly organised with the History and Philosophy of Geography Research Group of the Royal Geographical Society & Institute of British Geographers, within the framework of the 24th International Congress of History of Science, Technology and Medicine. 21 papers (by 23 authors) 18 papers + 2 keynote lectures and commentaries (by 21 authors) 5 4. JAPAN: Kyoto (I) 5-9 August Two paper sessions held within the framework of the IGU 2013 Regional Conference: 1) Session on the topic “Languages, materiality and the construction of geographical modernities”, organized in cooperation with the Geographical Thought Study Group of the Human Geographical Society of Japan. Session on the topic “History of Geography, Geographical Thought and Practice, and Gender”, jointly organized with the IGU Commission on Gender and Geography. 18-22 Paper session on the topic “What (political) geography ought August to be? Theoretical approaches to and historical perspectives on 2014 geography and geopolitics as instruments of peace”, jointly organised with the IGU Commission on Political Geography, within the framework of the IGU Regional Conference Symposium on the topic “The circulation of ideas in the 10-16 December history of geographic knowledge: hierarchies, scales, networks and interactions”, jointly organised with the Brazilian 2014 Network on the History of Geography and Historical Geography (Rede Brasileira de História da Geografia e Geografia Histórica) Two paper sessions within the framework of the IGU Regional 19-20 Conference: August 2) 5. POLAND: Cracow 6. BRAZIL: Rio de Janeiro 7. RUSSIAN FEDERATION: Moscow 2015 8. FRANCE: Pau 30 March-2 April 2015 Session 1: 21 papers (by 29 authors) Session 2: 8 papers (by 8 authors) 10 papers (by 12 authors) 50 papers +2 keynote lecturers and commentaries (by 55 authors) 1) A session on the topic “Exploring and mapping lands, air and waters. Research on the History of Geographical Explorations”. Session 1: 21 papers (by 34 authors) 2) A session on the topic “Rethinking what (political) geography ought to be: Theories, histories, and practices of geography and geopolitics as instruments of peace”, jointly organised with the IGU Commission on Political Geography. Session 2: 8 papers (by 11 authors) I Colóquio Internacional Franco-Brasileiro Estudos comparados de Epistemologia e História da Geografia / 1er Atelier international franco-brésilien Etudes comparées d'Épistémologie et Histoire de la Géographie) [1st French-Brazilian International Conference on Comparative Studies in History and Epistemology of Geography] 1 keynote lecture + 17 papers + 1 concluding lecture (by 19 authors) Organised by the SET (Societé, Environnement, Territoire) Research Unit (CNRS & Université de Pau et des Pays de l`Adour) under the auspices of the IGU-CHG. 6 Table 2.2. Number of authors who have presented at least one paper or lecture in the meetings either organised or co-organised by the Commission (2012-2016), distributed by region. Region Number of authors (*) % Europe 72 47 Number of countries of origin of authors (**) 13 Asia 31 20,3 9 Latin America Russia USA & Canada Africa Oceania Total 21 13,7 3 19 8 12,4 5,2 1 1 1 0,6 1 0,6 153 authors (for 180 contributions) 1 1 28 Number of authors by regions an countries (**) France (21), UK (14), Spain (9), Germany (8), Italy (7), Poland (5), Portugal (2), Switzerland (2), Croatia (1), Hungary (1), Ireland (1), Romania (1), Japan (14), China (5), India (3), Taiwan (3), Israel (2), Irak (1), Saudi Arabia (1), Singapore (1), Turkey (1) Brazil (14), Mexico (4), Argentina (3), Russian Federation (19) USA (8) Madagascar (1) New Zealand (1) Notes: (*) This table includes the authors of the papers and lectures presented in the Meetings mentioned in table 2.1, except for the 1st French-Brazilian International Conference on Comparative Studies in History and Epistemology of Geography, which was held under the auspices of the Commission, but organised by other institutions. Authors whose paper proposals were accepted but who did not attend the Meetings are not counted. 25 authors who have presented papers in two or more different meetings are counted once only. (**): Countries being considered are those where the institution of the author is located as of 31 December 2016, not the author’s nationality. 2.B) Summary of the questions addressed in the meetings and the main outcomes and conclusions resulting from them. The meetings organised by the Commission during the period 2012-2016 have focused on five major themes and concerns, whose main contents and results can be summarized as follows: a) The presence and role of geographic knowledge in public sphere throughout history. This theme, which is connected with one of the main objectives envisaged by the Commission for 2012-2016, namely to promote a better contextual understanding of the relationship between geography and society, within and beyond the academy, was approached through two specific symposia: 7   The first was held in Leipzig in August 2013 under the title of “Cartography and Geographical Knowledge in the Public Sphere”. Contributions to this meeting focused particularly on the public dimensions and social history of cartography, including the production, trade and consumption of maps; the field and interaction of scientific, commercial, journalistic, military and school cartography; the role of cartography in shaping scientific knowledge, nation building, and education; or the role of indigenous knowledge in pre-colonial and colonial cartography. The second, entitled “Geography and its publics”, took place in Manchester within the framework of the 24th International Congress of History of Science. The meeting did focus, more largely, on the multiple and diversified audiences for geographical knowledge since its institutionalization in the19th century and how geography has been historically utilized to serve wider political, economic, social and cultural interests beyond the academy. The symposium was organised around three sub-themes of two sessions each, namely ‘Multiple publics’, ‘Geopolitics and exploration’, and ‘Geographical education and knowledge’. These sessions addressed a range of private and public workplaces in which geographical knowledge has been made and used as well as other settings, formal and informal, in which geography has been communicated to the wider public, mainly to shape people’s geographical imaginations and understanding. Key questions dealt with the utility of geographical knowledge, the processes and practices that transfer geographical knowledge between different epistemological realms, the nature of a public for geography. b) The usefulness of geography as a "reservoir" of ideas and experiences with which to address some relevant social and environmental challenges of the contemporary world. As indicated in the aforementioned Work Plan, this issue has been another Commission essential concern since the 1990s and involves investigating not only the “retrospective” dimensions of the history of geography (i.e., those which focus on the review of the past for understanding the present), but also, as the Commission’s former Chair has claimed in several occasions, its “prospective” dimension (i.e., its ability to provide useful insights for the formulation of proposals and solutions for a better future). Among the meetings held in 2012-2016, two major topics have been addressed in this regard.  First, a session on “Society and Environment: conceptions and representations of Nature(s) in the History of Geography” was organised by the Commission within the framework of the 32nd International Geographical Congress, held in Cologne in August 2012. Contributions presented in the sessions especially dealt with philosophical and scientific conceptions of nature within the history of geography; the geographical roots of nature conservation policies and the idea of sustainable development; Nature control, nature romance and the description of landscapes; conceptions of “Nature” within different cultural, social and political environments; the field and interaction of indigenous, popular and scientific geographical knowledge of nature; and representations of nature within literature and art in connection to geography. 8  Second, two paper sessions on the theories, histories, and practices of geography and geopolitics as instruments of peace were jointly organised with the Commission on Political Geography within the frameworks of the IGU Regional Conferences held in Cracow (August 2014) and Moscow (August 2015).” Stimulated by the IGU initiative for a UN International Year of Global Understanding, both sessions aimed to attract papers examining how geography and geographers have contributed to foster peace, cultural tolerance and mutual understanding at different scales throughout the modern and contemporary history of the discipline. The papers presented at those meetings examined the legacy of some figures, institutions, and events with regard to antimilitarism, peace diplomacy and research, geographical internationalism and education for tolerance, such as E. Reclus, P. Kropotkin, P. Vidal de la Blache, S. Pawłowski, P. Dupuy, F. Maurette, C. Morrison-Bell, J. Gottmann, G. Jobberns, H. Lefevbre and the 1871 Antwerp International Geographical Congress. c) The dialectical relationships between geography and modernity, this last approached as a particular experience of time and space and as a set of ideas and practices about imagining and mastering space in which geographical knowledge was crucially integrated and considerably reshaped. Two meetings have been particularly concerned with the theme.   First, the sessions held in the Kyoto Regional Conference under the title “Languages, materiality and the construction of geographical modernities”. The aim of the Kyoto session was to contemplate how different geographical languages and discourses have been deployed in the material and representational construction of modern spaces and places, and how the materiality of modern social life has in turn shaped those languages and discourses. In this context, the concept of “geographical modernities” referred not only to the differentiated modern spaces and places, but also to modern academic and non-academic geographical discourses themselves. Among other topics, contributions to this session, some of which were published in a booklet (see item 4, Table 5.2, of this report), approached the relationships between the history of geography and material objects, institutions and localities; critical reflections on various geographical languages (written texts, maps, photographs, paintings, engravings and others); material cultures and the production, circulation and consumption of geographical knowledge; imaginative geographies in academia and broader society; and the role of academic and nonacademic geographers in the planning and development of cities, regions and countryside. Second, a session on “Exploring and mapping lands, air and waters. Research on the History of Geographical Explorations” was organized in the framework of the Moscow Regional Conference. This meeting focused on how geographical explorations not only contributed to the construction of modern spatiality but also influenced the evolution of geography and geographical knowledge in various crucial ways. Papers presented at the meeting dealt with different aspects of this relationship, such as, among others, methods of obtaining initial geographical data on regions of exploration; the construction of “Otherness” through the relationships between explorers and natives, with special attention to geographical perceptions and ideas in different cultures, as well as to cross-cultural exchange of geographic 9 knowledge; narratives on discovery and exploration: itineraries, geographical descriptions, travel literature, etc.; surveying and mapping of oceans, lands, air, peoples, boundaries, and states; and exploration of natural and artificial waterways and their influence on environmental changes. d) The circulation of ideas in the history of geographic knowledge. This concern inspired the meeting held in Rio de Janeiro on December 2014 under the same title, jointly organised with the Brazilian Network on the History of Geography and Historical Geography (Rede Brasileira de História da Geografia e Geografia Histórica). This symposium was structured around the three main thematic axis, namely: 1) Hierarchies (centres and peripheries in the history of geography); 2) Interactions (disciplinary transits and translations of geographic knowledge); and 3) Networks (institutional arrangements and intellectual cooperation in the history of geography). In addition to the scientific interest of the papers, a selection of which was published in two special issues of Terra Brasilis (see item 4, Table 5.2, of this report), this initiative was clearly in line with another strategic target of the Commission’s 20122016 work plan, addressed to help to build a history of geography that takes fully into account contributions from beyond the European and Anglo-American regions. In the same vein, the Commission sponsored the 1st French-Brazilian International Conference on Comparative Studies in History and Epistemology of Geography, which took place in Pau from 30 March to 2 April 2015. e) The relationships between history of geography, geographical thought and practice, and gender, which were the focus of the session jointly organised with the IGU Commission on Gender and Geography within the framework of the Kyoto Regional Conference. In this joint session, we re-considered the production, transformation and distribution of geographical knowledge – academic and nonacademic – from a gender perspective. Papers tackled, among other aspects, reviews of the history of academic geography and alternative histories of geography; critical reflections on geographical concepts (e.g. place, space, home, boundaries, landscape); and the multiple ways in which geographical knowledge – academic and non-academic – has been produced and embodied in society. The session shed important light on the history not only of feminist geographies, but, more broadly, on the (traditionally unknown or underestimated) role played by women on the history of the discipline in different historical and geographical contexts (such as the colonial enterprise, the academy, geographical school teaching and pedagogy, and government agencies and departments). C) Meetings planned to be held in 2016 and later years. Table 3 summarizes the meetings planned by the Commission for the 2016-2020 period, within the framework of the aims and work plan described in item 6 of this report. These include the sessions organised in the framework of the 33rdIGC, as well as the Commission’s plans concerning the 25th International Congress of History of Science and Technology, the 2018 IGU Regional Conference, the 17th International Conference of Historical Geographers, the 34th IGC and the organisation of a specific thematic symposium in 2019. 10 Table 3: Commission Meetings planned for 2016-2020. Location (Country and municipality) Dates Topics to be addressed and other relevant information 1.CHINA: Beijing 21-25 August 2016 33rd International Geographical Congress. Two paper sessions, namely: 1) A session on the topic “Studies in the History of Geography: past and present”. Chairs: Jacobo García-Álvarez & Jean-Yves Puyo 2) A session on the topic “Geographical imaginations, practices and stories of finisterrae and border spaces”, jointly organised with the IGU Commission on the Cultural Approach in Geography. Chairs: Enrique Aliste & Perla Zusman 2. BRAZIL: Rio de Janeiro 23-29 July 2017 25th International Congress of History of Science and Technology in Rio de Janeiro, in collaboration with the Rio members of the Brazilian network on the History of Geography and Historical Geography (Rede Brasileira de História da Geografia e Geografia Histórica). Proposed theme: “Critical, radical and postcolonial geographies and cartographies from early approaches to present-day debates” 3. CANADA: Quebec 6-10 August 2018 IGU Regional Conference in Québec. Theme (already established): “Historiography of geography: developments, trends and challenges”. 4. POLAND: Warsaw 2018 5. IRELAND/EIRE: Dublin 2019 6. TURKEY: Istanbul (candidate city) 2020 17th International Conference of Historical Geographers. Session theme still to be decided. Commission Symposium. Proposed theme: “National imagination, national building, internal colonialism and historical geographies of identity-making” 34th International Geographical Congress (probably in Istanbul). Proposed theme for the Commission session: “East, West, seas and Mediterranean worlds”. 3. NETWORKING AND COMMUNICATION. 3.A) Collaboration with other IGU Commissions and Task Forces in the period 2012-2016. Since the 32nd International Geographical Congress, the current CSC has re-established a policy of cooperation with other IGU Commissions and task forces. This policy has resulted in four main activities: 1) A joint paper session with the Commission on Gender and Geography, organised within the framework of the IGU Regional Conference held in Kyoto in 2013. The 11 topic of this session was “History of Geography, Geographical Thought and Practice, and Gender”. 2) Two joints papers sessions with the Commission on Political Geography organised within the frameworks of the IGU Regional Conferences held in Cracow (August 2014) and Moscow (August 2015). The topics of those sessions were similar, the first dealing with “What (political) geography ought to be? Theoretical approaches to and historical perspectives on geography and geopolitics as instruments of peace”; and the second, a continuation of the previous, under the title of “Rethinking what (political) geography ought to be: Theories, histories, and practices of geography and geopolitics as instruments of peace”. 3) A joint paper session with the IGU Commission on the Cultural Approach in Geography, which has been proposed for the 33rd IGC. The topic of this session is “Geographical imaginations, practices and stories of finisterrae and border spaces”. 4) Collaboration with the Commission and the IGU Sesquicentennial and Centennial Task Force. At the proposal of the President of IGU, Prof. Jacobo García-Álvarez joined this Task Force in March 2015. He and Prof. Heffernan, together with IGU President Prof. Vladimir Kolosov and Past President Prof. Ron Abler, have participated in an initial meeting held on the initiative of this Task Force and aimed at preparing a commemorative book for the 2022 Extraordinary International Geographical Congress. This meeting took place in Leipzig on February 5th, 2016, hosted by the Leibniz Institut fur Landerkunde, where the IGU Archives are placed. As a final remark, it is worth highlighting that the Commission’s cross-thematic approach lends itself to cooperation with other Commissions and Task Forces, so the CSC will work to foster these developments during the following years. 3.B) Collaboration with other international, intergovernmental, and inter- and multi-disciplinary organizations. As noted above, networking strategies followed by the current CSC have put particular emphasis on strengthening and multiplying relationships with national organisations and research groups specifically concerned with the history of geography and cartography. This approach has been very fruitful and successful, as evidenced by the various meetings co-organized by the Commission over the past four years, as well as by the forthcoming plans (see Table 4). In this regard, from 2012 onwards the commission has collaborated with institutions from Europe (such as the University of Lisbon’s Centre of Geographical Studies; the Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography at Leipzig; and the History and Philosophy of Geography Research Group of the Royal Geographical Society & Institute of British Geographers); Asia (The Human Geographical Society of Japan’s Geographical Thought Study Group) and Latin America (Brazilian network on the History of Geography and Historical Geography). Moreover, as indicated in the 2012-2016 Work Plan, for the CSC collaboration with such national research groups is strategically key in order to achieve three important objectives: to expand the reach of the Commission’s initiatives; to set a 12 global, dense and effective network of corresponding members (currently in preparation); and to think of world histories of geography that might overcome the traditional, Western-orientated and internalist approaches to the discipline’s historiography. The Commission’s maintenance and expansion of this cooperation with national and local groups and institutions will remain a priority within its networking strategies for the future. Table 4: Collaboration of the IGU Commission on the History of Geography (IGUCHG) with other institutions and groups (since August 2012 onwards). Region Country Institution/ Group International Union of History and Philosophy of Science and Technology (IUHPST) – Division of History of Science INTERNATIONAL (ICSU) Portugal Germany United Kingdom France ASIA Japan University of Lisbon – Centre of Geographical Studies (CEG-UL) Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography / Leibniz – Institute für Länderkunde (LIFL), Leipzig. Royal Geographical Society & Institute of British Geographers – History and Philosophy of Geography Research Group (RGS&IBGHPGRS) SET (Societé, Environnement, Territoire) Research Unit (CNRS & Université de Pau et des Pays de l`Adour) The Human Geographical Society of Japan Geographical Thought Study Group (HGSJ – GTSG) Type of Cooperation The IGU-CHG is a full member of the IUHST – DHS since 1976, as one of the Inter-Union Commissions. Since August 2008, the IGU-CHG has participated or is going to participate in the following IUHPST meetings: -24rd International Congress of History of Science and Technology, Manchester, July 2013. IGU-CHG co-organised a paper session on the topic “Geography and its Publics”. -25th International Congress of History of Science and Technology, Rio de Janeiro 2017. IGU-CHG will co-organize a Symposium on the topic “Critical, radical and postcolonial geographies and cartographies from early approaches to present-day debates”. IGU-CHG has co-published in 2014 a book based on the IGU-CHG symposium on “History of Geography and Colonialism”, held in Cape Verde in June 2011, co-edited by Joao Carlos Garcia and Jacobo GarcíaÁlvarez. IGU-CHG and L-IFL jointly organized, in August 2012, a pre-congress paper session on the topic “Cartography and geographical knowledge in the Public sphere”, as well as a pre-congress field trip, and co-planned the topic of the paper session on History of Geography that was held at Cologne in the 32nd IGC. The local coordinators on behalf of the L-IFL were Prof. Ute Wardenga and Dr. Bruno Schelhaas. IGU-CHG and RGS&IBG-HPGRS jointly organized a Symposium on “Geography and its publics” that was held in the framework of the 24 th International Congress of History of Science and Technology (Manchester, July 2013). The organising Committee for this Symposium was made up by profs. Richard Powell & Heike Jons (on behalf of the RGS&IBG-HPGRG) and profs. Mike Heffernan, Jacobo García and Jan Vandersmissen (on behalf of the IGU-CHG). This research group co-organize the French-Brazilian international conference on Etudes comparées d'Épistémologie et Histoire de la Géographie, sponsored by the IGU-HGC. Prof. Vincent Berdoulay, one of the CHG Honorary Chair, was one of the meeting convenors. IGU-CHG and HGSJ – GTSG jointly organized the paper sessions devoted to History of Geography at the IGU regional Conference that were held in Tokyo on August 2013. The local coordinators appointed for those sessions were two members of the HGSJ – GTSG, namely: Prof. Toshiyuki Shimazu (current leader of the group) and Prof. Tamami Fukuda (full member of IGU-CHG Steering Committee). A booklet based on a selection of seven papers presented to those sessions was edited by Prof. Shimazu in 2014. 13 LATIN AMERICA Brazil Brazilian network on the History of Geography and Historical Geography (Rede Brasilis) Rede Brasilis was one of the organisers of the symposium held in Rio de Janeiro in December 2014, in cooperation with the IGU-CHG. Rede Brasilis is also involved in the plans for organizing the symposium planned by the Commission for the 25th ICHST, to be held in Rio in July 2017. The local convenors of this event will be Profs. Sergio Nunes and André Reyes Novaes. Other convenors on behalf of the Commission will be Prof. Marcella Schmidt di Friedberg and Dr. Perla Zusman. 3.C) C. Cooperative efforts with ISSC (International Social Science Council) and with ICSU (the International Council for Science) programs. Since 1976, the Commission acts as an international Commission not only within the IGU, but also within the Division of History of Science and Technology (DHST) of the International Union of the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology (IUHPST), which is part of the ICSU (https://sites.google.com/a/dhstweb.org/www/). As indicated in item 2, the Commission did organize a thematic symposium in the 24th International Congress of History of Science and Technology (held in Manchester in July 2013) and is going to propose another one for the 25th ICHST (to be held in Rio de Janeiro on July 2017). As for every Commission of the IUHPST, the Commission on the History of Geography has a seat and right to vote in the IUHPST General Assembly (which takes place every four years, within the International Congresses) and submits annual reports for the IUHPST Executive Committee (which are assessed and approved by it). One of the members of the CSC is specifically engaged on keeping and strengthening the relationships with the IUHPST, namely Dr. Jan Vandersmissen, who is currently the Head of the Centre d'Histoire des Sciences et des Techniques at the University of Liège and, since December 2012, corresponding member of the International Academy of the History of Science (http://www.aihs-iahs.org/). 4. PUBLICATIONS In the last four years, the Commission has issued three different kind of publications. The Commission has continued to edit the annual serial collection Geographers: Biobibliographical Studies (four volumes published between 2012 and 2015, one more forthcoming for October 2016), and the Commission’s periodical reports requested by the IGU Executive Committee (see Table 5.1). In addition to this, three of the Commission’s thematic symposia held in this period, together with the symposium held in Cape Verde in 2011, have resulted in three books and two journal special issues in Terra Brasilis (see Table 5.2) .Since we have already referred to the symposia which resulted in those monographs in item 2, in the following lines we shall focus the attention on the Geographers: Biobibliographical Studies series (henceforth GBS), the main and most distinctive publication of the Commission since 19772.The following report concerning the 2012-2016 period and the forthcoming plans has been written by Professors Charles W.J. Withers (University of Edinburgh) and Hayden Lorimer (University of Glasgow), who have been co-editors of GBS since 2007 to date. 2 For an account of the history of this series until 2000, see ARMSTRONG, Patrick & MARTIN, Geoffrey (2000): “Geographers: Biobibliographical Studies, 1977-2000”. Geographical Review, vol. 90 (2), pp. 256-259. 14 Acknowledgements are due to them for this and especially for their valuable work for GBS throughout the last ten years. They both will cease to be co-editors from September 2016, after the publication of GBS 35 (2016), being replaced by Dr. Elisabeth Baigent (Oxford University) and Prof. André Reyes Novaes (Rio de Janeiro State University). Achievements in the period Geographers Biobibliographical Studies continues to be, as an annual serial publication, the world’s leading source for the scholarly record of the lives, works, and achievements of leading geographers. The period 2012-2016 saw the publication of thirty-one essays on the lives and works of distinguished geographers (in detail: GBS 31 (2012) – 8 essays; GBS 32 (2013) – 8; GBS 33 (2014) – 7; GBS 34 (2015) – 8. With the forthcoming publication in August 2016 of GBS volume 35, the total will be increased to thirty-eight new GBS essays between 2008 and 2012. The overall total of GBS essays now stands in excess of 500 essays, from Volume 1 in 1977. GBS represents the single greatest continuing scholarly resource in print on the lives and works of geographers in the world today. In this period, two other issues should also be noted. The first has been the takeover of Continuum Publishers by Bloomsbury Ltd Publishers. This change of publishers was effected with the minimum of disruption to GBS (although it meant some style changes in the production of GBS), and the relationship between GBS, the IGU Commission, and the publishers remains strong. Although Bloomsbury treat GBS as an annual serial within its History subject imprint, this has had no deleterious effect on the relationship. If anything, Bloomsbury have been more prepared to distribute review copies of GBS and promote the publication than were Continuum. The second (and on-going) issue has been the development of the plans for the digitisation of GBS and the provision of an online version of GBS (in addition to the hard copy publication) and the development of a GBS Digital Resources of all the back number volumes and essays since the beginning of GBS (in 1977). This move to digital delivery has been for various reasons protracted: due to the need to secure all copies of the back numbers of GBS for scanning and digitisation; liaison between IGU Commission, publishers and co-editors over the best arrangements of access to the on-line version; delays within Bloomsbury over their Bloomsbury Digital platform. The digital version of GBS has been formally launched in February 2016 (at https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/). Other achievements in the period include: the first institutional prosopographical GBS essay (in 2014 on Hull House Geographers); in 2016 (forthcoming) the first publication-based proposopographical essay (in a study of the ‘minor’ authors involved in the Géographie Universelle); a conference session on GBS and biography and the history of geography (organised by Lorimer and Withers) at the International Historical Geography Conference in London, July 2015. Plans for the years ahead (2016-2020) The co-editors of GBS, Professors Hayden Lorimer (University of Glasgow, UK) and Charles W J Withers (University of Edinburgh, UK) will stand down from their roles in September 2016 (after a period of 10 years and only after seeing through all elements of the production and publication of GBS 35 (2016)) and liaising over hand-over arrangements with the incoming editorial team. The incoming co-editors of GBS are Dr Elizabeth Baigent (University of Oxford) and Prof. André Reyes Novaes (University of 15 Rio de Janeiro). Transitional planning for the hand-over of editorial responsibility is well underway: there is already a sufficient stock of essays in hand for GBS 36 (2017). The development of the digital resource for GBS is an important milestone and opportunity for the scholarly community and for the IGU Commission. The co-editors recognise the support this initiative has had from the IGU Commission and from the IGU Executive. It will be important to build upon this development in appropriate ways. It is also crucial (and to echo our remarks in our report of 2012) that GBS continues to represent the geographical community world-wide. It is important that new people be added, that important figures from the history of the discipline be the subject of biobibliographical review and that as full a record as possible be established. It is important that GBS should include geographers of all nationalities, especially of those from outwith the Anglo-American and European geographical worlds: more essays on women geographers and geographers from the Global South would be particularly welcome. It is important that the geographical community helps publicise GBS, that the volumes be the subject of critical review in relevant geographical journals across the world, and, where possible, that universities and institutions should subscribe to GBS in order to extend the reach of the IGU and the Commission. Table 5.1. Commission’s serial publications, 2012-2016. Type of Title of the publication (complete citation) Publication Book (annual serial collection) Hayden LORIMER & Charles W. J. WITHERS (eds): Geographers: Biobibliographical Studies, vol. 31, London & New York , 2012, 169 pages. Published by Bloomsbury on behalf of the IGU-CHG. ISBN: 978-1-4411-8624-9. Book (annual serial collection) Hayden LORIMER & Charles W. J. WITHERS (eds): Geographers: Biobibliographical Studies, vol. 32, London & New York, 2013, 173 pp. Published by Bloomsbury on behalf of the IGU-CHG. ISBN: 978-1-4725-1235-2. Book (annual serial collection) Hayden LORIMER & Charles W. J. WITHERS (eds): Geographers: Biobibliographical Studies, vol. 33, London & New York, 2014, 224 pp. Published by Bloomsbury on behalf of the IGU-CHG ISBN: 978-1472566614 Book (annual serial collection) Hayden LORIMER & Charles W. J. WITHERS (editors): Geographers: Biobibliographical Studies, vol. 34, London & New York, 2015, 264 pages. Published by Bloomsbury on behalf of the IGU-CHG. ISBN: 978-147-425-137-2 Summary of Contents Editors’ introduction + 8 essays on: Eva Germaine Rimington Taylor (1879-1966), Orlando Ribeiro (19111997), Aimé Vincent Perpillou (19021976), Two Vidalians: Antoine Vacher (1873-1920) and René Musset (18811977), Jean Dresch (1905-1994), Andre Cholley (1886-1968) , Daniel Faucher (1882-1970) and Kenneth Cumberland (1913-2011) Editors’ introduction + 8 essays on: Raoul Blanchard (1877-1965), Pierre Monbeig (1908-1987). Emmanuel de Margerie (1862-1953), Charles Robequain (1897-1963), Richard Lawton (1925-2010), William John Talbot (1908-1995), Antonín Strnad (1746-1799) and Sir Arthur de Capell Brooke (1791-1858). Jean Tricart (1920-2003), André Guilcher (1913-1993), Giovanni Marinelli (1846-1900) and Olinto Marinelli (1874-1926),Mabel Mary Baker (1885-1961), Hull House Geography (1889-1963) and Sándor Radó (1899-1981). Editors’ introduction + 8 essays (by 9 authors) on: Pierre Birot (1909-1984), James Alfred Steers (1899-1987), Hugh Counsell Prince (1927-2013), Maurice Zimmermann (1869-1950), 16 Commission activity reports Pyotr Kuz'mich Kozlov (1863-1935), Oskar Hermann Khristian Spate (1911-2000), Stephen Sargent Visher (1887-1967) and Neil Smith (19542012). -Report of the activities carried out in 2008-2012 and Work Plan for 2012-2016. -Report for 2012-2013. -Report for 2014. (All these documents are available at http://www.homeofgeography.org/ and http://web.univpau.fr/RECHERCHE/UGIHG/) Table 5.2. Commission’s monographs and non-serial publications, 2012-2016. Type of Publication Title of the publication (complete citation) Summary of Contents Book (based on Symposium Proceedings) GARCÍA-ÁLVAREZ, Jacobo & GARCIA, João Carlos (eds.): Historia da Geografia e colonialismo / Histoire de la Géographie et Colonialisme / History of Geography and Colonialism, Lisboa, Centro de Estudos Geográficos da Universidade de Lisboa & International Geographical Union, December 2014, 301 pages. This book is based on a selection of the papers and lectures given during the International Symposium held at Praia, Cape Verde, in June 2011. ISBN: 978-972-636-245-6. Book (based on Symposium Proceedings) SHIMAZU, Toshiyuki (ed.), Languages, materiality, and the construction of geographical modernities (Japanese contributions to the history of geographical thought Series, vol. 10), Wakayama, Wakayama University - Department of Geography, 2014, 117 pages. ISBN: 978-4-9900-5379-6. Journal Special issue LAMEGO, Mariana; RIBEIRO, Guilherme & ALBUQUERQUE BOMFIM, Paulo Roberto (dirs.); “Circulação das ideias e história dos saberes geográficos 1. Trajetórias, intercâmbios e aplicações das idéias geográficas”. Terra Brasilis (Nueva Serie). Revista da Rede Brasileira de História da Geografia e Geografia Histórica [online journal], no. 5, 2015. ISSN: 2316-7793 URL: http://terrabrasilis.revues.org/1352 Journal Special issue REYES NOVAES, André & NUNES, Sergio (dirs.): “Circulação das ideias e história dos saberes It includes 18 contributions (by 22 authors) in three different languages (8 in Portuguese, 5 in French and 5 in English), besides a trilingual Preliminary note by the two editors. This booklet is based on a selection of 7 papers (by 7 authors) presented to the Commission sessions held in the Kyoto IGU Regional Conference, on August 2013, in addition to the Editor’s introduction. The publication is available for free at the Commission’s website: http://www.crassist.co.jp/gt/gt_vol10.pdf This journal special issue includes 1 editorial introduction and 10 articles (by a total of 10 authors) based on a selection of the conferences and papers presented in the Commission Symposium held in Rio de Janeiro on December 2014. In addition to these articles, there are 5 other contributions written in memory of the Brazilian Historian of Geography Antonio Carlos Robert Moraes, alias “Tonico” (1954-2015). This journal special issue, which is complementary to the previous one, 17 geográficos 2. Representações e práticas no conhecimento do territorio”. Terra Brasilis (Nueva Serie). Revista da Rede Brasileira de História da Geografia e Geografia Histórica [online journal], no. 6, 2015. includes another 12 articles + 1 editorial introduction (by a total of 15 authors) based on a selection of the papers presented in the Commission Symposium held in Rio de Janeiro on December 2014. ISSN: 2316-7793 URL: http://terrabrasilis.revues.org/1549 5. ARCHIVAL CONTRIBUTIONS. Since its renewal in the 31st IGC to present, the CSC has reported regularly to the IGU Executive Committee on the Commission activities and publications and has transmitted a copy of the last to the IGU Secretary General (initially Prof. Woo-ik Yu; since 2010 Prof. Mike Meadows). According to the last IGU EC instructions in this regard, hard copies of the last GBS volume has been sent to the Archiv für Geographie at the Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography in Leipzig (www.ifl-leipzig.de). In addition to this, throughout the last 4 years the Commission has been actively involved in several initiatives targeted to providing scholars, at an international level, with archival resources and other types of information sources necessary to conduct high quality research on the history of geography. In this regard two actions should be remarked, both of them achieved with the valuable help and support of the IGU EC: 1) the digitisation of the entire GBS collection (see item 4 of this report); and 2) the acquisition, in 2013, of a copy of the International Dialogue Project (1978-1988) videotape collection existing at the Lund University Library, which is now streaming via a dedicated IGU YouTube channel (http://igu-online.org/dialogue-project/). Details on this second initiative (which was included in the Commission 2012-2016 Work Plan) have been described in the 2012-13 and 2014 Commission Activity Reports. Finally, it is also worth to notice that, as indicated in item 6 of this report, one of the archivists of the aforementioned Archiv für Geographie, Dr. Bruno Schelhaas, has been proposed as member of the next CSC. This appointment will strategically contribute not only to strengthen the relationships between the Commission and that Archive, but also to develop other ongoing or new initiatives aiming to provide the international geographical community with archival resources related to the history of the discipline. 6. CONTINUATION. 6.A) Commission’s name. The Commission on the History of Geography will retain its current name, as approved in the 31st IGC (August 2008). 6.B) Commission’s mission. 18 The Commission on the History of Geography actively promotes the multilingual and worldwide promotion of research in the Philosophy and History of Geography, Historical Geography and the History of Cartography. The Commission has an interdisciplinary agenda and works in collaboration with other scholars in the wider fields of the histories of science. After 48 years of existence, one of the Commission’s main duties is to contribute to the UGI and to represent our disciplinary sector. The Commission engages in a range of scientific approaches and is committed to research on geography’s institutionalization processes and to geography’s non-academic and heterodox presence. We acknowledge the importance of the social, political and cultural contexts behind the production of geographical knowledge and the theoretical impetus of the spatial turn in the history of science. We address the processes of colonization and nation building and the relations between geography and planning/territorial policies. We encourage the study and the development of non-European geographical cultures and challenge internalist, historicist and positivist readings of geography’s disciplinary history. 6.C) List of individuals of the new Commission’s Steering Committee. The CSC proposes to make some changes regarding its composition for the 2016-2020 period. Five current members of the CSC will remain in their positions: Tamami Fukuda, Judite do Nascimento, Leon Yacher, Guy Mercier and Perla Zusman. The other current members will be replaced by the following colleagues: a) Prof. Marcella Schmidt di Friedberg will replace Prof. Jacobo García-Álvarez as Commission Chair. b) Prof. Marie-Vic Ozouf-Marignier will replace Prof. Mike Heffernan as VicePresident. c) Dr. Federico Ferretti will replace Prof. Jean-Yves Puyo as Secretary/Treasurer/Website editor. d) Prof. André Reyes Novaes will replace Prof. Charles Withers as representative of Geographers: Biobibliographical Studies. e) Dr. Elizabeth Baigent will replace Dr. Jan Vandersmissen as member tied to the associations on history of Science, being also co-editor of Geographers: Biobibliographical Studies. f) Dr. Bruno Schelhaas will replace Prof. João Carlos Garcia. The new members, who have already agreed to join the CSC, are scholars with extensive experience and recognition in the field of the history of geography in their respective geographical areas, and have already worked actively in initiatives organized by the Commission. We will maintain the appointment of Profs. Anne Buttimer and Vincent Berdoulay as Honorary Chairs, as a way of formally acknowledging their intense, decisive and longstanding engagement with the Commission and in order to be able to draw upon their valuable help in the future. We will add to them, as Honorary Chair, the outgoing Chair, Prof. Jacobo García-Álvarez. 19 In order to further strengthen this international presence we propose that the outgoing Commission members who are willing to continue their engagement should remain in the Commission as honorary members. Thus, we propose that the outgoing CSC members, Mike Heffernan, Jean-Yves Puyo, Charles Withers, Jan Vandersmissen and João Garcia, remain as honorary members and that we are able to consult with them as commission representatives for the respective nations. The complete contact information of the new CSC membership for 2016-2020 is listed below: Marcella Schmidt di Friedberg, Chair University of Milan-Bicocca Piazza dell'Ateneo Nuovo, 1 20126, Milano (39) 0264484848 marcella.schmidt@unimib.it Marie-Vic Ozouf-Marignier, Vice-chair EHESS 190-198 Avenue de France 75244 Paris cedex 13 (33) 01 49 54 24 65 marie-vic.ozouf-marignier@ehess.fr Federico Ferretti, Secretary-Treasurer and Website editor University College Dublin School of Geography H015 Newman Building Belfield - Dublin 4, Ireland federico.ferretti@ucd.ie (353) 1 716 8176 Elizabeth Baigent, co-editor of Geographers Biobibliographical Studies Wycliffe Hall, University of Oxford Oxford OX2 6PW +44 (0)1865 285070 elizabeth.baigent@wycliffe.ox.ac.uk André Reyes Novaes, co-editor of Geographers Biobibliographical Studies Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Departamento de Geografia Humana. Rua São Francisco Xavier, 524 Maracanã 20550-013 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Brasil (55) 22542542 andrereyesnovaes@gmail.com Guy Mercier Centre interuniversitaire d’études sur les lettres, les arts et les traditions (CELAT) Département de géographie Université de Laval 20 Pavillon Charles-De Koninck 19 Local 6259 Québec G1K 7P4 Canada 1 418 656 2131 ext. 2574 E-mail: Guy.Mercier@ggr.ulaval.ca Tamami Fukuda School of Environmental System Sciences Osaka Prefecture University 1-1 Gakuen-cho, Naka-ku Sakai, Osaka 599-8531 JAPAN (81) 72-254-9633 E-mail:tamami@hs.osakafu-u.ac.jp Leon Yacher Department of Geography Morrill Hall 118A Southern Connecticut State University 501 Crescent Street New Haven, CT 06515-1355 United States of America (001) 203-392-5825 E-mail: yacherl1@southernct.edu Perla Zusman CONICET/Instituto de Geografía, Universidad de Buenos Aires Puán 480, 4to piso CP 1406. Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires Argentina (005411) 4432-0606 int 116 E-mail: perlazusman@yahoo.es Bruno Schelhaas Leibniz-Institut für Länderkunde Schongauerstraße 9 04328 Leipzig (49) 341 600 55-151 B_Schelhaas@ifl-leipzig.de Judite Nascimento Departamento de Ciència e Tecnologia Universidade de Cabo Verde Campus do Palmarejo Praia, Santiago Cabo Verde ( 00238 2621054) E-mail: judite.nascimento@adm.unicv.edu.cv 21 Honorary chairs Anne Buttimer University College Dublin School of Geography Newman Building Belfield - Dublin 4, Ireland (353) 1 7168174 E-mail: anne.buttimer@ucd.ie Vincent Berdoulay Département de Géographie Laboratoire Société, Environnement, Territoire Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour Domaine Universitaire 64000 Pau, France (33) 5 59 40 72 59 E-mail: vincent.berdoulay@univ-pau.fr Jacobo García-Álvarez Departamento de Humanidades: Historia, Geografía y Arte Universidad Carlos III de Madrid C/ Madrid 126, Edificio 14, despacho 14.2.13 28093 Getafe Spain (34) 91 624 92 13; E-mail: jacobo.garcia@uc3m.es Other honorary members Michael Heffernan School of Geography University of Nottingham University Park Nottingham, NG7 2RD United Kingdom 18 01 15 84 66144 E-mail: Mike.Heffernan@nottingham.ac.uk Jean-Yves Puyo Département de Géographie Laboratoire Société, Environnement, Territoire Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour Domaine Universitaire 64000 Pau France (33) 5 59 40 72 77 E-mail: jean-yves.puyo@univ-pau.fr 22 Charles W. J. Withers Institute of Geography University of Edinburgh Drummond Street Edinburgh EH8 9XP (44) 131 650 2559 E-mail : c.w.j.withers@ed.ac.uk João Carlos Garcia Departamento de Geografía Facultade de Letras Universidade do Porto Via Panorâmica s/n 4150-564 Porto Portugal (22) 6077189 E-mail: jgarcia@letras.up.pt Jan Vandersmissen Centre d’Histoire des Sciences et des Techniques Université de Liège 17 place Delcour 4020 Liège Belgium (32) 479 930749 E-mail: Jan.Vandersmissen@ulg.ac.be 6.D) Work plan envisaged for 2016-2020. The programme of the Commission on the History of Geography will continue the work done by the outgoing members, whose previous work we fully acknowledge. Our first duty will be to continue organising substantial sessions in the Philosophy and History of Geography within the international conferences of the IGU and the ICHST, as well as the periodic organisation of Commission-led specific symposiums in collaboration with local organisations. As a minimum conference program, we will organise sessions on the history of geography in the following occasions:  2017: 25th International Congress of History of Science and Technology in Rio de Janeiro, in collaboration with the Rio members of the Brazilian network on the History of Geography and Historical Geography (Rede Brasileira de História da Geografia e Geografia Histórica). Proposed theme: “Critical, radical and postcolonial geographies and cartographies from early approaches to present-day debates”  2018: IGU Regional Conference in Québec. Theme (already established): “Historiography of geography: developments, trends and challenges”. 23  2018: International Conference of Historical Geographers (ICHG) in Warsaw: after the success of the 2015 ICHG in London, we will circulate information and encourage members and collaborators to attend and to organize autonomous sessions. We plan to ask the organisers about the possibility of holding a public meeting of the Commission in Warsaw, in order to give us further international visibility.  2019: Commission symposium in Dublin. Proposed theme: “National imagination, national building, internal colonialism and historical geographies of identity-making”.  2020: 34th International Geographical Congress (probably in Istanbul). Proposed theme for the Commission section: “East, West, seas and Mediterranean worlds”. As a ‘forward look’:  2021: Regional conference in Milan. Proposed theme. “Geographical teaching, historical geographies of education and society”  2022: Engaging a specific work for the Centennial IGU Conference in Paris, in collaboration with the CFNG and the French-speaking members and the IGU Sesquicentennial and Centennial Task Force. Supplementary conferences can be organised in liaison with local groups or for special occasions which members think worthy of the Commission’s presence: for instance, the collaboration with the IGU Commission on Political Geography, with which successful joint sessions have been organized in the last IGU Regional Conferences in Cracow (2014) and Moscow (2015), as well as with the Commission on Gender and Geography (Kyoto, 2013) and the Commission on the Cultural Approach in Geography (Beijing 2016). The conferences’ themes will highlight the continuity with the former commission’s research policy. We consider the history of geography not as a collection of notions and facts but as the critical interpretation of historical and situated ideas in geography and we pay strong attention to their societal relevancy and cultural contexts, in addition to our concern with the spatial turn in social sciences and with scientific phenomena and non-academic practices. In continuation with several of the major objectives outlined in the Commission 20122016 Work Plan, our primary strategic task will be the consolidation and expansion of the international and multilingual network of the Commission on the History of Geography, improving the participation of extra-European groups, mainly through the creation of an international directory of groups and associations concerned with the history of geography, identifying at least one individual for every country in order to strengthen scientific networking and exchange of ideas (drawing for example upon the former commission members who are now honorary members). This will be accompanied by the creation of an international directory of archives (both personal and institutional) related to the history of geography, to make these materials (including the IGU archives themselves) available to the global geographical community and to others 24 such as historians of science, as well as to provide for their detailed inventory and adequate conservation. Specific duties and communicational tasks:    We will maintain the website in Pau, thanks to the availability and support of colleagues there, and will keep the site constantly updated. We will support the outgoing commission’s proposals on the annual serial publication Geographers: Bio-Bibliographical Studies (GBS), whose digitization has been completed and launched in February 2016, as indicated in item 4 of this report. We will work with the publishers to disseminate this publication in all its forms. Either inside or outside of GBS’ editorial framework, we will consider the creation of an on-line geographers’ biographical dictionary, with the collaboration of the entire international directory, to give visibility to the work of the Commission and to research groups specially working on history of geography. We will support any effort to digitize and make publically available digital archives containing interviews, videos and records on geographers’ activities, in the same line as the outgoing CSC, together with the IGU EC, promoted the online publishing of the International Dialogue Project (1978-1988) videotape collection via a dedicated IGU You Tube Channel (see item 5). 25