Myths of Geography: Eight Ways We Get the World Wrong
The Science in Dialogue seminar series explores the relationship between the sciences, highlighting connections, mutual influences and common challenges. The aim is to stimulate critical and open discussion, fostering an integrated view of knowledge and offering food for thought on the very nature of scientific research in its cultural, historical and social context. Through interdisciplinary meetings, scholars from different fields and backgrounds will discuss the role of science in the construction of knowledge and in contemporary society. Central issues such as the relationship between science and history, the impact of scientific innovations on humanistic thought, the role of scientific communication and the tensions between specialisation and interdisciplinarity will be explored. Each seminar will be an opportunity to question how science contributes not only to technical progress, but also to the understanding of the world and man. The historical-philosophical perspective, in particular, will make it possible to highlight how science is not an isolated activity, but the result of a continuous dialogue with the social, cultural and intellectual context in which it develops, offering essential tools for interpreting the challenges of the present and the future.
Abstract
Not so long ago, maps of the world were drawn with mythical creatures lurking at their edge. Today, such maps might appear as fantastic embellishments, alive with myth and exaggeration. But, what if our current view of the world is shaped just as much by myth and belief as it once was? This presentation draws on my book Myths of Geography to chart a set of geographical myths for our present age. It explores how common, oversimplified myths about geography appear to be just as real as the monsters at the edge of the world once did. These are myths with such power that they can prevent us from even recognising that they are products of active geographical imaginations. Drawing on geographical, historical, and political analysis - as well as cases from diverse regions of the world - this overview of the book will uncover the power of imagined geographies and how they can more readily move mountains and continents than any processes of physical geography. It will recount the tall tales that we tell ourselves about nations and borders, and the flimsy threads that economies and sovereignty cling to. It asks what geographical truths of the world actually hold when we examine them more closely and what are the implications of letting them go.