Annual Tony McManus Geopoetics Lecture 2018, 'Finding a Radical Hope in Geopoetics', Leith, Edinburgh
I was invited to give the annual Tony McManus Geopoetics lecture as part of the Geopoetics AMG in Leith, Edinburgh.
The Geopoetics Day 2018 was part of the month-long Sustainable Communities Heritage Festival of symposia, lectures, seminars, workshops, films and performances taking place in the Edinburgh area, organised by the Intercultural Research Centre as part of the European Year of Cultural Heritage. Read more
Tony McManus Geopoetics Lecture by Dr Mairi McFadyen:
A Journey into Geopoetics: exploring the contours of an emerging practice
The challenges we face today – ecological, social and political - demand new forms of consciousness, creativity and collective action. In his book The Radical Field (2007), Tony McManus outlines the world significance of geopoetics as a theory-practice for what he calls ‘radical cultural renewal.’ Inspired by his writings, Mairi will reflect on her own journey as an ethnologist and will trace the contours of an emerging praxis which finds grounds for radical hope in geopoetics. It is more necessary than ever that we gather together and continue to explore how to live on this earth in more hopeful, joyful and life-giving ways.
Some reviews below:
“Scotland (and beyond) needs more of this tone, reflection & imagination. Our conventional ways of thinking & organising our societies are broken. This beautiful essay by Mairi McFadyen looks at what it is to be human, geopoetics & the need for radical hope.” Gerry Hassan
“Some ideas take their time to travel from the margins to the centre - the urgency of the times pulls them in, newly making them relevant. Such it is with the concept of geopoetics … What is interesting about geopoetics in 2018 is the way it’s being taken up by a group of young scholars, artists & activists in Scotland, who want to use geopoetics (and Kenneth White’s work) as a way to frame and name their agency, facing hyper-capitalism and climate crisis.” The Alternative UK.
“What an intellectually thrilling text from Mairi McFadyen—this generation’s take on Ken White’s geopoetics, in the anthropocene age (& our deep adaptation to it).” Pat Kane.
“Finding Radical Hope in Geopoetics - a tour de force by Mairi McFadyen.” Mike Small, Bella Caledonia