Category Archives: Historical-Geographies

The Birth of Territory

Posted on September 2, 2013 by Teo Ballvé

Stuart Elden has announced the publication of his much anticipated book, The Birth of Territory. At this blog—not least because of its name—we’ve followed the progress of this work very closely. As I said back then: “We’ve admired this work—the royal … Continue reading →

Posted in Historical-Geographies, Land, Law, Maps, Place, Power, Sovereignty, Spatiality, Territory, The State | Comments Off

Awkward Seas and Exclusive Economic Zones

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Teo Ballvé

New Left Review‘s new issue has an article by Peter Nolan that surveys the national “territorial” claims over the world’s oceans: “Imperial Archipelagos.” The sea as an awkward political space is one of those hobby interests of mine that may … Continue reading →

Posted in Boundaries, Frontiers, Historical-Geographies, Land, Law, Nation/Nationalism, Pirates, Post-Colonial, Power, Sovereignty, Spatiality, Territory, The Sea, The State | 1 Comment

Narco-Geographies, Part II: Political Ecology of the Drug Economy

Posted on February 12, 2013 by Teo Ballvé

Tim Hall has recently called on geographers to more actively study organized crime and geographies of the illicit more broadly. Paul Robbins, meanwhile, has said “the political ecology of the drug trade” (2004: 215) remains almost entirely unexplored. The ferocity … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, David Harvey, Drugs, Forests, Frontiers, Historical-Geographies, Illegality, Land, Political Ecology, Political Economy, Primitive Accumulation, Spatiality, The State | 4 Comments

New Journal: Critical Historical Studies

Posted on December 18, 2012 by Teo Ballvé

University of Chicago Press is launching a new journal called Critical Historical Studies. Sponsored by the Chicago Center for Contemporary Theory and edited by Manu Goswami, Moishe Postone, Andrew Sartori, and William H. Sewell, Jr., the journal is actively seeking submissions. Critical Historical … Continue reading →

Posted in Historical-Geographies, Political Economy | Comments Off

Roberto Bolaño & Geopolitics

Posted on September 6, 2012 by Teo Ballvé

David Kurnick published an interesting piece about Chilean writer Roberto Bolaño on Public Books, which I just discovered and is a partner site of the journal Public Culture. Like many others, I’ve noted the “discovery” of Bolaño by the Anglo literary … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Everyday Life, Historical-Geographies, Jester, Place | 4 Comments

Frontiers and Deadwood as Geography

Posted on August 22, 2012 by Teo Ballvé

A piece titled “Deadwood as History” by Anne Hyde in Foreign Affairs on the historical content (or lack thereof) of HBO’s Deadwood begins: “All Westerns are stories of people attempting to impose order on a chaotic, lawless, and savage environment.” … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Boundaries, Frontiers, Henri Lefebvre, Historical-Geographies, Law, Political Ecology, Primitive Accumulation, Race & Ethnicity, Spatiality, Violence | Comments Off

Salty Geographies

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Teo Ballvé

A recent post by Andy Davies over at the Antipode Foundation’s blog raises some interesting geographical questions, particularly around labor, in light of the recent Costa Concordia shipwreck. On this blog we’ve noted some of the tricky problems the sea … Continue reading →

Posted in Carl Schmitt, Historical-Geographies, Law, Pirates, Power, Sovereignty, Spatiality, The Sea, The State | Comments Off

Geographies of the Outlaw

Posted on October 3, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

The word “outlaw”—outside of the law—implicitly articulates the intimate relationship between geography and the law. From the perspective of state-makers and capitalists, the groups of outlaws I’m collectively labeling “Motley Crews” (as a shorthand) pose a grave ideological and spatial … Continue reading →

Posted in Bandits, Carl Schmitt, Drugs, Elites, Forests, Frontiers, Gender, Historical-Geographies, Illegality, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Karl Marx, Land, Law, Michel Foucault, Networks, Pirates, Post-Colonial, Power, Primitive Accumulation, Sovereignty, Spatiality, Territory, Terror, The Body, The Sea, The State, Violence | Comments Off

A Genealogy of Sovereignty

Posted on September 5, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Bartelson, Jens. 1995. A Genealogy of Sovereignty. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. This was a difficult book so I tried outlining it chapter by chapter: Ch. 1 – Bartelson proposes a genealogy of “sovereignty” and lays out the arguments and methods for … Continue reading →

Posted in Boundaries, Frontiers, Historical-Geographies, Land, Law, Nation/Nationalism, Niccolo Machiavelli, Power, Scale, Sovereignty, Spatiality, Territory, The State | Comments Off

Coffee and Power

Posted on August 13, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Paige, Jeffery M. 1997. Coffee and Power: Revolution and the Rise of Democracy in Central America. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Jeffrey Paige’s book Coffee and Power is an exemplary piece of comparative research. In addressing three Central American countries tortured … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Elites, Historical-Geographies, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Land, Political Economy, Post-Colonial, Power, Terror, The State, Violence | Comments Off