The Royal Geographical Society-Institute of British Geographers conference will be held in Birmingham, UK, from August 27-29, 2025 on the theme of Creative Geographies/Geographies of Creativity.
For those working on social and cultural geography with an interest in aging, intergenerational learning, and place, please consider submitting a proposal to this online session – accepted papers will be notified by February 28, and the session will be submitted to the RGS-IBG team for consideration by March 7.
Aging and the ‘crafts of place’: creative engagements in practice and method
In a 1981 lecture, Clifford Geertz used the term “crafts of place” to describe practices and systems that “work by the light of local knowledge” (1981, 167). This evocative terminology highlights the relationship between knowing, doing, and place – a nexus for interdisciplinary consideration of land-based knowledge, place-making, and place-based cultural production. Indigenous ways of knowing have long emphasized the role of land as pedagogy (Betasamosake Simpson 2014), while attention to sustainability has given new impetus to studies of place-based and vernacular skills, products, and practices (Paneels 2023; Watson 2019). Placemaking, too, might be conceptualized as a ‘craft of place,’ with recent scholarship beginning to outline the role of creativity in placemaking (Courage and McKeown 2019; Courage 2020) and underscoring the relationship between regional ecologies, cultural landscapes and cultural heritage practices (Gillett 2022; Luckman and Thomas 2024). Given that these frameworks highlight the importance of spending time with a place and the validity of embodied and relational ways of learning and knowing, how do they intersect with the real or imagined effects of time on human bodies and communities – with aging? How does engagement with the ‘crafts of place’ evolve throughout the life course? What is the role of intergenerational relationships in sustaining local knowledge and place-based practices? Might the elements of time and aging challenge or broaden the notions of local knowledge or crafts of place? Might thinking of aging in relation to these themes provide a lens through which to consider it as a socially, culturally and spatially-delineated process? How might research itself become a ‘craft of place’ that engages creatively with practices, places and (aging) demographics whose ways of knowing have been historically marginalized by institutions?
This single-session online panel invites speakers to submit abstracts for 10-15 minute presentations that engage with themes of aging and ‘the crafts of place,’ broadly interpreted, with particular consideration given to those that use case studies to highlight creative and innovative practices and methods. Speakers are invited to share ideas for how best to facilitate conversation around their presentation topics and will be able to upload additional material as well as questions for the audience ahead of the session. It is anticipated that the session will include an opportunity for discussion in themed breakout rooms.
Research Group Sponsorship: Social and Cultural Geography Research Group Sponsorship application submitted, not yet confirmed
Convenor and Affiliation: Dr. Molly-Claire Gillett, Postdoctoral Fellow, Trent Centre for Aging and Society, Trent University (Canada) & School of Geography, Archaeology and Irish Studies, University of Galway (Ireland)
Guidelines for prospective authors: please upload an abstract of ~250 words along with a short bio of ~50 words to this form: https://forms.office.com/r/iiNZwUcdaW by February 21, 2025.
Questions can be directed to Molly-Claire Gillett (mollyclairegillett@trentu.ca) Selected authors will be notified by February 28, with the complete panel proposal sent to RGS for consideration by March 7.
References:
Betasamosake Simpson, Leanne. 2014. “Land as pedagogy: Nishnaabeg intelligence and rebellious transformation.” Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society 3 no. 3: 1-25. https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/des/article/view/22170/17985
Courage, Cara. 2020. The art of placemaking: a typology of art practices in placemaking. London: Routledge.
Courage, Cara and Anita McKeown. 2019. Creative Placemaking: Research, Theory, and Practice. London: Routledge.
Cutchin, Malcolm and Graham D. Rowles, eds. 2024. Handbook on Aging and Place. Cheltenham and Northampton: Edgar.
Geertz, Clifford. 2000. Local Knowledge: Further Essays In Interpretive Anthropology. E-book. New York: Basic Books.
Gillett, Molly-Claire. 2022. “‘Storying’ Landscape and Material Practice: Clones Crochet Lacemaking as Irish Intangible Cultural Heritage.” New Hibernia Review 26, no. 4: 36- 64. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/nhr.2022.0045.
Luckman, Susan and Nicola Thomas. 2024. Craft Communities. London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts.
Panneels, Inge. 2023. “The Quintuple Bottom Line: A Framework for Place-Based Sustainable Enterprise in the Craft Industry.” Sustainability 15, no. 4: 3791. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15043791
Skinner, Mark, Rachel Winterton and Keiran Walsh eds. 2021. Rural Gerontology: Towards Critical Perspectives on Rural Ageing. London and New York: Routledge.
Watson, Julia. 2019. Lo—TEK. Design by Radical Indigenism. London: Taschen.
Contact Information
Molly-Claire Gillett
Postdoctoral Fellow, Trent University and University of Galway
Contact Email
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