great geography discussions

I was just at the International Studies conference, and now I'm looking forward to 'playing geographer' at the AAG geography conference next week, and am proud to be part of a group of folks that organized four sessions on geographies of peace.   Last year I was deeply involved in organizing for the Caravan for Peace and Justice with Dignity, which crossed the US for a month with 160 people, 50 of them family members of the dead and disappeared from the drug war in Mexico.   There have been various caravans across the US on different issues, but as I track it this was the first with international activists.

I've organized a session where several 'caravanistas' will share their reflections about how it went, including a survivor who will talk about what it was like for her to share her testimony along the way, and a caravanista from LEAP, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition .  We have two great geographers who have done work on different forms of peace activism who will comment afterwards, Josh Inwood and Byron Miller, who edited the forthcoming book Spaces of Contention: Spatialities and Social Movements.

4657 Geographies of Peace IV: Reflections on the Caravan for Peace and Peace Activisms
Friday, 4/12/2013, from 4:40 PM - 6:20 PM in Hollywood, The LA Hotel, Level 2

I will be presenting my own research on international protective accompaniment (this year I'm talking about where and when it's been done around the world and what that says about how it works) at:

4457 Geographies of Peace II
Friday, 4/12/2013, from 12:40 PM - 2:20 PM in Hollywood, The LA Hotel, Level 2

I'm also looking forward to the 'warscapes' sessions on Wednesday - and to comparing the papers and the crowds to the peace sessions on Friday!