Living with difference: reflections on geographies of encounter

TLDR

The background draws on the contact hypothesis from psychology to frame the literature on geographies of encounter. The lecture reflects on how geography can help forge civic culture from difference by reviewing writings on micro‑publics, cosmopolitan hospitality, and new urban citizenship that explore shared space as a site for encounter. The author traces diverse geographic writings and uses original empirical data to critically examine meaningful contact, revealing a paradoxical gap between values and practices in geographies of encounter. The study finds a paradoxical gap between values and practices in meaningful contact and argues that geographers must address sociospatial inequalities and power dynamics.

Abstract

In this Progress in Human Geography annual lecture I reflect on geographical contributions to academic and policy debates about how we might forge civic culture out of difference. In doing so I begin by tracing a set of disparate geographical writings — about the micro-publics of everyday life, cosmopolitanism hospitality, and new urban citizenship — that have sought to understand the role of shared space in providing the opportunity for encounter between `strangers'. This literature is considered in the light of an older tradition of work about `the contact hypothesis' from psychology. Then, employing original empirical material, I critically reflect on the notion of `meaningful contact' to explore the paradoxical gap that emerges in geographies of encounter between values and practices. In the conclusion I argue for the need for geographers to pay more attention to sociospatial inequalities and the insecurities they breed, and to unpacking the complex and intersecting ways in which power operates.