Critical Geographies: Preface

<p>"Compiling key works of critical geographies is an impossible task. We began this task by conducting a survey among the editorial board members of the journal ACME: An E-Journal of Critical Geographies, asking their opinion for the three most important texts of critical geographies. We anticipated a few key works to emerge from this survey, which we would then include in this collection. However, the survey revealed that no consensus existed among ACME board members and other colleagues we consulted on what the key texts in the field are. In fact, not a single text was even mentioned twice by the survey participants. Furthermore, the idea of compiling “key” texts of critical geographies is highly problematic. Initially, we intended to call this collection “A Reader in Critical Geographies.” A colleague, who heard about our intention, remarked that a “reader” suggests “authorization and authority” and cynically added: “Not exactly the natural positions of „critical geography‟...”. We began to realize the impossibility of our project. Yet, we decided to continue with it because critical scholarship to us means precisely to engage with the contradictions of our discipline at the practical level." -- from p.viii</p>