Adorno, geography, fascism, antifascism

As an essential curtain-raiser, this chapter examines the literatures of academic Geography for what they already contain that is relevant to the book. A forensic treatment is accorded to the relatively limited presence of Adorno in the hallways of academic geographical endeavour to date. It is demonstrated that - suprisingly perhaps - ‘critical geography’ (embracing diverse radical and oppositional currents of geographical inquiry) has engaged little with the Frankfurt School of ‘critical theory', certainly not with its earlier incarnations and notably absenting Adorno. There is now a sizeable body of work on the geographies of fascism in different national guises and time-frames - including studies of geographers who have put their ideas and skills into the service of fascism - but only a few inquiries have ventured into the geographies of antifascism.. Reference is made to both the wider (extensive) field of fascist studies and an emerging (as yet much smaller) field of antifascist studies, but particular attention is drawn to Shaw's formulation of ‘antifascist philosophy', with which an Adornoian antifascism - with geographical inflections - should have much in common.