2010 James Blaut Award
Call for Nominations (deadline passed)

The Socialist and Critical Geography Specialty Group is pleased to accept nominations for the 5th annual James Blaut Award and Memorial Lecture.

James Blaut's passing in 2000 was a terrible loss to the academy and liberation struggles around the world. A radical geographer, Jim worked indefatigably on issues of social justice and inequality; enhanced our understanding of racism, imperialism, and Eurocentrism; and contributed directly to the advancement of socialist and anti-colonial struggles. With the co-sponsorship of Antipode, the Socialist and Critical Geography Specialty Group (SCGSG) of the Association of American Geographers (AAG) will present the fourth annual James Blaut Award and Memorial Lecture at the 2010 AAG Annual Meeting. To honor Jim Blaut's efforts, the award will recognize a scholar who, over the course of her/his life, has (1) used a geographic and historical analysis of capitalism to explain current social injustices and inequalities; (2) promoted activism against oppressive power relations both within and outside the academy; and (3) bridged socialist theory and practice. The recipient will be expected to deliver the James Blaut Memorial Lecture at the 2010 AAG Annual Meeting held April 14-18 in Washington, DC. The lecture may also be published in ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies.

Nominations should include the nominee's curriculum vitae and a letter of recommendation from an academic who can speak to the scholarly and wider social value of the nominee's work. The award, along with a US $500 honorarium will be presented at the James Blaut Memorial Lecture and will be announced at the Awards Luncheon during the 2009 AAG Annual Meeting. The award is presented annually. Previous recipients are Ruth Gilmore, Erik Swyngedouw, Audrey Kobayashi and Rich Heyman.

The deadline for nominations for the James Blaut Award is October 15, 2009. Email submissions are encouraged. Please forward nominations to Eliot Tretter, the SCGSG Awards Committee Chair, at etretter at mail.utexas.edu or Lawrence Berg, the SCGSG Nominations Committee Chair, at lawrence.berg at ubc.ca.

Past Awardees

2009: Rich Heyman
2008: Audrey Kobayashi
2007: Erik Swyngedouw
2006: Ruth Gilmore