Prof. Cara Michell Chairs Panel on “Beyond the Cartesian Grid: Creative Black Geographies as Practices of Care”
“Traditional mapping tools routinely fail to capture the emotional, cultural, and experiential dimensions of Black spatial knowledge” says Prof. Cara Michell. “This panel centered creative approaches that resist erasure through methodologies of care—practices that honor communities’ generational knowledge of place.”
Prof. Cara Michell chaired the Aug 27, 2025 panel “Beyond the Cartesian Grid: Creative Black Geographies as Practices of Care” at the Royal Geographical Society’s Annual International Conference at the University of Birmingham. The conference, which brought together over 2,100 geographers from around the world, was the Society’s largest-ever gathering held outside London.
Despite being scheduled at 9:00 AM on the conference’s opening day, Michell’s panel drew a standing-room-only audience and attracted notable attendees including conference chair Dr. Patricia Noxolo and interest from Royal Geographical Society Director Joe Smith. The session featured international scholars and artists examining how conventional Western mapping methods often erase Black spatial knowledge and experiences.
The panel brought together Dr. Agostinho Pinnock (Royal Holloway University of London), Danielle Isler (University of Bayreuth), Dr. Nathaniel Télémaque (King’s College London), and Dr. Romi Morrison (UCLA) to explore creative geographic practices that challenge traditional cartographic limitations. Each presenter shared research on innovative methodologies that honor the full complexity of Black spatial experiences across different global contexts.
“Traditional mapping tools routinely fail to capture the emotional, cultural, and experiential dimensions of Black spatial knowledge,” Michell explained. “This panel centered creative approaches that resist erasure through methodologies of care—practices that honor communities’ generational knowledge of place.”
The session builds on Michell’s ongoing research into participatory mapping and “Black Psychogeographies,” work that examines how the built environment continues to exclude or alienate Black communities. As a former urban planner, Michell is particularly interested in how incomplete geographic archives limit planning decisions and perpetuate spatial injustices.
The panel represents the genesis of a future “Global Black Geographies” symposium that will connect diverse histories and narratives of the African Diaspora through innovative geographic storytelling techniques.
The College of Arts, Media and Design supported Prof. Michell’s participation in this international scholarly gathering.