A Specialty Group of the American Association of Geographers
Welcome
A message from BGSG chair, Camilla Hawthorne:

I am very excited to be a part of the Black Geographies Specialty Group community. Allow me to introduce myself to you. I am a critical human geographer and interdisciplinary social scientist broadly interested in the racial politics of migration and citizenship, inequality, social movements, and Black geographies. My work sits at the intersection of critical public policy studies, diaspora theory, Black European studies, and postcolonial/feminist science and technology studies.
I received my PhD from the Department of Geography at UC Berkeley in 2018. I currently serve as Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at UC Santa Cruz. I am a principal faculty member in UCSC’s Critical Race and Ethnic Studies program, and an affiliate of the Science & Justice Research Center and the Legal Studies Program. My teaching is focused on race, immigration and citizenship, political economy, space and inequality, and social theory.
If you would like to learn more about my areas of focus and my service commitments, please visit: https://www.camillahawthorne.com/
I, along with the BGSG team, welcome you to participate in our journey. I look forward to upcoming collaborations and partnerships with the aim of expanding understanding of the experience of Blackness.
BGSG Mission
To create a global platform for: (a) promoting study of the social, political, cultural, economic, and ecological aspects of the race in/and geography, (b) encouraging critical reflection on the issues, processes, intrinsic qualities, and interconnections that shape Black lives and geographies on local, national, continental, and international scales, (c) exchanging research and teaching ideas among scholars of race in/and geography, and (d) building greater ties between geographers and the Black and Africana Studies community.
Updates & Announcements
Hot off the presses!!! Access the Spring 2022 BGSG Newsletter HERE.
AAG 2022: A Virtual Conference
It’s that time again!

BGSG sessions at this year’s AAG virtual conference:
Download Complete BGSG Session Schedule
Download JLAG session annoucement
Friday, February 25, 2022 | |
8:00 – 9:20am (EST) | Geographies Of the Missing and Disappeared I For more information |
9:40 – 11:00am (EST) | Geographies Of the Missing and Disappeared II For more information |
11:20 – 12:40pm (EST) | Geographies Of the Missing and Disappeared III For more information |
2:00 – 3:20pm (EST) | Critical Geographies of Disasters and Relief I For more information |
3:40 – 5:00pm (EST) | Critical Geographies of Disasters and Relief II For more information Geographies Of Sport: Spatializing Critical Sport Studies Through a Black Geographies of Sport For more information |
5:20 – 6:40pm (EST) | Critical Geographies of Disasters and Relief III For more information |
Saturday, February 26, 2022 | |
8:00 – 9:20am (EST) | Afro-Latin American Geographies: Theories, Methodologies, Praxis I: Theories and Praxis from Black Brazilian Geographies For more information |
9:40 – 11:00am (EST) | Afro-Latin American Geographies: Theories, Methodologies, Praxis II: Afro-Latin American Geographies For more information |
11:20 – 12:40pm (EST) | Afro-Latin American Geographies: Theories, Methodologies, Praxis III: Interventions Around Brazilian Association of Black Researchers Special Issue For more information Brute Facts: Hauntings, Racisms and Collective Amnesia 1 For more information On Politics, Poetics and Black Senses of Place, Session 1 For more information |
12:50 – 1:50pm (EST) | Black Geographies Specialty Group Business Meeting Access the agenda HERE |
2:00 – 3:20pm (EST) | Brute Facts: Hauntings, Racisms and Collective Amnesia II For more information Exploring Geographies of Care, Supporting Women in Geography 9th Annual Panel For more information On Politics, Poetics and Black Senses of Place, Session 2 For more information |
5:20 – 6:40pm (EST) | 2022 JLAG Lecture: Black Women Organizing Against Genocide and Fascism and the 2022 Presidential Elections in Brazil For more information Author Meets Critics for Akira Drake Rodriquez’s “Diverging Space for Deviants: The Politics of Atlanta’s Public Housing” For more information |
7-8 pm (EST) | Virtual Happy Hour in partnership with the Cultural Geography Specialty Group Register HERE |
Sunday, February 27, 2022 | |
8:00 – 9:20am (EST) | Experimental Black Ecologies and Reparative Restoration I For more information |
9:40 – 11:00am (EST) | Experimental Black Ecologies and Reparative Restoration II For more information |
11:20 – 12:40pm (EST) | Experimental Black Ecologies and Reparative Restoration III For more information |
2:00 – 3:20pm (EST) | Black Matters and Spatial Matters For more information Health In Carceral Geographies For more information |
3:40 – 5:00pm (EST) | Troubling The Waters I For more information |
5:20 – 6:40pm (EST) | Troubling The Waters II For more information |
Monday, February 28, 2022 | |
8:00 – 9:20am (EST) | Mobilizing Historical Geographies I For more information |
9:40 – 11:00am (EST) | Mobilizing Historical Geographies II For more information |
11:20 – 12:40pm (EST) | Mobilizing Historical Geographies III For more information |
2:00 – 3:20pm (EST) | Mobilizing Historical Geographies IV For more information |
3:40 – 5:00pm (EST) | Black Geographies Specialty Group and Queer + Trans Geographies Specialty Group Joint Plenary For more information |
5:20 – 6:40pm (EST) | Scholar-Activism/Activist Scholarship: Methodologies of Care and Accountability in Just Food Research For more information |
Tuesday, March 1, 2022 | |
11:20 – 12:40pm (EST) | Reproductive Justice as Climate Justice For more information Crafting Black Ecologies 1: Makings For more information |
2:00 – 3:20pm (EST) | Crafting Black Ecologies 2: Landscapes For more information |
2022 Clyde Woods Black Geographies Specialty Group Graduate Student Paper Award

Black Geographies Specialty Group Graduate Student Travel Award
The Black Geographies Specialty Group graduate student travel award will be given to support graduate student travel to present a paper on a Black geographies topic at the AAG annual meeting. This competition is open to all MA/MS/PhD students. One (1) award to offset the cost of the student registration fee will be given. Deadline: January 10, 2022 For more details, click HERE
Stay Tuned

For the BGSG Mentoring Initiative…..details TBA
Congratulations

to the newest 2021 BGSG Executive Board Members!
Dr. Jonathan Hall, Eastern Michigan University, Communications Director
Dr. Ashanté Reese, University of Texas at Austin, Secretary-Treasurer
Suzanne Nimoh, University of Texas at Austin, Student Rep
Theresa Hice-Fromille, University of California, Santa Cruz, Student Rep

BGSG Writing Group
In an effort to provide a supportive mechanism for graduate students as they tackle the dissertation process, the Black Geographies Specialty Group is launching a Graduate Writing Group. This is an opportunity to create an intellectual community where participants can network, collaborate, provide critical feedback, and grow professionally. The benefits of a writing group are numerous. A writing group: fosters peer mentoring, provides emotional support, develops personal accountability, bolters strong academic writing skills, and hones good communication skills. Meetings will be held virtually at an agreed upon frequency.
The 2022 sign-up is now open. The deadline for sign up is March 18th.
For more information on Writing Groups, visit here.
If you have events/conferences/announcements that you would like to share with the BGSG community, let us know!
Innovation and the Annual Conference-AAG 2022

For more details, visit: aag.org
Participants-including geographers, GIS specialists, environmental scientists, and other knowledge leaders-will share and discuss the latest in research and applications in geography, sustainability, and GIScience. With thousands of different papers and presentations scheduled throughout the conference, you’ll find no shortage of activities that reflect your specific interests within the field of geography. It is a hybrid conference, denoting on-line and face to face events.