Engaging Your Organization in the Coalition: Opportunities and Obstacles Douglas Richardson Executive Director, Association of American Geographers

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Engaging Your Organization in the Coalition
Opportunities and ObstaclesDouglas
RichardsonExecutive Director, Association of
American Geographers
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• Geography and Human RightsAAG Newsletter,
  September 2008
• Science and Human Rights Coalition
• Cooperation around an AAAS project on Geospatial
  Technologies and Human Rights
• Development of an AAG Geography and Human Rights
  Clearinghouse

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• The AAG Geography and Human Rights webpage
• Bibliographic database of geographic research
  relating to human rights
• A forum page for scholars to network and discuss
  research topics
• Access to the AAAS Science and Human Rights
  Coalition website
• Links to Human Rights organizations, research
  centers, and libraries
• Upcoming events relating to Geography and Human
  Rights
• Accessible to AAG members and non-members alike

http//www.aag.org/cs/projects_and_programs/geogra
phy_and_human_rights
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Resources Human Rights Bibliography page
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Sample Bibliographic Entry
Some things do change indigenous rights,
geographers and geography in Australia Howitt,
Richard Sue Jackson 1998 Journal Name
Australian Geographer Volume 29
Issue 2 Pages 155-173
Source Type Journal Article Website
http//www.informaworld.com/smpp/contentcontenta
769298102dball Abstract Using a recent
editorial comment in this journal as a focus,
this paper reviews the extent to which geography
has been implicated in the 'colonial project in
Australia. It argues that recent work amongst
geographers involved with indigenous Australians
reflects a commitment to transcend this colonial
past. The paper calls for geographers to work
toward a wide reaching decolonisation of the
discipline, and to develop a better understanding
of the contemporaryl egacies of geography's
colonial past.
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The AAG Statement on Professional Ethics Endorsed
by the Council of the Association of American
Geographers
Full versions are available under the Governance
section of the AAG website www.aag.org, and as a
printed handout.
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Statement on Professional Ethics References to
Human Rights Ethical Behavior during Field
Research researchers should report only on
matters about which they have acquired
considerable understanding, and should always
keep the best interests of their research
subjects in mind. This means that local
traditions and mores should be respected unless
they directly undermine the basic human rights of
affected individuals. Moreover, assistance
provided by local informants and co-researchers
may be controversial, and protecting these
persons should be paramount. Ethical Debate in
Geography This Statement is inspired by a
concern with individual, social, and
environmental health. What constitutes health
will always be a matter of debate that can and
should be informed by a diversity of
perspectives. Some will emphasize the well-being
of animals, humans and/or the natural
environment, focusing, for example, on the rights
of sentient animals, oppressed minorities, or
endangered species and ecosystems. Others will
emphasize the role of human rights, social
justice, or ethics of care in the pursuit of
well-being. For still others, well-being may
exist as an unarticulated commitment, or as the
central focus of research. This diversity of
views is to be welcomed because an ongoing
conversation, conducted with respect, can deepen
personal and shared insights into moral relations
between humans and the world in which they live
and work.
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Sample Topics from AAGs Ethics Statement

• Sustaining Community
• Confidentiality
• Relations with People, Places, and Things
• Ethical Behavior during Field Research
• Research Involving Indigenous Peoples, Ethnic
  Minorities and Other Potentially Vulnerable
  Groups
• Research Involving Geospatial Technologies
• The Use of Results from Funded Research
• Ethical Debate in Geography

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NSF-Funded AAG Project on GIS and Ethics

• Ethics Education for Current and Aspiring
  Geospatial Professionals
• Developed and instituted ethics seminars within
  graduate geography programs at Penn State, Oregon
  State, and the University of Minnesota.
• Prepared current and future geo-spatial
  professionals to recognize ethical implications
  of Geographic Information Systems Technologies
  (GIST) and to make reasoned decisions when
  confronted with ethical challenges.
• A team of professional ethicists and GIST
  educators worked together to produce a collection
  of freely-available educational resources.
• http//gisprofessionalethics.org

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AAG Specialty Group Ethics, Justice and Human
Rights
The Ethics, Justice and Human Rights Specialty
Group of the AAG exists to further inquiry into
normative issues of relevance to geography, and
to facilitate collaboration between existing AAG
specialty groups and committees whose areas of
focus touch on these issues. The overall intent
of the EJHRSG is to support inclusive and
informed discussion of ethics, justice and human
rights issues by geographers as a legitimate and
important activity throughout the
discipline. http//www.ejhr.org/
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AAG Annual Meeting 2009, Las Vegas

• Special track of sessions co-sponsored by AAG and
  AAAS
• Topics included
• Discrimination in urban areas
• Geographies of Fear and Violence
• Refugee resettlement issues
• Cross-border trafficking
• Spatial Autocorrelation in Environmental Justice

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AAG Annual Meeting 2010, Washington, DC

• Human Rights 101 for Geographers workshop
  featuring Margaret Huang (Rights Working Group),
  Jessica Wyndham (AAAS), and Doug Richardson (AAG)
• Geography of Genocide film screening and panel
  discussion with the filmmaker, Jonah Quickmire
  Pettigrew
• Geographic Approaches to Human Rights Concerns
  paper session