BLACK GEOGRAPHIES: Methodological Reflections

This chapter contributes methodological reflections raised by Black geographies. We contend that methodologies are not merely a form of investigating, gathering, and processing information but rather one component of political orientation and position in producing engaged knowledge. We argue that political and epistemological challenges and commitments inherent to Black geographies imply the exercise of theoretical and methodological creativity. Understanding spatialized race relations and analyzing everyday spatial experiences from a critical racial analysis requires new pathways for spatial imagination. This article asks: what are the methodological implications brought to light by Black geographies? What strategies can be seen to emerge nurtured by these projects? We present a systematization of how Black geographies have developed spatialized readings of race relations. We identify three exercises of imagination around race relations founded on “rationales based in space.” Then, we examine strategies for reimagining the methodologies in line with what has come to be called Black geographies.