C/Artographies of Positionality Or How We Try to Situate Ourselves as a Working Group in Academia

The academic working group Critical Geographies of Global Inequalities (CGGI) embraced confusion as a productive space for reflection on power, knowledge production, and positionality within a neoliberal academy. Seeking to move beyond conventional writing and discussion, they collaborated with artist Neele Bunjes to create a collective artistic “positionality map” that combines visual, creative, and theoretical elements. The map represents the group’s diverse interests, perspectives, and methodologies—ranging from political ecology to decolonial feminism—through layered puzzle-like illustrations of topics, tools, and interactions around their central meeting table. This process revealed hidden assumptions and inequalities in academic representation while providing a space to negotiate, reflect, and critically engage with their own roles in producing knowledge. The resulting map is intentionally open, relational, and interpretive, highlighting both the group’s collective positionalities and the ongoing, unsettled nature of their reflection.

Discussions

Illustration