The cosmopolitan geographer's dilemma: or, will national geographies survive neo-liberalism?

Abstract

This short semi-biographical intervention is about the emergence of the real-and-imagined figure of the cosmopolitan geographer. This figure is in many ways the by-product of the neo-liberalization of academia in Europe and is accordingly caught in a series of related dilemmas. The article thus focusses on a few issues linked to the challenges imposed by neoliberal academia to this specific emerging academic condition and on how such challenges affect personal careers and life trajectories. It also discusses the unintended, sometimes ambivalent, consequences of internationalization in diverse European contexts, in particular for the work of geographers based in non-English speaking countries. In additon, it reflects on the future of national disciplines, in particular the national geographical communities in Europe. I conclude by suggesting a few ways in which the experience of the cosmopolitan geographer may help in addressing, in constructive and possibly critical ways, precisely some of the challenges posed by neoliberal academia.