The struggle over geography: Prospects for advancing public pedagogy

This commentary is sympathetic to Alec Murphy’s (2013) call for more ‘grand regional narrative’ in a public key. However, by failing to recognise the root causes of, and prevailing obstacles to, change his call risks being purely declarative. I argue that only a few, typically established, geographers will be willing and able to occupy the ideational territory currently populated by the likes of Robert Kaplan. Even so, a few is better than none, and I also argue that teaching offers a more feasible, if indirect, arena in which public thinking about world geography can be shaped in ways consistent with Murphy’s vision.