Ethics as first method: Reframing geographies at an(other) ending-of-the-world as co-motion

Abstract

Drawing inspiration from diverse Indigenous scholars and mentors, as well as Levinas’ advocacy of ‘ethics as first philosophy’, this article advocates a radical contextualist reframing of geographical research as needing to address the challenges targeted by this new peer review journal. Reframing our disciplinary challenges in this way might acknowledge the need to cast off the discipline’s Eurocentric (or more particularly, its Anglo-American) blinkers, and also many other taken-for-granted notions of philosophy, theory, models, methods and practice. Even the most critical geographies often start with the imperative to speak rather than listen, to direct rather than engage, to command rather than respond. In Geography, we aim literally to write the world. This article argues that transforming chaotic commotion to ethical co-motion invites deep listening across barriers of difference to begin the skills of learning to belong together in place with diverse others over time.