Derek Gregory Ph.D. (Cantab) FBA, FRSC (born 1 March 1951) is a British academic and world-renowned

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

who is currently Peter Wall Distinguished Professor and Professor of Geography at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks among the top thr ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...

. He formerly held positions at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. Gregory is best known for his book ''The Colonial Present: Afghanistan, Palestine and Iraq'', published in 2004. This book discusses the actions of various

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

governments in the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

after the

9/11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerci ...

. It reflects how the popular

discourse Discourse is a generalization of the notion of a conversation to any form of communication. Discourse is a major topic in social theory, with work spanning fields such as sociology, anthropology, continental philosophy, and discourse analysis. ...

s found in the

media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass e ...

and in political circles indicate a continued presence of orientalist and

neocolonialist Neocolonialism is the continuation or reimposition of imperialist rule by a state (usually, a former colonial power) over another nominally independent state (usually, a former colony). Neocolonialism takes the form of economic imperialism, ...

undercurrents. The work also draws on the work of political theorist

Giorgio Agamben Giorgio Agamben ( , ; born 22 April 1942) is an Italian philosopher best known for his work investigating the concepts of the state of exception, form-of-life (borrowed from Ludwig Wittgenstein) and '' homo sacer''. The concept of biopolitics ...

and in particular his theory of the '

state of exception A state of exception (german: Ausnahmezustand) is a concept introduced in the 1920s by the German philosopher and jurist Carl Schmitt, similar to a state of emergency (martial law) but based in the sovereign's ability to transcend the rule of law ...

'. Earlier works by Gregory have concentrated on

political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studi ...

cultural Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.T ...

and

historical geography Historical geography is the branch of geography that studies the ways in which geographic phenomena have changed over time. It is a synthesizing discipline which shares both topical and methodological similarities with history, anthropology, eco ...

. He has also contributed to theoretical writing on imagined geographies and

David Harvey David W. Harvey (born 31 October 1935) is a British-born Marxist economic geographer, podcaster and Distinguished Professor of anthropology and geography at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). He received his P ...

. A book published in 1994, ''Geographical Imaginations'', explores the relations between social theory and place, space and landscape. He graduated from the University of Cambridge with a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

and a Doctor of Philosophy in 1981. He has honorary doctorates from the University of Heidelberg and Roskilde University, and he was awarded the Founder's Medal of the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

in 2006. His current research is on late modern war and on the cultural/political histories and geographies of bombing. He blogs at www.geographicalimaginations.com

Bibliography

War and Peace
''Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers,'' Volume 35, Issue 2, pages 154–186, (April 2010) *''Violent Geographies: Fear, Terror, and Political Violence.'' Routledge(November 22, 2006) *''The Colonial Present: Afghanistan, Palestine, Iraq.'' Wiley-Blackwell (4 Jun 2004) *''Geographical Imaginations.'' Blackwell (1994)

References

External links

*Audio of Derek Gregory's lectur
"Vanishing Points: Law, Violence and Exception in the Global War Prison"
at the Walter Chapin Simpson Center for the Humanities on October 25, 2006. 1951 births Living people British geographers Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Place of birth missing (living people) Historical geographers Political geographers University of British Columbia faculty Human geographers Fellows of King's College London Recipients of the Royal Geographical Society Founder's Medal {{Geographer-stub