Search

Over the past decade, a handful of human geographers have started writing on the topic of 'wisdom'—a research field that has long been dominated by philosophers and psychologists. Existing human geography writings on wisdom encompass issues such as international migration, cross-cultural interactions, and boundary conditions in personal wisdom development. Conspicuously missing from the current human geography scholarship on wisdom is the role of transnational engagements in wisdom development. This paper addresses this important gap and provides new vistas of a theoretical contribution to geographies of wisdom through the optic of transnationalism. Building on Dragos Simandan's seminal work on geographies of wisdom and subsequent empirical studies, this paper discusses three distinct transnational engagements through which immigrants can similarly develop wisdom: transnational political engagements; transnational cultural engagements; and transnational economic engagements. While the chosen transnational engagements are not exhaustive, the paper aims that these three types will kindle thought-stimulating discussions concerning geographies of wisdom. By rescaling the study of geographies of wisdom through transnationalism, we also aim to contribute to a better understanding of the nexus between wisdom development, transnationalism, and international migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence and the rapid spread of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) have resulted in a global public health crisis. The debilitating social and economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on vulnerable societies has given rise to questionings, blames, and accusations about how the pandemic has been managed at the national level. This study uses the concept of 'Geographies of blame' to investigate how the national government, citizenry and other stakeholders have blamed each other for the rise in COVID-19 cases in Ghana. The study employs a qualitative research approach and administered 45 online surveys to the residents of Accra Metropolis, Ghana, that inquired about who is to be blamed for the rising COVID-19 cases in Ghana. Our results revealed that while the government of Ghana must share the blame due to how they poorly handled the pandemic, the citizens are more to blame for the spread and continued increase of the COVID-19 cases in the country. Based on the results, the study highlights the need for a pro-active and continuous analysis of the 'babel of blame' as a useful guide to create public awareness and help governments develop and implement strategic plans to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergent conceptual framework of wicked problems has garnered much attention in academic discourse, including geography. By refining and drawing insights from tenets of the wicked problem concept, this article posits a "wicked concept" usefully defined through five propositions: Wicked concepts are difficult to define and have no universal meaning; there is an unending quest for a universal definition of wicked concepts; definitions and conceptualizations of wicked concepts are neither true nor false; all wicked concepts' components are fundamentally unique; and wicked concepts are multidimensional. Although not exhaustive, our list of propositions aims to generate intellectual discourse on the usefulness of the wicked concept as a conceptual framework with which to analyze concepts marked with such ambiguities. Using the concept of wisdom as a reference point, we argue that academic knowledge production—particularly as it relates to wisdom—would benefit significantly from being reconceptualized as wicked. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]