Let Geography Die - Chasing Derwent's Ghost at Harvard

An investigative history of the closure of Harvard University's geography program in the mid-twentieth century due to homophobia and wider institutional politics. The book weaves together several histories at once: the enactment of homophobic policies under McCarthyism designed to purge queer people from university campuses and government offices; a university President with little regard for the social sciences on a personal mission to dissolve geographic education; fierce, if failed, university politicking to rescue and then resuscitate the program; personal queer lives hidden in plain sight on the edge of campus; and two contemporary queer political geographers on a mission to memorialize the queer people blamed for society’s ills.;

About the author

Alison Mountz is Professor of Geography and Vice-Principal of Research & Innovation at the University of Toronto Scarborough. She is the author or coauthor of award-winning books, including Seeking Asylum; Boats, Borders, and Bases; and The Death of Asylum.

Kira Williams is a political geographer and a data scientist at the University of Toronto Scarborough. Her research focuses on international migration, borders, political geography, analytical methodology, and statistics. She has published over 20 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and an edited volume.

Product details

• Authors: Alison Mountz, Mountz Alison, Kira Williams
• Publisher: The MIT Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Release: 24.06.2025
• EAN: 9780262551595
• ISBN: 978-0-262-55159-5
• No. of pages: 232
• Dimensions: 152 mm x 229 mm x 16 mm
• Subjects: Guides > Self-help, everyday life > Family; Humanities, art, music > Education; Local History, Social discrimination & inequality, History of the Americas, Higher & further education, tertiary education, Higher education, tertiary education, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Discrimination, Northeastern & North Atlantic States, US Northeast: New England, EDUCATION / Schools / Levels / Higher, Social discrimination and social justice