Bowling for Better: Reforming World Geography Bowl to Create a More Inclusive Geography

Abstract

Since 1993, the World Geography Bowl (WGB) has been a part of the fabric of the American Association of Geographers (AAG), with competitions happening at nearly all AAG regional and national meetings. Initially intended as a way of encouraging attendance and participation by undergraduates and geographers at non-research-intensive universities, today the competition exhibits problematic understandings of how best to create community and foster future generations of geographers. In this article, we briefly recount our experiences with the WGB and explore how aspects of the WGB’s operations reinforce many of the same problematic aspects of the discipline that many geographers seek to dismantle as geographers. We outline some of the issues with the WGB as it is currently constructed and propose several ways it could be reformed toward a more inclusive community-building activity. Given the appropriate reform, we conclude that the WGB can serve as an important part of the discipline’s framework and social reproduction.

自1993年以来, “世界地理碗”(World Geography Bowl, WGB)一直是美国地理学家协会(AAG)的组成部分, 几乎所有的AAG区域会议和全国会议都举办比赛。起初, WGB旨在鼓励本科生和非研究型大学的地理学家的参与。如今, 这项比赛在如何最好地创建社区、培养未来地理学家方面出现了认知上的问题。本文简述了我们参与WGB的经历, 探讨了地理学家试图解决的学科问题如何在WGB运作中反而变得更糟。概述了WGB目前的问题, 提出了更具包容性的社区建设活动的改革方法。我们认为, 通过适当的改革, WGB可以成为学科框架和社会再生产的重要组成部分。

Desde 1993, la World Geography Bowl (WGB) ha sido una parte del tejido institucional de la Asociación Americana de Geógrafos (AAG), con la realización de competencias en casi todas las reuniones regionales y nacionales de la Asociación. Concebida inicialmente como una manera de fomentar la asistencia y participación de estudiantes universitarios y geógrafos de universidades que no privilegian la investigación dentro de sus funciones, actualmente la competición se distingue por sus formas de entendimiento problemático sobre cómo mejor contribuir a crear comunidad y estimular a las futuras generaciones de geógrafos. En este artículo, brevemente nos referimos a nuestras experiencias con la WGB y exploramos cómo ciertos aspectos de sus operaciones refuerzan muchos de los mismos aspectos problemáticos de la disciplina que, como geógrafos, intentamos desmantelar. Esbozamos algunos cuestionamientos a la WGB, tal y cómo está construida en la actualidad, y proponemos varias formas como podría ser reorientada hacia una actividad de creación de comunidad que sea más inclusiva. Si pasa la reforma apropiada, concluimos que la WGB puede servir como parte muy importante del marco y la reproducción social de la disciplina.

Key Words:

• community formation
• geographic knowledge production
• inclusion
• World Geography Bowl

关键词:

• 社区建设
• 地理知识创造
• 包容
• 世界地理碗

Palabras clave:

• formación de comunidad
• inclusión
• producción de conocimiento geográfico
• reforma
• World Geography Bowl

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Acknowledgments

We appreciate the camaraderie of our fellow teammates and supporters while partaking in the WGB. Additionally, we would like to thank Derek Alderman and Patricia Ehrkamp who reviewed earlier versions of this article. Finally, we would like to thank the anonymous reviewers who provided constructive criticism and suggestions for this article. All errors remain our own.

Notes

1 Not all regions use this format for their WGB, depending on the number of organizers and participants. For the purposes of this article, we are focusing on the most commonly played version, which we have participated in at the SEDAAG regional meeting and the AAG annual meeting.

2 We should note that we are referencing two sets of documents in this section. The first set is the WGB rules posted on the SEDAAG Web site, which were last updated in 2000. The second set is the AAG’s World Geography Bowl Best Practices document, created in 2022, which references (but does not fully articulate) a set of slightly updated rules. When the two rules conflicted, we deferred to the rules articulated in the 2022 document. Despite playing WGB three times (twice regionally and once nationally), we have never been presented with the official rules in written form and have only been presented with interpretations of the rules briefly via e-mail and verbally.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Bethany Craig

BETHANY CRAIG is a PhD Student in the Department of Geography at the University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506. E-mail: [email protected]. Her research examines bodily markings, scars, bruises, scratches, bumps, and so on, as sites of cartography, commemorations, and alternative modes of flourishing.

Jack Swab

JACK SWAB is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Geography at the University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506. E-mail: [email protected]. His research examines administrative boundaries and the development and use of public health maps in urban areas.

Jed DeBruin

JED DeBRUIN is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Geography at the University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506. E-mail: [email protected]. His research integrates archival methods on Black farming history in Appalachian Kentucky (broadly conceptualized as the eastern and central portions of the state) with oral histories with present-day Black farmers in the region to explore the role of race and racism on agriculture and rural development.