Just a note on the 1961 Presidency from 'Geography'.
It appears that Mr. George Joseph Cons was due to have been the president for this year, but unfortunately died quite suddenly in 1960 so was unable to take up the post.
Mr. G J Cons was the author of a Handbook on teaching, and was also a member of the Standing Committee for Visual Aids (which later become Teaching Aids)
He was a Senior Lecture in Geography at Goldmsiths' College.
Balchin's Centenary volume talks about him playing an active role in the Association for many years.
He is quoted in a paper on the teaching of war and peace.
Cons wrote that Geography is probably the best equipped subject for training the young in ‘world citizenship’ and internationalism (Cons, 1932)
This quote was included in a GA Handbook edited by Miss D M Forsaith
Cons also Chaired a number of events over the years, including a debate on the future of Geography at the 1945 conference.
He was the editor of a handbook for Geography Teachers, published by Methuen in the 1950s
Balchin's Centenary volume talks about him playing an active role in the Association for many years.
He is quoted in a paper on the teaching of war and peace.
Cons wrote that Geography is probably the best equipped subject for training the young in ‘world citizenship’ and internationalism (Cons, 1932)
This quote was included in a GA Handbook edited by Miss D M Forsaith
Cons also Chaired a number of events over the years, including a debate on the future of Geography at the 1945 conference.
He was the editor of a handbook for Geography Teachers, published by Methuen in the 1950s
Mr. Geoffrey Hutchings was elected as President in his place at the Spring meeting of the GA Council.
I noticed that he was obviously involved in helping make a number of short TV pieces.
I noticed a few fieldwork related pieces on the channel called Talking Pictures TV which shows brief vintage documentaries and films in between vintage films.
An Obituary was published in 'Geography'
I noticed that he was obviously involved in helping make a number of short TV pieces.
I noticed a few fieldwork related pieces on the channel called Talking Pictures TV which shows brief vintage documentaries and films in between vintage films.
An Obituary was published in 'Geography'
Thanks to Brendan Conway for the tipoff to these films in these tweets.
And here is the film, from the Huntley Film Archives
References
Here's the 2nd tweet🔊'Great Britain's Geographical Position'🔊— BC (@mildthing99) March 30, 2020
Includes a great explainer about #GulfStream (term not used strangely) + formation of N Atlantic #depressions with 3D graphics! #GeographyTeacher @PeterGWeather
See Cons biog by @GeoBlogshttps://t.co/N5iUQ1x5xUhttps://t.co/R6ILkoMjAS pic.twitter.com/cgcozcHMmL
🔊 'Great Britain's Geographical Position'🔊— BC (@mildthing99) March 30, 2020
'...really part of the European structure'
GJ Cons' classic film infl by #Mackinder #GeographyTeacher #IceAgeLegacy
Advanced graphics e.g. world upside down
See Cons biog by @GeoBlogs https://t.co/kuohTk4Cgchttps://t.co/c8yF4Ba35Y pic.twitter.com/g0CVZslA6Z
And here is the film, from the Huntley Film Archives
References
“GEOGRAPHICAL ASSOCIATION. Annual Conference Discussions on the Future for Geography.” Geography, vol. 30, no. 2, 1945, pp. 50–62. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40563427
Bull, G. B. J. “GEORGE JOSEPH CONS.” Geography, vol. 45, no. 1/2, 1960, pp. 123–124. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40565120
If anyone knows more about Mr. G. J. Cons, or has an image of him that would be appreciated.
Updated September 2023
The McNair Report gets a mention here.
H was linked with the NW Kent Branch of the GA.
He served for many years on the Education Committee of the GA.
https://www.raremaps.com/mapmaker/6716/G_J_Cons - an article that describes his map collecting.
Cons was a pioneer in pioneer in the field of geography films for schools and authored ‘Films and Living Geography’, Sight and Sound, 4/14 (Summer 1935)
The following is excerpted from Traces
A very different proposal comes from one of the few professional geographers involved in animated mapmaking for documentary films – G. J. Cons, who collaborated with the British Film Institute as scientific consultant for the production of educational documentaries. Referring to the series Indian Town Studies made by Gaumont-British Instructional, Cons highlights that ‘these films were made effective geographically by the use of animated maps’. It is evident that this effectiveness is based on the power of the trace since it allows a purely explanatory discourse which consists of the plain transmission of data and information even though no element really legitimises it. For him, there is little difference here between animated maps and informational images; the constitutive properties of motion and animation, whose consequences are far from being neutral, is relegated to a blurry allusion to a ‘living accurate’ vision. Does this prove the ineffectiveness of the attempt to acquire animated maps into the project of geography for ordering the world, or does it confirm Cons’ statement that ‘the genius of documentary film reveal[s] the screen as a magic casement through which our geographical vision of the Earth and its peoples is heightened’? In other terms, does the author’s faith in documentaries negate any concerns about the fabricated spectacle that animated maps present?
Apparently, and with a certain naivety, Cons seems to advocate a perfect analogy between the map, the mirror, and the screen – a position that may surprise coming from a professional geographer. However, as explained by Priya Jaikumar in an insightful essay on the series, the result is not the faithful and plain reproduction of Cons claims but rather an attestation of the role of animated maps in the building of that ideology that put together positivist, modernist, and colonial contents: ‘[t]owns in India were visualised to make them intelligible and transparent, with vision transforming a place, its people and fullness of their lives, into abstract space.’ Again, thanks also to the power of the trace the pretensions of correct visualisation and geographical accuracy have been overthrown and transformed into something completely different: the colonial fiction of mastery and control through alleged scientific instruments used in narrative and visual devices for making this very same fiction true.
Giuseppe Fidotta: Animated maps and the power of the trace.
If anyone can find an image of G J Cons that would be appreciated.
The following is excerpted from Traces
A very different proposal comes from one of the few professional geographers involved in animated mapmaking for documentary films – G. J. Cons, who collaborated with the British Film Institute as scientific consultant for the production of educational documentaries. Referring to the series Indian Town Studies made by Gaumont-British Instructional, Cons highlights that ‘these films were made effective geographically by the use of animated maps’. It is evident that this effectiveness is based on the power of the trace since it allows a purely explanatory discourse which consists of the plain transmission of data and information even though no element really legitimises it. For him, there is little difference here between animated maps and informational images; the constitutive properties of motion and animation, whose consequences are far from being neutral, is relegated to a blurry allusion to a ‘living accurate’ vision. Does this prove the ineffectiveness of the attempt to acquire animated maps into the project of geography for ordering the world, or does it confirm Cons’ statement that ‘the genius of documentary film reveal[s] the screen as a magic casement through which our geographical vision of the Earth and its peoples is heightened’? In other terms, does the author’s faith in documentaries negate any concerns about the fabricated spectacle that animated maps present?
Apparently, and with a certain naivety, Cons seems to advocate a perfect analogy between the map, the mirror, and the screen – a position that may surprise coming from a professional geographer. However, as explained by Priya Jaikumar in an insightful essay on the series, the result is not the faithful and plain reproduction of Cons claims but rather an attestation of the role of animated maps in the building of that ideology that put together positivist, modernist, and colonial contents: ‘[t]owns in India were visualised to make them intelligible and transparent, with vision transforming a place, its people and fullness of their lives, into abstract space.’ Again, thanks also to the power of the trace the pretensions of correct visualisation and geographical accuracy have been overthrown and transformed into something completely different: the colonial fiction of mastery and control through alleged scientific instruments used in narrative and visual devices for making this very same fiction true.
Giuseppe Fidotta: Animated maps and the power of the trace.
He also participated in the creation of visual maps such as the one here.
https://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/65476/the-peopling-of-the-usa-cons
https://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/65475/the-british-colonies-in-the-west-indies-cons - a map of its time for sure...
If anyone can find an image of G J Cons that would be appreciated.
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