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I am a historical geographer with research interests in geography’s disciplinary and discursive histories, in book history, and in the history of science. My work has examined, among other topics, the history of polar science and exploration; the origins of environmentalist thought in geography; eighteenth- and nineteenth-century travel writing; the communication of scientific knowledge in text, image, and speech; the popular and scholarly reception of scientific knowledge; and the circulation and diffusion of ideas.
My current research focuses on the eighteenth-century Scottish planter, politician, pamphleteer, and spy William Macintosh, author of Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa (1782). I am currently preparing a monograph on this project for McGill-Queen’s University Press.
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I am Professor of Historical Geography in the Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London and welcome enquiries from potential postgraduate students or postdoctoral researchers with research interests in historical geography. I am also co-convenor of the London Group of Historical Geographers.
innes.keighren@rhul.ac.uk
Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham Hill, EGHAM, TW20
0EX, UK.
Books (Authored) | Books (Edited) | Journal Articles | Book Chapters | Book Reviews | Other Publications | Blog Posts | Theses
Keighren, Innes M., Charles W. J. Withers, and Bill Bell. Travels into print: exploration, writing, and publishing with John Murray, 1773–1859. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2015.
Travels into print is published by the University of Chicago Press.
In eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain, books of travel and exploration were much more than simply the printed experiences of intrepid authors. They were works of both artistry and industry—products of the complex, and often contested, relationships between authors and editors, publishers and printers. These books captivated the reading public and played a vital role in creating new geographical truths. In an age of global wonder and of expanding empires, there was no publisher more renowned for its travel books than the House of John Murray.
Drawing on detailed examination of the John Murray Archive of manuscripts, images, and the firm’s correspondence with its many authors—a list that included such illustrious explorers and scientists as Charles Darwin and Charles Lyell, and literary giants like Jane Austen, Lord Byron, and Sir Walter Scott—Travels into print considers how journeys of exploration became published accounts and how travelers sought to demonstrate the faithfulness of their written testimony and to secure their personal credibility. This fascinating study in historical geography and book history takes modern readers on a journey into the nature of exploration, the production of authority in published travel narratives, and the creation of geographical authorship—a journey bound together by the unifying force of a world-leading publisher.
“The originality of the book’s focus lies in its attention to the whole process of publishing, from the writer’s original notebooks through to the end product and its marketing. It moves from the facts of travel and geographical exploration to consider how the accounts of these travels appeared in print—a journey that turns out to have been rich in complications. This kind of attention is made possible by the uniquely full records that survive in the John Murray Archive. In this sense, the book is a case study; but the issues raised are so wide-ranging that it turns itself into a much more ambitious analysis. Each of the three authors has clearly brought different strengths to the project, broadening and deepening the book’s range. But they have worked together so effectively that the book reads as if it had been written by a single author: there is only one voice. A triumph for the virtues of collaboration and a novel, needed, and groundbreaking contribution, this is a truly original and major work, arguably the most important yet to appear in the burgeoning field of travel writing studies.” — Peter Hulme, University of Essex.
“No one did more to transform travel writing into one of the nineteenth century’s most popular genres than the publishing firm of John Murray, and no one has done more to reveal the significance of that project than the authors of this important new book. Making meticulous use of the Murray archives, Keighren, Withers, and Bell have written a rich and penetrating account of how, as they put it, ‘the world was put into words.’ Their study offers fresh insights into the premises and practices of travel and exploration, the struggle to give credibility to travelers’ tales, the highly mediated process by which travelers became authors, the social and economic forces that shaped print culture, and much more, making it a work that scholars in a range of disciplines will want to read.” — Dane Kennedy, George Washington University.
“Travels into print offers an original and nuanced approach to book history that exposes the rich interdisciplinary nature of the field. While the work claims neither to be a house history nor an exhaustive exploration of the Murray Archive, its three authors interweave perspectives from historical geography, history of science, art history, material culture, and literary studies to examine travel, topography, and the book trade. In the process, they demonstrate the complex technical, intellectual, political, cultural, and moral negotiations and interventions that bring printed works into the public sphere. Written in a highly engaging, accessible style, Travels into print gives a fascinating glimpse into the multivariate worlds of travel and exploration narratives and how they have been fashioned in and out of the imaginations of authors, publishers, and their audiences.” — Sydney Shep, Victoria University of Wellington.
“No-one working in the fields of historical and cultural geography, travel writing, the history and culture of exploration, or publishing and readership in the period can afford to ignore…[Travels into Print]. A thoroughly integrated piece of research, it combines seamlessly the methodology and insights of bibliography and geography to offer an elegant, lucid, and powerful model of what true interdisciplinarity can achieve…The authors’ meticulous handling of evidence derived from thorough bibliographical and archival research banishes any reading of the many works in Murray’s list of ‘Voyages, Travels, and Adventures’ as simple, factual narrative.” — Maureen Bell, Publishing History.
“Travels is a thoroughly researched and artfully crafted book that substantially advances our knowledge of travel writing and exploration. With its deft and admirably subtle blending of methodological insights and archival material, it evidences the rewards to be gained from working at the intersection of historical geography, book history, and the history of science. It is, moreover, a landmark contribution to the emerging field of the geography of the book. It deserves to be read widely by those interested in the history of travel and exploration, the history of geography, and the history of the book.” — Dean Bond, Journal of Historical Geography.
“John Murray’s prominence in the field permits wider conclusions to be drawn about the history of publishing and the production and reception of travel writing. The interdisciplinary nature of this treatment makes the work accessible and relevant to scholars in many fields. Recommended.” — Hillary Corbett, Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries.
“[A] vigorous tour of travel writing.” — Jeffrey N. Cox, SEL Studies in English Literature 1500–1900.
“[An] impressive work of scholarship on the House of Murray.” — Adriana Craciun, Writing Arctic disaster: authorship and exploration.
“[A] magisterial interpretation of the publishing process at the house of Murray…a welcome addition to the library of anyone interested in the nexus of exploration and travel, authorship, and bookmaking. Keighren et al. have carefully documented in a most readable volume the complex process of transforming words about the world into print.” — Steven L. Driever, Historical Geography.
“[Travels into Print] is a fascinating account of how knowledge is produced.” — Ronald H. Fritze, Terrae Incognitae: The Journal for the History of Discoveries.
“This book is an outstanding piece of research, successfully conveying the hard work put into the process of publishing with Murray in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The authors’ eyes for the details are exceptional! They were able to couple their explanation of the publication process with interesting stories of different explorers, deftly showcasing their thoughts and troubles at the same time. Each narrative is so well embedded in the book that complicated theoretical concepts can be easily understood, and they help explain life and living conditions in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The book is highly recommended for history, geography, and tourism students as well as scholars of exploration and literary writing.” — Christian Kahl, Journeys: The International Journal of Travel and Travel Writing.
“Travels into Print provides a crucial textual backstory, as it were, to more theoretically inflected studies of nineteenth-century travel writing, one that sheds new light on the complex ways colonial encounters and narratives made the journey into print…[the book] has much to offer scholars of nineteenth-century literature, history, and print culture. Meticulously researched, the book also forms a fine introduction to the interdisciplinary nature of travel studies and to the current state of scholarship in the field.” — Christopher M. Keirstead, Nineteenth-Century Contexts: An Interdisciplinary Journal.
“заметной вехой в исследованиях литературы путешествий [a landmark in the study of travel literature].” — Федор Корандей [Fedor Korandei], Ab Imperio.
“This is a work solidly based on extensive research in the John Murray Archive…As is the custom with the University of Chicago Press, production standards are of the highest and at a price much more favourable than is the norm for British publishers. The coloured plates, and black and white illustrations in the text are all carefully chosen to add to the narrative…Readers with an interest in nineteenth-century publishing…will find much of interest.” — Robert Laurie, The Library: The Transactions of The Bibliographical Society.
“[I]mpressively broad in its scope…[L]iterary scholars…will definitely find the book refreshing (given its numerous references to non-canonical texts) and will appreciate the metaphorical presentation of the most important journey depicted here—the one undertaken by travel texts themselves, from mere in-the-field notebooks to published and promoted works.” — Aneta Lipska, Romantic Textualities: Literature and Print Culture, 1780–1840.
“This methodologically sophisticated study is a landmark in interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary scholarship…the book offers a lucid account of the scientific, political and cultural contexts in which John Murray’s travel writers authored their narratives of non-European explorations. Historians of science and geographers will find vital information about the ways travel and exploration contributed to the emergence of modern science…Travels into Print [is] an invaluable contribution to the fields of geography, history of science and history of the book. It will be a benchmark against which the value of further interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary studies will be measured.” — Eleni Loukopoulou, The British Journal for the History of Science.
“Travels into Print is a fascinating incursion into the Murray archive. With the sustained focus on travel and exploration texts, this book is particularly useful in ‘disclosing’ (p.211) the complex ways in which explorer and traveller figures, themselves discursive constructions, acquired publishing identities as authoritative authors and readers whose texts operated as cultural artefacts, corporately fashioned by publishing houses.” — Sandhya Patel, Viatica.
“Travels into Print is an impressive work of scholarship. Its account of how authority is negotiated in print will surely be a model for further studies, both in travel writing and beyond. It comes highly recommended.” — Susan Pickford, SHARP News.
“[A] significant interdisciplinary study that makes contributions not just to the history of geographical exploration and of the book trade, but also to the history of science, art, and cartography, as well as to popular culture, literary studies, and theories of the meaning and reception of ideas…In summary, this is a well-researched, in-depth analysis of a relevant and interesting subject. It is recommended for those interested in historical geography, the history of books, or the relation between popular culture and exploration.” — Beau Riffenburgh, Polar Record.
“[A]stute and valuable…Though Travels in Print is concerned with a specific genre of writing which appeared from one publishing house at a well-defined moment in time, the intervention it makes is an important one to remember for all students of authorship.” — Jasper Schelstraete, Authorship.
“eines überaus lesenswerten Buches [an extremely readable book].” — Iris Schröder, Jahrbuch für Kommunikationsgeschichte.
“[A] major contribution to book history and one that is bound to interest historians of science…The work benefits from the extraordinary archive of letters, account books, and other documents once held at Albemarle Street but now readily available at the National Library of Scotland. The skillful use of these materials, in a remarkably seamless narrative by three leading authorities, makes it possible to look behind the scenes of Victorian publishing to an unprecedented degree.” — Jim Secord, Isis.
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Keighren, Innes M. Bringing geography to book: Ellen Semple and the reception of geographical knowledge. London: I.B.Tauris, 2010.
Bringing geography to book is published by I.B.Tauris.
The publication of Ellen Semple’s Influences of Geographic Environment in 1911—a treatise on what would later be called environmental determinism—coincided with the emergence of geography as an independent academic discipline in North America and Britain. A controversial text written by one of America’s first female professional geographers, it exerted an important but varied influence on generations of geographers. Some considered it a monument to Semple’s scholarship and erudition—a timely manifesto for a scientific approach to human geography. For others, it was conceptually flawed. Accepted by some, repudiated by others, Influences was lauded and criticized in almost equal measure.
Innes M. Keighren examines the different reactions to Semple’s book. He explains why Influences was encountered differently by different people, at different times and in different places, and reveals why the book aroused the passions it did. Attending to archival records, personal correspondence, published reviews, provenance and marginalia, the author traces a geography of the book’s reception and outlines the contribution geography can make to understanding the way knowledge and ideas, in the guise of the printed text, are conceived, transmitted and received. The result is a pioneering work that provides a wholesale re-visioning of the way in which geographical knowledge is disseminated.
“[R]esearchers working on the historical geographies of print media and their audiences will surely applaud Keighren’s detailed description of how Influences ‘travelled’.” — Noel Castree, Annals of the Association of American Geographers.
“As an easily read, scholarly text Keighren’s book is a valuable case study of the circulation of knowledge.” — Ron Johnston, Journal of Historical Geography.
“[A] promising venture by an author from whose research we can expect to see further innovative contributions in the years to come.” — William A. Koelsch, The Northeastern Geographer.
“[D]etailed in execution and refreshingly bold in design…at once an addition to the literature, and a happy accomplishment much the product of diligence and goodly judgement.” — Geoffrey J. Martin, The Geographical Review.
“I commend Keighren for his substantial and innovative study.” — Janice Monk, Environment and History.
“Must reading for history of geography and science scholars. Highly recommended.” — Leon Yacher, Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries.
Keighren, Innes M. and Joanne Norcup, eds. Landscapes of Detectorists. Axminster: Uniformbooks, 2020. (Reprinted 2021, 2022, and 2024)
Landscapes of Detectorists is published by Uniformbooks.
Landscapes of Detectorists considers the programme’s engagement with landscape, its ecological resonances, and its attention to place and identity. The book offers four distinct geographical readings of Detectorists: Innes M. Keighren attends to the sensory, technological, and emotional interpretation of landscape; Isla Forsyth examines the relationship between objects, memory, and place; the significance of verticality, the aerial, and groundedness is discussed by Andrew Harris; and Joanne Norcup explores the contested interconnections of gender, expertise, and knowledge making. The collection is bookended by reflections on the creative processes and decisions that supported the journey of Detectorists from script to screen: in a foreword written by its writer-director, Mackenzie Crook, and in an afterword written by its originating producer, Adam Tandy.
“Landscapes of Detectorists will be enjoyed by geographers of all persuasions. It is also a book for sharing: one to add to reading lists, yes, but to lend to non-geography friends as well, to show them what it’s all about. It’s an excellent and entertaining book, and whether you have seen the show or not, be prepared to find yourself joining Lance and Andy in Danebury shortly after you read it.” — Phil Emmerson, cultural geographies.
“In sum, this is a rich collection that ‘[gives] geographers the permission to take comedy seriously’ (p. 16). Indeed, the collection raises fascinating questions about the situatedness of the sit-com, and the manner in which comedy unfolds in dialogue with the characters’ geographies: constructed to confine and constrain, certainly, but also affording and opening onto comedic possibilities. There is also much here for those interested in understanding the meaning and status of landscape (and its representations) in contemporary England. The book demonstrates how cultural texts like Detectorists are rich, empirical examinations of inhabited geographies in their substantive and imaginative qualities, heterogeneity, and knotty spatio-temporality: ‘simultaneously local and global, of now and of the past and the future’ (p. 18). Above all, though, this is a project brimming with genuine love for its subject matter. It is borne of an organic shared appreciation of overlapping academic and personal passions. It champions writing of, and for, an unconventional subject. That the editors write of being ‘enriched’ by the process of crafting this collection is no surprise: it is enriching to read.” — Ben Garlick, Journal of Historical Geography.
“On receiving this book to review, I was aware first of the sheer pleasure of handling it. In the light of the pressures of academic publishers to go digital, it is worth noting the loving attention the publisher has given this book. Everything—from the cover to the illustrations to the quality of the paper to the clear typeface—works to make reading it an aesthetically pleasing experience. And all at a price that is aimed at expanding the readership rather than limiting it to university libraries…[The book] greatly benefits from a strong focus on its key themes and modes of analysis. Television Studies scholars can be grateful that these authors (and their publisher) took the risk of bringing their own particular knowledge and skills to bear on Detectorists.” — Christine Geraghty, Critical Studies in Television: The International Journal of Television Studies.
“This is a perfect companion to a wonderful series, and it makes you think about the landscape, the places that Lance and Andy scratch around in for buried treasure. A shout out, too, goes to the beautiful design and production by Uniformbooks, with many photographs from the series, and with the cleverest placement of footnotes I have ever seen. It’s all great fun, then, but serious fun, academic but amusing, engaging without being flippant, and like the series that inspired it, quirky in all the right ways.” — Philip Howell, The AAG Review of Books.
“[A] handsome little book…Not a word is wasted, from a Foreword by actor-writer Mackenzie Crook, through five articles to producer Adam Tandy’s Afterword, and many screengrabs help the reader keep a foot in the companionship and reflective, rural pace of the drama…Satisfyingly footnoted and referenced, this is a thoughtful record and a perfect gift for the inner detectorist in us all.” — Mike Pitts, British Archaeology.
“[T]he essays in this book—like the series itself—reveal something of the best about our culture: that what appears at first sight to be prosaic and profane, even ‘buried’, is in fact the sacred hidden in plain sight.” — Carl Taylor, Waiting for You: A Detectorists Zine.
“[A] real treasure. If you’re a fan of the show, buy this book. If you’ve yet to discover the show, buy this book, and you’ll soon be rushing out to find out what the fuss is all about.” — Matt Turpin, The Beestonian.
“[An] admirable monograph.” — Ken Worpole, The Times Literary Supplement.
Landscapes of Detectorists has been noted or reviewed in a number of online venues including Backlisted, The Beestonian, Caught by the River, Corse Present, CST online, Data Deluge, Goodreads, Halfman, Halfbook, Her Infinite Variety, LivingGeography, Maps of the Lost, The New English Landscape, The Social Gathering, some LANDSCAPES, Suburban Shelves, and 255bookreview.com.
The book was selected as “Pick of the Week” on the Sunnyside Podcast Show (25 July 2020), “Book of the Day” by Five Leaves Bookshop (1 August 2020), and one of the “Reasons to be Cheerful, 2020” by the blog dig your fins (23 December 2020). The book has been noted on BBC Radio Scotland (The Afternoon Show, 23 December 2022) and in The Times (24 December 2022).
In addition, readers on social media have commented favourably on the book:
“A thought-provoking dip into landscape and the world of the series…” — @simonguy.bsky.social, 29 November 2024
“Lovely, stimulating, rigorous, all round very fine small book prompted by an absolutely glorious series.” — @illuminations.bsky.social, 7 November 2024
“[A] collection of essays with the same warmth and generosity of spirit as the series.” — @EleanorMayBaker, 7 January 2024
“A great book.” — @RobfromMalpas, 12 January 2023
“[A]s beautiful and thoughtful as the show itself.” — @OwenJHurcum, 28 December 2022
“[A] lovely lovely book.” — @NHaliloglu, 22 December 2022
“A wonderful, wonderful book.” — @electra_rhodes, 15 December 2022
“[A] delight of place, identity, memory, landscapes & knowledge-making.” — @JilFairclough, 24 November 2022
“This is a lovely book.” — @SimonGuy64, 11 May 2022
“[T]he most nourishing book I’ve read in a long time. Food for the academic soul.” — @olimould, 11 May 2022
“It’s an astonishing number of my favourite things in one place!”— @jennie, 18 August 2021
“Thoughtful, and joyous.”— @melissaterras, 26 July 2021
“It’s an absolute must read and is a beautiful book!”— @Lucyfurleapz, 17 June 2021
“A joyous, loving exploration of the cultural and physical landscapes of the warm, fulfilling Detectorists.”— @AndyDoggerBank, 17 June 2021
“Love Landscapes of Detectorists.”— @shellywriter, 24 May 2021
“[I]t’s as lovely and interesting as the programme.”— @tonyhazzard, 27 March 2021
“If you like the series I can recommend this book on its landscapes…”— @Some_landscapes, 28 February 2021
“[I]t’s dead good.”— @maximumpetergriff, 16 February 2021
“Love this book, beautifully written.”— @AnitaBroad, 16 February 2021
“[A] wonderful book.”— @walshythebolshy, 13 February 2021
“[A] very good book…”— @Beestonia, 9 February 2021
“Serious yet entertaining articles about the best British TV comedy series ever.”— @corse_present, 31 January 2021
“A really smart book.”— @SimonGranville, 28 January 2021
“[A] wonderful book on the series.”— @generalistjo, 16 January 2021
“[One] of the best books I’ve read this year…”— @SimonGuy64, 22 December 2020
“If you loved the show, then I’m sure you’ll love this book.” — @FutureBleeps, 17 December 2020
“[A] collection of (very accessible) academic essays about the finest sitcom of recent times.” — @meandmybigmouth, 17 December 2020
“[A] fab book! Some excellent new perspectives and insights into the series, a fun read, looks beautiful too.” — @ClintSpoon, 11 December 2020
“One of my favourite books of the year. A real treat.” — @chrisstovell, 7 December 2020
“[A] little gem of a book!” — @rikjaz, 28 November 2020
“Massively enjoying ‘Landscapes of Detectorists’…A thoroughly engaging academic counterpart to a programme ‘about hardly anything and almost everything’.” — @_Rob_Law, 16 September 2020
“The book is as a delightful read as the show is delightful viewing.” — @cloudhopper, 1 August 2020
“Highly recommended.” — @chrisstovell, 26 July 2020
“Just the kind of writing I’ve been missing. Gently academic, genuinely informative and beautiful…” — @BarefootCrofter, 21 July 2020
“[A] wonderful new book…on seeking for things, materialities, hoarding, hobbies, gender, emotion, layers, ghosts and landscapes. A really beautiful publication…It’s a really joyous read. I wish academic writing…could all be free and beautiful like this (which is academic without being academic!)” — @alexwoodall, 18 July 2020
“[A] thing of quiet beauty…” — @MrFinknottle, 9 July 2020
“Seems wholly fitting that a book on Detectorists is as thoughtful (and well written) about the particular importance of place in the programme.” — @mrdanielweir, 9 July 2020
“I really enjoyed ‘Landscapes of Detectorists’; it’s insightful and funny. I like the idea of looking at the series via geography (which turns out not just to be about oxbow lakes) it’s refreshing to read about culture without any postmodern snark too.” — @Gargarin, 9 July 2020
“Must read: great book on a great TV series - historical geographers writing cogent archaeological prose about landscape depth, texture and engagement through the perspective of the comedy Detectorists.” — @MarkKnight63, 4 July 2020
“It is such a joy…” — @nickswarb, 4 July 2020
“Sublime idea perfectly executed…” — @kershaw_tim, 3 July 2020
“[A] lovely bit of publishing. Academic in approach but enlivened with charm and wit…” — @SimonGuy64, 2 July 2020
“So good - scholarly but as gentle and as considerate as the series itself…” — @iwaites60, 1 July 2020
“It is a triumph. Particularly refreshing to see scholarship produced outside of the ‘dominant modes of academic production.’” — @dr_duncanwright, 1 July 2020
“[W]hat a thing of beauty!” — @fenphil, 1 July 2020
“[A] fantastic book…” — @Ravilious1942, 30 June 2020
“There’s something magical about the series Detectorists. This gem…goes some way to unearthing exactly what it is.” — @leearmstrong74, 29 June 2020
“Absolutely loved this book exploring landscape, culture, history, gender, and sense of place as seen in Detectorists…” — @stevegrayphoto, 29 June 2020
“Quite the most perfect book…A thing of beauty, warmth and good humour…” — @AlPinkerton, 27 June 2020
“[A] lovely book.” — @coxandbudge, 26 June 2020
“Mackenzie Crook’s foreword is a REVALATION!” — @Superproprep, 26 Junes 2020
“A little printed treasure…” — @RichlyEvocative, 25 June 2020
“[T]he text is more than a match for the beauty of the book-as-object…” — @sarahkmarr, 25 June 2020
“It has some fascinating analysis, a lightness of touch, and doesn’t mind the occasional swear…” — @meandmybigmouth, 25 June 2020
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Craggs, Ruth, Hilary Geoghegan, and Innes M. Keighren, eds. Collaborative geographies: the politics, practicalities, and promise of working together. Historical Geography Research Series No. 43. London: Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), 2013.
Collaborative geographies is published by the Historical Geography Research Group of the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers).
Given the exciting and innovative nature of current and recent collaboration in historical geography, this volume reflects on the nature of the collaborative process—its politics, practicalities, and promise. The collection’s ten chapters explore what it means, both practically and intellectually, to work together in the production of geographical knowledge. By drawing together the reflections of students, academics, and partner organisations, this volume explores the benefits and challenges of working collaboratively. In addition to being a showcase for current collaborative undertakings, the volume also examines how productive relationships are developed and managed, how the competing demands of the academic and public sector are negotiated, and how geographical knowledges are communicated to, and informed by, partner organisations.
“Collaborative Geographies is…a celebratory text, and it represents an important addition to the small body of literature that seeks to engage with the idea of ‘collaboration’ and the related concepts of impact and knowledge exchange.” — Ealasaid Munro, Journal of Historical Geography.
Keighren, Innes M. “Where do we go from here? Reflections on the idea of progress in the history of geography.” Journal of Historical Geography 85 (2024): 99–101. [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M., Christian Abrahamsson, and Veronica della Dora. “Sobre geografias canônicas.” Translated by Rafael Augusto Andrade Gomes and Marcos Vinícius Fernandes Gonçalves. Terra Brasilis 15 (2021). [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M. “The confiscated library of William Macintosh in the Bibliothèque municipale d’Avignon.” The Library: The Transactions of The Bibliographical Society 22, no. 2 (2021): 197–216. [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M. “History and philosophy of geography III: the haunted, the reviled, and the plural.” Progress in Human Geography 44, no. 1 (2020): 160–67. [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M. “History and philosophy of geography II: the excluded, the evil, and the anarchic.” Progress in Human Geography 42, no. 5 (2018): 770–78. [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M. “History and philosophy of geography I: the slow, the turbulent, and the dissenting.” Progress in Human Geography 41, no. 5 (2017): 638–47. [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M. “‘A Royal Geographical Society for ladies’: the Lyceum Club and women’s geographical frontiers in Edwardian London.” The Professional Geographer 69, no. 4 (2017): 661–69. [PDF]
Jöns, Heike, Janice Monk, and Innes M. Keighren. “Introduction: towards more inclusive and comparative perspectives in the histories of geographical knowledge.” The Professional Geographer 69, no. 4 (2017): 655–60. [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M., Jeremy Crampton, Franklin Ginn, Scott Kirsch, Audrey Kobayashi, Simon Naylor, and Jörn Seemann. “Teaching the history of geography: current challenges and future directions.” Progress in Human Geography 41, no. 2 (2017): 245–62. [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M. “Unpacking geography: a brief history, 1973–2013.” Area 46, no. 2 (2014): 210–13. [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M. “Teaching historical geography in the field.” Journal of Geography in Higher Education 37, no. 4 (2013): 567–77. [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M. “Geographies of the book: review and prospect.” Geography Compass 7, no. 11 (2013): 745–58. [PDF]
Evans, Sarah L., Innes M. Keighren, and Avril Maddrell. “Coming of age? Marking the centenary of women’s admission to the Royal Geographical Society.” The Geographical Journal 179, no. 4 (2013): 373–76. [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M., Christian Abrahamsson, and Veronica della Dora. “We have never been canonical.” Dialogues in Human Geography 2, no. 3 (2012): 341–45. [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M., Christian Abrahamsson, and Veronica della Dora. “On canonical geographies.” Dialogues in Human Geography 2, no. 3 (2012): 296–312. [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M., and Charles W. J. Withers. “The spectacular and the sacred: narrating landscape in works of travel.” cultural geographies 19, no. 1 (2012): 11–30. [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M., and Charles W. J. Withers. “Questions of inscription and epistemology in British travelers’ accounts of early nineteenth-century South America.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 101, no. 6 (2011): 1331–46. [PDF]
Withers, Charles W. J., and Innes M. Keighren. “Travels into print: authoring, editing and narratives of travel and exploration, c.1815–c.1857.” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 36, no. 4 (2011): 560–73. [PDF] (Anthologized in Travel writing: critical concepts in literary and cultural studies, edited by Tim Youngs and Charles Forsdick, vol. 1, 175–98. London: Routledge, 2012)
Keighren, Innes M. “Giving voice to geography: popular lectures and the diffusion of knowledge.” Scottish Geographical Journal 124, no. 2 & 3 (2008): 198–203. [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M. “Bringing geography to the book: charting the reception of Influences of geographic environment.” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 31, no. 4 (2006): 525–40. [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M. “Of poles, pressmen, and the newspaper public: reporting the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, 1902–1904.” Scottish Geographical Journal 121, no. 2 (2005): 203–18. [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M. “Geosophy, imagination, and terrae incognitae: exploring the intellectual history of John Kirtland Wright.” Journal of Historical Geography 31, no. 3 (2005): 546–62. [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M. and Benjamin Newman. “Worlds into words – and back again.” In The SAGE handbook of historical geography, edited by Mona Domosh, Michael Heffernan, and Charles W. J. Withers, vol. 2, 795–815. London: SAGE, 2020. [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M. “‘When I look at this landscape, I can read it’—practices of landscape interpretation in Detectorists.” In Landscapes of Detectorists, edited by Innes M. Keighren and Joanne Norcup, 24–39. Axminster: Uniformbooks, 2020.
Keighren, Innes M. and Joanne Norcup. “Introduction.” In Landscapes of Detectorists, edited by Innes M. Keighren and Joanne Norcup, 14–21. Axminster: Uniformbooks, 2020.
Keighren, Innes M. “A contested vision of empire: anonymity, authority, and mobility in the reception of William Macintosh’s Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa (1782).” In Empire and mobility in the long nineteenth century, edited by David Lambert and Peter Merriman, 50–68. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2020. [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M. “Book and print technology.” In The Routledge research companion to travel writing, edited by Alasdair Pettinger and Tim Youngs, 354–64. Abingdon: Routledge, 2020.
Keighren, Innes M. “Circulating seditious knowledge: the ‘daring absurdities, studied misrepresentations, and abominable falsehoods’ of William Macintosh.” In Mobilities of knowledge, edited by Heike Jöns, Peter Meusburger, and Michael Heffernan, 67–83. Cham: Springer, 2017. [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M. “Environmental determinism.” In International encyclopedia of the social and behavioral sciences, edited by James D. Wright, vol. 7, 720–25. 2nd ed. Oxford: Elsevier, 2015. [PDF]
Craggs, Ruth, Hilary Geoghegan, and Innes M. Keighren. “Introducing collaborative geographies.” In Collaborative geographies: the politics, practicalities, and promise of working together, Historical Geography Research Series No. 43, edited by Ruth Craggs, Hilary Geoghegan, and Innes M. Keighren, 5–10. London: Royal Geographical Society, 2013.
Keighren, Innes M. “Fieldwork in the archive.” In Fieldwork for human geography, by Richard Phillips and Jennifer Johns, 138–40. London: SAGE, 2012.
Keighren, Innes M. “Reading the messy reception of Influences of geographic environment (1911).” In Geographies of the book, edited by Miles Ogborn and Charles W. J. Withers, 277–98. Farnham: Ashgate, 2010. [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M. “Wright, J. K.” In International encyclopedia of human geography, edited by Rob Kitchin and Nigel Thrift, vol. 12, 281–82. Oxford: Elsevier, 2009. [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M. “Breakfasting with William Morris Davis: everyday episodes in the history of geography.” In Practising the archive: reflections on methods and practice in historical geography, Historical Geography Research Series No. 40, edited by Elizabeth A. Gagen, Hayden Lorimer, and Alex Vasudevan, 47–55. London: Royal Geographical Society, 2007.
Keighren, Innes M. “Review of Nature translated: Alexander von Humboldt’s works in nineteenth-century Britain, by Alison E. Martin.” Scottish Geographical Journal 136, no. 1–4 (2020): 202–04. [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M. “Review of Livingstone’s Missionary travels manuscript (1857): a critical edition, directed by Justin D. Livingstone and Adrian S. Wisnicki.” Scottish Geographical Journal 136, no. 1–4 (2020): 198–201. [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M. “Knowledge made human. Review of Scholars in action: the practice of knowledge and the figure of the savant in the 18th century, edited by André Holenstein, Hubert Steinke, and Martin Stuber in collaboration with Philippe Rogger.” H-HistGeog, H-Net Reviews (2014). [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M. “Turning the pages of science. Review of Science in print: essays on the history of science and the culture of print, edited by Rima D. Apple, Gregory J. Downey, and Stephen L. Vaughn.” H-HistGeog, H-Net Reviews (2013). [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M. “Review of Print culture: from steam press to ebook, by Frances Robertson.” cultural geographies 20, no. 4 (2013): 552. [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M. “Commentary on The passage to Cosmos: Alexander von Humboldt and the shaping of America, by Laura Dassow Walls.” H-Environment Roundtable Reviews 2, no. 4 (2012): 17–19. [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M. “Review of A life in shadow: Aimé Bonpland in southern South America, 1817–1858, by Stephen Bell.” Bulletin of Latin American Research 31, no. 3 (2012): 415–16. [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M. “Reading what Humboldt really wrote. Review of Political essay on the island of Cuba, by Alexander von Humboldt. Edited with an introduction by Vera M. Kutzinski and Ottmar Ette.” H-HistGeog, H-Net Reviews (2011). [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M. “Science: a very human endeavour. Review of Never pure: historical studies of science as if it was produced by people with bodies, situated in time, space, culture, and society, and struggling for credibility and authority, by Steven Shapin.” H-HistGeog, H-Net Reviews (2011). [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M. “Review of San Martín: Argentine soldier, American hero, by John Lynch.” Bulletin of Latin American Research 30, no. 2 (2011): 256–58. [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M. “Review of The passage to Cosmos: Alexander von Humboldt and the shaping of America, by Laura Dassow Walls and Alexander von Humboldt and the botanical exploration of the Americas, by H. Walter Lack.” Journal of Historical Geography 36, no. 2 (2010): 234–35. [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M. “Revelations and revolutions in nineteenth-century earth science. Review of Worlds before Adam: the reconstruction of geohistory in the age of reform, by Martin J. S. Rudwick.” H-HistGeog, H-Net Reviews (2009). [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M. “Review of When winter come: the ascension of York, by Frank X Walker.” Scottish Geographical Journal 124, no. 1 (2008): 98–100. [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M. “Writing the history of the world. Review of Bursting the limits of time: the reconstruction of geohistory in the age of revolution, by Martin J. S. Rudwick.” H-HistGeog, H-Net Reviews (2006). [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M. “Victorian meteorology: tracing popular passion and elite science. Review of Predicting the weather: Victorians and the science of meteorology, by Katherine Anderson.” Endeavour 30, no. 2 (2006): 42–43. [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M. “Comfort viewing: Detectorists in an age of anxiety.” Waiting for You: A Detectorists Zine, no. 2 (2021): 6–13.
Keighren, Innes M. and Charles W. J. Withers. “Publishing the world: nineteenth-century travel writing and the house of Murray.” Nineteenth century literary society: the John Murray publishing archive. Marlborough: Adam Matthew Digital, 2020.
Keighren, Innes M. “From the archive: on the trail of William Macintosh.” Historical Geography Research Group Newsletter, winter (2017–18): 4–5. [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M. “Maritime Roundtable: The Geographies of Ships, 8 March 2011.” Historical Geography Research Group Newsletter, summer (2011): 3–4. [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M. “Scientific Voyaging: Histories and Comparisons, 8–10 July 2008.” Viewpoint, no. 87, October (2008): 9. [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M. “HGRG Practising Historical Geography Conference, 3 November 2004.” Historical Geography Research Group Newsletter, spring (2005): 5–6. [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M. “Comfort viewing: Detectorists in an age of anxiety.” Landscape Surgery, 22 December 2021.
Keighren, Innes M. “Two nineteenth-century expeditionary libraries.” Crusoe’s Books, 8 April 2021.
Armston-Sheret, Edward and Innes M. Keighren. “Fashioning the frontispiece: the role of clothing in the travel narratives of Isabella Bird.” The Editor’s Choice, 5 June 2020.
Keighren, Innes M. “Catechisms, grammars, and readers: towards a generic history of geography textbooks.” Landscape Surgery, 5 June 2017.
Keighren, Innes M. “Stealing geography.” Landscape Surgery, 20 July 2015.
Keighren, Innes M. “Measuring the value of monographs.” Landscape Surgery, 3 February 2015.
Keighren, Innes M. “The quick death of slow scholarship?” Landscape Surgery, 12 November 2014.
Keighren, Innes M. “Reading the reception of Ellen Churchill Semple’s Influences of geographic environment (1911).” PhD thesis, University of Edinburgh (2008). [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M. “A Scot of the Antarctic: the reception and commemoration of William Speirs Bruce.” MSc thesis, University of Edinburgh (2003). [PDF]
Keighren, Innes M. “The imaginary worlds of John Kirtland Wright.” BSc dissertation, University of Edinburgh (2002). [PDF]
Conference Papers | Invited Papers
“Testimonial injustice and the authority of Black voices in eighteenth-century Grenada.” Paper presented at the RGS-IBG Annual International Conference, Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), London, 27–30 August 2024.
“‘When I look at this landscape, I can read it’: practices of landscape interpretation in Detectorists.” Paper presented at the RGS-IBG Annual International Conference, Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), Cardiff, 28–31 August 2018.
“Catechisms, grammars, and readers: towards a generic history of geography textbooks.” Paper presented at the RGS-IBG Annual International Conference, Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), London, 30 August–2 September 2016.
“William Macintosh’s Travels: colonial mobility and the circulation of knowledge.” Paper presented at the 16th International Conference of Historical Geographers, London, 5–10 July 2015.
“‘Consistent neither with candour nor truth’: negotiating authorship and authority in William Macintosh’s Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa (1782).” Paper presented at the 111th Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Chicago, 21–25 April 2015.
“Circling the Society: women’s geographical frontiers in Edwardian London.” Paper presented at the 110th Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Tampa, 8–12 April 2014.
“Circling the Society: women’s geographical frontiers in Edwardian London.” Paper presented at the RGS-IBG Annual International Conference, Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), London, 28–30 August 2013.
“‘[D]aring absurdities, studied misrepresentations, and abominable falsehoods’: the geographical writings of William Macintosh (1738–c. 1809).” Paper presented at the RGS-IBG Annual International Conference, Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), London, 31 August–2 September 2011.
“‘Written amid hurry and confusion’: Richard Wilbraham’s inscriptive practices as regimen and comfort.” Paper presented at the 107th Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Seattle, 12–16 April 2011.
“Geologists on tour: representing the scenic and scientific gaze of earth scientists.” Paper presented at the RGS-IBG Annual International Conference, Manchester, 26–28 August 2009.
“Journeys through print: John Murray and nineteenth-century travel writing.” Paper presented at ‘Tradition & Innovation’, the 17th annual conference of the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading, and Publishing, University of St Michael’s College, University of Toronto, 23–26 June 2009.
“Accidental geographers: nineteenth-century British travellers in South America.” Paper presented at the 105th Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Las Vegas, Nevada. 22–27 March 2009.
“The ‘bogey-lady of a slightly silly concept’: rethinking the legacy of Ellen Churchill Semple.” Paper presented at the 103rd Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, San Francisco, California. 17–21 April 2007.
“Bringing geography to the book: charting the reception of Influences of geographic environment.” Paper presented at the RGS-IBG Annual International Conference, Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), London. 30 August–1 September 2006.
“Bringing geography to the book: charting the reception of Influences of geographic environment.” Paper presented at the 102nd Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Chicago, Illinois. 7–11 March 2006.
“Miss Semple’s Influences: a study in the historical geography of authorship, publishing, and reading.” Paper presented at ‘Material Cultures and the Creation of Knowledge’, Centre for the History of the Book, University of Edinburgh. 22–24 July 2005.
“Miss Semple’s Influences: a study in the historical geography of authorship, publishing, and reading.” Paper presented at ‘Navigating Texts and Contexts’, the 13th annual conference of the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading, and Publishing, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia. 14–17 July 2005.
“Reflections on teaching historical geography in the (international) field.” Paper presented online ‘Practising Historical Geography”, the 27th annual postgraduate meeting of the Historical Geography Research Group, 26 January 2022.
“Where do we go from here? Reflections on the idea of progress in the history of geography.” Paper presented online at ‘35 Years of HPGRG—Looking Back and Looking Forward’, a one-day symposium at the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), London, 7 September 2021.
“Textual mobility and cultural hybridity: following the translations of Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa (1782).” Paper presented online at ‘Moving Forward: A Concept-Based Conversation on Mobility and the Humanities’, a two-day workshop hosted by the Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche Geografiche e dell’Antichità, Università degli Studi di Padova, Italy, 13–14 May 2021.
“Ideas on the move: tracing the mobilities turn in the arts and humanities.” Address to the Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche Geografiche e dell’Antichità, Università degli Studi di Padova, Italy, 17 April 2019.
“The forgotten lives of William Macintosh in the Age of Revolution: from Caribbean planter to traveller in India; from spy in France to exile in Germany.” Address to the Queen Mary Eighteenth-Century Studies Seminar series, Queen Mary Centre for Eighteenth-Century Studies, 23 October 2018.
“Ideas in motion: bodies, books, and the circulation of knowledge.” Paper presented at ‘Géographies en Mouvements’, a two-day workshop organised by the Programme Doctoral de Géographie of the Conférence Universitaire de Suisse Occidentale, Montezillon, Switzerland 6–7 February 2017.
“Fragments, mother lodes, and the gaps that remain: recuperating the forgotten geographies of William Macintosh.” Address to the Cultural and Historical Geography Research Group seminar series, School of Geography, University of Nottingham, 7 December 2016.
“Fragments, mother lodes, and the gaps that remain: recuperating the forgotten geographies of William Macintosh.” Address to the Human Geography Research Group seminar series, School of Geographical and Earth Sciences, University of Glasgow, 30 March 2016.
“Books on the move: travellers’ libraries and practices of en-route reading in the nineteenth century.” Paper presented at ‘Texts in Place/Place in Texts’, a one-day symposium forming part of ‘Cultural Participation in Place’, a Humanities and Arts Research Centre Fellowship, Royal Holloway, University of London, 21 May 2015.
“The plain and unvarnished truth: authorship, authority, and the search for credibility in nineteenth-century travel writing.” Address to the Society, Space and Culture seminar series, School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen’s University Belfast, 19 February 2015.
“Travels in a publisher’s archive: John Murray and nineteenth-century travel publishing.” Address to the Archives and Texts seminar series, Department of English Literature and Department of Modern Languages and European Studies, University of Reading, 27 October 2014.
“Beyond belief: knowing the world through books of travel, 1778–1859.” Address to the London Group of Historical Geographers, Senate House, University of London, 1 October 2013.
“‘What use is it to tell [the] truth if it looks like a fib?’: the search for credibility in nineteenth-century travel writing.” Address to the Trinity College Geography Society, University of Cambridge, 9 May 2013.
“Travel as text: working with a publisher’s archive.” Paper presented at ‘Silk Roads II: Objects, Collections, and Exhibitions’, a workshop of the AHRC Research Network ‘Re-Enacting the Silk Road: Transnational Encounters for the 21st Century’, Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), London, 7 February 2013.
“Forgetting ourselves: canonicity and memory in geography.” Paper presented at ‘The Geographical Canon?’, St Catherine’s College, University of Oxford, 15 June 2012.
“Circulating seditious knowledge: the ‘daring absurdities, studied misrepresentations, and abominable falsehoods’ of William Macintosh.” Address to the Human Geography seminar series, School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, 24 January 2012.
“Exploring the world from Albemarle Street: reading John Murray’s books of travel.” Address to the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh, 29 March 2010.
“Journeys through print: John Murray and the extraordinary travels of Maria Graham.” Address to the West Port Book Festival, Edinburgh, 15 August 2009.
“Inscription, observation, and trust: understanding British travellers’ accounts of nineteenth-century South America.” Address to the Human Geography Research Group / Scotland’s Transatlantic Relations Project, Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, University of Edinburgh, 16 February 2009.
“Humboldt’s disciples or a capitalist vanguard? The written accounts of nineteenth-century British travellers to South America.” Paper presented at ‘Spaces for, and of Historical Geography’, Institute of Geography, University of Edinburgh. 6 November 2008.
“‘Metaphysics in muslin’: Maria Graham, John Murray, and travels in nineteenth-century South America.” Address to the Edinburgh Book History Seminar. 31 October 2008.
“Postgraduate voice.” Paper presented at ‘Practising Historical Geography’, the 10th annual postgraduate meeting of the Historical Geography Research Group, School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol. 2 November 2005.
“Reviewing Miss Semple’s Influences: a historical geography of reception.” Address to the Department of Geography, University of Kentucky. 29 April 2005.
2024–date Sophia Kamps (co-supervised with Professor Felix Driver) AHRC-funded Collaborative Doctoral Award (via technē DTP) with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew: “Economies of natural history: publishing science in Victorian and Edwardian Britain.”
2022–date Michelle Payne AHRC-funded Collaborative Doctoral Award (via Science Museums and Archives Consortium): “Reinterpreting Marianne North: life writing, botanical travel, and the legacies of empire.”
2021–date Bethany Williamson (co-supervised with Professor Veronica della Dora) AHRC-funded Collaborative Doctoral Award (via technē DTP) with the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers): “Translating place: orthography and the problem of place names at the Royal Geographical Society, 1830–1919.”
2017–2021 Edward Armston-Sheret (co-supervised with Professor Klaus Dodds) AHRC-funded +3 studentship (via TECHNE DTP): “Exploring bodies: recentring the body in histories of British exploration, c. 1850–1913.”
2014–2019 Benjamin Newman (co-supervised with Professor Klaus Dodds) AHRC-funded Collaborative Doctoral Award with the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers): “Geography in print: cultures of periodical publishing at the Royal Geographical Society, 1830–1900.”
2013–2018 Hannah Awcock (co-supervised with Professor David Gilbert) ESRC-funded 1+3 studentship (via SEDTC): “Contesting the capital: space, place, and protest in London, 1780–2010.”
2013–2018 Noeme Santana (co-supervised with Professor Felix Driver) AHRC-funded Collaborative Doctoral Award with the Science Museum: “Engineering and the corporate photographic archive: a study of the albums of S. Pearson & Son, 1880–1930.”
2011–2016 Elizabeth Haines (co-supervised with Dr Alasdair Pinkerton) AHRC-funded Collaborative Doctoral Award with the Science Museum: “A colonial cartographic economy: the contested value of mapping in Northern Rhodesia, 1915–1955.”
Last updated: 30 November 2024.