“Conceptual Mapping” ft. Queen’s University Belfast’s David N. Livingstone I Saturdays at Seven Ep. 43

In the forty-third episode of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with David N. Livingstone, Professor of Geography and Intellectual History Emeritus at Queen’s University Belfast. Livingstone opens by detailing the sufficiencies and insufficiencies of maps. As finite constructs devised for specific purposes, some maps, for example, may do a good job of offering expedient directions between two points. What those maps may lack, however, is the ability to note the cultural transitions people may experience while traveling between those points. Ream and Livingstone then transition to discussing Livingstone’s education and career in Belfast. Arching across much of the season known in Northern Ireland as The Troubles, Livingstone notes that although academic life at Queen’s University Belfast occurred relatively uninterrupted, daily life came to include observing security measures that became second nature. They also discuss a sample of Livingstone’s books including Dealing with Darwin, Livingstone’s widely cited Putting Science in Its Place, and Livingstone’s recently released The Empire of Climate. Ream and Livingstone then close their conversation by discussing the academic vocation, the virtues it demands, and the university’s responsibility for nurturing the commitments that define such a vocation.