ABSTRACT Neoliberal agendas are increasingly shaping both what it means to do geography but also who can do geography. This is especially true for early career academics. In this intervention I suggest the question of why we do geography is increasingly being buried as we simply survive in the neoliberal academy. What I argue is that the experiences of what it means to enter, get a job in, and then stay in the neoliberal academy are defining mine and others' experiences of being an academic. The number of job interviews undertaken, grants applied for or stories of precarity now dominate discussions rather than our research itself. These challenges in turn alter the ability to do geography research, especially research that involves long‐term ethnography and/or else overseas fieldwork. Yet, I also argue that there are ways we can create more caring and careful research environments. Drawing on examples and experiences, this paper will end by exploring the acts of collective care, solidarity and resistance that can speak to the questions of what geography is for and why we do geography.
Olivia Mason (Sun,) studied this question.