Prof. Dr. C. (Claudio) Minca

I am a human geographer with strong interests in cultural and political theory. My main research projects have focused on the geographies of tourism and travel and the spatial theories of modernity, including conceptualizations of landscape, place and power. I have also written extensively on the relationship between space and biopolitics, with a particular focus on the work of philosopher Giorgio Agamben and legal theorist Carl Schmitt. In empirical terms, my most recent work has been on Trieste (cosmopolitanism, border thinking, geographies of absence), Morocco (postcolonial geographies of travel) and the Mediterranean more broadly. I am presently Professor and Head of the Cultural Geography chair group at Wageningen University. I also hold a Research Professorship at Royal Holloway, University of London and a Visiting Professorship at the College of Tourism, Rikkyo University, Japan.

Research interests

Cultural and postcolonial geography and theories of geographical representation, particularly:

• Tourism and travel geographies 
• Cultural and post-colonial geographies of North Africa and the Mediterranean 
• Philosophy and geographical theory
• Space, Life, Biopolitics

Service in academic bodies

• 2011 – 2013: Member, Panel for the eValuation of Quality of Research (2004-2010), Italian National Agency for the Evaluation of Universities and Research Institutes (ANVUR)
• 2010 – 2011: Member, Publication Policy and Criteria Committee, Wageningen Social Science Graduate School (WASS), Wageningen University
• 2008 – Present: Member, International Scientific Committee, Jacques Maritain Foundation, Trieste, Italy
• 1997 – 2011:  Member, Steering Committee, International Critical Geography Group

Selected recent publications

Books

• Minca, C. and Wagner, L. (in preparation, 2012). Moroccan Dreams. London: IB Tauris.
• Minca, C. and Colombino, A. (2012) Breve Manuale di Geografia Umana. Padua: CEDAM (in Italian)
• Minca, C. and Oakes, T. (eds) (2011) Real Tourism. London: Routledge
• Hakli, J. and Minca, C. (eds) (2009) Social Capital and Urban Networks of Trust. London: Ashgate
• Minca, C. and Oakes, T. (eds) (2006) Travels in Paradox: Remapping Tourism. Boulder, CO.: Rowman & Littlefield
• Minca, C. (ed.) (2005) Lo spettacolo della città. Padua: CEDAM (in Italian)
• Minca, C. and Bialasiewicz, L. (2004) Spazio e Politica. Riflessioni di Geografia Critica. Padua: CEDAM (in Italian)
• Minca, C. (ed.) (2003) Orizzonte Mediterraneo. Padua: CEDAM (in Italian)

• Minca, C. (ed.) (2001) Postmodern Geography: Theory and Praxis. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell

• Minca, C. (ed.) (2001) Introduzione alla Geografia Postmoderna. Padua: CEDAM (in Italian)

Articles and essays in international peer-reviewed journals

• Minca, C. and Vaughan-Williams, N. (forthcoming) Carl Schmitt and the Concept of the Border. Geopolitics.
• Barnes, T. and Minca, C. (forthcoming)  Nazi spatial theory: Carl Schmitt’s and Walter Christaller’s geographies of Empire. Annals of the Association of American Geographers
• Minca, C. (forthcoming) Carlo Galli, Carl Schmitt and contemporary Italian Political Thought. Political Geography.
• Minca, C. (2012) Claude Raffestin’s Italian travels. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 30 (1) 142-158.
• Giaccaria, P. and Minca, C (2011) Nazi geopolitics and the dark geographies of the selva. Journal of Genocide Research 13 (1-2) 67-87.
• Giaccaria, P. and Minca, C (2011) Topographies/Topologies of the camp: Auschwitz as a spatial threshold. Political Geography 30 (1) 3-12.
• Giaccaria, P. and Minca, C. (2010) The Mediterranean alternative. Progress in Human Geography 35 (3) 345-365.
• Bialasiewicz, L. and Minca, C. (2010) The ‘border within’: Inhabiting the border in Trieste. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 28(6) 1084-1105.
• Minca, C. (2009) The Island: Tourism, Work and the Biopolitical. Tourist Studies 9 (2) 88-108.
• Minca, C. (2009) The Reign and the Glory: or the theological foundations of the credit crunch. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 27 (2) 127-132.
• Minca, C. (2009) Trieste Nazione and its geographies of absence. Social and Cultural Geography 10 (3) 263-283.
• Minca, C. (2007) Agamben’s Geographies of Modernity. Political Geography 26 (1) 78-97.
• Minca, C. (2007) The tourist landscape paradox. Social and Cultural Geography 8 (3) 433-453.
• Minca, C. (2007) Humboldt’s compromise: or, the forgotten geographies of landscape. Progress in Human Geography 31 (2) 179-193.
• Minca, C. (2006) Giorgio Agamben and the new biopolitical nomos. Geografiska Annaler, Series B: Human Geography 88 (4) 387-403.
• Bialasiewicz, L. and Minca, C. (2005) Old Europe, New Europe: for a geopolitics of translation. Area 37 (4) 365-372.
• Minca, C. (2005) Italian Cultural Geography or, the history of a prolific absence. Social and Cultural Geography 6 (6) 927-949.
• Minca, C. (2005) The return of the Camp. Progress in Human Geography 29 (4) 405-412.
• Minca, C. (2003) Empire goes to war: or, the ontological shift in the transatlantic divide. ACME An Electronic Journal of Critical Geographies 2 (2) 227-235.
• Borghi, R. and Minca, C. (2003) Le lieu, la place, l’imaginaire: discours colonial et littérature dans la description de la Jamaa el Fna, Marrakech. Expressions Maghrebins 2: 155-174 (in French).

Book chapters

• Wagner, L. and Minca C. (forthcoming) Negotiating Marrakech: Postcolonial travels in Morocco. In: Cultures and societies in tourism contexts / Nogués Pedregal, A. (ed.) Emerald.

• Giaccaria, P. and Minca C. (2012) Geografie della soglia. In: Soglie / Gentili, D. (ed.) Rome: Mimesis (in Italian)

• Minca C. (2012) Carl Schmitt and the question of spatial ontology. In: Spatiality, Sovereignty and Carl Schmitt: Geographies of the Nomos / Legg, S. (ed.) London: Routledge.

• Minca, C. (2011) No country for old men. In: Real Tourism / Minca, C. and Oakes, T. (eds) London: Routledge.

• Minca, C. and Oakes T. (2011) Real Tourism. In: Real Tourism / Minca, C. and Oakes, T. (eds) London: Routledge.

• Minca, C. and Borghi, R. (2009) Morocco: Re-staging colonialism for the masses. In: Cultures of Mass Tourism / Crang, M. and Obrador, P. (eds) London: Ashgate.
• Minca, C. (2009) Postmodernist/poststructuralist geographies. In: Elsevier Encyclopaedia of Geography / Kitchin, R. and Thrift, N. (eds) London: Elsevier.
• Minca, C. (2009) Italian Geographical Tradition. In: Elsevier Encyclopaedia of Geography / Kitchin, R. and Thrift, N. (eds) London: Elsevier.
• Minca, C. (2009) El Sujeto, el Pajsage y el Juego Postmoderno. In: La construcción social del paisaje / Nogué, J. (ed.) Editorial Biblioteca Nueva: Madrid. (in Spanish)
• Porcaro, G. and Minca, C. (2009) Rescaling Trieste: (Not so) Invisible Networks, (Dis)trust and the Imaginary Landscapes of the Expo 2008. In: Social Capital and Urban Networks of Trust / Häkli, J. and Minca, C. (eds) London: Ashgate.
• Minca, C. (2009) Speaking Triestine. Language, Practice and Social Capital in Trieste. In: Social Capital and Urban Networks of Trust / Häkli, J. and Minca, C. (eds) London: Ashgate.
• Minca, C. (2008) Edward Soja's Postmodern Geographies. In: Key Texts in Human Geography / Hubbard, P., Kitchin, R. and Valentine, G. (eds) London: SAGE. 
• Minca, C. (2006) Re-inventing the ‘square’: postcolonial geographies and the tourist gaze in Jamaa el Fna, Marrakech. In: Travels in Paradox. Remapping Tourism / Minca, C. and Oakes, T. (eds) Boulder, CO: Rowman & Littlefield.
• Minca, C. and Oakes, T. (2006) Introduction: Traveling Paradoxes. In: Travels in Paradox. Remapping Tourism / Minca, C. and Oakes, T. (eds) Boulder, CO: Rowman & Littlefield.
• Minca, C. (2005) Bellagio and beyond. In: Seductions of Place: Geographical Perspectives on Globalisation and Touristed Landscapes / Cartier, C. and Lew, A. (eds) London: Routledge.
• Oakes, T. and Minca, C. (2004) Tourism, Modernity and Postmodernity . In: A Companion to Tourism / Lew, A., Hall, M. and Williams, A. (eds) Oxford: Blackwell

Other refereed articles and essays

• Minca C. (forthcoming) Viaggio, Turismo, Geografia. In: Educare al territorio, educare il territorio. La geografia per la formazione/ Giorda, M. and Putilli (eds) Rome: Carocci (in Italian)
• Noel, P., Vaughan-Williams, N., Bialasiewicz, L., Bulmer, S., Carver, B., Durie, R., Heathershaw, J., van Houtum, H., Kinnvall, K., Kramsch, O., Minca, C., Murray, A., Panjek, A., Rumford, C., Schaap, A., Sidaway, J., and Williams, J. (2009) Lines in the Sand? Towards an Agenda for Critical Border Studies. Geopolitics 14(3) 582 - 587.
• Minca, C. (2008) Tra Cosmopolis e Nazione. Rivista Geografica Italiana 115: 459-481. (in Italian)
• Minca, C. (2008) Touring. Rivista Geografica Italiana 115: 125-144. (in English)
• Minca, C. (2006) Lo sguardo, la duna, il deserto: la traduzione europea del paesaggio orientale. In: Scritti in memoria di Ottavia Schmidt / Trevisan, E. (ed.) Venice: Merifor Book Series. (in Italian)
• Minca, C. (2003) Culture, paysage et modernité. Revue Geographique du Maroc 21: 7-20. (in French)
• Minca, C. (2003) Rogue state. Rivista Geografica Italiana 110: 425-469. (in Italian)

For a complete overview of publications click here

Research projects to date

Teaching

Postgraduate supervision