For a geography of possibility for the 21st century Philippines

Kenneth CardenasLeave a comment

Three ways of noticing

The UP Department of Geography and the Philippine Geographical Society (PGS) proudly present this month’s Heo/Geo Lecture with Dr Kenneth Cardenas as speaker. This will be on Monday, 14 September 2026 at 5:30PM (Philippine Time) / 5:30AM (Eastern Standard Time) via Zoom.

In this talk I suggest three ways of seeing possibility in the political economy of the early 21st century Philippines. I articulate a version of geography as it attuned to unevenness and difference, uniquely positioned as a mode of knowledge for reading against ‘damage-centred’ accounts of neoliberalism, underdevelopment, and inequality. Specifically, reflexive, careful attention to scale and abstraction, as dimensions to how we theorize about the Philippines, can help sensitize us to how projects of concentrating wealth and power had never fully consolidated in this place, and to the ways that non-, anti-, and post-capitalist practices co-constitute its economic and political life. 

Through completed and in-progress research on capitalism and state formation in the Philippines, I illustrate (1.) attention to long timescales, (2.) small spatial and institutional scales, and (3.) unlikely comparisons across places, periods, and commodity relations as elements to a research repertoire in the aid of noticing possibility.

To participate in the lecture, use this link to register. 

Water and time, Summer 2026

Kenneth CardenasLeave a comment

Walk, Talk & Connect,
with the Cooksville SNAP of the
Credit Valley Conservation Authority

Saturday, 22 August 2026 | 9:00 a.m. | John C. Price Playground. Register here

Join CVC’s Cooksville SNAP team alongside Kenneth and Moneira, local Cooksville residents and avid nature lovers, for a family-friendly walk along Cooksville Creek. Let’s have conversations about what brings us (humans, nonhumans, ancestors and future kin), together. Let’s talk about about portals to an alternate, actually-existing Mississauga, about inhabiting a place, and about nature.

This is a shorter, all-ages friendly, late-summer version of a Jane’s Walk that we have been conducting for two years, and hope to run for as long as we are your neighbours.

This event is part of the Cooksville Sustainable Actions Neighbourhood Plan (SNAP) and everyone is welcome to join, whether you live, work or play in Cooksville (or beyond)!

Meet us at the Little John Lane entrance to John C. Price Park. We encourage you to walk, roll, or take transit to the event. Parking is available along Kirwin Avenue. Please pay attention to road signs.

Noticing possibility in Mississauga City Centre

Kenneth CardenasLeave a comment

A Jane’s Walk with Jes F and Rahul M of Sustain Sauga

Saturday, 2 May 2026 | 12:00 p.m. | Contemplating Child sculpture, Community Common Park, 34 Princess Royal Drive at Living Arts Drive

Mississauga City Centre is a “vertical suburb around a mall”, a “triumph of bad policy over logic”. Its own mayor calls it “boring”. These may all ring true, especially from behind a windshield or an infinite scroll.

But what truths might exist alongside these portrayals—truths that might help realize a more livable, more neighbourly community? 

This walk is about the art of paying attention to possibility in Mississauga City Centre: possibility as it actually exists, as it waits for a slight nudge, and as it speaks to challenges faced by North American suburbs seeking to transition away from car dependency. It will feature conviviality in lesser-known parks and side streets, buried creeks waiting to be daylighted, and public facilities with the potential for civic activation.

A section of the walk will be devoted to Community Commons Park and the Living Arts Centre: two unique public spaces that are decried as “underutilized” by the present mayor and targeted for a $4 billion redevelopment. Another section of the walk will feature civic spaces around Celebration Square: as they have been variously transformed for the better, closed off or hidden from the public, or wait for people and government to take pride in these places.

Continue reading “Noticing possibility in Mississauga City Centre” →

Water and time, Spring 2026

Kenneth CardenasLeave a comment

Cooksville Creek, from microseasons to this millennium

Sunday, 3 May 2026 | 2:00 p.m. | John C. Price Playground to the oldest(??) tree in Mississauga City Centre. Part of the Jane’s Walk Festival 2026.

Let’s take a walk along Mississauga’s Cooksville Creek, as an exercise in traveling deep, and not far across both time and space. Let’s have conversations about what brings us—people, peoples, and place; humans and nonhumans; ancestors and future kin—together; about portals to an alternate, actually-existing Mississauga; about inhabiting a place; and about water.

Continue reading “Water and time, Spring 2026” →