Ian Cook (geographer)

Ian Cook is an Emeritus Professor of Cultural Geography at the University of Exeter in the UK, and formerly a Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Birmingham, and a Lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Wales, Lampeter. ^[1]

Background

Cook has a BSc in Human Sciences, University College London (1986); an MA in Human Geography, University of Kentucky (1992); a PhD in Human Geography, University of Bristol (1997). Their PhD was highly autobiographical, and took several years to be awarded. ^[2] They began their academic career at the University of Wales, Lampeter (1993-9), then worked at the University of Birmingham (1999-2007), before moving to the University of Exeter (2007-2025). ^[3]

They were the Director of Education & Resources for the Fashion Revolution movement (2014-2016) ^{[4] [5]} and a Visiting Professor of Geography, University of Paris 7 - Denis Diderot (2016-18).

'Follow the thing'

Cook's contributions to research, teaching and pedagogy have been to develop geographical approaches to:

• material culture studies via a 'follow the thing' approach connecting the lives of the producers and consumers of commodities, ^{[6] [7] [8]} starting with papaya grown, ^{[9] [10]} & hot pepper sauces made, ^{[11] [12]} in Jamaica and consumed in the UK. ^{[13] [14]}
• ethnographic & autoethnographic research practices, ^[15] in particular those suited to the multi-sited demands of 'follow the thing' studies ^{[16] [17]} and the creative, first person & filmic writing that can be appropriate to convey its research findings. ^{[2] [17] [18]}
• trade justice pedagogies that encourage learners to research and publish online their own 'follow the thing' studies of things that matter to them and to consider appropriate responses to any labour rights issues surfaced in the process. ^{[19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27]}
• non-traditional open-access academic publishing, most notably followthethings.com ^[28] which is a spoof online store showcasing research into the making, discussing and impacts of over 100 examples of 'follow the thing' trade justice activism (2011-date). ^{[29] [30]}
• address elements of the 'unfollowable thing' critique of early research in this genre, ^[31] in projects involving LEGO to visualise labour in supply chain research's inaccessible spaces ^{[32] [33] [34]} and collaborative, digitally informed social artwork to surface the role played by algoritms, datafication and predictive analytics in the geographies of trade. ^{[35] [36]}

Awards & recognition

• in 2013, Cook's 'follow the things' approach - and the followthethings.com website - was incorporated into the UK's National Curriculum for Geography's teaching of global trade, ethics and sustanability. ^[37]
• in 2017, Cook received the Royal Geographical Society's 'Taylor & Francis Award for Excellence in the Promotion & Practice of Teaching and Learning of Geography in Higher Education' ^[38]

See also

• Lampeter Geography School

References

1. Chris Philo (2002) Our journey through Lampeter': a marginal space of geographical knowledge. Paper delivered at the AAG Annual Meeting, Los Angeles, March
2. Ian Cook (2001) You want to be careful you don’t end up like Ian. He’s all over the place: autobiography in/of an expanded field. In Moss P (ed) Placing Autobiography in Geography, Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 99-120 [Director's cut]
3. "Staff | Geography | University of Exeter".
4. Press, Clare (2018). Rise and Resist: How to Change the World. Melbourne University Publishing Ltd.
5. Sarah Ditty, Ian Cook, Laura Hunter, Futerra, Tamsin Blanchard (2018) How to be a Fashion Revolutionary. Ashbourne: Fashion Revolution
6. Ian Cook & Philip Crang (1996) 'The world on a plate': culinary culture, displacement and geographical knowledges. Journal of Material Culture 1(2), 131-153
7. Ian Cook et al (2006) Geographies of food: following. Progress in Human Geography, 30(5), 655-666
8. Ian Cook & Tara Woodyer (2012) Lives of things. in Eric Sheppard, Trevor Barnes & Jamie Peck (eds) Wiley-Blackwell Companion to EconomicGeography. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 226-241
9. Ian Cook (1995) Constructing the exotic: the case of tropical fruit. in John Allen & Doreen Massey (eds) Geographical worlds. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 137-142
10. Ian Cook et al. (2004) Follow the Thing: Papaya. Antipode 36(4), 642-664
11. Ian Cook & Michelle Harrison (2003) ‘Cross over food: re-materialising postcolonial geographies’. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 28(3), 296-331
12. Ian Cook & Michelle Harrison (2007) Follow the thing: ‘West Indian hot pepper sauce’. Space and Culture 10(1), 40-63
13. "Food globalisation | RGS". www.rgs.org. Retrieved 11 March 2026.
14. Barnaby, Wendy (5 May 2000). "When a meal out changes lives". Times Higher Education . Retrieved 20 February 2011.
15. Cook, Ian (2019). Ethnography in Human Geography. SAGE Publications Ltd. ISBN   978-1-5297-4868-0.
16. Ian Cook & Mike Crang (1995) Doing ethnographies. CATMOG 58. Norwich: Environmental Publications
17. Mike Crang & Ian Cook (2007) Doing ethnographies. London: Sage
18. Ian Cook (2005) Positionality / situated knowledge. in David Atkinson, Peter Jackson, David Sibley & Neil Washbourne (eds) Cultural geography: a critical dictionary of key ideas. London: IB Tauris, 16-26
19. Ian Cook, Tim Angus & James Evans (2001) A Manifesto for Cyborg Pedagogy. International Research in Geographical & Environmental Education 10(2), 195-201
20. Ian Cook, James Evans, Helen Griffiths, Rebecca Morris, & Sarah Wrathmell (2007) 'It's more than just what it is': defetishising commodities, expanding fields, mobilising change. Geoforum 38(6), 1113-1126
21. "REF Case study search". impact.ref.ac.uk. Retrieved 10 March 2026.
22. "'Students describe my module as an emotional rollercoaster'". Leiden University. 17 April 2019. Retrieved 10 March 2026.
23. FutureLearn. "Who Made My Clothes? - Fashion Revolution Online Course". FutureLearn. Retrieved 10 March 2026.
24. Cook, Ian (16 December 2024). "Who made my clothes?". followthethings.com. Retrieved 10 March 2026.
25. Fashion Revolution (13 July 2020). Teaser - Programa Educacional Jovens Revolucionários . Retrieved 10 March 2026– via YouTube.
26. "Welcome to the Course". RecyCOOL Imperfections. Retrieved 10 March 2026.
27. Cook, Ian (18 August 2025). "Who made my stuff?". followthethings.com. Retrieved 10 March 2026.
28. Ian Cook et al (compiler) (2011-) followthethings.com [Internet archive versions]
29. Ian Cook et al (2019) A new vocabulary for cultural-economic geography? Dialogues in human geography 9(1), 83-87
30. Ian Cook et al (2017) From 'follow the thing: papaya' to followthethings.com. Journal of consumer ethics 1(1), 22-29
31. Alison Hulme (2017) Following the (unfollowable) thing: methodological considerations in the era of high globalisation. Cultural geographies 24(1), 157-160
32. Ian Cook et al (2018) Inviting construction: Primark, Rana Plaza & Political LEGO. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 43(3), p.477-495
33. Ian Cook et al (2018) Minifigurative politics. Inaugural Lecture, University of Exeter, 8 June
34. National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM) (7 October 2021). In Conversation with Sophie Woodward and Ian Cook – Material Methods 4: Political Lego . Retrieved 11 March 2026– via YouTube.
35. Paula Crutchlow & Ian Cook (2022) Museum of Contemporary Commodities: valuing the things we buy today as the heritage of tomorrow. Exeter: Museum of Contemporary Commodities
36. Paula Crutchlow & Ian Cook (2015-) Museum of Contemporary Commodities website. [Internet archive versions]
37. University of Exeter (2014) ‘Follow The Things’: developing critical pedagogies to promote geographically-informed and ethically-aware consumption in school geography curriculum. Research Excellence Framework Impact Case Study
38. Crane, Nicholas; Cliff, Andrew; Conway, Gordon; Evans, David J A; Hilsum, Lindsey; Yeung, Henry Wai-Chung (2017). "Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Medals and Awards celebration 2017". The Geographical Journal. 183 (3): 312–319. ISSN   0016-7398.