Gerard Toal
Encyclopedia
Gerard Toal is Professor of Government and International Affairs and Director of the Government and International Affairs program, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
, National Capital Region campus. Toal grew up in the border region of Ireland, in the village of Smithborough, County Monaghan. He received a B.A. in History
and Geography
from National University of Ireland, Maynooth
with First Class Honours in 1982. He obtained a M.A. in Geography from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
in 1984 and a Ph.D. in Political Geography
from Syracuse University
in 1989. John O'Loughlin in Illinois and John A. Agnew
in Syracuse, were his academic advisors. Following his Ph D, Toal was hired in 1989 as Assistant Professor of Geography at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg where he worked for ten years before moving to the Washington DC region to establish what became the Government and International Affairs program in the School of Public and International Affairs.
Toal’s research specializations include critical geopolitics
, nationalism
, political geography
, post-Communism
, and globalization
. He conducts research in Washington DC, Bosnia-Herzegovina and on the Caucasus region. Ó Tuathail has been a key figure in establishing Critical Geopolitics as a domain of research within political geography and international relations. He is one of the contemporary geographers featured in the book Key Thinkers in Space and Place. He had authored, co-authored and/or edited seven books. His current book is Bosnia Remade: Ethnic Cleansing and Its Reversal, co-authored with Dr Carl Dahlman (Associate Professor of Geography at Miami University
in Ohio). It examines how wartime ethnic cleaning and a post-war displaced person returns process transformed the character of three towns in Bosnia. Professor Toal is an associate editor for the academic journals Geopolitics and Eurasian Geography and Economics, and serves on the editorial board of Political Geography and Nationalities Papers.
Toal has held fellowships at the Copenhagen Peace Research Institute, and the Center for International Studies at the University of Southern California
. In 2005 he testified before the United States Congress on political developments in Bosnia-Herzegovina. He lives in Washington DC with his wife and two daughters.
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, popularly known as Virginia Tech , is a public land-grant university with the main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia with other research and educational centers throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, and internationally.Founded in...
, National Capital Region campus. Toal grew up in the border region of Ireland, in the village of Smithborough, County Monaghan. He received a B.A. in History
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
and Geography
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
from National University of Ireland, Maynooth
National University of Ireland, Maynooth
The National University of Ireland, Maynooth , was founded by the Universities Act, 1997 as a constituent university of the National University of Ireland. It is Ireland's second oldest university, having been formed from St Patrick's College, Maynooth, itself founded in 1795.The university is...
with First Class Honours in 1982. He obtained a M.A. in Geography from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
in 1984 and a Ph.D. in Political Geography
Political geography
Political geography is the field of human geography that is concerned with the study of both the spatially uneven outcomes of political processes and the ways in which political processes are themselves affected by spatial structures...
from Syracuse University
Syracuse University
Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...
in 1989. John O'Loughlin in Illinois and John A. Agnew
John A. Agnew
John A. Agnew is a prominent British-American political geographer. Agnew was educated at the Universities of Exeter and Liverpool in England and Ohio State in the United States.-Life and career:...
in Syracuse, were his academic advisors. Following his Ph D, Toal was hired in 1989 as Assistant Professor of Geography at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg where he worked for ten years before moving to the Washington DC region to establish what became the Government and International Affairs program in the School of Public and International Affairs.
Toal’s research specializations include critical geopolitics
Critical geopolitics
The basic concept behind Geopolitics is that intellectuals of statecraft construct ideas about places, these ideas have influence and reinforce their political behaviors and policy choices, and these ideas affect how we, the people, process our own notions of places and politics.Critical...
, nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
, political geography
Political geography
Political geography is the field of human geography that is concerned with the study of both the spatially uneven outcomes of political processes and the ways in which political processes are themselves affected by spatial structures...
, post-Communism
Post-Communism
Post-communism is a name sometimes given to the period of political and economic transformation or "transition" in former Communist states located in parts of Europe and Asia, in which new governments aimed to create free market-oriented capitalist economies with some form of parliamentary...
, and globalization
Globalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
. He conducts research in Washington DC, Bosnia-Herzegovina and on the Caucasus region. Ó Tuathail has been a key figure in establishing Critical Geopolitics as a domain of research within political geography and international relations. He is one of the contemporary geographers featured in the book Key Thinkers in Space and Place. He had authored, co-authored and/or edited seven books. His current book is Bosnia Remade: Ethnic Cleansing and Its Reversal, co-authored with Dr Carl Dahlman (Associate Professor of Geography at Miami University
Miami University
Miami University is a coeducational public research university located in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1809, it is the 10th oldest public university in the United States and the second oldest university in Ohio, founded four years after Ohio University. In its 2012 edition, U.S...
in Ohio). It examines how wartime ethnic cleaning and a post-war displaced person returns process transformed the character of three towns in Bosnia. Professor Toal is an associate editor for the academic journals Geopolitics and Eurasian Geography and Economics, and serves on the editorial board of Political Geography and Nationalities Papers.
Toal has held fellowships at the Copenhagen Peace Research Institute, and the Center for International Studies at the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
. In 2005 he testified before the United States Congress on political developments in Bosnia-Herzegovina. He lives in Washington DC with his wife and two daughters.
Selected books
- G. Toal, C. Dahlman, Bosnia Remade: Ethnic Cleansing and its Reversal. Oxford University Press, 2011.
- G. Ó Tuathail, S. Dalby and P. Routledge, A Geopolitics Reader. Second edition. Routledge, 2006.
- J. Agnew, K. Mitchell and G. Toal, eds. A Companion to Political Geography. Blackwell, 2004.
- S. Dalby and G. Ó Tuathail, eds., Rethinking Geopolitics. Routledge, 1998.
- G. Ó Tuathail, S. Dalby and P. Routledge, A Geopolitics Reader. First edition. Routledge, 1998.
- A. Herod, G. Ó Tuathail and S. Roberts, eds. An Unruly World? Geography, Globalization and Governance. Routledge, 1998.
- G. Ó Tuathail, Critical Geopolitics: The Politics of Writing Global Space. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press (Volume 6 in the Borderlines series) and London: Routledge, 1996.