Raising the temperature: A critical geographical perspective on heat

Heat is an increasingly defining characteristic of life in diverse regions globally, contributing to more human mortality than any other climate-related weather. As a spatio-temporal phenomena that is at once physical and meteorological, as well as environmental, social, technical, cultural, embodied, and political, geographers have much to contribute towards understanding heat and its differential impacts. However, critical geographical research on heat is relatively disparate. This paper reviews existing perspectives encompassing inequalities and vulnerabilities; governance and violence; infrastructure and labor; cultures and practices; and atmospheres and attunements. We argue that critical (human) geography should foreground heat, and its complex materiality.