______________________ _____________________________ Writing Geographies of Hope Bruce Braun Department of Geography, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA; braun038@umn.edu But, on the new plane, it is possible that the problem now concerns the one who believes in the world, and not even in the existence of the world but in its possibilities, so as once again to give birth to new modes of existence . . . It may be that believing in this world, in this life, becomes our most difficult task, or the task of a mode of existence still to be discovered. (Deleuze and Guattari ([1991] 1994:74–75) Hybrid Geographies is a book that believes in the world. It marvels at its ongoing fabrication, at the way that ‘‘becomings take, hold and change shape’’ (Whatmore 2002:5). It revels in its potential, in worldly futures that are not already given by the past. It is, for these reasons, a joyful book: a book that finds in the open-ended nature of being the basis for hope. Precisely because it believes in the world some may underestimate Hybrid Geographies’ significance. Whatmore’s focus is, after all, insist- ently empirical. There are no grand theories to be found, no univer- salizing ambition hiding behind a modest fac ¸ade. There is only the patient elaboration of practices and networks; only close attention to how individual bodies are fabricated, particular knowledges crafted and specific properties exchanged. From elephants and soybeans to law, property and the nation-state, Whatmore seeks to explain noth- ing more than what is immediately at hand, starting ‘‘in the middle of things’’ and working from there. It would be a great mistake, however, to assume that Hybrid Geographies has nothing to say to those not interested in the crocodiles, leopards, elephants and soybeans that populate its pages. The truth is the opposite: precisely because it eschews grand theory, precisely because it understands that the world is fabricated through myriad practices that are not governed by an external logic, Hybrid Geographies makes a giant contribution to how geographers, activists and others understand the worlds they inhabit. For, despite the author’s claims otherwise—and this is a moment of false modesty—this book is a decidedly philosophical book, one that puts to work a coherent and consistent set of Ó 2005 Editorial Board of Antipode. Published by Blackwell Publishing, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA