Arguing the case for a reinstatement of regional geography as a relevant methodology, this volume assesses traditional regional geography and its relevance to the study of contemporary situations, and defines alternative approaches to world-systems analysis and diffusion.
This book urges the case for reinstating regional geography as a contemporary and relevant methodology. Much interest was shown in the 1980s in reviving, yet restructuring, the field of regional geography. The essays in this book both review that work and propose a way forward. The essays divide into three sections. The first assesses traditional regional geography and its relevance to the study of contemporary situations; the second, the alternative approaches of world-systems analysis, diffusion and structuration theory. The book concludes by considering the potential of regional geography to interpret the structures within which society operates and its claim to remain at the core of the discipline.
This book highlights the increasingly important contribution of geographical theory to the understanding of social change, values, economic & political organization and ethical imperatives. As a cohesive collection of chapters from well-known geographers in Britain and North America, it reflects the aims of the contributors in striving to bridge the gap between the historical-materialist and humanist interpretations of human geography. The book deals with both the contemporary issues outlined above and the situation in which they emerge: industrial restructuring, planning, women s issues, social and cultural practices and the landscape as context for social action. "
The chapters in this book address fundamental questions of the nature and purpose of geography, scrutinising its contents, philosophy and methodology. Aimed at undergraduates its purpose is to broaden the debate about what geography had become during the 1980s and what shape it might take in the future.
The emphasis of this book is to explore two major philosophical influences in contemporary human geography, namely logical positivism and Marxism, and to explore the relationships between philosophy, methodology and geographical research. Rather than being a biography of David Harvey, the book contributes to the understanding of one of the most innovative and iconoclastic scholars in contemporary Anglo-American human geography.
This book illuminates the profound influence of geography on everyday life. Concentrating on the realm of social reproduction - gender, family, education, culture and tradition, race, ethnicity the contributors provide both an articulation of a theory of territory and reproduction and concrete empirical analyses of the evolution of social practices in particular places. At the core of the book's contribution is the concept of society as a 'time-space' fabric, upon which are engraved the processes of political, economic and socio-cultural life. A second distinctive feature of the book is its substantive focus on the relation between territory and social practice. Thirdly, it represents a significant step in the redefinition of the research agenda in human geography.
This book examines the works of the outstanding makers of modern geography and demonstrates the consistency of idea and purpose in their work. Geography as an explicitly defined field of knowledge is more than two thousand years old, but as a university subject, geography is only 150 years old, and in this period it has developed hugely. This study traces the development of modern geography as an organized body of knowledge, in the light of the works of its foremost German and French contributors.
This book introduces the beginning student to the major concepts, materials and tools of the discipline of geography. While it presents geographic theory, as whole and for each of its parts, the chief emphasis is on concrete analysis and example rather than on abstraction, an approach which has proven more successful for undergraduate courses than those with a more heavily theoretical bias. The text was extensively re-written for the third edition, which enhanced its clarity and effectiveness, with expanded cartographic coverage.
This book is an introduction to the nature of geography. There are detailed sections on content, methods and purposes and an attempt is made to distinguish progress from those changes which are merely fashion and those which result in genuine progress. One of these, resulting partly from the adoption of quantitative techniques, is the improvement in the accuracy and the type of explanation which the geographer is now able to give. The new techniques have also helped in the bringing about of profound changes in geographical laws, the use of models and even the relevance of determinism.
This book introduces the beginning student to the major concepts, materials and tools of the discipline of geography. While it presents geographic theory, as whole and for each of its parts, the chief emphasis is on concrete analysis and example rather than on abstraction, an approach which has proven more successful for undergraduate courses than those with a more heavily theoretical bias. The text was extensively re-written for the third edition, which enhanced its clarity and effectiveness, with expanded cartographic coverage.