Sullivan makes the case for geography as a powerful conceptual framework for seeing the everyday anew and for pushing back against its "givenness" its capacity to so fade into the background that it controls us in dangerously unexamined ways. He ranges across time, space, history, Marxian reproduction, the body, and the geographical mind.
Anthropologists, psychologists, feminists, and sociologists have long studied the “everyday,” the quotidian, the taken-for-granted; however, geographers have lagged behind in engaging with this slippery aspect of reality. Now, Rob Sullivan makes the case for geography as a powerful conceptual framework for seeing the everyday anew and for pushing back against its “givenness”: its capacity to so fade into the background that it controls us in dangerously unexamined ways. Drawing on a number of theorists (Foucault, Goffman, Marx, Lefebvre, Hägerstrand, and others), Sullivan unpacks the concepts and perceived realities that structure everyday life while grounding them in real-world cases, such as Nigeria’s troubled oil network, the working poor in the United States, China’s urban villages, and ultra-high-end housing in London and Cairo. In examining the everyday from a geographical perspective, Sullivan ranges widely across time, space, history, geography, Marxian reproduction, the body, and the geographical mind. The everyday, Sullivan suggests, is where change occurs and where resistance to change can begin. By locating the everyday through geography, we can help to make change possible. Whatever the issue, be it struggles over race, LGBT rights, class inequality, or global warming, the transformations required to achieve social justice all begin with transformation of the everyday order.
Taking a broad perspective of livelihoods, this book draws on more than ninety case studies from thirty-six countries across Asia, Africa and Latin America to examine how people are engaging and living with modernity. This extends from changes in the ways that households operate, to how and why people take on new work and acquire new skills, how migration and mobility have become increasingly common features of existence, and how aspirations and expectations are being reworked under the influence of modernization. To date, this is the only book which takes such an approach to building an understanding of the global South. By using the experience of the non-Western world to illuminate and inform mainstream debates in geography, and in beginning from the lived experiences of ‘ordinary’ people, this book provides an alternative insight into a range of geographical debates. The clarity of argument and its use of detailed case studies makes this book an invaluable resource for students.
An innovative introduction to Human Geography, exploring different ways of studying the relationships between people and place, and putting people at the centre of human geography. The book covers behavioural, humanistic and cultural traditions, showing how these can lead to a nuanced understanding of how we relate to our surroundings on a day-to-day basis. The authors also explore how human geography is currently influenced by 'postmodern' ideas stressing difference and diversity. While taking the importance of these different approaches seriously as ways of thinking about the role of place in peoples' everyday lives, the book also tries to encapsulate what has been so vibrant and exciting about human geography over the last couple of decades. By using examples to which students can relate - such as how they imagine and represent their home, the way they avoid certain spaces, how they move through retail spaces, where they choose to go to university, how they use the Internet, how they represent other nations and so on - the authors show how geography shapes everyday life in a manner that is seemingly mundane yet profoundly important.
This study contains 20 specially commissioned essays which attempt to present a critical challenge to the philosophical positivism of the "New Geography". The work attempts to shed light on the relationship between human agency and social and spatial structures.
Time-geography is a mode of thinking that helps us understand change processes in society, the wider context and the ecological consequences of human actions. This book brings together international time-geographic research from a range of disciplines. Swedish geographer Torsten Hägerstrand is a key foundation for this book, and an introductory biography charts the influences that led to the formation of his theories. A central theme across time-geography research is recognizing time and space as unity. Contributions from the Netherlands, the USA, Japan, China, Norway and Sweden showcase the diverse palette of time-geography research. Chapters study societies adjusting to rapid urbanization, or investigate the need for structural changes in childcare organization. The book also delves into green transportation and the interplay between humans and nature in landscape transformation. Applicational chapters look at ICT effects on young people’s daily life and methods for engaging clients in treatment practice. This book situates the outlook for this developing branch of research and the application of time-geography to societal and academic contexts. Its interdisciplinary nature will appeal to postgraduates and researchers who are interested in human geography, urban and regional planning and sociology.
Time-geography is a mode of thinking that helps in the understanding of change in society, the wider context and ecological consequences of human actions. This book presents its assumptions, concepts and methods, and example applications. The intellectual path of the Swedish geographer Torsten Hägerstrand is a key foundation for this book. His research contributions are shown in the context of the urbanization of Sweden, involvement in the emerging planning sector and empirical studies on Swedish emigration. Migration and innovation diffusion studies paved the way for prioritizing time and space dimensions and recognizing time and space as unity. From these insights time-geography grew. This book includes the ontological grounds and concepts as well as the specific notation system of time-geography – a visual language for interdisciplinary research and communication. Applications are divided into themes: urban and regional planning; transportation and communication; organization of production and work; everyday life, wellbeing and household division of labor; and ecological sustainability – time-geographic studies on resource use. This book looks at the outlook for this developing branch of research and the future application of time-geography to societal and academic contexts. Its interdisciplinary nature will be appealing to postgraduates and researchers who are interested in human geography, urban and regional planning and sociology.
An innovative introduction to Human Geography, exploring different ways of studying the relationships between people and place, and putting people at the centre of human geography. The book covers behavioural, humanistic and cultural traditions, showing how these can lead to a nuanced understanding of how we relate to our surroundings on a day-to-day basis. The authors also explore how human geography is currently influenced by 'postmodern' ideas stressing difference and diversity. While taking the importance of these different approaches seriously as ways of thinking about the role of place in peoples' everyday lives, the book also tries to encapsulate what has been so vibrant and exciting about human geography over the last couple of decades. By using examples to which students can relate - such as how they imagine and represent their home, the way they avoid certain spaces, how they move through retail spaces, where they choose to go to university, how they use the Internet, how they represent other nations and so on - the authors show how geography shapes everyday life in a manner that is seemingly mundane yet profoundly important.
Tag along on this New York Times bestselling “witty, entertaining romp” (The New York Times Book Review) as Eric Winer travels the world, from Athens to Silicon Valley—and back through history, too—to show how creative genius flourishes in specific places at specific times. In this “intellectual odyssey, traveler’s diary, and comic novel all rolled into one” (Daniel Gilbert, author of Stumbling on Happiness), acclaimed travel writer Weiner sets out to examine the connection between our surroundings and our most innovative ideas. A “superb travel guide: funny, knowledgeable, and self-deprecating” (The Washington Post), he explores the history of places like Vienna of 1900, Renaissance Florence, ancient Athens, Song Dynasty Hangzhou, and Silicon Valley to show how certain urban settings are conducive to ingenuity. With his trademark insightful humor, this “big-hearted humanist” (The Wall Street Journal) walks the same paths as the geniuses who flourished in these settings to see if the spirit of what inspired figures like Socrates, Michelangelo, and Leonardo remains. In these places, Weiner asks, “What was in the air, and can we bottle it?” “Fun and thought provoking” (Miami Herald), The Geography of Genius reevaluates the importance of culture in nurturing creativity and “offers a practical map for how we can all become a bit more inventive” (Adam Grant, author of Originals).
