Approaches to Human Geography: Philosophies, Theories, People and Practices

Citation

Aitken, S. C., & Valentine, G. (Eds.). (2014). Approaches to Human Geography: Philosophies, Theories, People and Practices (2nd ed.). SAGE Publications.

Chapter Summary

This is a multi-author volume in three sections, preceded by an opening chapter, "Ways of Knowing and Ways of Doing Geographic Research". SAGE describes the second edition as fully updated, with eight brand new chapters, and as the core text for modules on history, theory and practice in human geography. The three sections cover philosophies, people and practices, and several topics, such as feminist geographies, humanism and poststructuralism, appear in both the philosophy section and the practice section, so the same position can be read once as an idea and once as a way of doing research.

Opening chapter: Ways of Knowing and Ways of Doing Geographic Research

The opening chapter pairs the book's two concerns, ways of knowing and ways of doing research, and is the natural place to begin before choosing among the chapters that follow.

Part I: Philosophies

Fourteen chapters present the philosophical and theoretical positions that have shaped human geography. They run from "Positivist Geography" and "Lived Emplacement and the Locality of Being: A Return to Humanistic Geography?" through "Feminist Geographies of Difference, Relation, and Construction", "Marx and the Spirit of Marx", "Structuration Theory: Agency, Structure and Everyday Life", "Human Animal" and "Realism as a Basis for Knowing the World", to "Postmodern Geographies and the Ruins of Modernity", "Poststructuralist Theories" and its "Postscript to Poststructuralist Theories in Geography". The part ends with "Actor-Network Theory, Networks, and Relational Geographies", "Postcolonialism: Powers of Representation", "Geohumanities: Engaging Space and Place in the Humanities" and "Mind the Gap: Reconsidering Geography's Twentieth Century Technological Settlements".

Part II: People

Nine chapters, with titles such as "Institutions and Cultures", "Places, People and Contexts", "Memories and Desires", "Understanding the Heart of Place...", "Personal and Political", "How I Became a Geographer", "Movement and Encounter", "Spaces and Flows" and "Setting Out". Several titles, such as "How I Became a Geographer", suggest a personal register. SAGE describes the book as explaining the history and philosophy of human geographies in all their applications by those who practise it, and this is the part where that voice is most likely to be heard.

Part III: Practices

Ten chapters on research in practice: "Mapping and Geovisualization", "Quantification, Evidence and Positivism", "Geographic Information Systems", "Humanism and People-Centered Methods", "To Build Another World: Activism in the Light of Marxist Geographic Thought", "Producing Feminist Geographies: Theory, Methodologies and Research Strategies", "Poststructuralist Approaches: Deconstruction and Discourse Analysis", "Pricing Dignity: Psychoanalytical Frameworks and the Burden of Proof", "Research is Theft: Environmental Inquiry in a Postcolonial World" and "Contested Geographies: Culture Wars, Personal Clashes and Joining Debate". These show what research looks like when it adopts a given philosophy, from maps and GIS to activism and discourse analysis.

Key Concepts

Part I: Philosophies

• Positivism and realism: approaches that treat the world as knowable by measurement and by identifying underlying structures.
• Humanistic geography: an approach centered on lived experience and the meaning of place.
• Marxist and feminist geographies: critical approaches focused on capital, class, gender and difference.
• Structuration theory: the relation between human agency and social structure in everyday life.
• Postmodern, poststructuralist and postcolonial theory: approaches that question grand narratives, discourse and the power of representation.
• Actor-network theory and relational geographies: thinking about space through networks of human and nonhuman actors.

Parts II-III: People and practices

• Mapping, geovisualization and GIS: technological ways of representing and analyzing space.
• Deconstruction and discourse analysis: methods derived from poststructuralist thought.
• Psychoanalytical frameworks: the use of psychoanalysis in geographic research.
• Activism and feminist methodologies: research designed to change the world and to rethink how knowledge is produced.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• Philosophy and method side by side. Part III returns to several of the positions of Part I as ways of doing research, which helps a student answer the question "what would I actually do if I adopted this approach?"
• Broad coverage in a single volume. The philosophies range from positivism and humanism to actor-network theory and geohumanities, and the practices from GIS to psychoanalytic and postcolonial inquiry, so the book can anchor a course on geographic thought.
• A human dimension. The "People" part, with titles like "How I Became a Geographer" and "Memories and Desires", suggests a personal route into abstract debates.
• Reader response. Richard White of Sheffield Hallam University writes that the book presents some of the most difficult philosophical ideas that have influenced geography in an inclusive and accessible manner, and that students say the chapters encourage them to read more. Simphiwe Mini of the University of South Africa calls it an easy-to-read guide in modern language.

Limitations

• Demanding for beginners. Niamh Moore of University College Dublin writes that it is too high a level for first-year undergraduates. A course on the subject's main subfields should come first.
• Multiple authors, uneven voice. The volume is a collection of contributions, so style, difficulty and viewpoint vary from chapter to chapter, and there is no single narrative thread that carries the reader from one approach to the next.
• Edition differences. SAGE says the second edition is fully updated with eight brand new chapters, so readers working from a first edition cannot assume the same chapter list.

Where It Fits in the Course

Within the introductory human geography list, this is the book about ideas rather than topics. Dorrell and Henderson's Introduction to Human Geography is a comprehensive introduction covering population, culture, politics, economics and urbanization, and Daley and Klinke's Human Geography: A Very Short Introduction is a concise current entry point; both should be read first. Berglee and colleagues' World Regional Geography is a survey of world regions, a different kind of book that supplies the empirical map. Approaches to Human Geography follows these introductions by explaining the philosophies behind the subfields they present.

The Dictionary of Human Geography is its natural companion: its index lists entries on positivism, humanistic geography, realism, structuration theory, feminist geographies, Marxist geography and actor-network theory, several of the very positions the chapters present. A student can read a chapter of Approaches and look up unfamiliar terms in the Dictionary.

How to Use This Book

The book is for advanced undergraduates and postgraduates in human geography who have taken an introductory course and some reading in at least one subfield. It suits a dissertation student who must justify an approach, and readers moving from survey texts to theory-led reading.

A practical plan:

• Start with: the opening chapter on ways of knowing and doing research.
• Read in pairs: choose a philosophy in Part I (for example feminist geographies, Marxism or poststructuralism) and read the matching chapter in Part III to see it applied.
• Dip into Part II: the personal chapters offer a way into the same debates from the viewpoint of those who lived them, and are good reading between the heavier chapters.
• For a dissertation: use Part III chapters on mapping, GIS, quantification and discourse analysis to decide on a method, and follow the references in the chapters to the primary sources.
• Alongside: keep a dictionary of human geography open, and write a short summary of each approach in your own words.