IV.

Contemporary Themes

Until the 1970s the evolution of human geography had been broadly sequential, with one approach gradually more-or-less replacing another as the principal focus of endeavour (though earlier approaches were not necessarily completely superseded). However, at about this time, human geography began to develop divergent themes that relied on very different philosophical standpoints, but which co-existed rather than one replacing another. At the same time, in common with other academic disciplines, came a rapid increase in specialization within the subject. Today, most academic human geographers would be more likely to identify themselves through their specialities, for example as economic, social, or urban geographers, rather than as simply geographers, or even as human geographers. (See Economic Geography, Political Geography, Social Geography, Urban Geography.)

Two main themes may be identified as a result of this divergence although others also developed. The first of these new approaches is often referred to as humanistic geography. In a reaction to the perceived sterility of locational analysis, the humanist perspective puts human senses at the centre of geography. Philosophically, humanistic geography is most closely allied to phenomenology and existentialism. Specifically, humanist geographers reject the objectivity of positivism and wish to replace it with subjectivity. In so doing, the humanists have also rejected attempts to identify general principles or laws. The individual feelings are the geography. These feelings, emotions, or senses are related to place and examining the concept of a sense of place has for some time been one of the central activities of humanistic geography.

The second reaction to locational analysis, from the standpoint of social justice, has been radical geography. This approach attempts to understand the processes by which, for example, inequality in race, class, gender, or age are generated and perpetuated. For some radical geographers it has also included attempts to find ways of overcoming such inequalities. One of the underlying principles of radical geography is that it is not helpful to study the “visible” geography of spatial relationships without understanding the power relationships generally, and specifically the political and economic structures, in which it is embedded. For example, a study of industrial location is pointless unless it is undertaken in the light of understanding aspects of the global economy, tariff and trade agreements, and the operations of multinationals. Among the principal theoretical bases of this approach in the 1980s was Marxism. It should be noted here that for most Marxist geographers Marxism was a theory and methodology for understanding the political economy rather than a political ideology. One of the leading figures in the development of Marxist analysis in geography was the British geographer David Harvey, notably through his book Social Justice and the City (1973). He continues to be among the most influential of radical geographers.

In the 1990s radical and humanistic geography have continued to evolve and change as part of the continuing process of theoretical criticism and increasing specialization. These changes are often difficult to follow but their very occurrence indicates that human geography is alive, vibrant, exciting, and important. Older traditions also survive. Regional studies, though not directly related to the regional geography of the past, is an interdisciplinary subject including human geography that recognizes the region as an important focus for study. Spatial analysis also has never died. A relatively small number of human geographers continued the tradition and, now, with the arrival of a powerful new tool in the shape of geographical information systems, it is undergoing a considerable revival. Finally, it is not possible to leave the subject of human geography without comment on its return to the environment. The relationship between people and the natural environment is now at the centre of the political agenda. From resource management in the dry lands of Africa to conservation in the Norfolk Broads, to the causes and consequences of global warming, human geographers and natural scientists are back together. It may be that in at least one of its many guises, human geography has returned to its roots.