Making Human Geography

Making Development Geography is a timely new book which introduces readers to the major themes and debates in development geography. It argues cogently that the field is engaged in an ongoing process of reinventing itself as critical development geography, and highlights issues such as identity, globalization, social movements and sexuality. Readers are guided through the key concepts and developments of the last 50 years, surveying the themes of Keynesianism, Marxism and post-colonialism. At the same time, each chapter uses international examples to discuss important contemporary issues so that the real-world applications of theory can be understood. This enlightening book offers a comprehensive introduction to the fundamental debates for anyone with an interest in development issues.

Making Political Geography acquaints readers with the major issues and conceptual problems that have dominated the discipline over the past two to three decades. Besides discussing and assessing current themes, Agnew provides a historical analysis of the emergence of modern political geography from the 1890s onwards, identifies and discusses the three "waves" of the revival of political geography during the last three decades, and discusses evidence for a new coherence to the discipline, centering around issues of geographical scale, place and politics, etc.

This book cogently examines how human geography has developed from a field with limited self-awareness regarding method and theory to the vibrant study of society and space that it is today. Kevin R. Cox provides an interpretive, critical perspective on Anglo-American geographic thought in the 20th and 21st centuries. He probes the impact of the spatial-quantitative revolution and geography's engagement with other social sciences, particularly in social theory. Key concepts and theories in the field are explained and illustrated with instructive research examples. Cox explores both how new approaches to human geography get constructed and what each school of thought has contributed to understanding the world in which we live.

This book cogently examines how human geography has developed from a field with limited self-awareness regarding method and theory to the vibrant study of society and space that it is today. Kevin R. Cox provides an interpretive, critical perspective on Anglo-American geographic thought in the 20th and 21st centuries. He probes the impact of the spatial-quantitative revolution and geography's engagement with other social sciences, particularly in social theory. Key concepts and theories in the field are explained and illustrated with instructive research examples. Cox explores both how new approaches to human geography get constructed and what each school of thought has contributed to understanding the world in which we live.

Making Population Geography is a lively account of the intellectual history of population geography, arguing that, while population geography may drift in and out of fashion, it must continue to supplement its demographic approach with a renewed emphasis on cultural and political accounts of compelling population topics, such as HIV-AIDS, sex trafficking, teen pregnancy, citizenship and global ageing, in order for it to shed light on contemporary society. Making Population Geography draws both on the writings of those like Wilbur Zelinsky and Pat Gober who were at the very epicentre of spatial science in the 1960s and those like Michael Brown and Yvonne Underhill-Sem whose post-punk introspections of method, content and purpose, now push the field in new directions. Using a wide range of case studies, contemporary examples and current research, the book links the rise and fall of the key concepts in population geography to the changing social and economic context and to geographys turn towards social theory. Referencing the authors classroom experiences both in the US and the UK, Making Population Geography will appeal to students studying geography, population issues and the development of critical scholarship.

Dating from its inception in the late nineteenth century, political geography as a field has been heavily influenced by global events of the time. Thus, rather than trying to impose a single “fashionable” theory, leading geographers John Agnew and Luca Muscarà consider the underlying role of changing geopolitical context as their framework for understanding the evolution of the discipline. The authors trace the development of key thinkers and theories during three distinct periods—1875–1945, the Cold War, and the post–Cold War—emphasizing the ongoing struggle between theoretical “monism” and “pluralism,” or one path to knowledge versus many. The world has undergone dramatic shifts since the book’s first publication in 2002, and this thoroughly revised and updated second edition focuses especially on reinterpretations of the post–Cold War period. Agnew and Muscarà explore the renewed questioning of international borders, the emergence of the Middle East and displacement of Europe as the center of global geopolitics, the rise of China and other new powers, the reappearance of environmental issues, and the development of critical geopolitics. With its deeply knowledgeable and balanced history and overview of the field, this concise work will be a valuable and flexible text for all courses in political geography.

'Human Geography' examines the major trends, debates, research and conceptual evolution of human geography during the twentieth century. Considering each of the subject's primary subfields in turn, it addresses developments in both continental European and Anglo-American geography, providing a cutting-edge evaluation of each. Written clearly and accessibly by leading researchers, the book combines historical astuteness with personal insights and draws on a range of theoretical positions. A central theme of the book is the relative decline of the traditional subdisciplines towards the end of the twentieth century, and the continuing movement towards interdisciplinarity in which the various strands of human geography are seen as inextricably linked. This stimulating and exciting new book provides a unique insight into the study of geography during the twentieth century, and is essential reading for anyone studying the history and philosophy of the subject.

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. "