Three geographers in an archive

Positions, predilections and passing comment on transient lives

Bibliographic Data

ID11554459
AuthorsAdrian R Bailey (0000-0002-4379-5777, University of Exeter, corresponding author), Catherine Brace (University of Exeter), D C Harvey (0000-0002-1499-8751, University of Exeter)
Year2008
Volume34
Issue2
Pages254-269
Publication date2008-12-04
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueTransactions of the Institute of British Geographers (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-2754 • E-ISSN: 1475-5661
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1475-5661.2008.00334.x
OpenAlexW2066362369
LanguageEN
Citations received30
References cited46

Despite the existence of research conducted by geographers eschewing or professing religious faith, the influence of researchers and their methods have yet to receive critical attention within the study of religion. The experience of three geographers working on a three‐year research project suggests that it is vital to reflect upon the inter‐subjective relationships and methodologies used to reconstruct the religious past. How do different subject positions influence our selections from historical records? We also consider whether the spatialities of putatively ‘religious’ archives, whether formally or informally constituted, make a difference to the construction of historiographical knowledge. In attempting to answer these questions, the paper argues that developing an awareness of different types of positionality, vis‐à‐vis religious faith and practice, combined with reflexivity, vis‐à‐vis methodology, can enrich the interpretative reconstruction of the religious past

Archaeology · Epistemology · Faith · Historiography · Reflexivity · Social science · Sociology · Subject (documents · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Computer Science · Diverse Cultural and Historical Studies · History · Philosophy · Religious Tourism and Spaces