A View of Geography

Bibliographic Data

ID4490135
AuthorsYi-Fu Tuan, Yi‐fu Tuan (corresponding author)
Year1991
Volume81
Issue1
Pages99
Publication date1991-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueGeographical Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0016-7428 • E-ISSN: 1931-0846
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/215179
OpenAlexW2328521578
LanguageEN
Citations received22
References cited11

What is the intellectual character and core of geography? An answer, from broadly humanist viewpoint, that may satisfy the genuinely curious and literate public lies in the definition of the field as the study of the earth as the home of people. Home is the key, unifying word for all the principal subdivisions of geography, because home, in the large sense, is physical, economic, psycho- logical, and moral; it is the whole physical earth and specific neighborhood; it is constraint and freedom-place, location, and space. COLLEAGUES in other disciplines have asked me, out of genuine curi- osity, What is geography? and, specifically, How do you consider what you do geography? It may be that other geographers have been so questioned, although I suspect that those of us who work at the extreme human end of the field are especially likely to be approached. My reply naturally reflects my own line of work. I have tried, however, to embed what I have called a view of in the broadest possible context so that it can be of interest not only to geographers but also to scholars in other disciplines and, more generally, to the literate public. What I state here makes no appeal to geography's usefulness to society in the narrow sense: everyone by now knows or should know that places and their products are an integral part of every modern citizen's education. I wish to satisfy well-read and thoughtful persons who, having already accepted the field's practical value, would like to be better acquainted with its intellectual core. I start with definition popular during the late 1940s and early 1950s: geography is the study of the earth as the home of people. I like this definition for number of reasons, one of which is that it makes immediately clear that geography, for all the technical sophistication of its specialized subfields, is not remote or esoteric knowledge but rather basic human concern. Humans everywhere seek to understand the nature of their home. When this understanding is articulated in words or as sketches and maps, however primitive, it constitutes geography. So long as humans exist, there will always be such understanding-such geographies (Sauer 1956). EARTH

Economic geography · Geography · Geographic Information Systems Studies · Historical Geography and Geographical Thought

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub