Drawing on a range of sources, discuss what might be the 'core' of modern geography and comment upon the forces that are contributing to, or working against, intellectual fragmentation.
4. Geography is a discipline in which there is nothing but 'fragmentation around a defended core' (Johnston, 1998, 139). Drawing on a range of sources, discuss what might be the 'core' of modern geography and comment upon the forces that are contributing to, or working against, intellectual fragmentation.
R. J. Johnston's article 'Fragmentation around a Defended Core' (1998) is a convincing contention of the belief that geography is a fragmented discipline. By fragmented, Johnston refers to the divide of geography into different specialist sections; this does not only occur in geography, all scholastic disciplines are fragmented to varying degrees (Johnston, 139). Johnston's main arguments concern the higher susceptibility of geography to fragmentation due to the subject having strong links to other branches of learning, the positive and negative impacts of this fragmentation, and the existence/creation of a 'core'. This core binds the fragments together so that they can be commonly referred to as separate branches of geography. Here geography is the parent discipline, if you will. Questions arising from this paper are numerous. Firstly, what is the 'core' that binds together the different fragments of geography? For this, scholars varying definitions of geography need to be consulted. The changing 'identity' of geography is also important and of use here. Secondly, does intellectual fragmentation exist within the field of geography and what are the factors that influence its rise or decline?
In attempting to answer the question, 'What is the core of geography in the modern world?' it is useful to look at the ways that some academics choose to elucidate the definition of geography. This is proven by Johnston's assertion that geography,
'... combines (physical and human) to provide a much-needed capability to study and understand interactions between people, and between people and the physical environments in which they live and upon which they ultimately depend, both locally and globally. This is the core of geography'. (Johnston, 1991, 2)
Here the core is seen as human-environment focused with emphasis on the merging of the human and physical worlds.
On occasions, it is apparent that a definition of geography is often slanted by the spokesperson to represent the specific area of geography that they immerse themselves in. The Royal Geographical Society (with the institute of British Geographers) views geography as an 'integrated study of the earth's landscapes, peoples, places and environments. It is purely about the world in which we live.' Massey supports the view that geography is distinctive because it brings together the human and the physical world (Massey, 262). McKnight and Hess (2000) view geography as being 'concerned with the environment as it provides a home for humankind and with the way humans utilise that environmental home.' Pidwirny (a physical geographer who makes the distinction of being 'physical') describes Geography as "the study of natural and human-constructed phenomena relative to a spatial dimension." (Pidwirny, 2000). In this instance, the 'spatial' element is a useful addition in discussing the 'core' of geography; and will be looked at later. The important point to remember at this time is that there is a multitude of geographical identities as recognised by scholars in various fragments of the field. Turner's paper 'Contested Identities' provides further proof on this claim. This multitude of meanings would concur with the notion of intellectual fragmentation in geography, as each scholar evokes a different meaning from their core discipline, as shown in the above examples.
Geographers may find their subject lacks identity (Johnston, 98., Raper & Livingstone, 2001., Bassin, 1999). The scope and wide-ranging nature of the discipline is both disconcerting and disorienting at times, especially seeing it as a scientific subject which covers aspects of climatology, agriculture, sociology, pollution and environmental issues. From this list (which is far from extensive), geography as a subject seems to encompass nothing more than elements of other subjects combined and thus proves a lack of its own identity. Turner would not doubt this claim either, stating that 'from the nineteenth-century founding of modern academia, if not ...
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Geographers may find their subject lacks identity (Johnston, 98., Raper & Livingstone, 2001., Bassin, 1999). The scope and wide-ranging nature of the discipline is both disconcerting and disorienting at times, especially seeing it as a scientific subject which covers aspects of climatology, agriculture, sociology, pollution and environmental issues. From this list (which is far from extensive), geography as a subject seems to encompass nothing more than elements of other subjects combined and thus proves a lack of its own identity. Turner would not doubt this claim either, stating that 'from the nineteenth-century founding of modern academia, if not earlier, the identity of geography has been highly contested' (Turner, 52). According to Turner, this contestation arises from academics in the field whose view of geography is one of an all-encompassing illimitable subject possessing a strong lineage to earth sciences, arts, language and the humanities. These academics assert that a geographical identity is formed more cogently through the ways that geography connects to other subjects rather than on its own ground (Turner, 65).
It is by looking at the historically changing identity of geography that the 'core' may be uncovered. Massey points to geographers relying on space-place geography (Massey, 272) in the mid-twentieth century whom hailed their influences from the empirical realism of philosophers such as Kant and Hume. In this way, geographers regarded their subject as a pure science of spatial differentiation (also following Pattison's 1964 paper, 'Journal of Geography' ) and the human-environmental side of geography dropped in its level of importance. In place, spatial-chorological geographies became the prime focus. Having said this, some of today's geographers would regard human-environmental interactions as the core of geography by which all fragments can be related (McKnight & Hess, 2000). However most literature points to the core of geography, if it exists at all, as being linked to this spatial-chorological identity. Perhaps this is because the human-environmental identity is less understood as a core (Johston, 144)
With reference to a spatial-chorological approach , one geography department states,
'The core of geography deals with the description and analysis of physical and environmental phenomena and their interrelationships, and with the changing patterns of human populations and their activities as they affect Earth. As history interprets temporal sequences, so geography interprets spatial sequences and associations.' (StJeande University, Ontario., online)
Similarly, Massey and Raper & Livingston make reference to the spatial identity which focuses on 'how' and 'why' rather than 'what' is being studied; they hold the approach as being core to geography. This is not to say that this diagnostic approach intends to get rid of the 'what', i.e. geographic description. Rather, the 'what' should be analysed in tandem with the spatial identities created through the 'how' and 'why' such that the ability to describe places at different scales is not jeopardised. This role of spatial-temporal identities is cordially linked to the human-environment identity through the assertion that geographical knowledge-building has a methodology relying on spatial elements of phenomena. (Turner, 57). Such reliance creates a geographical identity which is inclusive of all research that geographers may wish to undertake. This harks back to the European founders of modern geography who found dualities in the geographical approach: both the spatial-chorological and environmental (Turner, 62). With both identities, the notion of space would appear to be at the heart of the geographical tradition and could be seen as the 'core' itself rather than seeing the 'core' as one or the other.
The role of representation pointed to in concepts of space-time by Massey and Raper & Livingston brings to the forefront the notion of the divide between human and physical geography. Representation in human geographical study is seen as an ideology (Woolgar, 1988 in Raper & Livingston, 237) or as a paradigm of reflection. Physical geographers, on the other hand, see representation more as a device to connect real entities and mental concepts contained in a framework of realism for the external world (Haines-Young & Petch 1986 in Raper & Livingstone, 237). The realist approach, which states the determinate nature of the world due to its ordering, can be seen to be a beneficial approach for physical geographers but is not perhaps an approach which human geographers may wish to subscribe to. This inherent difference within geography practises at the base level of 'representation' is a force that contributes to intellectual fragmentation.
Lane focuses on the problems of a space-time relationship by stating that considerable problems will arise if either space-emphasizing or time-emphasizing interpretations are given priority over another in physical geography (Lane, 251). Undesirably, technical constraints on the ability to measure and control these factors in physical geographical research creates an imbalance between space and time; Lane points to the example of River turbulence and the difficulty with measuring space. These measurements depend on the practises of the different geographers in their disciplines, and that their knowledge is determined by exposure to other research, place, and how the research is conducted. This trade off between space and emphasis on time in physical geography lends itself to a technical definition (Lane, 251). It is a conclusive force for the division and fragmentation of Geography: at a macro scale, fragmentation of human and physical geographers; at a micro scale, fragmentation of geographer's differing methods of inquiry (within their specific subset).
There are more significant forces in modern geography contributing to the debate on whether or not the discipline is fragmented. By thinking of geography on the level of representation, which in this case presents a clear human and physical divide, it appears there is a need for fragmentation due to the difference in the nature of the work conducted by geographers. This is 'neither unsurprising nor undesirable' (Johnston, 139). In fact, some academics deem fragmentation necessary to the progress of science in the twenty-first century (Taylor 1996., in Johnston, 141), as academics seek to specialize in a certain field of geography so as to calve a niche for themselves.
In a different light, the current university system in the United Kingdom works against Johnston's notion of a desired fragmentary geography. In a world where universities, departments and courses are being stacked up and compared against one another, the option for change is limited because comparison between 'traditional' subjects, such as Geography, is de rigeur and promoted by university institutions as a safe test of academic standards. This inter-faculty contest for high standards of excellence and research contributes to a move against fragmentation. Such fragmentation may be seen by funding agencies and education authorities as evidence of an unstable discipline being unworthy of merit. Education authorities would contest Johnston, seeing a fragmented geography as a frail geography without a core, or focus, or identity. Whilst one may admit that geography has gone down the path of specialisation (Cutter et al, 2002), it would appear that university course co-ordinators would prefer a non-fragmented geography which unifies the human and physical world.
The nature of Geography lends itself to different interpretations of its meaning and its boundaries of inclusion. Johnston's assertion that geography is fragmented has been criticised with reference to the assortment of means by which geographers choose to define their discipline. Modern geography certainly appears to be fragmented with a myriad of 'push' and 'pull' factors towards and, or, away fragmented geography. Literature written on the topic indicates that fragmented geography is beneficial to the progress of science in the twenty-first century and seems to be heading more in a direction towards specialisation. However, this may not be desired by some academics and award agencies concerned with geography's inability to exhibit a unique focus. As for a central theme to geography, it appears there is a core. This core is conjoined to geography's role as an assimilation of the human and physical sciences and is quantified either spatio-chorologically or human-environmentally. Whatever the case may be, space binds together the different fields of geography regardless of the changing levels of fragmentation with the discipline and will always be prominent in geography.
WORD COUNT: 1948
References:
* Bassin, M., (1999b) The History and Philosophy of Geography, Progress in Human Geography. 23:1, pp. 109-117.
* Cutter, S. L., Golledge., R, Graf, W.L., (2002) The Big Questions in Geography. The Professional Geographer 54(3): 305 - 317.
* Johnston, R. J., (1998) Fragmentation around a defended core. The Royal Geographical Society. 139-147
* Johnston, R. J., (1997) The nature of an academic discipline in Geography and geographers: anglo-American human geography since 1945. 5th ed. Edward Arnold. pp1-37
* Lane, S (2001) Constructive comments on D. Massey. The Institute of British Geographers. 26 (") 243-256
* Livingstone, D & Raper, J.,(2001) Let's get real: spatio-temporal identity and geographic entities. Institute of British Geographers. pp.237-242
* Massey, D. (1999) Space-time, 'science' and the relationship between physical geography and human geography. Institute of British Geographers. pp.261-276
* McKnight, T. L., & Hess (2000). Physical Geography: A Landscape Appreciation, 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
* Pidwirny, M. J. (2002) Fundamentals of Physical Geography. Online URL: {http://www.geog.ouc.bc.ca/physgeog/home.html} Accessed: 15/4/03
* Royal Geographical Society (With the Institute of British Geographers) online: URL: { http://www.hwcdsb.edu.on.ca/stjeande/geographydep/whatis.htm } - What is Geography? Accessed: 12/3/03
* Turner, B.L. (2002). Contested Identities: Human-Environment Geography and Disciplinary Implications in a Restructuring Academy. Annals of the Association of American Geographers. 92(1): 52-74.
* University Online (author not stated) 2002. St Jeande Universite, Ontario. Definition of Geography URL: {http://www.hwcdsb.edu.on.ca/stjeande/geographydep/whatis.htm}Accessed: 12/3/03
Philosophy and Methodology Degree Essay
