Outline Zygmunt Bauman's key ideas and discuss their potential or actual value to geographers.

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OUTLINE ZYGMUNT BAUMAN'S KEY IDEAS AND DISCUSS THEIR POTENTIAL OR ACTUAL VALUE TO GEOGRAPHERS

"Zygmunt Bauman is one of the great intellectuals of our time. He re-formulates old problems and helps us to form completely new perspectives" (The University of Oslo website)

The above quote is taken from a brief speech made by the Dean of the University of Oslo to introduce the visiting Zygmunt Bauman in 1997. It clearly illustrates that Bauman is a much respected and valued writer, and a key intellectual in the postmodern era. In this essay I will briefly paint a picture Bauman's background, where he is from and what his influences were. I will then attempt to outline his key ideas and theories, drawing from my own readings of some of his works such as Postmodernity and its Discontents, Modernity and Ambivalence and Globalisation: The Human Consequences, as well as the readings and conclusions of others. I will then endeavour to question the role and influence of these ideas in geographical thought and writing and discuss their potential or actual value to geographers.

Zygmunt Bauman was born in Poland in 1925 into a Jewish family. In 1939 he