Thinking Geographically: Space, Theory and Contemporary Human Geography (review)

Glancing at the programs from recent professional meetings in literary and cultural studies, one cannot help noticing the growing popularity of spatial analysis. But what, precisely, do the terms “space” and “geography” designate? Is geography a natural or a social science, or both at once? What interest might spatial studies and human geography hold for scholars in the Humanities? How is spatial analysis pursued across disciplines and to what extent are these critical practices theoretically informed? These are some of the issues that have engaged both partisans and skeptics of a field that has gained prominence in recent years. One group of scholars has set out to address the concerns of skeptics, particularly those who lament the paucity of theoretically minded work in the field. In Thinking Geographically: Space, Theory and Contemporary Human Geography, Phil Hubbard, Rob Kitchin, Brendan Bartley and Duncan Fuller aim to elucidate the field’s theoretical underpinnings while also arguing vigorously for the intellectual validity and merits of adopting critical perspectives informed by the problematics of space. The result is an admirably accessible work that can serve as an introduction to the field. It traces the genealogy of geographic studies, initiates the reader to the development of human geographic thought, presents emerging concepts that are shaping the discipline today, and illustrates how the practice of spatial analysis has taken shape around a number of core concepts.

Thinking Geographically offers two distinct approaches to the field, with the first section of the book focusing on theoretical matters and the second showing human geographers engaged in various forms of critical practice. The two sections can be read independently or in dialogue, where they work in tandem to provide a better understanding of how the theory and practice of human geography define and influence one another. Both portions of the book are easily accessible to a wide readership, including non-specialists unfamiliar with social theory. It is especially well suited to undergraduate students of geography who might readily grasp facts concerning the physical world, but who are more apprehensive about the complex theoretical precepts involved in understanding and interpreting it.

The authors open their study with an introductory chapter in which they define the concept of theory and explain its significance in the production of knowledge. They identify two forms of knowledge formation, the first being the scientific approach which allows for an empirical study of human geography, while the second flows from a “situated” stance capable of generating new theoretical insights that can take the discipline in new directions. In embracing the latter of these two methods, the authors are able to chart a trajectory of the field’s development that accounts for the discipline’s traditions and its founding thinkers while simultaneously freeing their own “situated” practice of the requisite authoritativeness and comprehensiveness from which, it appears, much geographical thinking has suffered in the past. The story of geographic study presented here does not claim to be exhaustive, and is therefore unburdened by abstract discussions of the philosophical nuances articulated in various schools of geographical thought. Rather, it highlights key moments in the development of the discipline that introduced and continue to generate significant paradigmatic shifts in the objects and methods of geographical study.

Hubbard et al. open their study by briefly tracing the history of geography from its roots in early human exploration through the development of the theory of regionalism. More recently, the “quantitative revolution” of the 1950s and 1960s decisively altered the field through its introduction of the spatial science paradigm. However, the precedent-shattering quantitative approach to geography soon faced challenges from the “human-centered” theories that critiqued and ultimately supplanted it. The authors applaud the legacy of humanistic thought that in subsequent decades began to exert a strong influence on the field, eventually opening it to theories positing the social construction of place—insights which, they observe, had difficulty finding their way into concrete forms of disciplinary practice. Structuralist thought also emerged on the scene, but met with resistance from...