Human geography
Encyclopedia
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
. Human geography is the study of the world, its people, communities, and cultures. Human geography differs from physical geography
Physical geography
Physical geography is one of the two major subfields of geography. Physical geography is that branch of natural science which deals with the study of processes and patterns in the natural environment like the atmosphere, biosphere and geosphere, as opposed to the cultural or built environment, the...
mainly in that it has a greater focus on studying human activities and is more receptive to qualitative research methodologies
Qualitative research
Qualitative research is a method of inquiry employed in many different academic disciplines, traditionally in the social sciences, but also in market research and further contexts. Qualitative researchers aim to gather an in-depth understanding of human behavior and the reasons that govern such...
. Broadly speaking, human geography is a social science discipline, while physical geography is a natural science
Natural science
The natural sciences are branches of science that seek to elucidate the rules that govern the natural world by using empirical and scientific methods...
.
History
Geographical knowledge, both physical and social, has a long history. In the History of geography, geographers have often recorded and described features of the Earth that might now be considered the remit of human, rather than physical, geographers. For example Hecataeus of Miletus, a geographer and historian in ancient Greece, described inhabitants of the ancient world as well as physical features.It was not until the 18th and 19th Centuries, however, that geography was recognised as a formal academic discipline.
The Royal Geographical Society
Royal Geographical Society
The Royal Geographical Society is a British learned society founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical sciences...
was founded in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in 1830, although the United Kingdom did not get its first full Chair of geography until 1917. The first real geographical intellect to emerge in United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
geography was Halford John Mackinder
Halford John Mackinder
Sir Halford John Mackinder PC was an English geographer and is considered one of the founding fathers of both geopolitics and geostrategy.-Early life and education:...
, appointed reader at Oxford University
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
in 1887.
The National Geographic Society
National Geographic Society
The National Geographic Society , headquartered in Washington, D.C. in the United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational institutions in the world. Its interests include geography, archaeology and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical...
was founded in the USA in 1888 and began publication of the National Geographic magazine which became and continues to be a great popularizer of geographic information. The society has long supported geographic research and education.
John Snow (physician)
John Snow was an English physician and a leader in the adoption of anaesthesia and medical hygiene. He is considered to be one of the fathers of epidemiology, because of his work in tracing the source of a cholera outbreak in Soho, England, in 1854.-Early life and education:Snow was born 15 March...
's map of the 1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak
1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak
The Broad Street cholera outbreak was a severe outbreak of cholera that occurred near Broad Street in Soho district of London, England in 1854...
. Though a physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
and a pioneer of epidemiology
Epidemiology
Epidemiology is the study of health-event, health-characteristic, or health-determinant patterns in a population. It is the cornerstone method of public health research, and helps inform policy decisions and evidence-based medicine by identifying risk factors for disease and targets for preventive...
, the map is probably one of the earliest examples of Health geography
Health geography
Health geography is the application of geographical information, perspectives, and methods to the study of health, disease, and health care.- Overview :...
.
The now fairly distinct differences between the subfields of physical and human geography developed at a later date. This connection between both physical and human properties of geography is most apparent in the theory of Environmental determinism
Environmental determinism
Environmental determinism, also known as climatic determinism or geographical determinism, is the view that the physical environment, rather than social conditions, determines culture...
, made popular in the 19th Century by Carl Ritter
Carl Ritter
Carl Ritter was a German geographer. Along with Alexander von Humboldt, he is considered one of the founders of modern geography. From 1825 until his death, he occupied the first chair in geography at the University of Berlin.-Biography:Ritter was born in Quedlinburg, one of the six children of a...
and others, and with close links to evolutionary biology of the time. Environmental determinism is the theory that a people's physical, mental and moral habits are directly due to the influence of their natural environment. However, by the mid 19th Century, environmental determinism was under attack for lacking methodological rigour associated with modern science, and later as serving to justify racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
and imperialism
Imperialism
Imperialism, as defined by Dictionary of Human Geography, is "the creation and/or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural, and territorial relationships, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination." The imperialism of the last 500 years,...
.
A similar concern with both human and physical aspects is apparent in the later Regional geography
Regional geography
Regional geography is the study of world regions. Attention is paid to unique characteristics of a particular region such as natural elements, human elements, and regionalization which covers the techniques of delineating space into regions....
, during the later 19th and first half of the 20th Centuries. The goal of regional geography, through regionalization, was to delineate space into regions and then understand and describe the unique characteristics of each region, in both human and physical aspects. With links to possibilism
Possibilism
Possibilism may refer to:* Possibilism , a theory of cultural geography* Possibilism , a 1880s faction of the Federation of the Socialist Workers of France...
and cultural ecology
Cultural ecology
Cultural ecology studies the relationship between a given society and its natural environment as well as the life-forms and ecosystems that support its lifeways . This may be carried out diachronically , or synchronically...
, some of the same notions of causal effect of the environment on society and culture, as with environmental determinism remained.
By the 1960s, however, the quantitative revolution
Quantitative revolution
In the history of geography, the quantitative revolution [n] was one of the four major turning-points of modern geography -- the other three being environmental determinism, regional geography and critical geography)...
lead to strong criticism of regional geography. Due to a perceived lack of scientific rigour in and overly descriptive nature of the discipline, and a continued separation of geography from geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
and the two subfields of physical and human geography, geographers in the mid 20th Century began to apply statistical and mathematical model methods to solving spatial problems. Much of the development during the quantitative revolution is now apparent in the use of Geographic information systems; the use of statistics, spatial modelling and positivist approaches is still important to many branches of human geography. Well-known geographers from this period are Fred K. Schaefer
Fred K. Schaefer
Fred K. Schaefer was a geographer. He is considered as one of the pioneers of quantitative revolution.-Life:Fred K. Schaefer was born in Berlin, Germany in the family of metal worker. He was involved in politics as a member of Social Democratic party and after the rise of fascism he fled from Nazi...
, Waldo Tobler, William Garrison
William Garrison (geographer)
William Louis Garrison is an American geographer and transportation analyst, currently a professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. While at the University of Washington in the 1950s, Garrison led the "quantitative revolution" in geography, which applied computers and statistics...
, Peter Haggett
Peter Haggett
Peter Haggett, CBE Sc.D. FBA is an eminent British geographer and academic, Professor Emeritus and Senior Research Fellow in Urban and Regional Geography at the School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol....
, Richard J. Chorley
Richard Chorley
Richard John Chorley was a leading figure in the late 20th century for his work in quantitative geography, and played an instrumental role in bringing in the use of systems theory to geography.-Early Education:...
, William Bunge
William Bunge
William Wheeler Bunge Jr. is an American geographer active mainly as a quantitative geographer and spatial theorist. He also became a radical geographer and anti-war activist in the USA and Canada.-Personal life:...
, and Torsten Hägerstrand
Torsten Hägerstrand
Torsten Hägerstrand , was a Swedish geographer. He is known for his work on migration, cultural diffusion and time geography....
.
From the 1970s a number of critiques of the positivism now associated with geography emerged. Known under the term critical geography
Critical geography
Critical geography takes a critical theory approach to the study and analysis of geography. The development of critical geography can be seen as one of the four major turning points in the history of geography...
this signalled another turning point in the discipline. Behavioral geography
Behavioral geography
Behavioral geography is an approach to human geography that examines human behavior using a disaggregate approach. Behavioral geographers focus on the cognitive processes underlying spatial reasoning, decision making, and behavior...
emerged for some time as a means to understand how people made perceived spaces and places, and made locational decisions. More influentially, radical geography emerged in the 1970s and 1980s, drawing heavily on Marxist
Marxist geography
Marxist geography is a critical geography which utilises the theories and philosophy of Marxism to examine the spatial relations of human geography. In Marxist geography the relations that geography has traditionally analyzed - natural environment and spatial relations - are reviewed as outcomes of...
theory and techniques, and is associated with geographers such as David Harvey
David Harvey (geographer)
David Harvey is the Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York . A leading social theorist of international standing, he received his PhD in Geography from University of Cambridge in 1961. Widely influential, he is among the top 20 most cited...
and Richard Peet. Seeking to say something 'meaningful' about the problems recognised through quantitative methods, to provide explanations rather than descriptions, to put forward alternatives and solutions and to be politically engaged, rather than the detachment associated with positivist methods. (The detachment and objectivity
Objectivity (science)
Objectivity in science is a value that informs how science is practiced and how scientific truths are created. It is the idea that scientists, in attempting to uncover truths about the natural world, must aspire to eliminate personal biases, a priori commitments, emotional involvement, etc...
of the quantitative revolution was itself critiqued by radical geographers as being a tool of capital). Radical geography and the links to Marxism and related theories remain an important part of contemporary human geography (See: Antipode (Journal)
Antipode (journal)
Antipode is an academic journal that publishes in the field of critical geography. The journal publishes articles with Marxist, socialist, anarchist, anti-racist, and feminist approaches to geography with a left-wing focus...
) Critical geography also saw the introduction of humanistic geography, associated with the work of Yi-Fu Tuan
Yi-Fu Tuan
Yi-Fu Tuan is a Chinese-U.S. geographer.Tuan was born in 1930 in Tientsin, China. He was the son of a rich oligarch and was part of the top class in the Republic of China....
, which, though similar to behavioural geography, pushed for a much more qualitative approach in methodology.
The changes under critical geography have led to contemporary approaches in the discipline such as Feminist geography
Feminist geography
Feminist geography is an approach in human geography which applies the theories, methods and critiques of feminism to the study of the human environment, society and geographical space.-Areas of study:...
, New cultural geography, and the engagement with postmodern and poststructural theories and philosophies.
Fields of human geography
The main fields of study in human geography focus around the core fields of:Culture
Cultural geographyCultural geography
Cultural geography is a sub-field within human geography. Cultural geography is the study of cultural products and norms and their variations across and relations to spaces and places...
is the study of cultural products and norms and their variation across and relations to spaces and places. It focuses on describing and analyzing the ways language, religion, economy, government, and other cultural phenomena vary or remain constant from one place to another and on explaining how humans function spatially.
- Subfields include: Children's geographiesChildren's geographiesChildren's geographies is an area of study within human geography and Childhood Studies which involves researching the places and spaces of children's lives....
, Animal geographiesAnimal geographiesAnimal geographies is an area of study in geography, studying the spaces and places occupied by animals in human culture.An interest in animal geographies emerged in human geography in the mid 1990s...
, Language geographyLanguage geographyLanguage geography is the branch of human geography that studies the geographic distribution of language or its constituent elements. There are two principal fields of study within the geography of language: the "geography of languages", which deals with the distribution through history and space...
, Sexuality and SpaceSexuality and spaceSexuality and space is a field of study within human geography. The phrase encompasses all relationships and interactions between human sexuality, space and place, themes studied within, but not limited to cultural geography, i.e...
and Religion geographyReligion geographyReligion and geography is the study of the impact of geography, i.e. place and space, on religious belief.Another aspect of the relationship between religion and geography is religious geography, in which geographical ideas are influenced by religion, such as early map-making, and the biblical...
Development
Development GeographyDevelopment geography
Development geography is the study of the earth's geography with reference to the standard of living and quality of life of its human inhabitants. In this context, development is a process of change that affects people's lives. It may involve an improvement in the quality of life as perceived by...
is the study of the Earth's geography with reference to the Standard of living
Standard of living
Standard of living is generally measured by standards such as real income per person and poverty rate. Other measures such as access and quality of health care, income growth inequality and educational standards are also used. Examples are access to certain goods , or measures of health such as...
and the Quality of life
Quality of life
The term quality of life is used to evaluate the general well-being of individuals and societies. The term is used in a wide range of contexts, including the fields of international development, healthcare, and politics. Quality of life should not be confused with the concept of standard of...
of its human inhabitants, study of the location, distribution and spatial organization of economic activities, across the Earth. The subject matter investigated is strongly influenced by the researcher's methodological approach.
Economic
Economic geographyEconomic geography
Economic geography is the study of the location, distribution and spatial organization of economic activities across the world. The subject matter investigated is strongly influenced by the researcher's methodological approach. Neoclassical location theorists, following in the tradition of Alfred...
examines relationships between human economic systems, states, and other factors, and the biophysical environment.
- Subfields include Marketing geography and Transportation geographyTransportation geographyTransportation Geography, also Transport Geography, is the branch of geography that investigates spatial interactions, let them be of people, freight and information. It can consider humans and their use of vehicles or other modes of travelling as well as how markets are serviced by flows of...
Health
Health geographyHealth geography
Health geography is the application of geographical information, perspectives, and methods to the study of health, disease, and health care.- Overview :...
is the application of geographical information, perspectives, and methods to the study of health
Health
Health is the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living being. In humans, it is the general condition of a person's mind, body and spirit, usually meaning to be free from illness, injury or pain...
, disease
Disease
A disease is an abnormal condition affecting the body of an organism. It is often construed to be a medical condition associated with specific symptoms and signs. It may be caused by external factors, such as infectious disease, or it may be caused by internal dysfunctions, such as autoimmune...
, and health care
Health care
Health care is the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in humans. Health care is delivered by practitioners in medicine, chiropractic, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and other care providers...
.
Historical
Historical GeographyHistorical geography
Historical geography is the study of the human, physical, fictional, theoretical, and "real" geographies of the past. Historical geography studies a wide variety of issues and topics. A common theme is the study of the geographies of the past and how a place or region changes through time...
is the study of the human, physical, fictional, theoretical, and "real" geographies of the past. Historical geography studies a wide variety of issues and topics. A common theme is the study of the geographies of the past and how a place or region changes through time. Many historical geographers study geographical patterns through time, including how people have interacted with their environment, and created the cultural landscape.
- Subfields include Time geographyTime geographyTime geography or time-space geography traces its roots back to the Swedish geographer Torsten Hägerstrand who stressed the temporal factor in spatial human activities. The time-space path, devised by Hägerstrand, shows the movement of an individual in the spatial-temporal environment with the...
Political
Political geographyPolitical geography
Political geography is the field of human geography that is concerned with the study of both the spatially uneven outcomes of political processes and the ways in which political processes are themselves affected by spatial structures...
is concerned with the study of both the spatially uneven outcomes of political processes and the ways in which political processes are themselves affected by spatial structures.
- Subfields include Electoral geographyElectoral geographyElectoral Geography is the analysis of the methods, behavior, and results of elections in the context of geographic space and using geographical techniques. Specifically, it is an examination of the dual interaction whereby geographical traits of a territory affects political decisions and...
, GeopoliticsGeopoliticsGeopolitics, from Greek Γη and Πολιτική in broad terms, is a theory that describes the relation between politics and territory whether on local or international scale....
, Strategic geographyStrategic geographyStrategic geography is concerned with the control of, or access to, spatial areas that have an impact on the security and prosperity of nations. Spatial areas that concern strategic geography change with human needs and development. This field is a subset of human geography, itself a subset of the...
and Military geographyMilitary geographyMilitary geography is a sub-field of geography that is used by, not only the military, but also academics and politicians to understand the geopolitical sphere through the militaristic lens...
Population
Population geographyPopulation geography
Population geography is a division of human geography. It is the study of the ways in which spatial variations in the distribution, composition, migration, and growth of populations are related to the nature of places. Population geography involves demography in a geographical perspective. It...
is the study of the ways in which spatial variations in the distribution, composition, migration, and growth of populations are related to the nature of places.
Tourism
Tourism geographyTourism geography
Tourism Geography is the study of travel and tourism, as an industry and as a social and cultural activity. Tourism geography covers a wide range of interests including the environmental impact of tourism, the geographies of tourism and leisure economies, answering tourism industry and management...
is the study of travel
Travel
Travel is the movement of people or objects between relatively distant geographical locations. 'Travel' can also include relatively short stays between successive movements.-Etymology:...
and tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
as an industry, as a human activity, and especially as a place
Location (geography)
The terms location and place in geography are used to identify a point or an area on the Earth's surface or elsewhere. The term 'location' generally implies a higher degree of can certainty than "place" which often has an ambiguous boundary relying more on human/social attributes of place identity...
-based experience.
- Subfields include Transportation geographyTransportation geographyTransportation Geography, also Transport Geography, is the branch of geography that investigates spatial interactions, let them be of people, freight and information. It can consider humans and their use of vehicles or other modes of travelling as well as how markets are serviced by flows of...
Settlement
Settlement geographySettlement geography
Settlement geography is a branche of geography that investigates the earth's surface's part settled by humans.- Classification :Traditionally, it belongs to human geography and is divided into urban geography and the geography of rural settlements. Apart from India, the term is actually rarely used...
, including urban geography
Urban geography
Urban geography is the study of areas which have a high concentration of buildings and infrastructure. These are areas where the majority of economic activities are in the secondary sector and tertiary sectors...
, is the study of urban and rural areas with specific regards to spatial, relational and theoretical aspects of settlement. That is the study of areas which have a concentration of building
Building
In architecture, construction, engineering, real estate development and technology the word building may refer to one of the following:...
s and infrastructure
Infrastructure
Infrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function...
. These are areas where the majority of economic
Economy
An economy consists of the economic system of a country or other area; the labor, capital and land resources; and the manufacturing, trade, distribution, and consumption of goods and services of that area...
activities are in the secondary sector and tertiary sectors. In case of urban settelement, they probably have a high population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
.
Philosophical & theoretical approaches
Within each of the subfields, various philosophical approaches can be used in research; therefore, an urban geographer could be a Feminist or Marxist geographer, etc.Such approaches are:
- Behavioral geographyBehavioral geographyBehavioral geography is an approach to human geography that examines human behavior using a disaggregate approach. Behavioral geographers focus on the cognitive processes underlying spatial reasoning, decision making, and behavior...
- Critical geographyCritical geographyCritical geography takes a critical theory approach to the study and analysis of geography. The development of critical geography can be seen as one of the four major turning points in the history of geography...
- Feminist geographyFeminist geographyFeminist geography is an approach in human geography which applies the theories, methods and critiques of feminism to the study of the human environment, society and geographical space.-Areas of study:...
- Marxist geographyMarxist geographyMarxist geography is a critical geography which utilises the theories and philosophy of Marxism to examine the spatial relations of human geography. In Marxist geography the relations that geography has traditionally analyzed - natural environment and spatial relations - are reviewed as outcomes of...
- Non-representational theoryNon-representational theoryNon-representational theory is a theory developed in human geography, largely through the work of Nigel Thrift , and his colleagues such as J.D. Dewsbury . It challenges those using social theory and conducting geographical research to go beyond representation...
- PostcolonialismPostcolonialismPost-colonialism is a specifically post-modern intellectual discourse that consists of reactions to, and analysis of, the cultural legacy of colonialism...
- Poststructuralist geography
- Psychoanalytic geography
List of notable human geographers
- Carl RitterCarl RitterCarl Ritter was a German geographer. Along with Alexander von Humboldt, he is considered one of the founders of modern geography. From 1825 until his death, he occupied the first chair in geography at the University of Berlin.-Biography:Ritter was born in Quedlinburg, one of the six children of a...
(1779–1859), considered to be one of the founding fathers of modern geography and first chair in geography at the Humboldt University of BerlinHumboldt University of BerlinThe Humboldt University of Berlin is Berlin's oldest university, founded in 1810 as the University of Berlin by the liberal Prussian educational reformer and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt, whose university model has strongly influenced other European and Western universities...
, also noted for his use of organic analogy in his works. - Friedrich RatzelFriedrich RatzelFriedrich Ratzel was a German geographer and ethnographer, notable for first using the term Lebensraum in the sense that the National Socialists later would.-Life:...
(1844–1904), environmental deterministEnvironmental determinismEnvironmental determinism, also known as climatic determinism or geographical determinism, is the view that the physical environment, rather than social conditions, determines culture...
, invented the term LebensraumLebensraumwas one of the major political ideas of Adolf Hitler, and an important component of Nazi ideology. It served as the motivation for the expansionist policies of Nazi Germany, aiming to provide extra space for the growth of the German population, for a Greater Germany... - Paul Vidal de la BlachePaul Vidal de la BlachePaul Vidal de la Blache was a French geographer. He is considered to be the founder of the modern French geography and also the founder of the French School of Geopolitics...
(1845–1918), founder of the French School of geopoliticsGeopoliticsGeopolitics, from Greek Γη and Πολιτική in broad terms, is a theory that describes the relation between politics and territory whether on local or international scale....
and possibilismPossibilism (geography)Possibilism in cultural geography is the theory that the environment sets certain constraints or limitations, but culture is otherwise determined by social conditions. In Cultural ecology Marshall Sahlins used this concept in order to develop alternative approaches to the environmental determinism...
. - Sir Halford John Mackinder (1861–1947), author of The Geographical Pivot of HistoryThe Geographical Pivot of History"The Geographical Pivot of History" was an article submitted by Halford John Mackinder in 1904 to the Royal Geographical Society that advanced his Heartland Theory...
, co-founder of the London School of EconomicsLondon School of EconomicsThe London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
, along with the Geographical AssociationGeographical AssociationThe Geographical Association is a Sheffield, United Kingdom-based subject association with the core charitable objective of furthering the study, learning and teaching of geography. It is a lively community of practice with over a century of innovation behind it and an unrivalled understanding of...
. - Carl O. SauerCarl O. SauerCarl Ortwin Sauer was an American geographer. Sauer was a professor of geography at the University of California at Berkeley from 1923 until becoming professor emeritus in 1957 and was instrumental in the early development of the geography graduate school at Berkeley. One of his best known works...
(1889–1975), critic of environmental determinismEnvironmental determinismEnvironmental determinism, also known as climatic determinism or geographical determinism, is the view that the physical environment, rather than social conditions, determines culture...
and proponent of cultural ecologyCultural ecologyCultural ecology studies the relationship between a given society and its natural environment as well as the life-forms and ecosystems that support its lifeways . This may be carried out diachronically , or synchronically...
. - Walter ChristallerWalter ChristallerWalter Christaller , was a German geographer whose principal contribution to the discipline is Central Place Theory, first published in 1933...
(1893–1969), economic geographer and developer of the central place theoryCentral Place TheoryCentral place theory is a geographical theory that seeks to explain the number, size and location of human settlements in an urban system. The theory was created by the German geographer Walter Christaller, who asserted that settlements simply functioned as 'central places' providing services to...
. - Richard HartshorneRichard HartshorneRichard Hartshorne was a prominent American geographer. He completed his undergraduate studies at Princeton University and his doctorate at the University of Chicago , then taught at the University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin , with war-time interruption to...
(1899–1992), scholar of the history and philosophy of geography. - Torsten HägerstrandTorsten HägerstrandTorsten Hägerstrand , was a Swedish geographer. He is known for his work on migration, cultural diffusion and time geography....
(1916–2004), critic of the quantitative revolutionQuantitative revolutionIn the history of geography, the quantitative revolution [n] was one of the four major turning-points of modern geography -- the other three being environmental determinism, regional geography and critical geography)...
and regional scienceRegional scienceRegional science is a field of the social sciences concerned with analytical approaches to problems that are specifically urban, rural, or regional...
, noted figure in critical geographyCritical geographyCritical geography takes a critical theory approach to the study and analysis of geography. The development of critical geography can be seen as one of the four major turning points in the history of geography...
. - Milton SantosMilton SantosMilton Almeida dos Santos was a Brazilian geographer who had a degree in law.-Biography:Santos was born in Brotas de Macaúbas, Bahia, Brazil on May 3, 1926. Santos' parents were teachers at elementary school and taught him at home how to read and write...
(1926–2001) winner of the Vautrin Lud prize in 1994, one of the most importants geographers in South America. - Waldo R. ToblerWaldo R. ToblerWaldo Tobler is an American-Swiss geographer and cartographer. Tobler's idea that "Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related to each other" is referred to as the "first law of geography." Tobler is a Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Santa Barbara...
(born 1930), developer of the First law of geographyFirst law of geographyThe first law of geography according to Waldo Tobler is "Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things."This observation is embedded in the gravity model of trip distribution...
. - Yi-Fu TuanYi-Fu TuanYi-Fu Tuan is a Chinese-U.S. geographer.Tuan was born in 1930 in Tientsin, China. He was the son of a rich oligarch and was part of the top class in the Republic of China....
(born 1930) A Chinese-American geographer. - David HarveyDavid Harvey (geographer)David Harvey is the Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York . A leading social theorist of international standing, he received his PhD in Geography from University of Cambridge in 1961. Widely influential, he is among the top 20 most cited...
(born 1935), world's most cited academic geographer and winner of the Lauréat Prix International de Géographie Vautrin LudLauréat Prix International de Géographie Vautrin LudThe Lauréat Prix International de Géographie Vautrin Lud established in 1991, it is the highest award that can be gained in the field of geography. The award is modelled on the Nobel Prize it is considered and colloquially called the Nobel prize for geography...
, also noted for his work in critical geographyCritical geographyCritical geography takes a critical theory approach to the study and analysis of geography. The development of critical geography can be seen as one of the four major turning points in the history of geography...
and critique of global capitalismGlobalizationGlobalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
. - Evelyn StokesEvelyn StokesDame Evelyn Mary Stokes, DNZM was a professor of geography at the University of Waikato in New Zealand and a member of the New Zealand government's Waitangi Tribunal...
(1936–2005). Professor of geography at the University of WaikatoUniversity of WaikatoThe University of Waikato is located in Hamilton and Tauranga, New Zealand, and was established in 1964. It has strengths across a broad range of subject areas, particularly its degrees in Computer Science and in Management...
in New ZealandNew ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. Known for recognizing inequality with marginalised groups including women and Māori using geography. - Steve Butcher, Professor of Human Geographical Studies at Kent State University
- Allen J. ScottAllen J. ScottAllen John Scott is a professor of geography and public policy at University of California, Los Angeles.- Biography :Scott was born in Liverpool, England in 1938 and graduated from Oxford University in 1961. He holds a Ph.D. degree from Northwestern University...
(born 1938), winner of Vautrin Lud PrizeLauréat Prix International de Géographie Vautrin LudThe Lauréat Prix International de Géographie Vautrin Lud established in 1991, it is the highest award that can be gained in the field of geography. The award is modelled on the Nobel Prize it is considered and colloquially called the Nobel prize for geography...
in 2003 and the Anders Retzius Gold medal 2009; author of numerous books and papers on economic and urban geography, known for his work on regional development, new industrial spaces, agglomeration theory, global city-regions and the cultural economy. - Edward SojaEdward SojaEdward William Soja is a postmodern political geographer and urban planner on the faculty at UCLA, where he is Distinguished Professor of Urban Planning, and the London School of Economics. He has a Ph.D. from Syracuse University...
(born 1941), noted for his work on regional development, planning and governance, along with coining the terms synekismSynekismSynekism is a concept in urban studies coined by Edward Soja. It refers to the dynamic formation of the polis state - the union of several small urban settlements under the rule of a "capital" city...
and postmetropolis. - Doreen MasseyDoreen Massey (geographer)Doreen Barbara Massey FRSA FBA AcSS , is a contemporary British social scientist and geographer, working among others on topics typical of marxist geography...
(born 1944), key scholar in the space and places of globalizationGlobalizationGlobalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
and its pluralities, winner of the Vautrin Lud PrizeLauréat Prix International de Géographie Vautrin LudThe Lauréat Prix International de Géographie Vautrin Lud established in 1991, it is the highest award that can be gained in the field of geography. The award is modelled on the Nobel Prize it is considered and colloquially called the Nobel prize for geography...
. - Michael WattsMichael WattsMichael J. Watts is "Class of 1963" Professor of Geography and Development Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and a leading critical intellectual figure of the academic left. An intensively productive scholar, he works on a variety of themes from African development to contemporary...
, Class of 1963 Professor of Geography and Development Studies, University of California, Berkeley - Nigel ThriftNigel ThriftNigel John Thrift is the current Vice Chancellor of the University of Warwick and a leading academic in the field of human geography.-Early life and career:...
(born 1949), developer of non-representational theoryNon-representational theoryNon-representational theory is a theory developed in human geography, largely through the work of Nigel Thrift , and his colleagues such as J.D. Dewsbury . It challenges those using social theory and conducting geographical research to go beyond representation...
. - Derek GregoryDerek GregoryDerek Gregory Ph.D. FBA, FRCC is an influential British academic and geographer who is currently Professor of Political Geography at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. He formerly held positions at the University of Cambridge.Gregory is best known for his book The Colonial...
(born 1951), famous for writing on the Israeli, U.S. and UK actions in the Middle East after 9/11, influenced by Edward SaidEdward SaidEdward Wadie Saïd was a Palestinian-American literary theorist and advocate for Palestinian rights. He was University Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University and a founding figure in postcolonialism...
and has contributed work on imagined geographiesImagined geographiesThe concept of imagined geographies has evolved out of the work of Edward Said, particularly his critique on Orientalism. In this term, ‘imagined’ is used not to mean ‘false’ or ‘made-up’, but ‘perceived’. It refers to the perception of space created through certain images, texts or discourses...
. - Cindi KatzCindi KatzCindi Katz , a geographer, is a Professor in Environmental Psychology, Earth and Environmental Sciences, and Women's Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center...
(born 1954), who writes on social reproductionSocial reproductionSocial reproduction is a sociological term referring to processes which sustain or perpetuate characteristics of a given social structure or tradition over a period of time....
and the production of space. Writing on children's geographiesChildren's geographiesChildren's geographies is an area of study within human geography and Childhood Studies which involves researching the places and spaces of children's lives....
, place and nature, everyday life and security. - Gillian RoseGillian Rose (geographer)Gillian Rose is a British geographer and geographic author. As of May 2008, she is senior professor of culture at the Open University. She is best known for her 1993 book, Feminism & Geography: The Limits of Geographical Knowledge.-Career:...
(born 1962), most famous for her critique: Feminism & Geography: The Limits of Geographical Knowledge (1993), which was one of the first moves towards a development of feminist geographyFeminist geographyFeminist geography is an approach in human geography which applies the theories, methods and critiques of feminism to the study of the human environment, society and geographical space.-Areas of study:...
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Human geography journals
As with all social sciences, human geographers publish research and other written work in a variety of academic journals. Whilst human geography is interdisciplinary, there are a number of journals with a human geography focus.These include:
External links
- Worldmapper - Mapping project using social data sets
- Online Human Geography Resource - Help and advice on human geography matters