Ethics in geography: giving moral form to the geographical imagination

Summary Geographers have become increasingly interested in questions of ethics. In this paper, I introduce the scope and major concerns of ethics, briefly reviewing recent literature as a means of situating geography's potential contribution. I then link ethics to the geographical imagination by developing a twofold schema representing geography's ontological project and epistemological process, an approach that unites existing professional and substantive ethical concerns among geographers. Examples of recent work by geographers in these areas are noted. I close with a set of broad questions at the interface of ethics and geography worthy of further reflection.     

Subjectivity,Power, and the IRB

A substantial literature in social sciences, including law and society, examines the intersections of research ethics and institutional review board (IRB) frameworks. Although geographers have engaged this literature, we argue that further involvement in ethical and regulatory discussions will advance opportunities for better understanding and negotiating the complex subjectivities produced in the IRB structure. Drawing on illustrative experiences of researchers, we focus specifically on the institutions convening IRBs, the researchers, and the human “subjects” produced in the IRB process. We conclude with a call for greater open discussion of the power dynamics, subjectivities, and challenges of formal ethical research structures.     

HUMANISTIC GEOGRAPHY FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF MARTIN BUBER'S PHILOSOPHY*

Humanistic geography represents a duality of reason and feeling, science and ethics. As a scientific approach, it is concerned with uncovering the truth regarding people's experiential relationship with place. It does not regard the phenomena under consideration as merely an object of research, rather it bears an ethical message of concern for those objects, be they human beings, nature or place. This study expands on the ethical dimension conveyed by humanistic geography via Buber's work, trying to show that his dialogical philosophy and humanism is a logical extension of this message. I seek to convey an action-oriented frame of reference for geographers that may lead to a shift from passive reflection about people and place, to an active role in making Buber's “perfect space’ possible.     

中国地理学研究中的伦理思考——以图们江地区国际交通通道开发研究为例

讲求伦理道德是中国几千年儒家文化特有的要求,我们地理学工作者不能回避。在列举了地理学必须回答地理学伦理问题,认为,中国地理学工作者的研究行为与政府行为相结合有着中国文化熏陶和社会制度的必然性,研究成果与政府的需要相结合是地理学必须遵循的伦理规范。在图们江地区国际交通通道研究的不同时期,政府行为的利益目标和利益原则有不同的变化,地理学的研究方法和科学原则也随之发生变化。进而认为,只要政府行为的利益目标符合战略尺度上的公众利益,地理学研究行为的变化就是符合科学伦理的。不能孤立地强调地理学家的科学公正,理解我们所服务的政府,帮助、引导政府开展其符合社会公众利益的行为是更积极的科学态度。     

IRBs as Asset for Ethics Education in Geography

This article frames the research ethics review process conducted by institutional review boards (IRBs) as an opportunity to enrich the education of geographers. Student participation in the IRB process enhances the education of geographers at the undergraduate and graduate levels in two key ways. Geographers can use participation in this process to demonstrate the relevance of a disciplinary code of ethics to professional practice. More important, such participation helps learners, particularly novices, conceptualize research as an ongoing process of intentional inquiry, in which the protection of research participants is vigilantly observed.     

Inductive Method of Teaching Change of Seasons

Abstract

Easier access to submeter imagery has fueled debates over ethical uses of remote sensing. Some have called for ethics instruction to counter undesired uses of the technology. Here, this article reports the results of a survey examining attitudes related to teaching ethics in remote sensing. It was found that 52 percent of respondents teaching remote sensing include ethical use discussions. Agreement on the importance of ethics instruction is statistically associated with the year the instructor received their degree, the highest degree awarded by their department, the number of remote sensing courses offered at their institution, and their prior exposure to ethical debates in remote sensing.     

Material Geographies and Postcolonialism

While postcolonial studies have inspired new ideas, a new language and a new theoretical inflection for a wide range of teaching and research in human geography, there have been few sustained discussions about what might constitute a postcolonial geography. This paper attempts to deal with this absence by exploring the possibilities of material geographies of postcolonialism. It suggests that geographers are particularly well placed to respond to criticisms of postcolonialism as remaining overwhelmingly textual, cultural and/or historical in focus by contributing towards a productive engagement between postcolonialism and the material realities of global inequalities, and towards a revivified political and ethical project. It explores how particular tactics might inform postcolonial methodologies within geography and makes some tentative suggestions on what a postcolonial political praxis might look like.     

Some things do change: indigenous rights,geographers and geography in Australia

Using a recent editorial comment in this journal as a focus, this paper reviews the extent to which geography has been implicated in the ‘colonial project’ in Australia. It argues that recent work amongst geographers involved with indigenous Australians reflects a commitment to transcend this colonial past. The paper calls for geographers to work toward a wide‐reaching decolonisation of the discipline, and to develop a better understanding of the contemporary legacies of geography's colonial past.     

Politicization of research and the relevance of geography: some experiences and reflections for an ongoing debate

In this paper we address the revival of interest in recent years in the relevance of geographical research and highlight problems of politicization faced by researchers through cases of policy-oriented research in the UK and Belgium. We argue that geographers should be aware of the possibilities and constraints for critical engagement in the context of policy-oriented research. We identify at least two important opportunities for researchers to avoid clientelistic relationships with contractors and enhance their political relevance. First, researchers can stick to letter of the contract and maintain academic standards while at the same time interpreting their tasks according to their own ethical and political judgements. Second, relevance can be increased by forming alliances within and beyond the formal hierarchies of the state and the academy. The identification and utilization of these 'spaces of relevance' can be seen as the first step towards an approach that strategically seeks a balance between societal engagement on the one hand and contractual obligations, policy relevance and academic standards on the other.     

The manifestation of the principles of geoecological ethics: Environmental approach

We investigate the additionality of the principles of geoecological ethics and ethical geography from the perspective of the manifestation of the norms of human activity in the natural environment. Geoecological ethics is based on the through principles of sustainable development and responsibility for breaches of different-quality norms existing in nature, economy and society, and on social relations considered in different systems with due regard for the characteristics of geographical environment. The degree of responsibility is measured in dimensionless indicators of reliability (dependability) theory, the integrated hazard of activity with natural restrictions on the action on geosystems and departures from normative states. Ethical geography generates landscape-cultural norms of implementation of different kinds of activity on a territory. The general ethical laws and quantitative models and methods for responsibility assessment are special interpretations of the notions and axioms of general system theory adopted as the norm of organization of knowledge. The principles of geoecological ethics manifest themselves as a result of the interpretation of the general laws of ethics via the geohistorical environment, primarily in the form of responsibility for a departure from the environment-caused norms of activity. Ethical geography implies responsibility for the reliability of knowledge of the generally significant norms of the state and allowable changes in environment. A violation of geoethical norms and nature management normative will necessarily lead to negative changes in the living conditions of man and society.     

Wellbeing, health and geography: A critical review and research agenda

Abstract:  This paper explores different conceptual and policy spaces of wellbeing. The increasing use of wellbeing in contemporary health debates affords geographers of health new arena in which to explore the processes that promote, remedy or regenerate health and ill-health. The paper first critically reviews the theoretical approaches and challenges for operationalizing the concept of wellbeing in both research and policy. We then present a framework of the spaces of wellbeing to provoke discussion and research amongst geographers of health. The paper concludes with proposals for future research orientations.     

Mixing qualitative research methods in children's geographies

Human geographers are increasingly employing mixed-method approaches in their research, including in children's geographies, where 'child-centred' methods are often used alongside participant observation and semi-structured interviews to investigate children's perceptions and experiences. Mixing qualitative methods in this way raises a number of ethical and methodological issues, particularly regarding the changing power relationships between researchers and participants. This article considers the challenges and potential benefits of combining methods from participatory and interpretive approaches through triangulation or 'crystallisation'. The issues are illustrated through an empirical case study on children, health and exercise in the everyday spaces of the primary school.     

Employment Trends in Geography,Part 1: Enrollment and Degree Patterns*

This paper is the first in a series of three papers dealing with the current and future labor market for geographers. It is based on a report prepared by the Association of American Geographers' (AAG) Employment Forecasting Committee to the National Research Council's (NRC) Rediscovering Geography Committee. This report provides a data-based analysis of the past and future supply of geographers, the current labor market conditions in the field, and the factors likely to influence the future demand for geographers (faculty hiring, geographic education initiatives, trends in private-sector jobs, etc.). Each year some 4,000 individuals receive degrees in geography from America's institutions of higher education. They, or some portion of them, make up the new supply of geographers entering the labor market. In the near future (up to five years), the availability of new geographers is related to the number of geography students now in the educational pipeline. Their current specialties, and the specialties of the programs from which they come, tell us about the types of skills and the kinds of interests to be held by future labor force entrants. In the longer term (five to ten years), the number of new geographers will be influenced by geographic education initiatives at the precollegiate level. More and better geographic instruction in elementary and secondary schools will expose more students to geography as a field of study and as a potential career path. The purposes of this paper are to (1) review degree and enrollment trends in geography, (2) assess the “trickle-up” effects of geographic education initiatives at the precollegiate level, and (3) investigate the characteristics of future supply as evidenced by the types of occupations for which geography departments are now preparing students.     

Geographies on the Move: A Practical and Theoretical Approach to the Mobile Interview

This article considers the mobile interview method's utility to geography through five strengths: the ability to (1) produce spatially grounded and place-specific data, (2) access subtler and more complex meanings of place, (3) create opportunities for flexible and collaborative conversation with participants in situ, (4) build rapport and adjust participant–researcher power dynamics, and (5) efficiently produce rich geographic data. Practical, technical, ethical, and epistemological considerations are discussed. We expand methodological exploration of disempowered individuals' experiences of home, neighborhood, and urban space. The mobile interview offers a valuable, underutilized method for geographers to better understand the coconstitutive relationship between self and place.     

地理学的政治

中国地理学的发展当前正处于十字路口,面临诸多方向的选择。如外生地理学和内生地理学的分化,实用主义和科学主义的混行,系统地理学和区域地理学的脱节,经济地理学和人文地理学的互为归属。这些问题悬而不决使地理学的向心力逐渐弱化,地理学者不得不面对诸多学科发展方向上的困扰,以及对学科规范和学术认同上的困惑。笔者以为,此时“搁置争议”并不是办法。为了学科的长远发展,中国的地理学家和地理学会必须做出一些选择。坚持一元还是认同分化,这即是地理学的政治。     

Eating Out Ethically: An Analysis of the Influence of Ethical Food Consumption in a Vegetarian Restaurant in Guangzhou,China

For exploring vegetarian eating in contemporary Guangzhou, this article employs the concept of ‘ethical eating’ and the framework of ethical consumption as outlined by Clive Barnett and his coauthors to examine food practices in a vegetarian restaurant through two dimensions: the restaurant dimension and the consumer dimension (2005b). Drawing on the ethnographic observations and interviews on food practices in a vegetarian restaurant conducted by Refreshing Vegetarian Food (Yixin Su Shi), in Guangzhou, the capital city of Guangdong province, this article argues that, on the one hand, the restaurant can provide an ethical environment for vegetarian eating and connects ethics and human bodies encountered through eating experiences. On the other hand, the restaurant is reshaped as an ethical food space through the performance of consumers' social identities and “self‐other” relations.     

重新认识人类与动物:西方新动物地理学研究进展

选取并分析585篇与新动物地理学相关的西方文献,进一步梳理了理论起源及研究议题,发现：① 1995—2005年是新动物地理学的探索起步阶段,2005年至今则是蓬勃发展阶段;② 英国是该研究领域的中心地区;③ 当前新动物地理学研究主要通过“以人类为中心”（动物空间）和“以动物为中心”（兽性地方）两大线索展开,前者重点关注于人类世界,研究话题涉及人类社会不平等、作为人类社会生产要素的动物和人类对动物的生命管治,后者则在新的认识论与方法论的基础上,发展形成了其主要议题,包括动物主体性和能动性、动物伦理再思考以及人类动物和谐共存的实践探索。     

Ethical concerns around inner city walking tours

Walking tours are common practice in urban tourism and are, historically, one of the earliest examples of urban tourism. Due to a rise in the demand for so-called “authentic” experiences in tourism in recent years, there has been a growth in different types of cultural walking tours, particularly in poor neighborhoods of major cities globally. The increase in these tours brings to light a number of questions concerning the ethics of taking people through poorer areas, where relatively vulnerable populations live and work. This paper highlights some of the potential ethical concerns around this type of tourism, while also mentioning the potential benefits.     

论地理信息科学的发展

该文阐述 1995年以来 ,中国地理学界关于 3S(RemoteSensing ,GlobalPositioningSystemandGeographicalIn formationSystem)的研究与应用 ;1998年以来 ,对数字地球有所介绍与了解 ;2 0 0 0年以来 ,对对地观测系统给予充分的关注。国外有“地理信息科学”的杂志 ,国外也有将 3S称为空间信息技术 (SpatialInformationTechnique )的。该文作者长期以来研究并讲授地理信息科学、地理信息系统、地理信息系统工程、全球定位系统等课程 ,提出航天信息与地理信息一体化网络系统 ,是一个开放的、复杂的信息巨系统 ,进而提出了新一代的地理信息系统 ;以天地信息一体化网络系统为基础 ,提出了天地人机关系 ,发展了地理学中的人地关系 ;并且论述了地理信息科学是可持续发展信息社会的重要支柱 ;指出地理信息科学研究的方向与前景。     

1912—1949年中国地理学者的发展特征分析

本文基于多种资料,梳理了1912—1949年中国地理学者姓名、生卒年、籍贯、领域、教育与工作经历等数据,从来源、增长、结构3个层面讨论当时中国地理学者发展进程。研究发现1912—1949年间：① 地理学者在来源层面可分舆地学者、外聘地理学者、现代学制培养地理学者（含有交集关系的国内培养学者、留学培养学者、跨学科学者）3种类型,不同类型群体对地理学者发展的影响差异明显;② 地理学者数量发展可分1912—1927年波动增长,1928—1939年持续增长,1940—1941年急速增长和1942—1949年放缓增长4个时期;③ 中国地理学者学科结构、领域结构、学缘结构、地域结构、年龄结构、性别结构等方面均表现为失衡但失衡程度趋于降低的态势;④ 地理学者发展与地理教学、研究机构发展关系密切,特别是高等地理教学机构对地理学者发展有多重影响。1912—1949年中国地理学者的发展为中国科学地理学的持续进步奠定了人才基础,其过程同时是中国近现代地理学转型的一个侧面。