Evolution,science and society: Historical reflections on the geographical experiment

Of the many diverse sources of naturalistic thinking in early modern geography, the penetration of Darwinian evolution is conventionally regarded as one of the most influential. In its application to social processes, the term ‘Social Darwinism’, as it is generally designated, has been used to describe almost any evolutionary perspective on human society. In its most common form, ‘Social Darwinism’ (or ‘Business Darwinism’, as some have designated it) has been portrayed as an attempt to provide ‘scientific’ justification for the cut-throat ethics of late nineteenth century capitalism. The main contention of this essay is that the widespread use of the term ‘Social Darwinism’, has obscured the variety of other ways in which biological analogies were applied to society, and that one of the most influential of these was the social model erected on the Lamarckian evolutionary alternative — a version of evolutionary biology widely espoused by geographers in Britain and America. Social Lamarckism, by emphasizing the cumulation of social improvements, repudiated the non-interventionism of ‘Social Darwinism’ and was used by many geographers to underpin their support for numerous educational, eugenic and environmental movements to improve the condition of humanity. And while biologically bankrupt, the Lamarckian social schema continues to be invoked as a viable model of society's evolution.     

Firm finances, weather derivatives and geography

This paper considers some intellectual, practical and political dimensions of collaboration between human and physical geographers exploring how firms are using relatively new financial products - weather derivatives - to displace any costs of weather-related uncertainty and risk. The paper defines weather derivatives and indicates how they differ from weather insurance products before considering the geo-political, cultural and economic context for their creation. The paper concludes by reflecting on the challenges of research collaboration across the human-physical geography divide and suggests that while such initiatives may be undermined by a range of institutional and intellectual factors, conversations between physical and human geographers remain and are likely to become increasingly pertinent. The creation of a market in weather derivatives raises a host of urgent political and regulatory questions and the confluence of natural and social knowledges, co-existing within and through the geography academy, provides a constructive and creative basis from which to engage with this new market and wider discourses of uneven economic development and climate change.     

The study of tourism in Britain — a geographical perspective

Conclusion This review must be seen alongside others which have attempted to explore the relationship between geography (and geographers) and the study of leisure and recreation (Coppock 1980, 1982a). It serves to confirm the wide-ranging and diverse contribution that geographers have made in this field and the ways in which the study of tourism has reflected developments in the wider discipline. It also confirms the very close and intimate connection between studies of tourism and social and economic policy in Britain and indicates the way in which geographers have attempted to shape policy and have in turn been influenced by the needs and demands of policymakers. The rewards of such interaction are clear and yet costs have also been incurred by the academic geographic community. Not the least of these costs is that tourism studies have been predominantly of an empirical nature and conceptual and theoretical advance has inevitably tended to lag behind these empirical investigations. It is to be hoped that the study of the geography of tourism, having now demonstrated its credentials to policymakers and decision-makers alike, can secure for itself a more central place within geographic teaching and research so that these lacunae can be remedied.     

On the role of evidence in physical and human geography

While physical geographers are united in a commitment to the scientific method with its emphasis on quantitative evidence, human geographers face a dilemma in deciding whether to adopt a scientific or humanistic approach in their research. The scientific approach offers a more secure, objective knowledge, but limits the scholar to a relatively narrow range of topics. The humanistic approach allows the scholar to explore a wide range of human experiences, but it lacks rigorous procedures of objective verification. The difficulty of the application of theoretical ideas to human societies can, to some extent, be avoided by adopting an historical approach, with an emphasis on the empirical investigation of human activity as a reflection of ideas. As long as human geographers have a commitment to basing their interpretations of geographical phenomena on objective evidence the possibility of a profitable co-operation exists among proponents of different philosophical approaches. A unified human geography embracing scholars of diverse views depends for its success on the identification of geographical problems that transcend philosophical and theoretical points of view.     

W(h)ither South African human geography?

South African human geographers have been largely silent in debates about Anglo-American disciplinary hegemony, hierarchies of knowledge, ir/relevance and myriad other debates about the academy and geographical knowledge. This paper offers a critical reflection on current tendencies within South African human geography towards parochialism, empiricism and disconnection from the international academy. Pointing to these developments as being rooted within the local geographical tradition, a call is made for greater critical self-reflection in order to re-engage international debates and advance local transformation. The tendency to bemoan the dominance of Anglo-American journals and academics, as well as contextual systematic constraints, is noted and established scholars gently chastised for failing to move beyond complaints towards measures that offer a way forward in these debates.     

‘Public intellectuals’, geography, its representations and its publics

Recent years have seen academic geographers engaged in a series of debates over the current state of the discipline, its ‘relevance’ to others in the social sciences, to policy-makers, and to those studying geography at school age. This short critical review builds upon an issue raised in this journal [Thrift, N., 2002. The future of geography. Geoforum 33, 291–298], namely the role of geographers as public intellectuals. After reviewing the different ways in which the notion of public intellectuals has been understood, the paper turns to geography’s representations and to its publics. The paper concludes by arguing for an appreciation of the full range of ways in which geographers call forth publics through a range of representational strategies. It suggests that regardless of how geographers perform publicly and intellectually, two things are perhaps worth remembering: it is in the interest of geographers to name what they do as geography and to name themselves as geographers.     

Geography and development studies in Southern Africa: a progressive prospectus

Southern Africa provides many fascinating opportunities for critical research, and some exciting material has been emerging in several subject areas. However, very little of this has been the work of geographers or of those engaged in ‘development studies’. This paper explores some of the reasons why the two disciplines have lagged behind their rivals, and suggests a progressive blueprint for the future. It concludes with a brief introduction to the papers brought together for this special issue of Geoforum.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Estuaries and Coasts</Emphasis> as an Outlet for Research in Coastal Ecosystems: A Bibliometric Study

Recent changes in the editorial leadership, name, content, and publishing process for Estuaries and Coasts and looming changes in scientific publishing as technology advances have provided an opportunity to assess the health and examine the growth in size and reputation of the journal. Estuaries and Coasts has grown in size by about fourfold, with a concurrent decline in acceptance rate of about 1.5% per year to reach the present 65% acceptance rate. The number of paper downloads has increased exponentially to the current 4,000 downloads per month. Most (81%) of the published papers come from senior authors in the USA, with only 15% of the papers coming from senior authors based in non-English-speaking countries. The average number of authors per paper increased from an average of two in 1980 to three at present, and the impact factor has risen to 1.563 in 2006, at about the middle of the range in impact factors for related journals, from an average of 1.295 in the previous 10 years. Papers published in Estuaries and Coasts have a long citation half-life (8.4 years), resulting in very few (3.5%) published papers never receiving citations. All metrics assessed portray Estuaries and Coasts as a journal on the rise that stands up in comparisons of quality and citation rate with other journals in its field.     

Problematising power relations in ‘elite’ interviews

Methodological debates about interviewing ‘elites’ have recently received significant attention within human geography. Many of the contributors to this debate have suggested that there is something intrinsically different about interviewing ‘up’, which geography’s methodological literature needs to make space to consider. This paper argues that, in fact, the distinction between ‘elite’ interviewees and other types of interviewees is based on inadequate and widely critiqued conceptions of power. If, instead, geographers employ a poststructural understanding of power, we may be able to achieve a more sophisticated analysis of power relations within the interview space.     

Romanian geography reunited — the integrative approach demonstrated by the conservation movement

After a period of intense specialization, when the unity of geography was set aside in favour of separate development for the human and physical sections, Romanian geographers have reasserted an integrative approach. An important factor in the prevailing monist paradigm os the conservation movement, expressed in a concern for the protection of the environment. Great damage has undoubtedly been sustained after a century and more of intense exploitation, but government is ambivalent and remains reluctant to act decisively when there would be serious short-term implications for the development plan. But there is enough official interest in environmental protection for geographers to conduct a large-scale debate on ecological matters and elevate man-environment relations to a central position in both teaching and research.     

中美地理学近百年发展脉络的比较研究——基于《地理学报》和Annals of the Association of American

基于《地理学报》和Annals of the Association of American Geographers学术论文的统计,对比近百年中美两国地理学的发展脉络,着重从总体特征、重点研究内容及其变化、理论—实践关系三方面对比异同,获得经验和借鉴。美国地理学经过初期发展、高速发展后,目前进入持续发展阶段;中国地理学在曲折中崛起,目前正处在高速发展时期。美国地理学中人文地理学一直居主导地位,中国则从重视自然地理开始逐渐向自然、人文、方法三足鼎立方向迈进;美国地理学家非常重视微观、中观实践,但在国家宏观决策中远没有中国地理学家发挥作用更直接。美国地理学研究水平高于中国,但这种差距正在缩小,研究方向的变化相差3~5年。世界地理研究中心有向亚太地区、向中国转移的可能,中国地理学家要勇于创建具有中国特色的地理学派。     

Geographies of production in 3D: Theoretical and research implications stemming from additive manufacturing

Additive manufacturing (or 3D printing) is a comparatively new and evolving form of production that has the potential to transform the geographies of manufacturing. While this technology has garnered significant hype in the popular media, the topic has been virtually ignored in academic circles outside of business- and industry-specific, technology-oriented journals. Given its prospective impacts on the secondary sector and the potential for geographers to explore these transitions, this article provides a discussion of the possible opportunities for theoretical explorations and research into the place-based facets of additive manufacturing and its impacts on, or integration with, traditional manufacturing. In particular, we examine the spatial ramifications of this technology on supply, demand, innovation, global production networks, and the role of the state juxtaposed against contemporary insights pertaining to advances in additive manufacturing.     

An overview of climate change vulnerability: a bibliometric analysis based on Web of Science database

Based on worldwide scholars’ 3,004 papers published in 658 academic journals in the Web of Science database on the topic of climate change vulnerability from 1991 to 2012, this paper quantitatively analyzes the global scientific performance and hot research areas in this field by adopting bibliometric method. The results show that (1) the vulnerability researches on climate change have experienced a rapid growth since 2006, and the publications are widely distributed in a large number of source journals, while the top two productive institutions are the University of East Anglia and Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research; (2) the cooperation at author level is on the rise, and there are closer relationships in institutional and national levels; (3) the most widely focused research topics in this field include health issues in the socioeconomic system, food security in the field of agricultural system and the issue of water resource management, etc.; (4) according to the papers from the top journals, we find that the research areas for climate change vulnerability in those publications are located in the ecological diversity, ecosystem service, water resource management and electric power supply, etc.     

Formalities too — On language,maps, and human geography

Current developments within the human sciences in general and social geography in particular have challenged the paradigm of representation that has prevailed here as elsewhere for the longest time since the Enlightenment. The paper at hand seeks to explore some of the wider ramifications of this so-called postmodern challenge for those forms of expression that geographers have become accustomed to. Primarily the map, unique in its importance for the pursuit of geographical knowledge, will be analyzed from a decidedly abstract point of view.     

Geographies of peak oil: The other carbon problem

This extended editorial introduction to a themed issue of Geoforum on geographies of peak oil has three objectives. First, it provides a concise account of the ’peak oil’ claim, identifying the key protagonists in the debate, and outlining different stances with regard to the timing, shape and composition (conventional vs. non-conventional hydrocarbons) of the peak. Second, after briefly characterising the limited engagement with peak oil by human geographers, it offers a provisional set of claims about what a geographical analysis of peak oil might yield. Finally, it introduces each of the papers and, in doing so, makes the case for a fuller and more sustained engagement by geography with this ’other carbon problem.’     

Living through the tsunami: Vulnerability and generosity on a volatile earth

How might geographers respond ‘generously’ to a disaster on the scale of the Indian Ocean tsunami? Critical geographers and other left intellectuals have chosen to stress the way pre-existing social forces conditioned human vulnerability, and have implied that ordinary people ‘here’ were implicated in the suffering of others ‘there’ through their positioning in chains of causality. Critics have also sought to expose the bias, unjustness and inappropriateness of post-tsunami patterns of donation and programs of aid and recovery. A supplement to this mode of critique is offered in the form of a view of disasters and human vulnerability that hinges on the idea of the self as ‘radically passive’: that is, as inherently receptive to both the stimuli that cause suffering, and to the demands of others who are suffering. All forms of thought – including geography and disaster studies should themselves be seen as ‘vulnerable’ and responsive to the impact to disasters. The idea that every ‘self’ bears the trace of past disasters – and past gifts of others – forms the basis of a vision of bodies and communities as always already ‘fractured’ by disaster – in ways which resist being ‘brought to light’. This offers a way of integrating human and physical geographies through a shared acknowledgement of what is unknowable and absent. It is also suggestive that gratitude might be an appropriate response to a sense of indebtedness to others – for who we are, as much as for what we have done.     

当代地理学特征：发展趋势及中国地理学研究进展

地理学是一门研究地球表层自然要素与人文要素相互作用及其时空变化规律的科学，它广泛运用现代科学技术手段，具有跨越自然科学与社会科学的性质。面对当前全球变化和可持续发展的世界性科学问题，地理学家根据学科特点和领域优势，抓住机遇、迎接挑战。目前主要研究地球表层系统各界面间的物理、化学、生物及人文过程，探讨多种过程的相互作用机理，探求人类活动与资源环境间相互协调、可持续发展的规律。地理学以“格局—结构—过程—机理”的研究思路贯穿始终。随着新技术、新方法的使用以及观测资料的不断积累，实验测试数据质量的提高和数据量的增加，当今地理学的研究在空间尺度上同时向微观、宏观两个方向扩展，模型研究不断科学化，已具备现代科学的主要特征。总体上，表现为部门地理研究深化，区域综合研究加强。长期以来，中国地理学在自然地理的综合研究、地表自然过程研究、城市与区域发展研究，以及面向社会现实的应用基础研究等方面取得了较好进展。     

2015年中国地质调查项目资助论文统计分析

以2015年SCI-E和CSCD 数据库收录的中国地质调查项目资助发表的论文为统计源,采用文献计量学方法,从项目投入情况、论文被各数据库收录情况、机构分布、作者排名、学科分布、期刊分布和核心期刊论文比等方面进行了统计分析。结果表明,2015年中国地质调查项目资助论文被各数据库收录数量较2014年度大幅增加,大学院校产出占据优势,学科分布主要集中于基础前沿性研究、矿产资源调查与评价、矿产资源勘查技术、地质环境保护与地质灾害防治和国土资源管理与决策服务等5大领域,“国外期刊论文比”和“核心期刊论文比”均表现出较好的质量水平和较高的学术影响力。     

Population geography with GIS in Japan

Japanese geography studies are now being greatly affected by the rapid development of geographical information systems (GIS). Unfortunately, there has been little response from Japanese population geographers to this movement. Is GIS a welcome or an unwelcome guest? After discussing the significance of employing GIS, this article introduces some recent papers that used GIS in the field of population geography on such issues as mortality mapping, migration analysis, and household studies. Then, the two promising population-related topics of married one-person households and fertility are discussed. The ability of GIS to greatly facilitate analysis, which previously needed much time and energy, can be an encouraging stimulus of innovation in studies of current population geography. Therefore, GIS is clearly a welcome guest, although it is too wishful to think that its use would lead directly to a revitalization of contemporary population geography studies.