A Definition
of Geography
by Case Allen, PhD
In
my beginning Geography courses, we define Geography as "The study of the
location and distribution of features at or near the Earth's surface." We
then proceed to define "features" (both Physical & Cultural),
as well as "location" (the place of something, either absolute
or relative) and "distribution" (how things are arranged
spatially), noting that the concepts of space and place are fundamental in
understanding what Geography is. This is a relatively simple definition for a
quite complex subject, but I believe it serves as a nice way to introduce
people to Geography. And even though most graduate students in the discipline
have an entire course on "Geographic Thought" that attempts (in thousands
of pages) to describe how the discipline came about and what it studies--in
essence, what Geography is--debates
persist today due to (at least I think so) the etymology of the word itself.
The Greek scholar, Eratothenes, coined the term in
the second century BCE, putting together two Greek words: Geo, meaning
"Earth" and graphe, meaning "To
describe."
William
Hughes, in 1863 recognized the true extent and power of Geography when he
addressed students at King's College,
"Mere
place names are not geography. To know by heart a whole gazetteer full of them
would not, in itself, constitute anyone a geographer. Geography has higher aims
than this: it seeks to classify phenomena (alike of the natural and of the
political world insofar as it treats of the latter) to compare, to generalize,
to ascend from effects to causes and in doing so to trace out the great laws of
nature and to mark their influence upon man. In a word, geography is a science,
a thing not of mere names, but of argument and reason, of cause and effect."
So
Geography is a science that "describes the earth." How do Geographers
do this? What sets it apart from other disciplines? I offer two suggestions.
First is a quote from the book, Geography's Inner Worlds (1992:2):
"What
Geography is about is the earth. Throughout the over two thousand years it has
existed as a distinct intellectual enterprise, Geography has always focused on
the earth as created by nature and as modified by human action..."
"The
diagnostic experience is that most typically geographic exercise--a field trip.
Regardless of specialty, nothing reminds Geographers of how much they
share--and how much Geographers differ from colleagues in other
disciplines--than a multidisciplinary transect through almost any landscape in
the world. Historians, sociologists, and political scientists will cluster in
the back of the bus where they will chat in a desultory manner or sleep.
Geologists may be roused into observational action by road cuts but will see
very little between them. Meteorologists will be helpless without their
computers and models. Only the Geographers--again, regardless of
specialty--will incessantly rubberneck, gawk, point, explain, speculate, and
argue about what they are seeing, more or less without regard to whether it is
urban or rural, physical or anthropogenic, beautiful or hideous."
Second, Geographers have to know a lot to be able to
"describe the earth," and so they must draw on other disciplines. But
they view all things as having space (a trait called spatialness or spatiality), and
the way they draw upon other disciplines spatially is unique among the arts
& sciences. Geographers often "describe the earth" using many
different "tools" (e.g., climate, vegetation, relief, language,
migration, politics, fashion, etc., or a combination of these tools), and in
doing so, they must reach between and across disciplines to find their answers.
In short, describing place spatially is Geography.
Interdisciplinary research (and even "transdisciplinary" and
multi-disciplinary for that matter) are usually inherent in the geographer.
Not all Geographers agree with my
views of Geography. Some may think my views antiquated; others might view them
as naive. Some Geographers prefer to be defined by their subfields (like,
"geomorphologist", "cultural ecologist",
"climatologist", etc.) Others came to Geography from other
disciplines, and may have less formal background in Geography per se.
But that's just fine! Variety is the spice of life, after all. And Geography
certainly has--indeed, must have--an abundant variety of spices!