Abstract
The aim of this study is to understand the relationships between critical theory-based approaches and its implementations in geography teaching departments in Turkey. Critical theory dates back to 1930s and has developed over time aiming to deal with institutions, culture and society through critical lens. Currently, critical theory-based research designs and research paradigms inspire a large number of books, articles especially in qualitative researches due to their beneficial outcomes for the vulnerable, the poor and the othered segments of society with which critical researches are mainly concerned.In the study, firstly it was described critical theory and critical research characteristics. Secondly, human geography and critical research relationships covered. Thirdly, human geography courses in geography teaching departments in Turkey explained in connection with critical theory. The relationships between these courses, critical theory and critical research were tried to explore. The study emphasized the importance of critical theory in courses in human geography considering far-reaching effects of critical theory on humanities, social sciences and art studies. Human geography has and should have close connections with other disciplines and sub-disciplines drawing on multiple theories, concepts and approaches.
Highlights
The aim of this study is to understand the relationships between critical theory-based approaches and its implementations in geography teaching departments in Turkey
As stated above critical theory firstly originated in the Frankfurt School and it has developed into many paradigms, approaches, designs in social sciences and art studies
Especially human geography has changed and transformed since 1970s (Livingstone, 1992) as new problems and questions appear in the field such as minority rights, feminist movements, indigenous rights, developing ghettos for the othered and alienated people are strongly entrenched in human geography
Summary
Critical theory is a term coined by Max Horkheimer in 1937 to describe the work of the Frankfurt School (Buchanan, 2010). Its meaning and scope have begun to broaden gradually and it is an umbrella term mainly used in social sciences, humanities and art studies It sees the events, phenomena, developments and processes in social world with/through critical lens not basing them on meta-narratives and grand-theories which have firm ontological and epistemological foundations (Crotty, 1998). Scientific reality sees reality whatever science puts forward (Chakravartty, 2017) Critical theory regards this approach as illusion (Buchanan, 2010) and reality itself is context-bound and riddled with politics, culture, economy and ideology. Critical theory has a recursive dimension using dialectics as a form of reasoning It contains going back and forth in theory construction as researcher considers herself/himself constantly where she/he stands, how the surrounding processes and developments affect her/him and vice versa. Those leaning may vary from study to study or from discipline to discipline, but some common features can be summarized as follows;
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