Hegemony and Geographic Knowledge

Abstract

The hegemonic role of Anglo-American geography over the production and dissemination of geographical knowledge as well as its definition, analysis, and criticism has been an issue of debate in geography (particularly in human geography) throughout the early 21st century. There have always been individuals, groups, and institutions that hold a hegemonic position in the creation and dissemination of knowledge. From the perspective of disciplinary history, for instance, geography schools in Germany and France before World War II pioneered mainstream practices and played a significant role in the discipline’s acquisition of a paradigmatic form. Anglo-American hegemony in the discipline, which emerged in the 1960s and steadily consolidated its position until the early 21st century, differs from its predecessors in a number of ways. The first is that, as a result of the transformation in global geopolitics since 1945, the United States has become the dominant power. Having achieved close cooperation between the military, industry, and academia during the Cold War, the United States has transformed scientific knowledge production. The second is that the quantitative revolution, which started in Anglo-American geography after World War II and grew in the 1960s, revolutionized the field in a manner never seen before. Geography, which was adapted to the military-industrial-academic complex in the United States and rapidly transformed into a spatial science after World War II, reached a position of exporting geographical knowledge in a relatively short period. The third is that universities, particularly in the Global North, have experienced a transition and been restructured by academic capitalism since the 1980s due to neoliberal policies. Various academic dynamics have been altered as a result of an intensely competitive environment for resources, products, performance, and the market. Fourth is the restructuring of national science policies in peripheral countries in accordance with internationalization goals. This transformation, which encouraged the reorganization of universities in line with market demands, the use of English as the language of science, and increased competition for funding, among other things, led to the incorporation of academic institutions into the academic capitalism market. Moreover, these implemented policies served as a feedback mechanism that strengthened the asymmetrical power geometry in the global knowledge economy. In light of this context, Anglo-American hegemony and its consequences have been the subject of criticism and calls for change over the past quarter century. This chapter examines the following topics after this introduction: (1) Overviews; (2) Journals; (3) The Transition to Anglo-American Hegemony; (4) Quantifying the Hegemony; (5) Debating Anglo-American Hegemony; (6) Reflections on the Hegemony; and (7) Moving Beyond the Hegemony.