Labor geography and labor history: insights and outcomes from a decade of cross-disciplinary dialogue

Abstract

An enhanced dialogue between history and geography concerning the study of labor relations offers prospects for deeper insights and richer explanatory capacity in academic scholarship. Similar interdisciplinary activity linking labor geography and studies of labor relations has been underway for some time. In this paper, we identify problems that arise when geography remains implicit in the study of labor history. Building on work already conducted which synthesizes labor geography and labor relations, we outline what can be gained from a more explicit engagement between labor history and labor geography. We argue that the three disciplines – labor history, labor geography and labor relations – can work together in ways that are productive for all to enhance understanding of the social relations of the world of work. Finally, we detail some of the essays in a recently published collection – The Handbook of Employment and Society: Working Space – that was designed to bring geographers and labor relations scholars into closer dialogue and suggest that this might serve as a model for a closer dialogue between historians and geographers.