Professo Yi- Fu Tuan: laureate of the prix Vautrin Lud 2012

Abstract

emeritus Professor Yi-fu tuan has been chosen as 2012 Laureate of the “Vautrin-Lud” Prize to be presented at the international festival of geography at saint-Diedes-Vosges on October 11 2012. this prize is regarded as the nobel Prize for geography and has been awarded annually over the past 22 years to geographers whose scholarship has held international renown. the laureate is nominated on the basis of a vote by a five-person jury which selects from a short list of names proposed by 240 well-known geographers from all five continents. saint-Die-des-Vosges is the city where the new World was first named “america”, reflecting the name of amerigo Vespucci, on the Waldseemuller map entitled Universalis Cosmographia which was published in april 1507. Waldseemuller was part of a scholarly group at the Vosgean gymnasium under the stewardship of Vautrin-Lud. native of China (1930) Yi-fu tuan has lived and studied in the Philippines, australia, england and California before his appointment as Professor of geography at University of indiana (1956). apart from a two year sojourn at University of toronto (1966-68), his entire professional career has unfolded within the United states of america. tuan’s research spans a wide spectrum of subjects ranging from physical geography to cultural studies, from the hydrological cycle to senses of home and self, from desert landscapes to dining-room decor, from cosmopolitan visions to the meanings of place and space. Other innovative themes include religion, morality and imagination, nature and culture, aesthetics and ethics, topophilia, and emotions – of fear, affection, escapism – and the politics and