The More Things Change

Abstract

Geographers have always been concerned with t e interactions of human s cieties and the earth, with mapping, with how activities are spatially interrelated, and with what constitutes a place. Similarly, while exploring these separate grounds, the academicians among them have continually sought a unifying theme. Mankind and the earth may be a sufficient center, but only if each is expansively defined. Synthesis, often the defining word, however, ranges from once over lightly to deep understanding of complex interrelationships. Most eschew the former and are unable to do the latter well. Thus few practitioners practice geography, most practice parts, sometimes overlapping parts. Throughout the past century, geographic themes such as geopolitics, regional studies, urbanization, environmental studies, GIS, and globalization have played major roles in society. Geographers continue to be plagued by the necessity of fending off the siren song of environmental determinism in many guises. These geographic offspring have each taken on lives of their own, often leaving geography behind. The many specialty groups in the Association reflect the eclectic character of the field and the formidable task of achieving coherence. Physical geography, stepchild of the field at midcentury, now bridges earth system dynamics and political ecology. Enrollments in geography courses have swelled. Geographic contributions are evident in the humanities and sciences and acknowledged at the core of front-page news. Will the profession thrive in this century? Perhaps not. But discourse among us may help, and, because the rewards to society can be great, the mission to practice geography must be sustained. The professional geographer is the primary custodian of the concern for the interrelationship of human beings and the environment. Geographers are not, of course, the exclusive contributors to an understanding of this fundamental and complex relationship. But, professionally, geographers can reasonably lay claim to a scholarly tradition of seeking to understand the interaction of human society and nature. While it is easy to stake this claim, it is difficult to live up to it. Yet the effort to do so is evident in geographic scholarship from antiquity to the present. And, in the new guise of sustainability, throughout society, it is now recognized as a vital concern for the future. While emphasized here, and perhaps the most holistic view, society and environment is one of several consistent themes evident in geography over the past hundred years. Four themes recur, traditionally characterized as: man and the land, place or region, location, and mapping. This constancy gives rise to my title. Certainly the world of 2004 is not the world of 1904. Yet, the French proverb notes ga change, plus c'est la meme chose (The more things change, the more they remain the same). The proverb characterized my impression of important aspects of the field over the past century, primarily the last half century. Impressions is the appropriate word because this response to the symposium query, Where we have come from and where do we stand? is not a scholarly account of geography, or a portion of the field, during this centenary of the Association of American Geographers. Any number of books and reports collectively have done this well, including relatively recent studies such as Haggett's The Geographers Art (1990), Gregory's Geographical Imaginations (1994), and Abler, Marcus, and Olson's Geography's Inner Worlds (1992). Specific names for the four recurring themes have varied with author and to some extent with the times. Separation between them waxes and wanes from complete isolation to strong interaction. Additional fractionation occurs on several other planes: human and physical geography, specialties by subject or orientation, such as political and historical geography or resources and cities. Some measure of the variety and kind of these distinctions is illustrated by the thirty-something specialty groups in the Association. Many of these subspecialties are other disciplines. The number of disciplines deemed relevant to the work of geographers contracts and expands with the fashion of the times, interests of leaders in the field, or what are viewed as commanding new ideas, frontiers of the field.