Approaches to Human Geography

Dr. Stuart C. Aitken is Professor of Geography and June Burnett Chair at SDSU. He directs the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies of Young People and Space (ISYS). Stuart’s research interests include critical social theory, qualitative methods, children, families and communities. His recent books include The Ethnopoetics of Space and Transformation (Ashgate 2014), The Fight to Stay Put (Verlag 2013), Young People. Border Spaces and Revolutionary Imaginations (Routledge 2011), Qualitative Geographies (Sage 2010) and The Awkward Spaces of Fathering (Ashgate 2009). Stuart has published over 200 papers in academic journals and edited book collections. Professor Valentine has held prestigious international visiting fellowships at the Universities of Sydney, Australia and Otago, New Zealand and has visited and given keynote addresses at a range of prestigious international conferences. She was co-founder and co-editor of the international journal Social and Cultural Geography, and co-edited Gender, Place and Culture. She has undertaken international research in Europe, Africa and the USA and is committed to developing the University of Sheffield′s international strategy within the Faculty of Social Sciences.

• Ways of Knowing and Ways of Doing Geographic Research - Stuart C. Aitken and Gill ValentinePart I: PHILOSOPHIESPositivist Geography - Rob KitchinLived Emplacement and the Locality of Being: A Return to Humanistic Geography? - David SeamonFeminist Geographies of Difference, Relation, and Construction - Deborah P. Dixon and John Paul Jones IIIMarx and the Spirit of Marx - George Henderson and Eric SheppardStructuration Theory: Agency, Structure and Everyday Life - Isabel Dyck and Robin A. KearnsHuman Animal - David LulkaRealism as a Basis for Knowing the World - Andrew SayerPostmodern Geographies and the Ruins of Modernity - David B. ClarkePoststructuralist Theories - Paul HarrisonPostscript to Poststructuralist Theories in Geography - Stuart C. AitkenActor-Network Theory, Networks, and Relational Geographies - Fernando J. BoscoPostcolonialism: Powers of Representation - Clive BarnettGeohumanities: Engaging Space and Place in the Humanities - Trevor M. HarrisMind the Gap: Reconsidering Geography′s Twentieth Century Technological Settlements - Francis HarveyPart II: PEOPLEInstitutions and Cultures - Gerard RushtonPlaces, People and Contexts - David LeyMemories and Desires - David HarveyUnderstanding the Heart of Place... - Robin A. KearnsPersonal and Political - Vera ChouinardHow I Became a Geographer - Michael F. GoodchildMovement and Encounter - Lawrence KnoppSpaces and Flows - Janice MonkSetting Out - Nigel ThriftPart III: PRACTICESMapping and Geovisualization - Martin DodgeQuantification, Evidence and Positivism - A. Stewart FotheringhamGeographic Information Systems - Michael F. GoodchildHumanism and People-Centered Methods - Paul RodawayTo Build Another World: Activism in the Light of Marxist Geographic Thought - Michael Samers, Patrick Bigger and Oliver BelcherProducing Feminist Geographies: Theory, Methodologies and Research Strategies - Kim EnglandPoststructuralist Approaches: Deconstruction and Discourse Analysis - John W. WyliePricing Dignity: Psychoanalytical Frameworks and the Burden of Proof - Maureen SiohResearch is Theft: Environmental Inquiry in a Postcolonial World - Paul RobbinsContested Geographies: Culture Wars, Personal Clashes and Joining Debate - Gill Valentine and Stuart C. Aitken

The book covers some of the (traditionally) most obtuse and difficult-to-grasp philosophical ideas that have influenced geographers/geography. The fact that these are presented in an inclusive and accessible manner is a key strength of this book. Many students have commented that the chapters they have read have encouraged them to read more in this field, which is fantastic from a lecturer′s perspective.