Theory and Explanation in Geography

Henry Wai-chung Yeung is Distinguished Professor in the Department of Geography and Co-Director of Global Production Networks Centre at the National University of Singapore, Singapore. He is the recipient of multiple research awards, including the 2022 Sir Peter Hall Award for Lifetime Contribution by the Regional Studies Association in the UK, the 2018 Distinguished Scholarship Honors by the American Association of Geographers, and the 2017 Murchison Award by the Royal Geographical Society, UK.

• List of Tables ixList of Figures xPreface and Acknowledgement xi1. Critical Human Geography Today: A Multitude of Approaches and Concepts? 1Main Argument and Approach 5Important Caveats: What This Book Is Not About 9Key Considerations: Of/For Theory and Explanation 15Chapter Outlines 20Notes 262. Contemporary Geographical Thought: Theory and Explanation 36Theory in Marxism 42Theories in Poststructuralism and Post-Phenomenology/Posthumanism 44Actor-Network Theory 45Non-Representational Theory 50Assemblage Theory 54Post-Phenomenology and Posthumanism 62Theories in Feminism and Postcolonialism 67Feminist Theory 69Postcolonial Theory 76Notes 813. What Kind of Theory for What Kind of Human Geography? 95Analytical Geographies: Theory and Explanation in Geography 97From Concepts to Theories 99From Theory to Explanation in Geography 103Mid-Range Theories: Critical Realism, Causal Mechanisms, and Relational Thinking 107What Realism -- Critical and/or Speculative? 109Causal Mechanisms and Relational Thinking in Mid-Range Theories 116Notes 1214. Relational Theory 129Relationality and Relational Thought in Contemporary HumanGeography 131Relationality in Marxian and Institutional Geographies 134Relational Thought in Poststructuralist, Feminist, and Postcolonial Geographies 139Making Things Happen: Towards a Relational Theory 151Rethinking Relational Thought: Relationality and Power 153Causal Powers and Relationality in Relational Geometries 157Notes 1655. Mechanism and Process in Causal Explanation 173Theorizing Mechanism in Causal Explanation 175Reconceptualizing Mechanism, Process, and Context 178Causal Theory and Actors 185Processual Thought in Geography 188From Process to Mechanism: Explanatory Theory/Theorizing in Geography 195Why Neoliberalization? 196Neoliberalization: What's in a Process and What Can Go Wrong? 199Explaining Neoliberalism 'with Chinese Characteristics': How Might the Process-Mechanism Distinction Work? 203Notes 2076. Theorizing Globalization: Explanatory Theory, Situated Knowledges, and 'Theorizing Back' 212Globalization as Geographical Processes 215A Causal Theory of Global Production Networks: Explaining Globalization and Its Socio-Spatial Outcomes 221Beyond Situated Knowledges: 'Theorizing Back' and Making Theory Work 228Are Situated Knowledges Good Enough? 229Theorizing Back: Strategic Coupling and Global Economic Geographies 235Making Theory Work: The Trouble with Global Production Networks 240Notes 2457. What Kind of Geography for What Kind of Social Science? 252Towards Analytical Geographies: Mid-Range Geographical Theories for Social Science 256Beyond 'Academic Esotericism': Analytical Geographies for Public Engagement and Policy 261Notes 266References 269Index 313

"With this book Henry Yeung puts Geography back into the driver's seat of new theory development. Foregrounding mid-range theories and mechanism-based explanations, he offers a pragmatic approach that has the capacity to shape the wider social sciences for years to come. The timing of this intervention is pitch-perfect, as scholars search for ways to understand and intervene in an increasingly distrustful and polarized world." - Katharyne Mitchell, Distinguished Professor, University of California, Santa Cruz, USA"Critical human geography possesses a distinctive theory culture—pluralist, creative, distributed, restless, contested—prone to “turning,” wary of orthodoxies and fixed positions. In this original and provocative contribution, the leading economic geographer Henry Yeung steps out beyond his home turf to engage styles and practices of theorizing across this diverse field, carving out a new remit and rubric for middle-range theorizing." - Jamie Peck, Canadian Research Chair and Distinguished University Scholar, University of British Columbia, Canada