The future of Geography: when the whole is less than the sum of its parts

Abstract

In a recent article, Thrift has presented an optimistic account of the future of Geography. While this reply is broadly supportive of his claims that Geography is more diverse, and has more to offer than ever before, it is less optimistic with respect to the prospects for the survival of Geography as a unitary academic discipline. Experiences over the last 20 years in the UK higher education, in particular, the 2001 RAE exercise, point to an unfavourable institutional climate for the discipline. Within Geography, the ever-increasing diversity of its subject matter and research philosophy poses problems for disciplinary identity. This is reflected in the more restricted perspective of the subject outside the universities, and is compounded by a weakening of the link between Geography in the universities and the schools. In these circumstances, serious attention must be given to the changing nature of the discipline, to its positioning with respect to other subjects, and to its relations with the wider world. At a time of academic, cultural, technological and social dynamism, there are, nevertheless, opportunities as well as dangers for the subject. Although this reply is an explicitly bleak one regarding the future, the implicit message is that Geography can (and should) still prosper. The more positive outcome, however, rests on an appreciation and nurturing of a more traditional geographical heritage than Thrift identifies, as well as a more creative view of the relationship between fundamental and applied research.