Hubbard, Phil and Kitchin, Rob (2006) Battleground geographies and conspiracy theories: a response to Johnston (2006). Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 32 (3). pp. 428-434. ISSN 0020-2754

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Abstract

In Thinking Geographically (Hubbard et al. 2002), a student-centred guide to the theoretical landscape of human geography, we began by noting the different ways of writing geography’s histories. One way, we suggested, was to present the disciplinary landscape as a battlefield populated by warring factions, each led by totemic figureheads who fire intellectual potshots at one another in the attempt to overwhelm other forms of geographical thinking. While alliances may be drawn, and truces occasionally brokered, the overwhelming picture is one of intellectual spats, simmering resentments and outright hostility between those situated in different ‘camps’. In short, if we follow this metaphor through, we reach the conclusion that geography is a discipline riven by division, with the clash of personalities and intellectual positions manifest in constant battles. Even when the war is seemingly won, and a particular way of thinking becomes dominant, civil wars break out, and the cycle of violence begins again.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Battleground geographies; conspiracy theories; Johnston;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Geography Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Institutes > National Institute for Regional and Spatial analysis, NIRSA
Item ID:	3850
Depositing User:	Prof. Rob Kitchin
Date Deposited:	11 Sep 2012 09:04
Journal or Publication Title:	Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers
Publisher:	Wiley-Blackwell
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	Publisher
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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