Approaching Human Geography: An Introduction to Contemporary Theoretical Debates

This book provides an accessible and informed introduction to the development of new theoretical approaches to human geography. It sets out to explain the key features of these new approaches, and to trace their antecedents and implications. The authors also highlight points of comparison and contrast, inter-connection, and dissimilarity. Chapters deal systematically with different post-1960s approaches: Marxism, humanism, structuration, realism, and ostmodernism. Each of these chapters deals with the chronological development of the appropriate literature, describes the key claims and arguments, and indicates the particular sorts of substantive concerns that these theoretical materials help to illuminate. The principal chapters of the book are framed by both a preface and an epilogue, which address questions about relativism' in approaching human geography, while also stressing the need for continued commitment and critical sensitivity in geographical inquiry.