Anne Buttimer

Musing on Helicon: Root Metaphors and Geography

On Mount Helicon dwelt the nine Muses, each presiding over a special art: Clio (history), Melpomene (tragedy), Calliope (epic poetry) Erato (lyric poetry), Thalia (comedy and pastoral poetry), Euterpe (music), Polhymnia (rhetoric and mime), Terpsichore (dance and choral singing), and Urania (astronomy). It was told that the beautiful Narcissus, in his sixteeneth year, first saw his reflection on one of the many fountains of Helicon. He did not listen to the Muses; rather he fell in love with his own reflection and was transformed into a flower.

Edgar Kant (1902–1978): A Baltic Pioneer

Abstract It is indeed a joy to speak about Edgar Kant on this occasion which celebrates the hundredth anniversary of his birth. His lifepath traversed only two‐thirds of this eventful century, yet he did experience directly many of its dreams and realities, the passion and pain of war and peace, of economic boom and bust, of national liberation, scientific revolutions, exile and the traumas of geopolitical transformations. The twentieth century also witnessed profound changes in practices of geography and the name of Edgar Kant deserves an honoured place as pioneer of many influential turns in the discipline. It is especially delightful to simultaneously honour his mentor and friend, Johannes G. Granö, who stirred his imagination in conceptual directions which were truly novel in those days‐directions which later spawned enthusiastic research on environmental perceptions, time geography, and‐most especially‐landscape and cultural identity.

Geography's Contested Stories: Changing States-of-the-Art

Geography lies at the heart of scholarly traditions in many world civilisations, inviting enquiry into the nature of the universe and the dynamics of the earth, prompting exploration and adventure, the naming and claiming of territory, and theories about relationships between human societies and their environments. As an academic discipline and a formal course in universities and schools, geography has acquired other histories, few uncontested. During its disciplinary period, geography has continued to mirror the fluctuating fortunes of nations and empires, ‘fitting’ itself within nationally defined structures of pedagogy and research, while remaining attuned to changing international trends of scientific thought and practice. The IGU Commission on the History of Geographical Thought has in recent years explored a variety of geographical knowledges – academic (scientific), official (applied), and popular (folk) – probing their origins, modes of articulation, and implications for the construction of images: of self and the other, of home place and others space, and of nature, gender, culture and environmental concern. It has also opened enquiry to a wide cross‐cultural range of voices, thereby promoting better communication and mutual understanding among geographers throughout the world.

Humanism and relevance in geography

Abstract Defining humanism as emancipatory stance on thought and life, this paper examines the enduring relevance of humanistic approaches in geography. Despite the diversity of perspectives on this field, there are common interests such as the integrity and potential creativity of human subjects, the social construction of reality, interpretative and critical approaches to knowledge, and concerns about social justice, ethics and the human condition. In recent years, there has also been growing concern about the environmental implications of contemporary ways of living, and the responsibilities implicit in the definition of humanus as earth dweller. Far from insisting on its separate identity as subdiscipline, humanistic geography should be regarded as leaven in the dough rather than as a separate loaf in the array of disciplinary endeavour.

Renaissance and re-membering geography : pioneering ideas of Alexander von Humboldt 1769-1859

ABSTRACT A renaissance in geographical awareness, now apparent in the growing concern about environment and sustainable development, reveals the importance of improved connections between human and physical branches of the field. The twentieth century legacy of functional specialization and eventual dismemberment of geographical enquiry into an array of thematically focussed fields has evoked critical reflection on intellectual history and the social construction of disciplinary knowledges. This new millenium invites a re-membering of scholarly enquiry on humanitys relationships to environments across the entire surface of the earth. In this context, some of the pioneering ideas of Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) warrant particular attention. Detailed research on the earths ‘vegetation carpet’ afforded for Humboldt a microcosm of geography as a whole, revealing evidence on earth history, on climate change and on migrations of people with culturally diverse food preferences, agri- and sylvicultural skills, economies and political aspirations. The Essai sur la géographie des plantes (1807) epitomises the poetic appeal for a geographical renaissance. It introduced not only the three powerful scientific ideas of ecology, evolution, and oecumene, but also revealed the aesthetic and emotional significance of landscape in human experiences of environment. In its appeal for broad cross-sectoral perspectives on landscapes and life, the Essai offers an enduring challenge for both renaissance and re-membering of geography at the dawn of a new millenium.

Nature, Culture and the Quest of the Sacred

Throughout recorded history people have used myth and metaphor to explain the milieu in which their lives unfolded. Human cultures emerged through the cultivation of natural resources, plants, animals and the bio-physical environment, in livelihood ways which varied through time and space. Nature also provided inspiration for symbols of the sacred, for models of societal order, individual and group identity and sense of place. This chapter explores nature symbolism with a specific focus on water and the human quest for wholeness (holiness). Given today’s urgent challenge to re-discover more sustainable ways of life, cross-cultural dialogue on the sacredness in Nature would indeed be timely. Focus rests on the sacred as quest rather than fait accompli, as horizon which recedes as life journeys unfold. Water symbols in diverse milieux afford useful guidelines for human journeys toward cross-cultural understanding of the sacred.

Stories on the Making of Geography in Sweden

“Geography we learn on the march”, King Karl XII remarked in the late 17th century, “history we make ourselves”. The foundations of geography as a scholarly field in Sweden can clearly be traced to the expansionary ethos of the 16th and 17th centuries, particularly to the reign of Gustav II Adolph (1611–1632) and the daring deeds of his Chancellor, Axel Oxenstierna. Enlightenment themes have also left their mark on 20th-century practices and on the alternating tides of exploration abroad and inventory and planning at home through the 19th and 20th centuries. As a university discipline, geography in Sweden dates from the early 20th century, and its preferred styles of practice, substantive foci and scale of endeavour still shape and are shaped by the changing priorities of Swedish society.

Book Review: Homo geographicus: a framework for action, awareness and moral concern

ter, though, introduces the real core of the book, a series of essays on broad themes linking human activity with the physical environment. First, in a significant and innovative contribution, Michael Dunford explores the differential economic development of the region, paying particular attention to its less developed non-European parts. A clear discussion follows of how the EU’s policy towards the region has evolved (Alun Jones). Russell King returns to produce a wide-ranging survey of why demography is so central to many socioeconomic issues in the region. In a richly evocative essay, Lila Leontidou deals with the diversity of cities found around the basin and questions the appropriateness of ‘grand narratives’ for understanding them, whilst at the same time apparently accepting the Islamic City Model somewhat uncritically, like Brian Graham in an earlier chapter. The modernization of agriculture is dealt with successfully by Jeff Pratt and Don Funnell. They stress the rapidity of recent change, but seem unaware of the degree to which Mediterranean agriculture has been commercially oriented for centuries. The nature, development and impact of mass coastal tourism are helpfully outlined by Allan Williams. This provides the link to the final three chapters. Bernard Smith ably summarizes the problems of water supply, whilst the questions of soil and vegetation degradation are outlined in a particularly useful way by Hazel Faulkner and Alan Hill. Finally, the important question of managing the coastal zone is tackled by George Dardis and Bernard Smith. A short conclusion by Lindsay Proudfoot and Bernard Smith pulls the various themes together in an overview of the region. There is much to commend here. But perhaps the scope of the book – of the Mediterranean region itself – was too large for it to be a complete success. After all, Delano Smith and Houston, the latter quoted with much approval by the editors, confined themselves to one part of the basin, perhaps wisely. I have drawn attention to some of the more obvious deficiencies. These make me hesitate to recommend the book wholeheartedly as a text for the student or other neophyte. If worrying distortions, even misrepresentations, are to be avoided, then carefully directed reading in the specialist literature, particularly on the eastern Mediterranean, is required.

Circuits of calories: flows of food and energy in Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Sweden 1960–1990

A dramatic increase in volumes of commodity flow during the latter part of the 20th century reflects the fulfilment of postwar ideals of economic growth, but also imply serious challenges to the social and ecological integrity of places and regions. The record of imports and exports of food and energy products for Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Sweden during the 1960–90 period illustrate some of the built-in contradictions between rhetoric and reality. Those very societies which proclaim definitions of sustainable development as the harmonization of economic, social and ecological values demonstrate—at national scales—ways of life which, according to these criteria, are not sustainable. Calorie counting at national and regional scales might offer useful catalysts for reflection on theoretical as well as practical dimensions of sustainable development.