Authors, Editors and Authority in the Postmodern Academy

Abstract

Textbooks are presented, by their authors and publishers, as authoritative statements regarding the nature of a scientific discipline or sub‐discipline: in Kuhn's words, they are the “vehicles for the perpetuation of normal science.” One of the main contributions of postmodern and poststructuralist thought, however, has been to challenge the nature of power and authority in the academy, a challenge that has been widely taken up in contemporary geographical research. There has been much less impact on textbook production and other teaching resources, however, where the “authority of the disembodied scholar” still holds sway. This is illustrated with respect to readers, collections of both original and reprinted pieces (the latter often in abridged form) where editorial authority (“this is what I think you should read”) is frequently as firm as its predecessor, authorial authority. The reasons for this are sought in contemporary developments in higher education.

On the Need to Ask How, Exactly, Is Geography “Visual”?

“…I think that the particularity of slides needs to be acknowledged and discussed: their pull, their decontextualisation, their referentiality. As with textbooks (Johnston 2000), their contructedness needs to be opened up. And here it's important to note that these spaces of display are not defined only by their visuality.…”

Changing Perspectives in High School World Geography: 1950–2005

“…Finally, the changing nature of textbook writing and production, as well as the standards movement, accounts for the standardization of textbooks from the early 1990s, but has also contributed to the integration of some of the above trends into the textbook itself (Finn and Ravitch 2004;Johnston 2000;Keith 1991). Significantly, from the 1970s onwards publishers have taken the lead role in managing the content of geography textbooks at the expense of the author (Sewell and Cannon 1991).…”

The Development of Critical Thinking for Undergraduate Students: A Case Study in Vietnam

“…When we achieve the spirit of cooperation, we would not hesitate to exchange and solve problems in the most general, best suited way to the learning context, thus critical thinking will be better developed. According to McDowel [13] and Johnston [14], when we give students almost absolute freedom to receive and express opinions, they would gradually become familiar with receiving different ideas. Since then, students also gradually form the habit and spirit of cooperation.…”