Geography's Empire: Histories of Geographical Knowledge

Abstract

In this paper the possibilities and hazards of a critical perspective on the history of geographical knowledge are considered. The focus is on the relations between modern geography and European colonialism during the ‘age of empire’ (circa 1870–1914). For writers as diverse as Joseph Conrad and Halford Mackinder, this was a moment of decisive importance for the making of the modern world. Although the interplay between geography, modernity, and colonialism has recently attracted attention from the historians of geography, it is argued in this paper that they have often conceived the role of geographical knowledge in somewhat narrow terms. The work of Edward Said is discussed at some length, as it highlights some of the key issues and dilemmas facing those who would rewrite critical histories of geographical discourse. A totalising view of ‘imaginative geographies’ (such as those of Orientalism) is argued against, and instead the heterogeneity of geographical knowledges is emphasised. The paper concludes with a more general question: Why have histories of geography at all, in these (post)modern times?

Discourse in the production of political space: decolonizing the symbolism of provinces in Finland

“…Conceptual and theoretical accounts of this "linguistic turn" are now numerous, and different viewpoints, philosophical positions and strands of research have been employed in highlighting discourses' social implications and forms of existence (e.g. Agnew, 1987Agnew, , 1993Dalby 1991;Driver, 1992;Pickles, 1992;Smith and Catz, 1993;Ó Tuathail, 1992bÓ Tuathail, , 1994a. We may no longer have to "go outside geography for the best critiques of the politics of geographical dialogue" (Taylor, 1989: 104).…”

“…The increasingly dynamic and territorially integrated society with new kinds of "social questions" became a strong impetus for the production of knowledge of society (Revel, 1991;Tilly, 1992b). In Europe the activities to make known the "face of the earth" and the "laws of society" were strongly encouraged by the modernizing states which eventually gave rise to the accumulation of state centered discourses on the social world (Foucault, 1977;Manicas, 1987;Driver, 1992;Tilly, 1992a).…”

“…Furthermore, knowledge always represents a particular point of view highlighting certain features of the social world while eclipsing others. Different perspectives of knowledge imply unmentioned preconditions, techniques, and practical and historical contexts which enable and regulate the representation of social space (Bensman and Lilienfeld, 1973;Agnew, 1987Agnew, , 1993Driver, 1992).…”

The Contested Post-Socialist Rehabilitation of the Past: Dual Narratives in the Republishing of Tibor Mendöl’s "Introduction to Geography"

“…First, the text's "great discoveries" narrative should be critically deconstructed and situated not only within a critique of discourses on Eurocentrism, colonialism, and imperialism, but also on nationalism, as the practices of discoveries were the main contestations of competing nations both geopolitically and scientifically (Bell et al 1994, Smith and Godlewska 1994, Driver 1992). Mendöl's Eurocentric vision of world history is implicit in his narrative structure of European discoveries, with several concrete and very explicit manifestations of it in his text.…”

The City, the Country, and Toronto’s Bloor Viaduct, 1897–1919

“…During the later years of the bridge's building, the discourse about overcoming nature in the name of progress for the city slipped into one that asserted that modernity was essential for the empire. 67 Rational knowledge and command of landscapes was integral to the project of empire and the process of imperialism. The Canadian Engineer reported that this new bridge was "probably the largest viaduct in the Empire," 68 and the bragging rights to a bridge of this importance were very important to an insecure city of Toronto.…”