100 GeoJournal 26.2 100-102 © 1992 (Feb) by Kluwer Academic Publishers

Introduction

This special issue of GeoJournal highlights the main research themes explored by the International Geographical Union's Commission on the History of Geographical Thought during the period 1988-92. Over the past two decades the range of its research interests and the number of participant countries has broadened appreciably since its formal association with the Inter- national Union of the History and Philosophy of Science (1977). Re-appointed in 1988, the Commission inherited an impressive legacy of projects and products, many of which are being continued. It also carved out some new avenues of research and reflection, some samples of which are presented here.

From its beginning in 1988 this Commission has sought to bring historical insight to the pressing issues which stir concerning the contemporary global environment. Exploring the geographic record in its diverse historical and cultural contexts should promote better cooperation and mutal understanding among geographers internationally. Hence the emphasis, during these past four years, on cross-cultural differences in perceptions and uses of "nature" in diverse civilizations, and on the interplay of local and global concern within each. At that initial meeting also we re-affirmed a broadly contextual approach to the task: while sensitive to the chronological unfolding of disciplinary ideas and practices, we have endeavoured to situate them in their societal, material, and ideological contexts:

The "geographical thought 'whose history our Comm&sion w&hes to trace & therefore not confined to that which has been produced and exchanged within academic milieux. It also embraces the geographical thought which has - explicitly or implicitly - served as rationale for official policies used in the appropriation and management o f earth resources and the spatial organization o f human habitat. I t embraces, too, the geographical thought inspired by diverse belief systems and ethnic traditions . . . For what has actually transpired in the historical geography o f the globe could be regarded as the cumulative results emanating from the orchestration o f (o r tensions between) these diverse melodies. 0

The essays included in this volume illustrate those two consistent lines of enquiry which have been entertained by the Commission during the 1988-92 period: (a) cross-cultural variations in perceptions and uses of nature (Part One) and (b) tensions between "academic", "official" and "folk" geographies (Part Two). Underlying both has been the question of tensions between local and global concern. All shed light on culturally-varying perspectives on nature and natural resources through particular periods of history, the vicissitudes of power and technology which have enabled some to dominate others, and the implications of this record for wiser ways of dwelling together among the peoples of the earth.

Setting the tone for this volume is a paper by the late Clarence J. Glacken 2), renowned historian of geographical ideas, and honorary member of the Commission until his death. He poses questions about the prevalent beliefs and

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attitudes to environment in the Western world, the strength and limitations of our anthropocentrism and desire to master the earth and its living inhabitants. The essays which follow in Part One offer insight into views of nature in Japanese, Chinese, Indian and Arabic worlds. Papers by Senda, Zhao, and Singh were written in the spirit of the Commission symposium on "The History of Geography and the Rise of Environmental Awareness in East Asian Countries" held during the IGU Regional Congress in Beijing 19903~. Acknowledging the potential variety of views which exists within each of these cultural worlds, it seemed appropriate indeed that complementary views by philosophers and in- tellectual historians on Hindu, Islamic, and East-Asian cultures be added. A commentary by Uno Svedin and Anders Hjort of Orn~is summarizes some lessons to be gleaned from these accounts concerning the human dimensions of contemporary Global Change.

I f the papers in Part One echo the spirit of Clarence J. Glacken 4~, those in Part Two echo that of John Kirtland Wright s~. They illustrate the varieties of geographical thought and their implications for the actual unfolding of landscapes and life in the past. "Academic, official, and folk geographies: tensions of local and global concern" were the central motifs in the 1989 symposium held at Hamburg within the framework of the XVIIIth International Congress of History of Science, and some of the papers in this section were prepared for this symposium 6). The first two papers describe experiences in the Spanish-speaking world: Gomez-Mendoza and Ortega Cantero address questions of scale and appropriateness in Spain's own regeneracionismo during the latter part of the nineteenth and early twentieth century; Lovell unmasks the tensions between native and colonizer in eighteenth century Guatemala. The next two papers offer parallel accounts from the English-speaking world: Bowden describes the invention (and re-invention) of research themes in New England; Heathcote examines the tensions between official and popular interpretations of natural resources in Australia. The last two papers in this section explore the lived geographies subjected to foreign control during the twentieth century: those of Latvia by Bunks6, and those of the Arctic World by Doubleday.

The final part of this volume offers information on the Commission itself, its history since 1968, and its projects during the 1988-92 period. Hooson and Takeuchi describe the history of the Commission and Sandner describes contextual orientation espoused in the symposia at Bundanoon (1988) and Hamburg (1989). Geographers: Bio-Bibliographical Studies, initiated by former President Philippe Pinchemel and Secretary Walter Freeman, has indeed been the most consistent series of products to date and Volume 14 will appear in 1992. It is described here by the present editor, Geoffrey Martin, who has also taken the lead in the Commission's project on geographical archives. This task should stir excitement especially today, as Linke's paper reveals, when previous barriers to communication with East European colleagues are dissolving. The other major project, to be directed by Philippe Pinchemel, is to document the history of the International Geographical Union itself. A short essay by the late George Kish sketches the broad outlines of this story 7). Part Three ends with two reflective essays by Commission Members on the integration of research in the history of geographic thought to other domains: Livingstone sketches the fertile common ground of interest shared with historians and philosophers of science, Powell shows its obvious complementarity with historical geography. A Postscipt by the GeoJournal editor, WolfTietze, re-iterates a plea for the history of geography as a fundamental part of education at all levels today.

The volume as a whole illustrates the exciting journey open for historians of geography. Each essay touches on the unique and the general and no attempt has been made to forcefit all into a common framework ~). Each reveals, to use David Livingston's phrase, an historically situated rationality, each a situated geography. Together these essays indeed demonstrate the intellectual and

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pract ical va lue o f c o n t e x t u a l l y - g r o u n d e d research in the h i s tory o f geograph ica l t h o u g h t : po ignan t r e m i n d e r s o f t he f lee t ing o r t h o d o x i e s which have he ld sway in a c a d e m i c g e o g r a p h y o v e r the cen tu r i e s and the c o n s e q u e n t n e e d for critical se l f -awareness for all cu r r en t p rac t i t ioners o f the art. The cha l lenge r ema ins t h e r e f o r e w h e t h e r geograph ica l u n d e r s t a n d i n g can he lp to inspire a l te rna t ive m o d e l s o f e c o n o m i c and pol i t ical p o w e r in nego t i a t ing the use o f g lobal resources . B e y o n d m e r e a n t h r o p o c e n t r i c concerns , t he cent ra l cha l lenge for G a i a - g r a p h e i n m a y wel l be the d i scovery or r e -d i scove ry o f w i s d o m in dwel l ing wi th all o t h e r life f o rms on this Ear th .

A n n e But t imer , Un ive r s i t y Co l l ege D u b l i n

1) Commission Newsletter No. 8 (1988) 2) Papers by Glacken, Nakamura, and Pandeya were actually prepared for a research project

on "Natural Resources in a Cultural Perspective" conducted within the framework of the Swedish Committee for Long-term Oriented Research (SALFO) and published in a collection of papers edited by Anders Hjort of Ornas and Uno Svedin with editorial assistance from Tore Fr~ngsmyr under the title Jord, miinniska, himmel (Earth, Man, Heaven) by Liber F6rlag, Stockholm in 1985. We gratefully acknowledge the editors' permission to include these three papers in this issue of GeoJournal, and also for their thoughtful commentary on Part One (pp. 167-172). Financial support from the Swedish Council for the Planning and Coordination of Research (FRN) to cover costs of the additional print pages is also gratefully acknowledged.

3) An extended report on the Beijing symposium was published in the Commission's Newsletter No. 10, December 1990. See also IGU Bulletin XLI, 1-2, 34-39 (1991)

4) See his famous Traces on the Rhodean Shore. Berkeley, Cal.: University of California Press, 1968.

5) See especially his collection of papers entitled Human Nature m Geography. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1965.

6) For a report on the Hamburg symposium, see IGUBullet in XL: 1-2, 17-19 (1990). A third Commission symposium entitled "Geography and Professional Practice" was held at Utrecht in August 1991, emphasis moving back to the varieties of geographical thought apparent in applied fields. It was at Utrecht that Commission Members approved the Table of Contents for this Special Issue.

7) Previously published in [GUBul le t in XXXIX, 100-119 (1989) 8) I gratefully acknowledge the editorial help of John van Buren, Nancy Hudson-Rood, and

Joanne Sabourin at University of Ottawa during the early phases of preparing this volume.