Impressions of horizons: comments following a review of Horizons in Human Geography

Abstract

In an intellectual landscape dominated by the acceleration of the rate of change and variety of research approaches, the 1989 harvest in human geography is especially prolific. Horizons in Human Geography, edited by Derek Gregory and Rex Walford is neither the most innovatory work of the year, nor the most representative of one particular approach, nor that which covers existing diversity best, nor even the most erudite. However its objective to achieve the widespread diffusion of some recent (pre-postmodern) tendencies in geographical thought in Britain, not only within the academic élite interested in the relationship between geography and social theory, but also in the entire community, and especially among secondary school teachers (thus reaching indirectly the general public) is ambitious enough to deserve some attention to the conception or image of the discipline which it presents. The value of the work in terms of general diffusion is quite remarkable, but the reader should bear in mind the social, spatial and temporal context in which it is conceived.