New Worlds—New Geographies

New Worlds—New Geographies

Book reviews / Political Geography 19 (2000) 653–671 667 Hugo de Burgh Senior Lecturer in Television Journalism, Nottingham Trent University, Nottin...

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Book reviews / Political Geography 19 (2000) 653–671

667

Hugo de Burgh Senior Lecturer in Television Journalism, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham NG11 8NS, UK 0962-6298/00/$ - see front matter  2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 9 6 2 - 6 2 9 8 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 0 0 6 - 8

New Worlds—New Geographies John R. Short; Syracuse University Press, Syracuse 1998, pp. xxii + 222. Price not stated, ISBN 0-815-0527-7 New Worlds—New Geographies is different from most works published by academic geographers, being a personal account rather than the outcome of thorough scientific research. It is rather surprising since I assumed that such accounts are usually written by retired academics summing up their life’s work, rather than by a mid-career professor. Consequently, different from most publications by academic geographers, this book should not be evaluated only according to its contribution to the comprehension of different aspects of space. Its main importance is in revealing research agenda, human values and views prevailing among the younger generation of recent English-speaking geographers. John Short is a British scholar teaching at a renowned American university, known for his past works considering different aspects of political, urban, and cultural geography. He is a distinguished member of the British–North American–Australian English-speaking group that dominates academic geography. These form the academic staff of geography departments at the most prestigious academic institutes, the majority among the editors and editorial boards of leading journals, and are the authors, editors, and contributors to most geography research and text books. They are also the organizers and chairpersons of most international conferences, deciding on their agendas and participants. In short, this English-speaking group leads and controls the trends of geographic research. From the point of view of a geographer operating among a dominated group of academic geographers, such as the Israeli, Short’s book seems to portray the image of recent dominant English-speaking group of academic geographers. His views considering subjects such as the new world order, nationalism, the city, and postmodernism, seem to echo mainstream views prevalent among the dominant, presented in different publications and oral lectures. In the first of the three parts of his work, Short outlines the new global order from the geopolitical, economic, and cultural aspects. The most intriguing chapter in this part is the second, dealing with the nation-state. Short charges nationalism and the nation-state as the source of all evil in modern times, especially in the oppression

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Book reviews / Political Geography 19 (2000) 653–671

of workers and colonized nations. Such views reflect the resentment of many Western academics and intellectuals from their own past, which is suffused with evil-doing and oppression of deprived groups. Criticism of the past is elaborated in respect of views conveyed by British neo-Marxist historians such as Tom Nairn (p. 37) which curtail or avoid the evils of communist and post colonial regimes. Clinging to his Western point of view Short also fails to grasp the redemptive role nationalism and the nation-state play among small and non-Western colonized nations of Latin America, Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa, struggling to survive, maintain their identity, and resist oppression by external powers, as well as different traits of economic and cultural western dominance. I would have expected a more comprehensive interpretation of the so-called new world order, but that needs, first and foremost, a deeper insight into the history of the last two centuries. Nevertheless, Short who considers himself a reluctant postmodernist (p. xxii), challenges pure intellectual modernist scientific research (pp. 193–194), swapping scientific insight for a cursory glance, a personal superficial overview. Short’s inclination to perceive the new world order from a Western academic’s point of view becomes even more conspicuous in the third chapter of part I, on the new urban order. Most of his discussion deals with the Western urban system and is hardly relevant to less developed areas. His few remarks considering the so-called third world are patronizing, and avoid the harsh realities in these parts of the world. One notes his recommendation to inhabitants of underdeveloped rural areas to refrain from migrating to urban areas, or his praise of self-help construction of dwellings, of the informal economy, and of recycling materials (p. 57), all of which are prevalent among the poorest and most wretched population groups of third-world cities. Short’s comments considering the third world city seems as an act of Western self indulgence, avoiding harsh post-colonial realities consequent to Western economic and political dominance. The concern of the first chapter of the second part, “new geographies”, is academic geography. It opens with a comment on geography’s poor status among other academic disciplines. Short uses a beautiful simile likening geography to a poor thirdworld country, inferior to the leading disciplines, portrayed Western economic powers (p. 75–75). I completely support this view which is relevant to Israeli as well as the dominant Western geography. The latter part of the chapter discusses the merits and faults of acadmic life, leaving an impression that the author enjoys being an academic, and I fully agree with this point, as well. In the following three chapters, which are the best part of his work, Short introduces his views of new trends to be taken in geographic research. He rightfully criticizes quantitative geography and structuralism as rigid and dislocated from human life, calling for a more qualitative geography, accessible to wider social strata rather than to a small group of professionals. Being less enthusiastic about different traits of postmodernity, I do not support all of Short’s assumptions and suggestions for future paradigmatic changes and new methodologies. I do support his call for a human geography which is more open and accessible to wider audiences which contributes to the struggle against fascism and racism, but if progressive human geogra-

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phy means a total evasion of modernist research paradigms, turning it into a pure political act, this might mean the collapse of academic research as a whole. The third part of his work, an A–Z glossary of postmodern terms reminds me of another A–Z glossary, that of the streets of London. Both include many details, to which only the individual is supposed to give meaning. Ostensibly, there are almost unlimited diverse paths to be followed and each individual is free to choose his or her own. Nevertheless, most people use the London A–Z guide to locate well-defined sites, such as tourist attractions, shopping centres, or a friend’s home, and the most accessible way to reach them. The same goes for Short’s postmodernism glossary. He has included a limited number of terms which are the “tourist sites” he wishes us to visit. The reader of the glossary can choose the order of reading the terms, in the same manner a tourist can decide between different alternative routes taking him from Trafalgar Square to Oxford Street. But the tourist cannot move Nelson’s Column, nor can he rename London’s most popular shopping street as Cambridge Lane. In the same manner the reader of Short’s glossary is limited to the terms and definitions as presented by the writer. It might serve as a useful glossary for students and anyone not familiar with postmodern terms, but it definitely does not offer a multiplicity of readings. To sum up, this is a well written book, including the terms of the postmodern glossary, in which the author presents his views in a clear and readable way, not a fact to be overlooked considering the opaque and blurred model of writing common among many postmodern scholars. Its importance lies in revealing the Zeitgeist in recent Western geography. But I could not find any original or innovative concept in a book in whose title the word “new” appears twice. The new worlds and new geographies presented by the author provided a strong feeling of deja vu. It is more of a summing up of current academic concepts of the kind to be found in articles in leading journals and books published in North America and the United Kingdom. Geography of modern times might be baffling, but the assignment of academic geography is not to celebrate uncertainty and confusion, but to try and put things in order. Putting in order means developing original and innovative ideas that does not derive from gazing at the world but are the outcome of a thorough insight. Otherwise, academic geography would disappear. We would relinquish our exclusive prerogative as scholars which provides us with a certain authority, one we should use wisely to differ among good and bad. The road to be taken toward the development of a progressive human geography should not be lost in the dark allies of postmodernity. Arnon Golan Department of Geography, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa 31905, Israel 0962-6298/00/$ - see front matter  2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 9 6 2 - 6 2 9 8 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 0 0 7 - X