- Email: [email protected]
Rural Geography
Applied Geograph,v
(l%S;), j, 7-S-363
Essay review Studies of land and society in rural geography
Dawson, A. H. The land problem in the developed ecotrorny. London: Croom Helm, 1984.265 pp. $15.95 hardback. Held, R. B. and Visser, D. N. Rural land uses and pIar~rlitlg:a co~parafi~e study of the Netherlands and the United Stares. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1984. 445 pp. Pacione, M. Rural Geography. London: Harper and Row, 1984.384 pp. X7.95 paperback. Phillips, D. and Williams, A. Rural Brirain: a sociafgeography. Oxford: Blackwell, 1984.274 pp. $7.50 paperback. Over recent years rural geography has experienced an unsung but important expansion. For a variety of reasons the numbers of authors turning their attention to the rural environment has burgeoned, and some considerable encouragement may be gained from the fact that at least some of these writings stem from legitimate and far-ranging research commitments to rural areas. This balance between research and authorship appears crucial to the health of rural geography. If the study of the rural environment has achieved increased importance merely because it has been recognized as a suitable marketplace for authorship, then the current expansion will be a short-lived bandwagon. If, on the other hand, the expanding literature reflects a reorientation of research resources towards rural areas then it might be hoped that increased output can be correlated with increased depth and range of understanding of rural problems, processes and policies. This ‘research’ criterion certainly appears to be an important one for the adjudication of rural publications. Another such criterion relates to the theoretical and methodological bases of rural geography. Four major issues may be highlighted here as examples of crucial underpinnnings to rural geographical study: 1. The degree to which rural characteristics can and should be separated for specific study from their urban counterparts. 2. The degree to which the adaption of post-positivist paradigms in human geography will lead to a rift between the ‘socioeconomic’ and the ‘environmental/land use’ elements of rural geography. In other words, will the holistic study of the rural environment be maintained in the face of schismatic conceptual trends? 3. The degree to which spatial parochialism and ethnocentricity can be broken down by a more informative dialogue between different disciplines and different nations. 4. The degree to which an understanding can be gained of the complex and interactive processes of state and market which constitute planning and policy-making and through which changes in rural environments are sought. Useful additions to the literature of rural geography, then, might also be expected to address these and other theoretical issues. 0133-6228/85/0302B-O5 $03.00Q
1985Butterworth& Co (Publishers)Ltd
(l%S;), j, 7-S-363
Essay review Studies of land and society in rural geography
Dawson, A. H. The land problem in the developed ecotrorny. London: Croom Helm, 1984.265 pp. $15.95 hardback. Held, R. B. and Visser, D. N. Rural land uses and pIar~rlitlg:a co~parafi~e study of the Netherlands and the United Stares. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1984. 445 pp. Pacione, M. Rural Geography. London: Harper and Row, 1984.384 pp. X7.95 paperback. Phillips, D. and Williams, A. Rural Brirain: a sociafgeography. Oxford: Blackwell, 1984.274 pp. $7.50 paperback. Over recent years rural geography has experienced an unsung but important expansion. For a variety of reasons the numbers of authors turning their attention to the rural environment has burgeoned, and some considerable encouragement may be gained from the fact that at least some of these writings stem from legitimate and far-ranging research commitments to rural areas. This balance between research and authorship appears crucial to the health of rural geography. If the study of the rural environment has achieved increased importance merely because it has been recognized as a suitable marketplace for authorship, then the current expansion will be a short-lived bandwagon. If, on the other hand, the expanding literature reflects a reorientation of research resources towards rural areas then it might be hoped that increased output can be correlated with increased depth and range of understanding of rural problems, processes and policies. This ‘research’ criterion certainly appears to be an important one for the adjudication of rural publications. Another such criterion relates to the theoretical and methodological bases of rural geography. Four major issues may be highlighted here as examples of crucial underpinnnings to rural geographical study: 1. The degree to which rural characteristics can and should be separated for specific study from their urban counterparts. 2. The degree to which the adaption of post-positivist paradigms in human geography will lead to a rift between the ‘socioeconomic’ and the ‘environmental/land use’ elements of rural geography. In other words, will the holistic study of the rural environment be maintained in the face of schismatic conceptual trends? 3. The degree to which spatial parochialism and ethnocentricity can be broken down by a more informative dialogue between different disciplines and different nations. 4. The degree to which an understanding can be gained of the complex and interactive processes of state and market which constitute planning and policy-making and through which changes in rural environments are sought. Useful additions to the literature of rural geography, then, might also be expected to address these and other theoretical issues. 0133-6228/85/0302B-O5 $03.00Q
1985Butterworth& Co (Publishers)Ltd