Anne Buttimer's The Practice of Geography: Approaching the history of geography through autobiography

ABSTRACT

The article examines the autobiographical approach presented by Anne Buttimer in her book The Practice of Geography (1983) and traces its influence on geographical historiography. Anne Buttimer contributed to the history of geography through histories of ideas, biographies, and autobiographical interviews. Derived from the International Dialogue Project at Lund University, Sweden, The Practice of Geography pioneered systematic publication of autobiographical essays and interviews with geographers. The article surveys how her work has inspired further use of autobiographical approaches to the history of geography both within and beyond the Nordic countries, including recent work on theoretical issues. The survey adopts a gender perspective. The article discusses finally some methodological and ethical implications of autobiography.

KEYWORDS:

• Anne Buttimer
• autobiography
• history of geography
• The Practice of Geography

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Acknowledgements

Thanks are due to Stuart C. Aitken, Gunnel Forsberg, Hugh Clout, Jennifer Moore, Michel Roche, Elaine Stratford, and Anngret Simms for help with supplementary information regarding details in the article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. A Spanish translation of Society and Milieu in the French Tradition was also published in 1971.

2. Fifty-seven video recordings from the International Dialogues Project can be viewed on the IGU Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1WzSi02jYP3QgjseHxKB3 g.

3. The other autobiographical essays were by Clarence J. Glacken (USA), John B. Leighly (USA), T. Walter Freeman (UK), Hans Bobek (Austria), Gerrit Jan van den Berg (Netherlands), and Wolfgang Hartke (Germany). A Russian translation of The Practice of Geography was published in 1990.

4. Stig Jaatinen and Kalevi Rikkinen from Finland, Hans Aldskogius and Torsten Hägerstrand from Sweden, Wolfgang Hartke from Germany, and Aadel Brun Tschudi and philosopher Tore Nordenstam from Norway.

5. Viggo Hansen, Johannes Humlum and Nikolay Knattrup from Denmark, Stig Jaatinen and Oiva Tuominen from Finland, Sigurdur Thorarinsson from Iceland, Axel Sømme and Ludwig H. Herzberg from Norway, and Karl-Erik Bergsten, Gerd Enequist, Gunnar Hoppe, and Karl Gustav Izikowitz from Sweden.

6. The three women were Maj (Ohre) Aldskogius, Margareta Hassbring-Wolf, and Lena Gonäs. The men were Gunnar Lindgren, Erik Bylund, Sölve Göransson, Ragnar Bergling, Erik Berggren, Harald Rydberg, Gunnar Norling, Hans Ylander, Gunnar Olsson, Hans Åkerlund, Hans Aldskogius, Carl-Eric Ericsson, Lennart Bäck, Sune Berger, Christer Nilsson, and the three honorary doctors, Bill Mead, Bill Wonders and Björn Bosæus.

7. Autobiographies were written by N. Kingo Jacobsen, Harald Svensson, Sofus Christiansen, Ove Biilmann, Sven Illeris, Poul Ove Pedersen, Johannes Krüger, Christian Christiansen, Christian Wichmann Matthiessen, Christopher Jensen-Butler, Jesper Brandt, Kirsten Simonsen, Kenneth R. Olwig, Henrik Breuning-Madsen, Peter Maksell, and Bent Flyvbjerg.

8. The second edition of Key Thinkers on Space and Place included a biography of Anne Buttimer, assessing her work in the International Dialogue Project and other contributions (Mels 2011).

9. The interview with Asbjørn Aase was conducted in 2006 on behalf of the Forum for the History of Knowledge at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, one of a series of interviews with senior professors in different disciplines arranged by the Forum, which also supported the publication of Aase's scholarly autobiography and departmental history.