Geographical methodology in the mid-twenty-first century: a futurology

ABSTRACT

Geographical research is inherently a product of its time, shaped by both prevailing political and cultural norms and the individuals or social movements who resist them. The Routledge Handbook of Methodologies in Human Geography seeks to position contemporary research in the discipline as an ethical and political endeavour that encompasses a rich and varied present built on a past shaped by dramatic social and technological developments, full of both cooperation and conflict. In this essay I draw on Methodologies in Human Geography in an attempt to consider creatively the future directions of the discipline.

KEYWORDS:

• Methodology
• research ethics
• future
• history of geography
• creative writing

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Here I name-check some key figures from the history of Human Geography. The references in parentheses refer to the authors of chapters in Methodologies in which these figures are prominent. Similar cross-referencing of concepts from the text will be peppered throughout this review.