Situated Knowledge and Visual Education: Patrick Geddes and Reclus's Geography (1886–1932)

Abstract

This article addresses Patrick Geddes's relationship with geography and visual education by focusing on his collaboration with the network of the anarchist geographers Élie, Élisée, and Paul Reclus. Drawing on empirical archival research, it contributes to the current debates on geographies of anarchist education and on geographic teaching. The main argument is that the collaboration between Geddes and the Recluses inaugurated specific strategies of multisensorial geographic education that were not limited to the sight, and that questioned and relativized the uniqueness of the observer's standpoint through devices like the Hollow Globe. Focusing on apparatuses like the Outlook Tower's geographic exposition and the Valley Section, it shows in which ways Geddes engaged with Élisée Reclus's critique of representation and geography as a visual discipline.

Key Words:

• Patrick Geddes
• Reclus family
• Hollow Globe
• visual education
• teaching of geography

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Swiss National Foundation for Scientific Research (grant numbers 152808 and 150119). Special thanks to the staff of the National Library of Scotland, of the Strathclyde Library, and of the Geneva Public Library. For the Kropotkin's materials in Moscow, I acknowledge especially Sergey Saitanov and Pascale Siegrist for their help. A great thanks to Jerry Mitchell and the other Journal of Geography reviewers for their precious help in improving my article.

Notes

1. National Library of Scotland, Department of Manuscripts, Patrick Geddes Papers (hereafter NLS), Ms 10564, ff. 32–33, Élie Reclus to Patrick Geddes [1901].

2. Gosudarstvennyi Arkhiv Rossiiskoi Federatsii (GARF), Fondy P-1129, op. 2 khr 824, A. Geddes to P. Kropotkin, May 10, 1887.

3. GARF, Fondy P-1129, op. 2 khr 895, P. Geddes to P. Kropotkin, September 14, 1888.

4. NLS, Ms 10564, ff. 27–28, Jacob Jacobsen [Élisée Reclus] to Georges Guyou [Paul Reclus], 1898.

5. Bibliothèque Nationale de France, NAF, 22914 ff. 126–127, F. Ferrer y Guardia to E. Reclus, June 1, 1903; f. 334, letter E. Patesson to E. Reclus, September 4, 1904.

6. NLS, Ms 10564, ff. 29–30, Élisée Reclus to Anna Geddes [1898–1899].

7. Bibliothèque de Genève, Département des Manuscrits, Ms Suppl. 119, É. Reclus to C. Perron, December 1, 1895.

8. Royal Geographical Society with Institute of British Geographers, Department of Manuscripts, CB 7, Kropotkin to J. Scott Keltie, January 29, 1896.

9. NLS, Department of Manuscripts, Ms 10564, ff. 45–48, Brussels, June 6, 1905.

10. Strathclyde University Library, Geddes Archives, 13/1/2 miscellaneous papers relating to Élisée Reclus idea of the Great Globe, Paul Reclus to Patrick Geddes, August 8, 1913.

11. NLS, Ms 10564, Patrick Geddes to Paul Reclus, June 1, 1931.

12. Bibliothèque Nationale de France, NAF, 22914; f. 334, E. Patesson to E. Reclus, September 4, 1904.

13. NLS, Ms 10564, ff. 29–30, Élisée Reclus to Anna Geddes [1898–1899].

14. NLS, Ms 10654, ff. 56–57, Paul Reclus to Patrick Geddes, May 4, 1913.