Book Review: Thinking geographically: space, theory and contemporary human geography
Abstract
repositioning of the sense of nationhood to one certainly less mired in nationally defined political and religious tradition but perhaps increasingly vulnerable to the cultural politics of global consumerism. University of Newcastle, Australia PAULINE M. MCGUIRK Thinking geographically: space, theory and contemporary human geography. By Phil Hubbard, Rob Kitchin, Brendan Bartley and Duncan Fuller. London: Continuum. 2002. 275 pp. #16.99 paper. ISBN 0 8264 5625 1. As a neophyte graduate student I remember well the struggles I had trying to grasp the diversity of geographical thought and theory. A book that would have saved me a considerable amount of time and energy in that endeavor is Thinking geographically: space, theory and contemporary human geography. This is a well-written, thoughtful and engaging text which richly details the epistemological and ontological debates that characterize modern geographical thought and writing. Hubbard et al. provide an important entre'e into geographical thought for students just beginning to engage seriously with theory, as well as a reference text for more advanced students and faculty. Hubbard et al. begin their book with an observation: as university instructors they have come to believe that a `majority of undergraduate students have an aversion to studying theory' .