Comp. by: LElumalai Stage : Revises1 ChapterID: 9781405132879_4_A Date:31/3/09
Time:21:44:15 Filepath://ppdys1108/BlackwellCup/00_Blackwell/00_3B2/Gregory-
9781405132879/appln/3B2/revises/9781405132879_4_A.3d
minority rule. Experience in post-apartheid
South Africa has much to contribute to strug-
gles aimed at deepening democracy and chal-
lenging inequality. ghaSuggested reading
Beinart (2001); Hart (2003); Marais (2001).applied geography This is a notion that
necessarily operates at a number of different
levels. On the one hand, geographical research
and the production of geographical knowledge
are activities that necessarily relate to the ‘real
world’. Geographers are attempting to under-
stand the physical and human world, and their
knowledge is produced in adialecticwith the
world around them. In addition, their know-
ledge is disseminated to others – and particu-
larly students – in a way that is likely to shape
people’s beliefs and behaviour. In this regard,
all knowledge is potentially applied.
On the other hand, however, there are par-
ticular strands of geographical enquiry that
prioritize the production of knowledge that
can be applied to solving pressing issues or
concerns in society. There are strong strands
of geographical research in the fields of envir-
onmental policy,developmentandurban and
regional planningthat have been more ap-
plied. It is also important to note that any
field of human geography and physical
geographycan potentially be applied to the
development of policy. Geographers might be
contracted to do research about a social con-
cern and highlight the potential policy impli-
cations of their findings. They may also be
consulted as experts in order to draw on their
knowledge in the production of public policy.
Yet further, geographers might highlight their
own views about potential policy-making by
thestate, corporations orcivil societyas a
result of their own research or insights. There
is clearly a place for geography to be applied
through policy engagements of various kinds
and there have long been vocal calls to do
more of this work – for the debate in the
1970s, see Coppock (1974) and, more re-
cently, see Martin (2001b) and Ward (2005a).
It is useful to distinguish this focus on policy
from a wider set of engagements and applica-
tions that we can callpublic geographies.
Echoing recent debates in the discipline of
sociology (see Burawoy, 2005), a number of
geographers are beginning to rethink the way
in which academics engage with, and even
create, audiences through their research,
teaching and in their roles and performances
as intellectuals in the wider society (Murphy,2006; Ward, 2006). In this model, the discip-
line itself comprises different interlocutors
such as students and fellow academics with
whom there is an ongoing dialogue over
the production and dissemination of ideas.
In addition, there are multiple publics with
whom academics might engage with as part
of their own work, exploring new develop-
ments, testing out ideas and putting research
into action. The explosion of interest inac-
tion researchandparticipant observation
methodologies that seek to empower research
groups and participants is in part a reflection
of this shift towards public collaborative
engagement through our research (see Hale
and Wills, 2005). Furthermore, the practice
of research can itself constitute audiences,
however fleetingly, through activities such as
holding a workshop or conference to dissem-
inate findings, publishing research material
and papers on the Internet, or taking part in
media coverage of events.
Geography and geographers can add signifi-
cantly to understanding the contemporary
human and physical world at a time when
issues of geography are increasingly pressing.
There is clearly a place for applying such
knowledge on a whole range of fronts, from
the most powerful intellectual interventions
about contemporaryneo-liberalismandwar
(Gregory, 2004b;RETORT, 2005), to on-
going engagement in the problems of civil so-
ciety and the development of policy for
particular ‘clients’. Our notion of applied
geography thus needs to be widened far be-
yond the traditional focus on policy, to incorp-
orate the discipline’s relevance to multiple
audiences and political forces for change. jwiSuggested reading
Murphy (2006); Ward (2005, 2006).area studies Academic programmes that cut
across disciplinary boundaries to develop a
relatively comprehensive body of knowledge
about given regions – or areas – of the
world. There is a history of such regionally
based, interdisciplinary studies that pre-dates
the Second World War (Said, 2003 [1978]),
including within geography. Contemporary
area studies, however, and the world regions
that they have taken as objects of study, are
largely a post-Second World War
phenomenon.
At the end of the Second World War, the US
government took on a leading role in funding
area studies programmes within US universities
in order to develop the academic expertiseGregory / The Dictionary of Human Geography 9781405132879_4_A Final Proof page 34 31.3.2009 9:44pmAPPLIED GEOGRAPHY