Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
gaze. It is this reliance on romantic precepts that diminishes the
interpretation of past and future that Keiller wishes to portray.
This vignette illustrates the widening engagement of some human
geographers with literature ranging from Lacanian psychoanalysis
to critiques of modernism. At the same time, it addresses the
nature of urban landscapes and the people who occupy them.
These examples are specifi c and can be illustrated by particular
case studies. Many of the new approaches to human geography
have more general aims and seek to question previous
interpretations. The box offers a few summary statements on
the development of 'hybrid geographies' that fall into this last
category. Sarah Whatmore describes her research in this fi eld as
focusing on the relations between people and the living world, and
the spatial habits of thought that inform the ways in which these
relations are imagined and practised in the conduct of science,
governance, and everyday life.
Geo-ecological studies on glacier forelands
Glacier forelands are the recently deglaciated zones in front of
retreating glaciers (Figure 28). Since attaining their maximum
extension of the 'Little Ice Age', most glaciers have been generally
retreating for several centuries, exposing new land that has begun
to evolve. These special places provide physical geographers and
others with an opportunity to investigate the development of
vegetation, soils, landforms, and other aspects of the landscape.
Glacier forelands can be viewed as fi eld laboratories in which
a 'natural experiment' is unfolding: close to the glacier, the
landscape is freshly exposed and devoid of life; farther away,
it has been exposed for longer, plants are colonizing, soils are
developing, and slopes are more stable.
Like other types of experiment, glacier forelands present a
situation where at least some of the complexities of nature are
simplifi ed. The geo-ecosystem is relatively simple, its history
