Reference to Charles Close and his critique of geography.

iain taylor
Halifax, NS

>Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2006 17:02:30 -0600
>From: Sam Otterstrom <S_Otterstrom@...>
>Subject: CFP: Ellen Churchill Semple Reconsidered-Response
>Sender: H-Net Network for Historical Geography <H-HISTGEOG@...>
>Approved-by: S_Otterstrom@...
>From: Innes M. Keighren [innes.keighren@...]
>Date sent: 12 Aug 2006
>
>David
>
>Given that much of Semple's oeuvre has been subsequently discredited, it
>seems, perhaps, counterintuitive to suggest that she previously exerted
>an important influence upon the discipline's remit, particularly in
>terms of its methodology. In these terms I would point you to Semple's
>early papers in the _Journal of School Geography_, the first of which
>she was encouraged to contribute by William Morris Davis. Although,
>essentially, a restatement of work by Ratzel (specifically the first
>volume of his "Anthropogeography"), Semple's papers presented an
>idiographic approach to geographical work in the field which was
>important for Davis and Richard E. Dodge, among others, in their efforts
>to place geography on a "legitimate"
>disciplinary footing.
>
>Perhaps Semple's most important methodological contribution was her 1901
>paper "The Anglo-Saxons of the Kentucky mountains: a study in
>anthropogeography", published in the RGS's _Geographical Journal_. In an
>admittedly hagiographical assessment, Charles Colby described it as
>taking "high rank among the geographical articles in the English
>language", and having "fired more American students to interest in
>geography than any other article ever written". The influence of
>Semple's brand of anthropogeography can be seen in almost every issue of
>the Journal of School Geography, and in scores of Master's and Ph.D.
>theses published in the first decades of the twentieth century.
>
>In Britain the publication of her 1911 volume, _Influences of geographic
>environment_, coincided with a disciplinary schism prompted by a
>critical paper delivered by Charles Close, president of the Geographical
>Section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.
>Contrary to his position, Close advanced a damaging critique of
>disciplinary geography, arguing that it was inconsistent in scope,
>method, and epistemology. Semple's book was co-opted by a number of
>geographers, including George G. Chisholm, and presented in defence of
>scientific geography -- advanced as a model for research which would
>"amply meet the demand of Colonel Close for original definitive
>research".
>
>In the United States at the turn of the twentieth century, and in the
>United Kingdom in 1911, Semple's work served an important methodological
>and rhetorical function. Despite being subsequently rejected, it exerted
>at that time an important influence upon the intellectual direction of
>geography, particularly in terms of its disciplinary remit.
>
>Innes