Key Thinkers on Space and Place

by Phil Hubbard (Editor)

Already a standard student reference, all the entries in this second edition of Key Thinkers on Space and Place have been substantially revised and updated. Recognizing how active and vigorous debates on space are, this edition includes ten completely new entries, making the text even more comprehensive. It is a unique guide to the life and work of those thinkers most responsible for the current ′spatial turn′ in the social sciences. Highlighting the work of more than 60 key thinkers it provides a synoptic overview of different ideas about the role of space and place in contemporary social, cultural, political and economic life. With concise, uniform entries throughout, the portrait of each thinker - biographical information and theoretical context - an explication of their contribution to spatial thinking - an overview of key advances and controversies - bibliographies of primary and secondary literature As a primer on the spatial imagination, the text illustrates the diverse ways that space and place can be from humanism to Marxism, feminism to post-structuralism, queer theory to post-colonialism. The book will be an indispensable purchase not just for geographers, but for all those interested in theories of space and place - whether in geography, sociology, urban studies, cultural studies, or anthropology.

Genres: Geography, Philosophy

528 pages, Paperback

First published May 25, 2004

Reviews

[Arda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very helpful as it incorporated various insight on the subject.

[sdw · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would recommend this as a useful reference guide to have on your shelf if you teach about Space and Place or if you research on Space and Place. I would assign it in a graduate course on Space and Place and would consider it for an undergraduate course.

It has entries on 52 thinkers on Space and Place including Yi-Fu Tuan, Mike Davis, Edward Soja, and Raymond Williams. For each entry (written by different contributors), readeres are provided with "biographical details and theoretical context," "spatial contributions" and "key advances and controversies." There is also a list of major works and a secondary source bibliography. This is useful in reviewing the context for an author's work and placing him or her in a community of thinkers. I particularly appreciated that the authors of the entries connected the thinkers. For example, the entry on Homi Ki. Bhabba discusses the way Gillian Rose employs Bhabba's work.

None of the entries here would substitute for a reading of an article, essay, book or oeuvre. The focus here is assessing the contributions and context rather than providing summaries of the thinkers' main works.

[K Shark · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a complete novice to the application of space and place to the social sciences, I got this book hoping that it would act as a crash course on the topic. That is exactly what it did.

I've gone from feeling frazzled when thinking about the difference between space and place to feeling confident in identifying the major theories, controversies and thinkers in the field.

I can't comment on how useful this book would be to someone who already has a lot of knowledge on the topic, but for me, it's been a time saver and a great starting point for beginning to integrate human geography approaches into my research.

[Andrew]

A short, neat little reference book with impeccable descriptions of loads of major thinkers. As with all "best of" lists, one tends to ask "why is he on there?" and "how could they leave him out?" I'm not going to make these types of critiques in this mini-review, simply because even though I don't expect anyone else to read it, it would be too self-indulgent even by my degraded standards.

If you're at all interested in geography or spatial thought, or are just a social researcher looking for a spatial perspective, this would probably be a great first stop.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really handy collection of essays of key thinkers and their contributions to geo-spatial theory.