Why Must Geography Demonstrate An Increased Concern For “others”?

Without the other, the self would not be able to see its own humanity and the dignity connected hereto [1]

This quote by the former Irish President Mary Robinson illustrates the idea of the Other being paramount in our understanding of the world: a central theme of this essay. In order adequately, however, to respond to this question we must first consider what is meant by the term Others . This term is defined by the Oxford Dictionary of Human Geographies as a person or group of people who are perceived to be different in some fundamental way from oneself and the group one perceives one belongs to [2] . Geography, on the other hand, is the study of the earth and its inhabitants which means that a human geographer has a powerful role at representing people. A geographer is at the crux of interpreting people s gender, age, sexuality, disability, class, ethnicity, and customs and so on. It is vital therefore that an observer of the people recognises the positionality of oneself influencing the work and knowledge that they produce. David Sibley argues that if the world views of others are partly hidden, there will be a danger of misrepresenting them and constructing stereotyped images .[3]This essay will therefore attempt to shine light upon this view and the growing significance of the Other in Geography.

Firstly, it is worth mentioning the concept of cultural relativism. This is an epistemological position, holding a belief that all cultures are equally valid and valuable and should be judged from within their own framing[4]. To follow this belief would avoid the arrogance of the self [5]and attempt to gain a better understanding of Others. Why be concerned with the Other? If we can gain a more enhanced understanding of the Other rather than to assume that somehow Others are the same way as us, it will enable one to reflect on the self by observing the differences between self/other. The Other experience of the world is extremely important to the discipline if we desire it to be one of objectivity. Thus we cannot simply exclude the Other from our understanding of the world, as to do this would be an arrogant act. Therefore, a central concern of Human Geography is to develop a knowledge and understanding of people globally and how they individually or collectively view the world we share.

In recent years there has been an upheaval of literature arising from post-colonial theorists. This is because the historical role of imperialism presents Geography with a dilemma: the West has dominated many cultures for many years. As the West has been a hegemonic force, the geography that has been produced is arguably a western styled structure of knowledge. Edward Said, for example, has tackled this mode of knowledge production in his book Orientalism. He claims that Arabs, for example, are thought of as camel-riding, terroristic, hook-nosed venal lechers whose undeserved wealth is an affront to real civilization [6]. What is more, he forcefully argues that the idea of European identity is a superior one in comparison with all the non-European peoples and cultures [7]. The sentiment expressed in these quotations, embodies the view that non- European people are perceived as inferior, clouding our perception and raising serious epistemological doubts about true geographical knowledge. Arguably, I do not agree with the former quote, however, in order for Geography to produce valid representations of the Other, there must be a step back in terms of re-evaluating current knowledge in the discipline and recognising the influence of our past on the present. Consequently, the full implication of Said s analysis is to require the deconstruction of Western structures of knowledge[8] to avoid an incorrect socially constructed perception of the Orient.

In addition, our perception of space can also be affected by not demonstrating an increased concern for Others . This can be illustrated in what David Sibley calls Landscapes of exclusion . For instance, Gypsies in Britain are often generalised and stereotyped as lower class people, commonly breaking the law. Thus the areas in which Gypsies inhabit are often avoided by members of the dominant society, resulting in an area or space being perceived as out of bounds by people a fear of the Other becomes a fear of place [9]. Therefore if social and spatial distances are maintained by the exclusion of a minority it is likely that stereotyped perceptions will continue. From this perspective, this example of social constructionism indicates that we must be more cautious about labelling people in society it can produce many unwanted ramifications. However, this also raises questions as to who is writing Geography? And how will this affect the way we perceive the Other?

The significant aspect of who is writing the Geography has been a concern for a number of people over the years like feminist geographers such as Gillian Rose who have brought this issue to the forefront. Her argument was that until the 1990s the vast majority of academic geographers were male, white, probably heterosexual and predominantly from middle-class, educated backgrounds[10]. Does this represent a wider society? How legitimate is this geographical knowledge? This is exactly the point, insofar in that the discipline is not reflecting the nature of how women and many others view the world that we all live in. Indeed, this creates immediate problems within the discipline over scholarly work as by what right and on whose authority does one claim to speak for those Others ?[11] If the production of knowledge in Geography is to be in any sense legitimate or show a true representation of the world then this is a major issue that must be addressed. This is because if geographical knowledge is being formed only by a small particular group of people then we may not find out what it actually means to study Geography but rather what it means for the privileged to understand Geography. It would be irresponsible to knowingly exclude people from participating in the formation of knowledge within Geography. These excluded people should be an essential part of the discipline which is why Masculinist Geography [12], as Gillian Rose argues, is limited in the production of legitimate geographical knowledge.

Despite these criticisms of Geography not demonstrating an increased concern for Others, there have been cases , what I think, are positive outcomes from being concerned with the Other. This can be illustrated by the progressive Civil Rights movements in the USA in the 1960s. Black Americans were immorally segregated on the basis of their skin colour. However, people of all colours began to question the common perception of Black people belonging to a lower class race, a thought that was arguably entrenched since the slave trade. It is undoubtedly clear from hindsight that this was social exclusion in its highest form, relegating Black Americans to the fringe of society in respects to education, housing, and employment. Although it caused much social unrest , one of the first steps in removing the socially constructed perception of Black people was James Meredith s admittance to the University of Mississippi. Segregation has slowly been mitigated since , and today there is now even an African American President : Barack Obama. This progressive concern for the Other demonstrates the ability to eliminate popular perceptions that were false and inaccurate and which led to racism and discrimination. In this sense, it would be unwise for Geography not to demonstrate an increased concern for Others , as to do so in this case would have denied people basic rights .

In conclusion, it can be a complex issue when attempting to form an understanding of the Other when representation is such a highly contested concept. However, from a geographical perspective it is important that we gain a more in depth understanding of how Others view the world so that we can consider this view in all aspects of our lives . This issue has been of growing concern for Geographers over the years and should carry on being so, so long as the discipline exists. Academics such as Edward Said and Gillian Rose have offered much to our geographical thinking and played a pivotal role in forcing us to acknowledge the Other. With more discussion and analysis, we can hopefully form a greater maturity in our understanding of the people that inhabit this planet with us. Therefore, to recapitulate we must avoid dogma of the Other and work towards producing a truthful and more ethical Geography. When we write our geographies we are creating artefacts that impose meaning on the world [13] . Thus we should seek the most truthful meaning of the Other to avoid confusing the self.

[1] Barenholdt and Simonsen , Space Odysseys:Spatiality and social relations in the 21^st Century,(Ashgate publishing limited , 2004).P195

[2] Castree, Kitchin and Rogers , A dictionary of Human Geography ,(Oxford University Press, 2013). Other,the.

[3] Daniels and Lee ,Exploring Human Geography: A reader ,(Arnold Publishing Press, 1996). P283

[4] Castree, Kitchin and Rogers , A dictionary of Human Geography ,(Oxford University Press, 2013).Cultural Relativism.

[5] Jones A ,Human Geography: The basics(Routledge publishing press,2012). P170

[6] Said E , Orientalism,(Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 1979).P108

[7] Ibid. P7

[8] Kennedy , D.(1996). Imperial history and post-colonial theory. The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History.24(3). P347

[9] Daniels and Lee ,Exploring Human Geography:A reader,(Arnold publishing press,2012). P170

[10] Horton and Kraftl ,Cultural Geographies : An introduction,(Routledge publishing press,2013).P169

[11] Cloke, Crang and Goodwin, Introducing Human Geographies, second edition,(Routledge publishing press,2005).p67

[12] Rose G , Feminism and Geography : The limits of Geographical knowledge,(Polity Press, 1993).P11

[13] Duncan And Ley , This resource was uploaded by: Rorie