Alternative Approaches to the Nature and Practice of Geography
A Case Study of Akin Mabogunje's Geography (1962-1984)
Keywords:
geography, case study, research, environmentsAbstract
This paper seeks to apply Buttimer's interpretative framework to the geography of Akin Mabogunje (Buttimer, 1984). Its purpose is to demonstrate that the nature and' practice of geography can be more fully assessed by a contextual approach. Theories are understood to have their academic, cultural and political environments. The interpretative framework focuses on the interplay between personal vocation (MEANING), mode of discourse (METAPHOR), societal context (MILIEU) and geographic scale (HORIZON) within an individual's research. Each theme searches the extent to which a researcher is structured by his societal context and how he has actively and uniquely sought to serve that society.
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