This document discusses post-modernism in geography and the future of geography as a discipline. It provides context around the rise of post-modernism as a critique of modernism in the late 1980s. It outlines some key themes and pioneers of post-modernism geography. The document also discusses the development of geography in the 21st century, including tools used by geographers like GIS and remote sensing, as well as branches of geography like physical, human, and regional geography.

1. Towards post modernism
:geography in the 21st
century and future of
geography
Presented by : Souda Hasan
Roll no:Geo203057
Semester :6
Year :3
Guided by :Dr Nasrin Banu

2. POST MODERNISM
Modern
1.logical
2.rational
3.scientific
4.objective
5.Grand Narratives
6. Absolute Truth
Postmodernism:
1. Modernism does not follow a chronological order
2. Modernism and postmodernism exists side by side

3. 1.In the late 1980’s the postmodernism become a trend in the human geography .
2.It is a theoretical approach to human geography .
3. It is born as critique approach against the modernism .
It also rejected the theory of the modernism .
4.It believe in absolute truth and that every person has it’s own truth.
5.Everything is a subjective truth.
6.Science is a matter of faith.
Pioneers of postmodernism
1. Jean-Francois-Lyotard
2.Michel Foucault
3.Zygmunt Bauman

4. The Postmodern Human Geographers outlined the following main themes to be explored as:
1. Moral philosophy, moral geographies and the geographer’s morality – stressing the need to
downplay the dominant economic focus of geography and to replace it by the moral frameworks
which form life;
2. Processes of social differentiation - involving greater appreciation to race, ethnicity, class,
sexuality, age, health, etc. which have largely been taken for granted in discussions of spatial
differentiation;
3. Constructions and boundaries of the self - how individuals define themselves and relate to
others within the context of various categories used within society, which involves interrogating
psychoanalytic literature, something not previously undertaken by geographers;
4. Globality and territoriality - the location of individuals and groups in spaces and places and
cultural practices involved; and
5. Society, culture and natural environment - addressing the social construction of ‘nature’ and
‘environment’ their importance to approaches to the resolution of environmental problems

5. The Journal ‘Environment and Planning D. Society and Space, published first in the year
1983 theexclusively post modern theme dedicated write-ups,
1. Michael J Dear’s – ‘Post modern Urban planning'
2. Edward Soja's- 'Los Angeles' Post modern 'Spatialities'
They contributed a lot in post modern intellectual discourse.
Other contributions of noteworthy significance of the period were
1. David Harvey’s ‘Post modernism and the American city’ in Antipode,
2. David Ley’s ‘Post modern urbanism in Vancouver’ in Historical Geography
3. Dear’s ‘Post modern Challenge: restructuring of human Geography’ in Transaction
4. Derek Gregory’s ‘Areal differentiation and Post modern Geography’ in Horizons of
Humangeography

6. The year 1989 could be seen as the watershed year in firmly establishing the footholds of
postmodernism as a method as well as an epoch, for it saw the publication of two seminal
works on the theme of post modernism in geography.
First was the ‘Post modern Geographies’ by Edward Soja, the book highly influenced by the
work of hennery Lefebvre and M. Foucault. Soja is credited with bringing spatial back into
the focus in social theories.
The second work of eminence in the same year was by David Harvey’s ‘The condition of
post modernity .
Edward Soja another seminal work the ‘Third Space’ published in 1996.
In this work, he harped upon ‘critical Post modernism’ where he tries to fill the gap between
post colonial theory and post modern geography, using the idea of Third space.
The ‘postmodern’ perspective rejects, a priori, any paradigmatic closure, as
integralpart of human geography.

7. Geography IN 21 century
In the West during the second half of the 19th and the 20th century, the discipline of geography
went through four major phases: environmental determinism, regional geography, the quantitative
revolution, and critical geography.
Environmental determinism : it is the theory that a people's physical, mental and moral habits are
directly due to the influence of their natural environment. Prominent environmental
determinists included Carl Ritter, Ellen Churchill Semple, and Ellsworth Huntington.
Environmental determinist geographers attempted to make the study of such influences
scientific.
Regional geography was coined by a group of geographers known as possibilists and represented a
reaffirmation that the proper topic of geography was study of places (regions). Regional geographers
focused on the collection of descriptive information about places, as well as the proper methods for
dividing the earth up into regions. Well-known names from these period are Alfred Hettner in Germany
and Paul Vidal de la Blache in France.

8. The quantitative revolution in geography began in the 1950s. Geographers formulated geographical theories
and subjected the theories to empirical tests, usually using statistical methods (especially hypothesis testing).
This quantitative revolution laid the groundwork for the development of geographic information systems. Well-
known geographers from this period are Fred K. Schaefer, Waldo Tobler, William Garrison, Peter
Haggett, Richard J. Chorley, William Bunge, Edward Augustus Ackerman and Torsten Hägerstrand. An
important concept that emerged from this is the first law of geography, proposed by Waldo Tobler, which states
that "everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things."
Critical geography
Though positivist approaches remain important in geography, critical geography arose as a critique of
positivism. The first strain of critical geography to emerge was humanistic geography. Drawing on the
philosophies of existentialism and phenomenology, humanistic geographers (such as Yi-Fu Tuan) focused
on people's sense of, and relationship with, places.[59] More influential was Marxist geography, which
applied the social theories of Karl Marx and his followers to geographic phenomena. David Harvey, Milton
Santos and Richard Peet are well-known Marxist geographers. Feminist geography is, as the name
suggests, the use of ideas from feminism in geographic contexts. The most recent strain of critical
geography is postmodernist geography, which employs the ideas
of postmodernist and poststructuralist theorists to explore the social construction of spatial relations.

9. Geography in the Twenty-First
Century
New Tools Are Available to Teach Geography in More Engaging, Dynamic, and Effective Ways
Geography is considered one of the world’s oldest disciplines. It was first defined and formally
established by Eratosthenes in 250 BC and has a rich tradition of scholarship extending from 2,000
years ago to the present. As a scientific discipline, geography has always embraced new technologies,
research practices, instructional methods, skills, and content.
The challenge for geography teachers today is how to teach the subject effectively in the twenty-first
century while remaining true to its rich heritage and embracing emerging and exciting tools and
perspectives. Teaching geography is about leading students to an understanding of today’s challenges
including population, land-use, urban, economic, and health issues and natural hazards. Teaching
geography effectively in the twenty-first century requires a focus on scale, systems
thinking (such as climate, watersheds, and energy systems), and critical thinking.

10. Implementing Twenty-First Century Teaching Strategies and Tools This
is best accomplished through an inquiry-driven, hands-on, problem-based format
that uses technological tools to teach conceptual foundations, skills, and
geographic perspectives.
 Rural, Urban, Economic, Land-Use, and Population Issues.
To better understand and more effectively teach these issues requires a
grounding in population dynamics (including such concepts as settlement,
age, birth rate, growth rate, and human-environment interaction), land use
(such as zoning and land-use practices), urban development (such as
historical and current development of cities, site versus situation, and
challenges facing cities), economic geography (including industrialization,
energy, employment, and measures of development), and physical
geography processes (watersheds, landform dynamics, and natural
hazards).
 Core Geography Themes.
Embedded in studying these issues are core geography themes such as
considerations of scale in patterns and processes; interpreting maps and
interconnections among phenomena in places; defining regions and the
regionalization process; establishing a sense of place; and understanding
the nature and limitations of geographic data.

11.  Spatial Perspectives and Tools.
The spatial perspective is critical to understanding geographic content and
processes. Being competent and confident in the application of the spatial
perspective to geographic understanding enhances and strengthens our
ability to communicate about and teach human geography. A number of
powerful web mapping and related tools such as ArcGIS Online
(arcgis.com) and story maps (storymaps.arcgis.com) are now available for
the geography instructor, and building familiarity and confidence in using
these tools is best done through hands-on activities.

12. Branches Of Geography in 21 century
Geography is divided into two main branches: human
geography and physical geography.
There are additional branches in geography such as
regional geography, cartography, and integrated
geography (also known as environmental geography).

13. Human Geography
This is one of the major branches in geography and it mainly covers studies of the
human race.
Modern applications of human geography can include mapping human migration,
showing the movement of food resources and how they impact communities, and the
impacts climate change can have on humans living in vulnerable areas.
Here are some example of disciplines in human geography:
•cultural geography
•economic geography
•health geography
•historical geography
•political geography
•population geography
•rural geography
•social geography
•transport geography
•urban geography

14. Physical Geography
Physical geography is a major branch of the science of geography, and it mainly deals
with the study of the natural characteristics of the Earth.
Some examples of disciplines studies in physical geography are:
•geomorphology
•climatology
•hydrology
•biogeography
Integrated Geography
Integrated geography can also be known as environmental geography, or human-
environment geography. Integrated geography takes human and physical
geographic issues and molds them together.
Regional Geography
Rather than look at geography on a global scale, regional geography breaks the science down into
more specific areas.
Regional geography looks at cultural and natural aspects of geography that are unique to a particular place.
Regional geography could include parceling out locations by looking at different watersheds, or just looking at
coastal areas, and so on.

15. Geomatics
Geomatics is most closely related to GIS (Geographic Information Systems) and
other geospatial sciences.
Geomatic engineers work to collect, distribute, store, analyze, process, and present
data that they have gathered with regards to geographic information.
Geomatics uses different technologies to assist with the above goals. Jobs that work
with geomatics can include urban planners, land surveys, space exploration,
agriculture, and geo marketing.
Cartography
Geographers who study cartography are usually more involved in the mapping of things. In
general, every geographer must have the essential knowledge that is required in displaying
data on maps.
Cartography focuses on ways in which the entire mapping procedure can be technologically
advanced by creating maps that are generally of higher quality.

16. TOOLS OF GEOGRAPHY
Geographers use a set of specialized tools to
describe, understand and explain the structure
of the Earth. Some of these tools have a long
history of use in the geographical sciences,
such as maps, the compass and surveying
equipment. Other tools take advantage of
modern technology made possible by the
Information Age and Space Age, especially
Global Positioning Systems. Geography is an
essential skill, whether guiding ships across
the ocean, positioning astronauts in space or
providing directions to grandma's house.

17. A map is, at its core, a drawing of a spatial area on Earth.
Different maps serve different functions. The most basic map
shows the physical features of an area, from a world map
depicting countries to a detailed walking map of every path on a
college campus. Other kinds of maps can give other data about
a region, for example, a color-coded a map of a continent
according to languages spoken or major exports, or a graded
map showing the relative elevations in a mountainous area.
MAPS

18. Surveying Equipment: The Power of
Precision
We have likely seen these tools used by construction
contractors while your car was stopped in traffic, but
geographers use them to perform the same task for their
jobs. The most recognizable is the theodolite, a level lens on a
tripod that helps measure relative distance and elevation.
Geographers combine the theodolite with a plumb line and
measuring tape to accurately assess even small details of an
area.

19. GPS: Space Age Systems
Global Positioning Systems help us navigate by feeding detailed
information about position and the geographical context
nearby. Aside from maps, this may be the geography tool you
are most familiar with. Global Information Systems and Global
Directional Systems are similar tools. GIS is a database of
geographic information consistently updated by academic,
business and military sources, while Global Directional Systems
help navigate from a database rather than live satellite feed.
Geographers use all three systems to help them access what is
already known about the Earth to help with ongoing research.

20. Remote Imaging: Photographic Evidence
Until the middle of the 20th century, geographers had to
make maps based on observations and measurements taken
on the ground. With the invention of reliable air travel, and
later of satellite imaging, geographers can now draw maps
and make observations based on photos taken from the same
perspective as a map of the area. Modern technology allows
geographers to use remote images that record information
beyond the visible spectrum, such as magnetic activity,
infrared temperature and subterranean water levels.

21. Topography
Topography is a broad term used to describe the
detailed study of the earth's surface. This includes
changes in the surface such as mountains and valleys as
well as features such as rivers and roads. It can also
include the surface of other planets, the moon, asteroids
and meteors. Topography is closely linked to the practice
of surveying, which is the practice of determining and
recording the position of points in relation to one
another.

22. Digital Mapping Systems
There are a variety of digital systems which utilize the basic data collected
from topographic surveying to produce maps:
GIS uses computer software to create highly detailed maps with distinct
layers displaying almost any type of element, such as roads, bridges,
buildings, rivers, political boundaries, soil types,
3-D rendering uses satellite or aerial images to produce a three-
dimensional model using computer software.
Aerial photography and photogrammetry combine photos from different
angles and use the process of triangulation to calculate the location of
elements.