Geopoetics is an interdisciplinary approach that combines elements of geography, poetry, and philosophy to explore the relationship between places, landscapes, and human experience. [1] [2] [3] Geopoetics as a term was coined by Scottish Poet Kenneth White in 1979, his original manifesto and definitions of geopoetics have been expanded upon by researchers and poets in the subsequent decades. [4] [5] [1] Despite this, geopoetics as a concept has been difficult to define clearly. [6]
Geopoetics has been widely employed by critical geography as part of the response to the quantitative revolution in geography, and stresses qualitative approaches. [6] [7] It seeks to bridge the gap between the objective study of physical geography and the subjective, emotional response to landscapes and environments. [7] [2] It is described as harmonizing art and science. [8] [9] In general, poetry can be used as a method for presenting and analyzing data, and geopoetics is in part an outgrowth of this. [10] [3] Within the discipline of geography, poetry can be employed to teach abstract geographic concepts, such as the Four traditions of geography, in the classroom. [11] Geopoetics encourages individuals to engage with the world around them more profoundly and meaningfully, often through creative expressions such as poetry, prose, and art. Geopoetics has gained traction in the 21st century as many geographers seek to incorporate artistic expression into their work and as more artists enter the discipline of geography. [3] While geopoetics can present information in unique ways, analyze phenomena, and express meaning, it can also advocate for potential actions, influence policy, stimulate imagination, and seek to shape potential futures. [2] [3]
The term "geopoetics" was coined by the Scottish poet and writer Kenneth White in the 1979s. [4] [5] White's work was heavily influenced by his experiences traveling and living in various remote and natural landscapes, particularly the Scottish Highlands. His observations and reflections on these places led him to develop the concept of geopoetics to merge the scientific and the artistic in exploring landscapes.
Geopoetics gained recognition and popularity primarily in academic and literary circles during the late 20th and early 21st centuries. [3] It has been embraced by poets, writers, artists, and scholars worldwide as a way to rethink and reimagine their relationship with the environment. [3] Geopoetics emphasizes the interconnectedness of humans and their surroundings and challenges the traditional separation of the natural world from the cultural and creative realms. Geopoetics has been used to communicate the environmental issues surrounding bi-catch in the fishing industry. [12] [13] In one such application, poems were written about non-target species impacted by the shrimp fishing industry to bring attention to the value of these species and illustrate what it is like on a fishing boat. [13] Geopoetics has been employed to communicate information related to anthropogenic climate change. [14] [15] [16] [17] [18]
Appendix: Wild Hyacinth
"An eye-catcher, she is with a cousin in the Antioch dunes
rock walls, rock slopes—wall flower put her on a postage stamp mark her as endangered by day, by dry soil, freeways, pesticides, frailty, her youth
Range: Monticello Road
Bloom: April–June"
— from the GeoPoetics Poetry Reading at the American Association of Geographers conference in March 2016., [19]
Geopoetics is an evolving field of study and artistic expression in the 21st century. [3] [20] It inspires writers, artists, and environmentalists to engage with and reflect upon the environment innovatively. In an era of increasing environmental awareness and concern, geopoetics provides a framework for addressing environmental challenges and fostering a deeper connection to the natural world. [3]
Human geography or anthropogeography is the branch of geography which studies spatial relationships between human communities, cultures, economies, and their interactions with the environment, examples of which include urban sprawl and urban redevelopment. It analyzes spatial interdependencies between social interactions and the environment through qualitative and quantitative methods.This multidisciplinary approach draws from sociology, anthropology, economics, and environmental science, contributing to a comprehensive understanding of the intricate connections that shape lived spaces.
A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal. A landscape includes the physical elements of geophysically defined landforms such as mountains, hills, water bodies such as rivers, lakes, ponds and the sea, living elements of land cover including indigenous vegetation, human elements including different forms of land use, buildings, and structures, and transitory elements such as lighting and weather conditions. Combining both their physical origins and the cultural overlay of human presence, often created over millennia, landscapes reflect a living synthesis of people and place that is vital to local and national identity.
In prosody, alliterative verse is a form of verse that uses alliteration as the principal device to indicate the underlying metrical structure, as opposed to other devices such as rhyme. The most commonly studied traditions of alliterative verse are those found in the oldest literature of the Germanic languages, where scholars use the term 'alliterative poetry' rather broadly to indicate a tradition which not only shares alliteration as its primary ornament but also certain metrical characteristics. The Old English epic Beowulf, as well as most other Old English poetry, the Old High German Muspilli, the Old Saxon Heliand, the Old Norse Poetic Edda, and many Middle English poems such as Piers Plowman, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Layamon's Brut and the Alliterative Morte Arthur all use alliterative verse.
American poetry refers to the poetry of the United States. It arose first as efforts by American colonists to add their voices to English poetry in the 17th century, well before the constitutional unification of the Thirteen Colonies. Most of the early colonists' work was similar to contemporary English models of poetic form, diction, and theme. However, in the 19th century, an American idiom began to emerge. By the later part of that century, poets like Walt Whitman were winning an enthusiastic audience abroad and had joined the English-language avant-garde.
Digital poetry is a form of electronic literature, displaying a wide range of approaches to poetry, with a prominent and crucial use of computers. Digital poetry can be available in form of CD-ROM, DVD, as installations in art galleries, in certain cases also recorded as digital video or films, as digital holograms, on the World Wide Web or Internet, and as mobile phone apps.
Anna "Nan" Shepherd was a Scottish Modernist writer and poet, best known for her seminal mountain memoir, The Living Mountain, based on experiences of hill walking in the Cairngorms. This is noted as an influence by nature writers who include Robert Macfarlane and Richard Mabey. She also wrote poetry and three novels set in small fictional communities in Northern Scotland. The landscape and weather of this area played a major role in her novels and provided a focus for her poetry. Shepherd served as a lecturer in English at the Aberdeen College of Education for most of her working life.
Torsten Hägerstrand was a Swedish geographer. He is known for his work on migration, cultural diffusion and time geography.
The quantitative revolution (QR) was a paradigm shift that sought to develop a more rigorous and systematic methodology for the discipline of geography. It came as a response to the inadequacy of regional geography to explain general spatial dynamics. The main claim for the quantitative revolution is that it led to a shift from a descriptive (idiographic) geography to an empirical law-making (nomothetic) geography. The quantitative revolution occurred during the 1950s and 1960s and marked a rapid change in the method behind geographical research, from regional geography into a spatial science.
Kenneth White was a Scottish poet, academic and writer.
Time geography or time-space geography is an evolving transdisciplinary perspective on spatial and temporal processes and events such as social interaction, ecological interaction, social and environmental change, and biographies of individuals. Time geography "is not a subject area per se", but rather an integrative ontological framework and visual language in which space and time are basic dimensions of analysis of dynamic processes. Time geography was originally developed by human geographers, but today it is applied in multiple fields related to transportation, regional planning, geography, anthropology, time-use research, ecology, environmental science, and public health. According to Swedish geographer Bo Lenntorp: "It is a basic approach, and every researcher can connect it to theoretical considerations in her or his own way."
Zhai Yongming is a Chinese poet, essayist and screenwriter from Chengdu, in the southwest Sichuan Province. Born during the Maoist era, Zhai was forcibly sent away for two years to do manual labor in the countryside as part of the Cultural Revolution, eventually returning to Chengdu to work as a poet. Her poems began getting published in 1981, but her rise to critical acclaim came with the release of her poem cycle 'Woman', featuring one of the first instances of a socially-aware woman expressing her societal perspectives in Chinese literature. She has been marked by scholars as a foundational Chinese feminist poet, being the first to explore elements of gender and feminine identity beyond the scope of the male-oriented gaze; 'Woman' has even been appointed as the starting point for the subsequent 'Black Tornado' era of confessional Chinese women writers. Among her most notable works include poetry works are 'Jing'an Village (1985),' 'Plain Songs in the Dark Night (1997),' 'Collected Poems by Zhai Yongming (1994),' 'The Most Tactful Words (2009),' and 'Roaming the Fuchun Mountains with Huang Gongwang (2015).'
"The Two Voices" is a poem written by future Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom Alfred, Lord Tennyson between 1833 and 1834. It was included in his 1842 collection of Poems. Tennyson wrote the poem, titled "Thoughts of a Suicide" in manuscript, after the death of his friend Arthur Henry Hallam in 1833. The poem was autobiographical.
Geography is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding of Earth and its human and natural complexities—not merely where objects are, but also how they have changed and come to be. While geography is specific to Earth, many concepts can be applied more broadly to other celestial bodies in the field of planetary science. Geography has been called "a bridge between natural science and social science disciplines."
Geographers on Film is an archival collection and series of more than 550 filmed interviews with experts of the geographic scholar community. This is a 40 year long initiative.
Matthew Gandy, FBA is a geographer and urbanist. He is Professor of Cultural and Historical Geography and Fellow of King's College at the University of Cambridge, moving from University College London (UCL) in 2015, where he was also the founder and first Director of the UCL Urban Laboratory from 2005 to 2011.
David Ian Hanauer is Professor of Applied Linguistics/English at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and the Lead Assessment Coordinator for the SEA-PHAGES program at the University of Pittsburgh. He is the editor of the Scientific Study of Literature journal, the official publication of IGEL. Hanauer is an applied linguist specializing in assessment and literacy practices in the sciences and poetic inquiry. He has authored or co-authored over 75 journal articles and book chapters as well as 8 books. Hanauer’s research agenda is typified by the combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, as well as arts-based approaches, and scientific measurement of concepts traditionally considered abstract, such as voice in written text, project ownership and poeticity.
Farhana Sultana is a Full Professor of Geography at Syracuse University, where she is also a Research Director for the Program on Environmental Collaboration and Conflicts at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. Her research considers how water management and climate change impact society. Her first book, The Right to Water: Politics, Governance and Social Struggles, investigates the relationships between human rights and access to clean water. She is a feminist political ecologist whose work focuses on climate justice, water governance, sustainability, international development, and decolonizing global frameworks.
Eric Magrane is a geographer, poet, writer, and assistant professor of geography at New Mexico State University. He has published several poems, peer-reviewed journals, and books. His work is notable in the human geography subfield of geopoetics, both as a contributor and in helping to define the field.
Technical geography is the branch of geography that involves using, studying, and creating tools to obtain, analyze, interpret, understand, and communicate spatial information.
Qualitative geography is a subfield and methodological approach to geography focusing on nominal data, descriptive information, and the subjective and interpretive aspects of how humans experience and perceive the world. Often, it is concerned with understanding the lived experiences of individuals and groups and the social, cultural, and political contexts in which those experiences occur. Thus, qualitative geography is traditionally placed under the branch of human geography; however, technical geographers are increasingly directing their methods toward interpreting, visualizing, and understanding qualitative datasets, and physical geographers employ nominal qualitative data as well as quanitative. Furthermore, there is increased interest in applying approaches and methods that are generally viewed as more qualitative in nature to physical geography, such as in critical physical geography. While qualitative geography is often viewed as the opposite of quantitative geography, the two sets of techniques are increasingly used to complement each other. Qualitative research can be employed in the scientific process to start the observation process, determine variables to include in research, validate results, and contextualize the results of quantitative research through mixed-methods approaches.