Soviet Geographers at the 19th International Geographical Congress

Reviewing the contribution of Soviet geographers at the Stockholm congress, the author makes a plea for more papers on economic geography and on integrated problems in geography. He denies that a trend toward greater emphasis on specialized disciplines is characteristic of Soviet geography. He criticizes some Soviet geographers for preparing what Saushkin considers misleading summaries of papers presented by foreign geographers.     

Present Problems in Soviet Cartography and the Tasks of the Geographical Society

After having long existed as a technical discipline serving the needs of geographers, cartography in the Soviet Union has become increasingly a research discipline involving many common interests with geography. Collaboration between cartographers and geographers is becoming increasingly essential as more attention is being given to thematic cartography involving not only particular disciplines (geomorphology, economic geography, population geography) but what may be called an integrated “geographical” cartography. Much effort continues to be devoted in the Soviet Union to the compilation of regional atlases and to a wide range of thematic maps. Increasing attention is being given to the production of evaluative maps, assessing the potential use of the physical environment and natural resources. School maps represent a major part of Soviet map production. Tourist and hiking maps need to be seriously improved.     

The today and tomorrow of Geography

The author proposes a fundamental shift of the center of gravity of Soviet geography from Its present emphasis on physical geography toward greater stress on economic geography. He feels that most major geographic problems should be solved by inter-disciplinary teams of geographers from various specialized fields in which economic geographers would act as conductors of the geography orchestra.     

Straddling the Boundaries Between Sciences

The author reverts to the theme that, in addition to the particular disciplines in physical geography and in economic geography, there is a genuine need for a general geographic approach to study of the geographical environment and of the man-nature relationship. As a result of the growing social impact on the environment, the operation of natural laws and social laws becomes so closely intertwined that no single discipline operating with one particular set of laws is capable of understanding the complex processes and phenomena in the interplay between nature and society. The growing specialized differentiation of geography as a science does not eliminate it as a distinct field of human knowledge with a common object of study. However there is a danger that the process of differentiation may be going too far, with an increasing number of scholars from adjacent disciplines coming into geography. The trend is said to be evident in the advanced training of geographers in universities, where geography facilities are turning into collections of departments turning out, say, meteorologists with little general geographic background. And yet there is a growing need for broadly trained geographers, particularly in the entire field of long-range planning and pre-planning research, in which the author is engaged.     

Let's Not!

Armand finds that Anuchin painted an overly dark picture of the future of geography in the Soviet Union. The issue of a unified geography versus two or more geographies is regarded by Armand as a fruitless terminological argument. He holds that geographers can make their research count increasingly in national planning by making more use of mathematical apparatus, familiarizing themselves with related technical disciplines, and by being bolder in making practical recommendations to policy makers.     

Letter of Protest Regarding Yu. G. Saushkin's Article in Economic Geography, 1962, No. 1

An article published in Economic Geography, 1962, No. 1, by Prof. Yu. G. Saushkin of Moscow University in criticized by nine other Soviet economic geographers for alleged failure to give an objective appraisal of the current state of economic geography in the Soviet Union.     

Quantitative Methods in Physical-Geography Research

The use of quantitative techniques in physical geography is discussed with reference to three particular disciplines—climatology, glaciology and geomorphology. Although significant advances have been made in these and other particular disciplines, there is increasing need for applying quantitative methods to the composite of geographical processes, related to various forms of the exchange of matter and energy. A quantitative approach to integrated physical-geography research is needed for a resolution of the general problem of a quantitative explanation of the physical-geographic process and the formulation of a quantitative theory of physical geography. Aside from inherent difficulties in applying quantitative techniques to physical geography, particularly the biogeographic disciplines, there are additional problems of an organizational nature in the Soviet Union, where specialists in various disciplines tend to be associated with different institutes.     

SOCIO-ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY IN THE WEST AT A TURNING POINT

The decade of the 1970s is viewed as a turning point in the development of socio-economic geography in the West. An increasingly sociological focus has been accompanied by strong criticism of the traditional foundations of human geography and economic geography. A radicalization of socio-economic geography has involved several contradictory trends and periods. A symptomatic and important aspect, from the Soviet point of view, has been increasing interest on the part of some Western scholars in Marxist theory and in the work done by Soviet geographers in socio-economic geography.     

Atlas of the United States

In an attempt to distinguish between regional physical geography and the Soviet school of landscape science, the author defines the study objects of the two disciplines and provides a useful review of the present state of landscape science in the Soviet Union. Physical geography is said to be concerned with study of the entire geographical shell of the earth, ranging from the troposphere to the bottom of the layer of sedimentary rocks in the earth's crust. Landscape science focuses on the so-called landscape sphere, which is defined as the portion of the geographical shell that lies at or near the surface of the earth and is imbued with present-day life. Although some Soviet geographers treat the term “landscape” as a broad conceptual term (similar to climate), most investigators tend to give the term a classificatory or typological connotation, regarding landscape as the basic unit in a classification of natural geocomplexes. One landscape school focuses on the morphological structure of landscape, the other on model-building of the landscape mechanism.     

V. P. SEMENOV-TYAN-SHANSKIY'S REGION AND COUNTRY: ITS PRESENT-DAY RELEVANCE AND MEANING (on the 50th anniversary of publication)

A reassessment of a classic Russian geographical work by V. P. Semonov-Tyan-Shanskiy (1870-1942) by a group of young geographers finds that some of its ideas were far ahead of its time and are only now beginning to be understood and conceptualized in the Soviet Union. The reissuance of his book, which has become a bibliographical rarity, is urged. Veniamin Semenov-Tyan-Shanskiy, the son of Pyotr Semenov-Tyan-Shanskiy, another classic figure in Russian geography, was one of the last universalists, with interests ranging from geomorphology to economic statistics. He is probably best known for a multivolume regional geography of Russia, of which 11 of 22 projected volumes appeared between 1899 and 1913.     

Economic Geography in the USSR on the 50th Anniversary of Soviet Power

Economic geography has, since the inception of the Soviet state, played an important utilitarian role in the planning and development of the national economy. The basic research of economic geographers in the preplanning stage should, however, be distinguished from the actual selection of an industrial site or of a railroad alignment, which must be the province of government design and planning agencies. Two approaches can now be noted in Soviet economic geography. One, closely related to economics, deals with the economic factors of economic location; the other, closely related to physical geography, emphasizes the regional approach to the man-environment system.     

Geography in the Mongolian People's Republic

A review of the development of geographic research in Mongolia Until the late 1940's Soviet geographers played a key role in Mongolian research, then largely limited to work in physical geography. Since 1950 indigenous geographers have begun to play a dominant part, adding economic-geography research in recent years.     

Soviet Geographic Literature

A review of geography publishing in the Soviet Union analyzes the output of literature by categories of end-users: (1) publications designed for professional geographers, including works on theory and method, university textbooks, periodicals and serials, and bibliographic and information services; (2) geographic publications intended for the public at large, including regional studies of different levels of sophistication on the Soviet Union and foreign areas as well as popular geography books; (3) geography textbooks and study aids for elementary and secondary schools, which represents the largest portion of geography publishing in terms of volume, with an average of 4 million books printed each year. Recommendations for improvements in geography publishing include the creation of a Council on Literature, made up of professional geographers; the establishment of a centralized publishing house that would specialize in geography (except for textbooks, government publications and special-purpose literature), and the establishment of a translation journal that would disseminate some of the more significant foreign articles in Russian translation.     

THE GEOGRAPHY OF OCEANS AND ITS BASIC PROBLEMS

The study of oceans as a subfield of geography has gained acceptance in the Soviet Union. Some universities have introduced courses in marine geography, and geographers have participated in oceanographic research voyages. An effort is made here to define the place of a marine geography within the geographic discipline as a whole, to set the spatial limits for geographical investigations of the oceans and to suggest problem areas suitable for geographical analysis. In keeping with the Soviet dichotomy, physical and economic geographic problems are distinguished. Physical-geographic problem areas would include study of oceanic water masses; large-scale interaction between oceans and atmosphere; study of island environments, and the biogeography of oceans. Economic geographic problems would focus both on theoretical aspects, such as spatial regularities in human activities related to oceans, and on applied aspects, providing a sound basis for economic development of ocean areas.     

Results of the Third Congress of the Geographical Society of the USSR

A review of the IGU symposium on the history of geographical thought, held in July 1976 in Leningrad, discusses common themes in papers presented by Soviet geographers and foreign participants. In the view of the Soviet organizers, the foreign presentations were more concerned with the past than with the current impact of geography on socio-economic activities, which is said to distinguish the Soviet school of geography. The work of the symposium demonstrated that the ideas of geographical determinism had been largely abandoned. The presentations of foreign geographers suggested that they were still inadequately informed about the work of Soviet geographers despite ongoing translation programs.     

On the Unity of Geography

A Leningrad University physical geographer criticizes attempts to affirm the unity of geography through the creation of new disciplines like “general geography,” which would focus on study of the man-nature relationship. He contends that such a general geography, which would seek to identify general geographic laws, is advocated primarily by economic geographers who would emphasize the role of man at the expense of physical geography. Isachenko takes issue with the view that what makes any research “geographical” is its relationship to man. He contends that the criterion of whether any investigation is “geographical” is its relationship to the geosystem, defined as any natural complex, ranging from the global to the local scale. In his opinion, the unity of geography should be furthered not through the establishment of new supradisciplines, such as general geography, but through closer ties, both in methodology and in organizational terms, between the two main groups of geographical disciplines—physical geography and economic geography.     

Geographical Research on International and Domestic Tourism

Tourism is a worldwide industry which has become important at all levels of economic development. Although tourism was considered by academicians for decades to be primarily an economic activity, geographers and non-geographers in the 1970s turned largely to analyzing its impact upon cultures and the physical environments of the destination areas. The common goal is careful planning of future touristic developments. In addition, an increasing number of studies is on imagery created by the tourist industry and its impact on the decision-making processes of the tourists. Despite the increasing research efforts of geographers, their findings are usually not published in the major geographical journals nor in geography textbooks. Tourism is a form of spatial behavior and its many aspects need further investigation.     

Fifty Years of Development of Soviet Geographic Thought

A review of trends in Soviet geography covers the increasing specialization of physical-geographic disciplines and attempts to integrate physical geography through landscape-study techniques and the theory of a physical-geographic envelope of the earth. Economic geography has focused on regionalization problems and the formation of territorial-production complexes. The controversy over the content of geography is reviewed, and cartography and regional geography are viewed as frameworks for the generalization of geographic information. The new constructive school of Soviet geography is described.     

THINGS THAT ARE ALMOST BUT NOT QUITE WELL KNOWN IN PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY

The author, a physical geographer, sees no need to despair about the present state of the discipline and the future of geography. He places geography in context among the sciences and finds a need for a synthesizing discipline that pulls together the findings of the particular disciplines. Such a function might be performed by landscape science and regional geography. In general, geographers are found to go too far afield in their research and there is a need to define the focus of the disciplines to eliminate the present centrifugal tendencies. Such a unifying focus might be found in geographical prediction. Geographers should be aware of the limits and capabilities of their discipline; geography is most effective in fostering solutions in conjunction with other disciplines. Fieldwork per se is criticized; some geographers make a fetish of fieldwork, spending their life in the field without ever writing up the results as a contribution to science. The language of geographical exposition must be cleansed of pseudoscientific jargon; too much geographical writing is incomprehensible. The use of mathematics in geography should be placed in historical perspective; it is not the panacea for all that ails geography.     

Geography: a different sort of discipline?

Debate continues about the inter-relationships between human and physical geography and their different research and publication practices. Relatively little data about these are available, however. Using an analysis of all publications submitted by UK geographers to the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise, this paper identifies a substantial difference between human and physical geographers in their publication strategies. Most physical geographers place their research papers in specialized inter-disciplinary journals and make relatively little use of geography outlets: most human geographers, on the other hand, publish in geography journals. Comparisons with other disciplines – in the earth and environmental and social sciences respectively – also identify differences between geographers and their peers. The overall conclusion is that, with regard to research and publication at least, UK geography cannot be presented as a single academic community with strong internal ties, but rather as a conglomerate of separate communities writing for different audiences.