Geography and Public Policy: Towards Public Geographies

Reports on the current status of debates about what constitutes human geography & discusses the relationship between geographers & public policy. It is argued that the recent emphasis on public policy has failed to properly consider what is meant by the "publics." Four main issues currently of concern to human geographers are: 1) what gets produced under the banner "human geography"; 2) the methods used to produce "human geography"; 3) the knowledge that geographers produce; And 4) the categories used to produce human geography. Michael Burawoy's work on public sociologies (2004-2006) is drawn upon to argue that his view of policy sociology carried out for a specific purpose & often financed by a client might be a useful starting point for the current "relevance" debate within human geography. Suggestions are offered for ways to widen the thinking about the academic division of geographical labor & to find alternative methods for defining what is or is not relevant. Emphasis is placed on the need to distinguish between "policy" & "public" geographies. References. J. Lindroth