Sage handbook on human geography

This week I have the fortunate opportunity to evaluate a resource that I cataloged during my internship!

The Sage Handbook on Human Geography is a brand new, two volume set that has very recently been added to the Kent State University Library collection.  This two volume set immediately captured my interest when I first had the fortunate luck of creating it's MARC record. At the time of cataloging this resource, I had little knowledge about what human geography was, and so I spent a good amount of time looking over the table of contents and flipping through some of the essays to get a feel for its content.

The first thing that stood out to me is that this resource is not your traditional A-Z type encyclopedia.  You might expect a large number of entries with overview definitions in short entries, but that is not what you have here. Instead, the editors have chosen to collect a number of high-quality, in-depth essays of a more philosophical inquiry into the nature of human geography and its various angles and topics.  A student looking at this resource will not so much be given a dictionary definition of keywords, nor a history of the field, but rather will expect to be given entry points into more theoretical grounds that underlie the study of human geography.

Expect essays in these two volumes to run about 20 to 30 pages each, and to offer positions that might challenge a basic understanding of their topic.  Chapter titles include Mobilities, Difference, Nature-Society, Critique, Geo-historiographies, Engaging, Educating, Words, Power, and Resistance. From this list, a reader should get the impression that these essays are of a critical nature, designed to provoke critical thought and to introduce the student to a more nuanced a approach to covering topics in human geography. The first couple of sentences of the prologue reinforces this concept by stating:

"The origins of this book lie in the editors' belief in human geography as a vitally significant way of thinking and acting. We think of human geography as a body of work critically important for the analysis - and, crucially, the intended transformation and consequent improvement of - the social condition" (pp. ix).

It is from this conceptual, and critical, framework that essays have been selected for these volumes. These "conversations" are intended to introduce the reader to these critical positions that have the power to produce an urgency toward change.

This resource would be recommended for a more advanced student, and is likely not appropriate for anyone looking for an overview of the field.

Lee, R., & Castree, N., Kitchin, R., Lawson, V., Paasi, A., Philo, P., C., Radcliffe, R., Roberts, M., S., & Withers, W., J., C., (Eds.). (2014) The SAGE Handbook of Human Geography. Sage Publications, California.