You are currently viewing an introduction to one of our many articles hosted on SAGE Reference Online. If you would like to view this article in full, please check with your local library for availability of the complete print or online version. For more information about our online encyclopedias, please visit www.sage-ereference.com

Human geography over the past decade has undergone a conceptual and methodological renaissance that has transformed it into the most dynamic and innovative of the social sciences. Geography, especially human geography, long suffered from a negative popular reputation (particularly in the United States) as a trivial discipline with little analytical substance, a view that centers on the “capes and bays” approach. That misconception has been decisively annihilated by the intellectual advances of the past four decades. The Encyclopedia of Human Geography offers a comprehensive overview of the major ideas, concepts, terms, and approaches that characterize a notoriously diverse field. No single volume can hope to capture the breadth and variety to be found in a discipline, but this book aspires to encapsulate at least the most important highlights of human geography at this moment in time. The reader will find a variety of themes characterizing different schools of thought Human ...