NATURE OF GEOGRAPHY

Evening Star, Issue 26042, 5 March 1947, Page 8

NATURE OF GEOGRAPHY

HELPS TO UNDERSTANDING FOUNDATION STONE OF DEMOCRACY The valuable contribution made by the subject of geography to an understanding of the present-day world and the outlook towards current problems provided Mr B. J. Gamier; lecturer in geography at the University of Otago, with the theme for the inhugural address to a fair-sized attendance of students in the Concert Chamber last night. The Department of Geography was created at Otago only last year, and Mr Gamier accepted that fact as justification for a discussion of his own subject and its place in the university cycle. After a brief summary of the historical development of geography, he presented the theory of “ environmentalism ” —the theory that geography was supposed to study the relationship of things to their physical or natural environment, with particular application to man and his works—and put forward one of the several objections to this view of the nature of the subject. Physical environment, he said, was only one of many factors in a given situation. Any aspect of man and his works could not be explained solely in terms of the natural surroundings, and it was neither sensible nor desirable to apportion the environmental factor (often referred to as the geographic factor) to geography and, presumably, to distribute other factors among other subjects. It might be true that the importance of the environmental factor had too often been inadequately treated in economic, historical, and political studies.

FUNCTION OF THE GEOGRAPHER. “ The function of the geographer,” he continued, “ is to study the objects which make up the present-day world from a particular point of view. He must first delimit his area in terms of the object or objects which he is studying and then establish its essential and distinguished characteristics. He must then explain how it came to achieve its present character and to what extent it reflects a unique combination of phenomena, and he must try to understand the significant differences and relationships between it and other areas of the world. This is by go means an easy task; but just because it is so complex, it presents a challenge worthy of acceptance.” After discussing the position of geography in relation to history and to the systematic sciences, Mr Gamier discussed two main aspects of the contribution which his subject could make to university studies and learning in general. The first arose from the nature of geography as “ a pivotal subject in education,” from which point of view it was a valuable offset to the prevalent tendency tjo sectionalise things overmuch. It should be realised that sectionalised study could lead to a narrow and unimaginative outlook on life and the art of living. “ Specialisation on narrow, particularly material and technical lines, may lead to great knowledge of a single subject,” he said. “ But in following such a course, one may easily lose one’s sense of balance. By its emphasis on interconnections, geography helps to preserve the viewpoint that all things in actuality exist together not in isolation, but in interrelation, however much one may attempt to separate them by study. Together with history and philosophy in particular, it helps to preserve that broadness of outlook and ability to see phenomena in their relationships one to another, which are so necessary if we are to stem and turn into profitable channels the present cataclysmic ffood of technical achievement—a flood of development which is allowed and even encouraged to continue irrespective of where it may lead.”

The second major aspect of geography about which Mr Gamier spoke derived from the nature of tjie subjqoi as one dealing with the character of different ports of the world. It was not a new assertion to say that if democracy were to work, it had to be supported by an intelligent body of voters, alive to "the power of their vote and well versed in the affairs of the world. Geography provided an outlook and basis of fact necessary to that end. In the first place, it emphasised- the material foundations upon which civilisation rested, Secondly, it emphasised each area of the world had its own special characteristics, and, thirdly, it dealt with the different parts of the world as they actually existed at the present time. The words of Marcus Aurelius in the second century, “ He who knows not what the world is knows not where he is himself,” were as true to-day as they were then.