What is geography? If I had been asked this two weeks ago I would have said something like "It's the study of where things are and why they're there." Then the person who asked me would make a funny face while they tried to think of something worthwhile to say in reply. It's not the easiest thing to explain succinctly. Also, most people aren't exposed to geography as anything more than naming places on a map, and asking them to wrap their heads around what it means to think spatially on the spot can produce some interesting exchanges. I think that's why you get replies like "What kind of job can you get with that?" People just don't know what else to say. And then if I had to explain to them what GIS is? Oh boy!
Anyway, geography obviously goes much deeper than that. It's also the study of the spatial relationships between phenomena, how people conceptualize space/place, how they see themselves in spaces/places, how they project that, etc... But what I got to thinking about when doing this weeks reading was a number of different things about the nature of the discipline of geography.
First, the idea popped into my head that one of the things that makes geography stand out (and one of the reasons I've loved it and found it so interesting) is that it might no be a "subject" in the classical sense. You don't have to focus on one area of interest. Instead, it's more like a point of view, a way of interpreting things, or a lens through which you can look, really, at just about any field of study. I mean, how many other disciplines do that? One other aspect of geography that helps set it apart from, and strengthens it in relation to most other academic disciplines, is it's integrative approach. For example, a GI Scientist may be analyzing the spread of some non-native invasive species by running statistics on the location of it's populations in relation to other natural factors like soils, slope aspect, elevation, etc... but at the end of their research, even if they were able to come up with a pretty accurate habitat model, they still may not have a complete picture of what's going on. Why? Because the spread of an invasive species may have a lot to do with how the people in the study area think of where they live. In San Diego people get mad when you remove palm trees from canyons, even though they are not native, because the palm tree is a symbol of Southern California. It being a symbol, people want to see them around, so they plant them. It makes them feel more Californian. There is a cultural/human factor that someone focused solely on natural ones might miss. I love that geography encourages the integration of different perspectives like that.
Lastly, let me say that I have not done an exhaustive survey of the boundaries of other academic disciplines. I'm just kind of shooting from the hip.
