Geography Militant: Cultures of Exploration and Empire

This book traces the emergence of a modern culture of exploration, as reflected in the role of institutions such as the Royal Geographical Society and the reputation of explorers such as Livingstone and Stanley. The production and dissemination of geographical knowledge in the age of empire involved much more than the collection of new facts: it required the mobilization of a wide range of material and imaginative resources. Geography Militant pays particular attention to the contradictory and contested nature of geography, unravelling contemporary debates over the status of fieldwork, the ethics of exploration and the relations between science and sensationalism. These issues are of more than historical interest, as the culture of Geography Militant continually regenerates itself in the worlds of advertising, tourism and heritage. [Amazon]