Fieldwork for Human Geography / Edition 1

by Richard Phillips, Jennifer Johns

Overview

This book encourages students to critically engage with the reasons for doing fieldwork and what they can get out, explains methods and contexts, and links the fieldwork with wider academic topics. It looks beyond the contents of research projects and field visits to address the wider experience of fieldwork: working in groups; understanding your ethical position; and opening your eyes, ears and minds to the wider possibilities of your trip. Throughout the book, the authors present first person descriptions of field experiences and predicaments, written by fieldtrip leaders and students from around the world including the U.K., U.S.A., Canada, Singapore, and South Africa.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780857025876
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	05/02/2012
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	7.20(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Richard Phillips is Professor in Human Geography at the University of Sheffield.

Dr Jennifer Johns is Lecturer in Organization and Management at the University of Liverpool.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Fieldwork for Human Geographers
PART ONE: APPROACHING THE FIELD
Getting the Most out of Fieldwork
Justifying the Cost: Your Degree and Your Job Prospects
Before You Go: Research Design and Preparation
Ethics: Positioning Yourself and Encountering Others
Working in Groups and Travelling Together
PART TWO: METHODS AND CONTEXTS
Reading the Landscape: Describing and Interpreting Field Sites
Interviewing for Fieldwork
Participant Observation and Participatory Geographies
How to Be an Explorer: Rediscovering Your Curiosity

Editorial Reviews

A highly readable and superbly fun guide to the why and how of doing fieldwork in human geography, this book offers very persuasive perspectives to its target audience - undergraduates who otherwise might just mourn about going into the "foreign" field or take the trip too lightly as a free/subsidized holiday. I recommend it highly to any geographer-wannabes and practicing-geographers. The latter group, including myself, might well rediscover the fun of doing geography
Henry Yeung
Professor of Economic Geography, National University of Singapore

Fieldwork is the heart of most geographic endeavours to the extent that it stimulates our passions and pushes us to ask the pithy questions that build disciplinary knowledge. This book provides an excellent introduction to the art and science of fieldwork. It makes clear that fieldwork is not just about getting out of the classroom and gaining first-hand experience of places, it is about instilling passion about those places
Stuart C. Aitken
Professor, Department of Geography, San Diego State University

This book is set to be an indispensible guide to fieldwork that will enrich the practice of geography in a myriad of different ways. In particular, the diverse materials presented here will encourage students and academics alike to pursue new approaches to their work and instil a greater understanding of the conceptual and methodological breadth of their discipline
Professor Matthew Gandy
Professor of Human Geography, University College London

If fieldwork is an indispensable component of geographical education then this book is equally essential to making the most of fieldwork: at last, students have a guide to making the most of their journeys abroad or closer to home.

At its best fieldwork is a formative experience in which learning about other places is a process of learning about oneself. This book gives students the tools to realise the full potential of what, for many, is the highlight of their geography degree.

Fieldwork is about expanding your horizons while reflecting critically on your own place in the world; this book helps students get the most out of their travels - be they abroad or closer to home
Noel Castree
Professor of Geography, Manchester University

From the Publisher