Geographies against bifurcation

Geographers have much to learn from speculative philosophy, which can provide us with theoretical tools to broaden our modes of analysis and understandings of research subjects. Following Alfred North Whitehead's radical proposal for altering how we prescribe meaning to ‘experience’, Tom Roberts introduces areas of thought within ‘more-than-human geography’ and its overlaps with new materialisms where Whiteheadian analysis offers an experiential rupture. We concur with Roberts’ proposal, and, through conversing this thesis with the work of Isabelle Stengers and Didier Debaise, suggest that Whitehead offers unique conceptual tools for resisting geography's ‘bifurcation’. This intervention, we hold, has never been timelier given the ecological collapse of increasingly weird worlds.

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Publication Details

Journal
Dialogues in Human Geography
Published
2025-04-24
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1177/20438206251335314
Primary Topic
Historical Geography and Geographical Thought
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

Geographies against bifurcation

Adam Searle, Simon Vanderstraeten
Dialogues in Human Geography
Historical Geography and Geographical Thought
article

Geographies against bifurcation

Adam Searle, Simon Vanderstraeten
article en

Abstract

Geographers have much to learn from speculative philosophy, which can provide us with theoretical tools to broaden our modes of analysis and understandings of research subjects. Following Alfred North Whitehead's radical proposal for altering how we prescribe meaning to ‘experience’, Tom Roberts introduces areas of thought within ‘more-than-human geography’ and its overlaps with new materialisms where Whiteheadian analysis offers an experiential rupture. We concur with Roberts’ proposal, and, through conversing this thesis with the work of Isabelle Stengers and Didier Debaise, suggest that Whitehead offers unique conceptual tools for resisting geography's ‘bifurcation’. This intervention, we hold, has never been timelier given the ecological collapse of increasingly weird worlds.

Dialogues in Human Geography
University of Nottingham (GB), University of Liège (BE)
Openalex Percentile: Top 90%
Historical Geography and Geographical Thought
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