For a Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious scientific geography

Dixon, D.P. and Jones III, J.P. (1996) For a Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious scientific geography. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 86(4), pp. 767-779. (doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8306.1996.tb01776.x)

Abstract

Contemporary geographic thought finds scientific approaches triangulated by critiques launched by various political economy, feminist, and poststructuralist positions. In aiming their conceptual arsenal at fixed understandings of scientific geography, however, such critiques run the danger of essentializing their intended target. Moreover, in the consequent stabilization of the trajectories taken by these critiques, the process of criticism itself becomes an unreflexive exercise. In this paper we deploy the resources of poststructuralism to achieve an antiessentialist reading of scientific geography that moves beyond mere repudiation and seeks instead to identify a redemptive moment within this constellation of ideas and practices. To do so, we draw upon a modern-day parable–Mary Poppins–whose film version we read as offering a panoramic on theoretical divisions in geography. Though ostensibly a story about an all-too-perfect nanny, the film's key protagonists serve as allegorical figures animating our analysis. Fortunately for all concerned, the banker/patriarch comes to the realization that he too can countermand rather than reproduce the fixed spaces of everyday life.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Dixon, Professor Deborah
• Authors: Dixon, D.P., and Jones III, J.P.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Geographical and Earth Sciences
• Journal Name: Annals of the Association of American Geographers
• ISSN: 0004-5608