Fieldwork: The Heart of Geography

摘要

Sauer's presidential address to the Association of AmericanGeographers (AAG) in 1956 stated 'the principal trainingof geographers should come, wherever possible by doingfieldwork' (Sauer, 1956, p. 296) and this perspective isreinforced in curricula today (UK Quality AssuranceAgency QAA 2002). Fieldwork is perceived at the heart ofGeography (Gold et al., 1991); intrinsic to the discipline asclinical practice is to medicine (Bligh, 1975); and Geographywithout fieldwork is [perceived as being] like Sciencewithout experiments (Bland et al., 1996, p. 165).