Geographical development research
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As Development Geography (GEF) (obsolete and Geographical Development Studies ) and development geography (in English-speaking countries) is a line of research within the geography called, which deals with the relationship between development and spatial structures, processes and functions. It represents the theoretical and methodological contribution of geography to development research and, as an applied branch, provides findings for development planning and development cooperation . GEF deals, among other things, with topics such as the phenomenon of spatial fragmentation , questions of risky life situations ( vulnerability , geographic risk research ), crisis-prone globalization and fragile human-environment relationships ( political ecology ) in the global south. Like the geographic discipline itself, GEF is also characterized by a pronounced pluralism of methods.
history
The beginnings of the GEF as colonial geography as well as the following approaches up to the 1960s were strongly influenced by geography and descriptive , with an implicit focus on modernization as a solution for overcoming traditional growth barriers. It was not until the 1970s that there was an increasing theoretical and explanatory discussion of key issues of development and underdevelopment in German-speaking countries. This phase, which lasted about 40 years, began with a "dependency-theoretical departure" followed by an interwoven-analytical approach to production methods, reflection on theories of medium (instead of global) range, the adaptation of socio-political-ecological, institutional-economic, action-theoretical and globalization-critical approaches (from the English-speaking world ) as well as the processing of post / constructivist approaches (from the French-speaking area). GEF today is increasingly confronted with the challenge of so-called post-developmentalism.
literature
- Jürgen Blenck: Geographical Development Research . In: Hottes, K.-H. (Ed.): Geographical contributions to research in developing countries (DGFK-Hefte 12), Bonn, 1979.
- Fred Scholz : Geographical Development Research - Methods and Theories. Borntraeger, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-443-07138-4 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ T. Rauch: Four decades of German-language geographic development research in the field of tension between dialectical learning process and zeitgeist. In: Geographical Journal. 10 (3), 2018, pp. 175-204.
- ^ M. Neuburger & T. Schmitt: Theory of Development, Development of Theory - Post-Development and Post-Colonial Theories as a Challenge for Geographic Development Research. In: Geographica Helvetica. 67, 2012, 121-124 (editorial).