ABSTRACT
Ron Johnston’s studies of the evolution of human geography since 1945 remind us that the content of an academic discipline cannot be understood without reference to its context (Johnston 1991). The same can be said for sub-disciplines such as rural geography, which emerged in Britain in the 1970s. This chapter sets its history in the context of changing conceptual approaches and patterns of institutionalisation in human geography and other related fields, such as agricultural economics and rural sociology. It argues that British rural geography has been a successful sub-discipline of human geography, in large part because of its openness and responsiveness to wider intellectual currents and public concerns.
