ABSTRACT
The last few years have seen massive upheaval in progressive theory, research and politics (Faludi 1992; Fraser 1989; Harvey 1989; Palmer 1990; Ross 1988). In geography, as in the social sciences more generally, there have been subtle and complex redrawings of ‘The Project’ (Barrett and Phillips 1992; Christopherson 1989; Fraser 1989; Walker 1990). For radical geographers (in which we include feminist geographers), these changes have been signalled by the appearance of collections showcasing new critical geographies (e.g. Kobayashi and MacKenzie 1989; Peet and Thrift 1989; Wolch and Dear 1989) and gradual shifts in concepts, research foci and methods. Put simply, critical geographers have engaged in a partial retreat from class analysis and issues and increasingly recognized the value of feminist geography (although the terms of ‘engagement’ or negotiation very much remain to be worked out). Marxist and feminist geographers have also been searching for theories and methods which recognize diversity in human lives and in the meanings assigned to those lives. This has led to some serious and not-so-serious flirtations with postmodern philosophy and theory (Dear 1988; Deutsche 1991; Harvey 1989; Soja 1989).
