ABSTRACT
The present condition of geography and proposals for its transformation must be firmly grounded in an understanding of history. The roles and functions of geographical knowledge, together with the structures of that knowledge, have changed over time in relation to, and in response to, shifting societal configurations and needs. The history of our discipline cannot be understood independently of the bistory of the society in which the practices of geography are embedded. The rise of merchant, and later industrial and finance forms of capitalism in the West, paralleled as it was by increasing spatial integration of the world economy under western politico-economic hegemony, demanded and depended upon the crystallization of new forms of geographical knowledge within an increasingly fragmented professional and academic division of labor. The difficulties and alternatives geographers now face are likewise rooted in conflictual processes of societal transformation. Proposals for the transformation or stabilization of our discipline are, whether we like it or not, positions taken in relation to grander processes of social change. Awareness of that basic fact must inform debate over where our discipline is going and how it is to be restructured to meet contemporary challenges and needs.
