Thinking Beyond Topophilia

Abstract

Yi-Fu Tuan was arguably the most evocative writer among twentieth century geographers. His literary approach to his subject matter cast aside the alienating conventions of traditional academic writing and encouraged more evocative writing styles across geography. After the publication of Topophilia (1974), Tuan became a leading voice for humanistic geography, especially regarding “the affective bond between people and place” (ibid, 4). Nevertheless, despite this concept’s intuitive appeal to a sense of common good (Tuan 1975; 1986; 2004), including producing intimate and affirmative bonds between ‘people’ and ‘place,’ as an international socialist, I have always found this concept discomforting. The reason is not only its idealism, essentialism, and individualism, but also its lack of ‘worldliness’ or a “global sense of place” (Massey, 1991).