Regional Synthesis of Human Geography

According to the Oxford Universal Dictionary on Historical Principles (1955), the word, ‘synthesis’, means a “complex whole made up of a number of parts unified”.

The idea of regional synthesis may be better understood by citing James Conant who describes science as an interconnected series of concepts and conceptual schemes that have developed as a result of experimentation and observation and are still undergoing further experimentation and observation as the universe is further explored. Geographers are like any other scientists, identified not so much by the phenomena they study as by the integrating concepts and processes they stress.

The geographical point of view is spatial and the integrating concepts and processes of the geographers relate to spatial arrangements and distributions, to spatial integration, to spatial interactions and organisation and to spatial processes. But the above ideas only define the ways of viewing and not that which is viewed. So, the question remains, which system is examined by the geographers? Hartshorne describes it as “the earth as the home of man.”

According to Brian Berry, a geographer is always inclined to assume a spatial perspective in his analysis. But this perspective is not his sole prerequisite; other scientists also share the same viewpoints; for example, in disciplines such as geology, meteorology, oceanography etc., certain physical systems covering the earth are studied even from a spatial point of view apart from their relevance to human beings.

The symbiotic relationship between ecosystems and human beings is studied by geographers, ecologists, biologists and also botanists. The study of this relationship may be from a spatial point of view in other disciplines also, apart from geography. But geography can be secluded from other disciplines by its emphasis on the study of ecosystem in which the human being assumes the pivotal role.

The human being is a tool-making animal, so has become the ecological dominant because of superior intelligence. So the environment which surrounds the human being is physical, biological as well as cultural. The cultural environment is completely the creation of humans by which they are set apart from other animals.

It is noteworthy that debates relating geographical understanding have already led to dichotomies within geography, viz. natural versus human, deterministic versus possibility, quantitative versus regional and so on. According to Richard Hartshorne, these dichotomies in geography hardly carry any significance; rather, the emergence of dichotomies in geography indicates that the “spatial viewpoint has several facets”.

According to Edward Ullman (1954), the essence of human geography lies in the dual ideas of site and situation. Ullman suggests that site is vertical and has reference to local man-land relations, form and morphology, etc., whereas situation is horizontal as well as functional and has reference to “spatial interaction”, i.e., the connection and interdependence between regions.

In the view of Kenneth E. Boulding (1956), too much emphasis on specialisation has created small isolated subcultures with a common line of communication linking those isolated ‘republics of knowledge’. So he has suggested the General Systems Theory which will enable a specialist of a particular discipline to effectively communicate with others.

Brian J.L. Berry in the Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 54 (1964) has endeavoured to explain regional synthesis by using a geographic matrix. “The Geographic Matrix differs from the matrix developed for anthropology by Berliner only in that the columns are places for geography and cultures for anthropology. This difference perhaps indicates the kind of variability of major interest to the anthropologist vis-a-vis the geographer, and thus the different perspective in looking at the same systems taken by the two subjects.”

The geographic matrix postulated by Berry is a simple system, in which the traditional dichotomies are included as references. The geographic matrix highlights “the unity of the spatial viewpoint”.

It is assumed by Berry that complete ‘geographic data files’ are available so that data can be arranged in a rectangular array or matrix. The intersection of any row and column has been designated as cell.

Each cell is identified with a geographic fact. The geographic characteristic coincides with the row while the place under study coincides with the column. So, our approaches to regional analysis may be directed to the following. These approaches are ten in number.

(i) “The arrangement of cells within a row or part of a row” guides us to study maps and spatial distributions of geographical features.

(ii) “The arrangement of cells within a column or part of a column” helps us to study localised variable associations and local inventories and how they differ on space.

(iii) The comparison of two rows or all the rows is useful for studying spatial co-variations or spatial association.

(iv) The comparison of two columns or all the columns helps us to study areal differentiation in its holistic sense.

(v) The fifth step is to study a box of sub-matrix.

Although the methods of studying geographic matrix seem to be different, in fact all the techniques are complemen­tary to each other.

Berry has explained regional synthesis with the help of a whole series of geographic matrices presented in their correct temporal sequence. Each time period has been taken to be equivalent to a “slice” of the three-dimensional cake where every slice contains all the features described in the previous figure. The diagram of ‘Third Dimension’ makes it possible to examine rows, columns and boxes cutting across time.

The figure, according to Berry, has been useful due to the following factors:

(vi) The study of spatial variation of geographical features can be done by comparing a row or part of a row with other row/s through time.

(vii) The study of a particular area through time which is also known as sequent occupancy is possible by comparing a column or part of a column through time.

(viii) The temporal dimension or ‘Third Dimension’ enables geographers to study changing spatial associations.

(ix) The temporal dimension enables geographers to study areal differentiation.

(x) The comparison of a submatrix cutting across the time dimension is possible.

Berry has used ‘The Ten Approaches’ to study regional synthesis. The ten above-mentioned methods of analysis have been divided into three series. The first—steps (i), (iii), (vi) and (viii)— involves studies related to the nature of spatial distributions or the co- variance of different distributions at a particular period of time or the spatial distribution of the same phenomenon during different periods of time and of the co- variance of different types of distributions cutting across time.

The second series involves (ii), (iv), (vii) and (ix) steps and covers locational invento­ries, areal differentiation and sequent occupancy.

The third series—(v) and (x)—involves “cross-sectional interplay of studies of spatial distributions and associations, locational inventories and areal differentiation”.

In “Traditional Grouping of Rows and Columns’, the traditional grouping of variables arranged in ascending hierarchy of rows or the topical subfields are shown. Geography has been broadly divided into two major sub-divisions, viz., human and physical geography. Within human geography the part concerned with culture in its holistic sense has been isolated.

Culture has been further sub-divided into social, economic and political geography. Further sub-divisions have been made in the above sub-divisions. For example, in economic geography, there may be further divisions like geography related to resources and industries, etc. Industries can be further classified into raw-material based industries, foot-loose industries, etc.

Thus, each division is divided into systematic ‘fields’, which in turn, are sub-divided into more specialised ‘topical fields’.

Row-wise groups of variables coincide with the systematic or topical branches of geography which correspond with the first of the three series of methods of geographical analysis. Similarly, regions are represented by groups of columns. It is based on the second series of modes of geographical analysis which stresses on the study of local inventories and areal differentiation.

Therefore, row-wise groupings relate to systematic geography, the object of which is to study the fundamental patterns and associations characterised by a limited range of functionally inter-related variables spread over a wide range of different places; the object of regional geography, on the other hand, is to study the regional character of the region on the basis of localised associations of variables. This can be done by studying a broad range of variables of a limited number of places.

In the modern tradition of American geography, the selection of columns is not absolutely independent of the selection of rows. So, a geographer dealing with rows pertaining to economic, urban or transportation geography must take into account the columns linked to modern urban and industrial milieu.

The study of a region and its synthesis will be incomplete, if the topic of discussion is concentrated only in regional and systematic geography. So, the idea of ‘comparative systematics’ has come into vogue which encompasses various topical fields of geography.

The Dictionary of Human Geography points out that recently the progress of ideas on regional synthesis have received a serious setback due to persisting dilemmas in geography. One of the dilemmas is the persisting tension between analytical and narrative techniques of geographical analysis.

Another dilemma emerges from the general absence of attention of academics to the new trends in areal differentiation. The changing trend in geography is due to “multi-scalar nature of the processes” occurring in society, e.g., creation of jobs in new fields such as Information Technology or changing pattern of electoral behaviour in favour of a party within a short period of time, etc.

The final dilemma is due to the difficulty of precise demarcation between regions and places in the case of dynamic nature of territoriality of social groups. Such problems occur as a result of overlapping ethnic identities of social groups, for example, two ethnic groups taking part in the same festival, or linguistic fluidity (when people speak two languages and, in the process, the mother tongue is replaced by another dominant language spoken by their neighbours).