3 . 1 I ntrod u ction
G eog ra p hers w h ose resea rc h a nd teach i n g s are based o n a p p roaches that en deavo ur, in various ways, to classify the myriad of p henomena that occur in the world a nd their fie ldtri ps, termed the classifiers, a re the foc u s of this cha pter. This i s the first of the cha pters co n cerned with a n a lysis of materia l gathered at the i nterviews a nd from other sources of i nfo rmation ra n g i ng fro m official p u b l ications o n New Zea l a n d ed ucation to contem pora ry textbooks a n d the a n n ive rsa ry p u b l ications of u n iversity geog ra p hy
d e p a rtme nts . The orderi n g of these a n a lyti cal cha pters ( C h a pters Three to S i x ) is a p prox i m ately chro n olog ica l with the earl ier period of geog ra p hy b e i n g dealt with i n Chapter Th ree a n d later peri ods in s u bseq uent cha pters . Of n ecessity t h i s cha pte r is based largely o n publ ished m ateria l .
Th e fi rst ty pe of geogra p hy that w a s ta u g ht as a n academic s u bject i n the late 1 9th ce ntury i n Britain w a s the ' capes a nd bays' geog ra p h y . N a m ed ite m s of the coastline that were i m p ortant to shipping were ta u g ht p l u s other nota ble features such a s mounta i n s a n d rive rs. S h i p p i n g w a s cruci a l t o the w a y i n w hich Britai n was co n nected to remote p a rts o f her em p i re, the m ost rem ote being New Z ea l a n d a n d this ty pe of geogra p hy devel oped i nto comm ercia l g eog ra p hy with a n e m p hasis on factua l m ate ri a l that was u sefu l for tra d e . Early acad e m i c geog ra p hy was fu rther fue l l ed by
explorations i n the 19th ce ntury i nto Africa a nd other pa rts of the g l obe that E u ropeans had not yet pen etrated and early travel writi ng .
D i scussion beg i n s with the fi rst years of geogra p hy as a n a cade m i c
disci p l i ne i n New Zea l a nd . S ecti o n 3 . 3 deals with mathem atica l geogra p hy, w hi c h i s closely l i n ked to a s pects such a s latitude and l o n g itude a nd
s u rveying a n d t h e creation of m a p s . Latitude a nd longitude were i n turn
con necte d to navigation a nd the m e a n s u sed to explore the ocea ns of the world i n sea rch of territo ries to co lonise, and extract resources from, i n col onial times . M a ps a re a m ea n s of ordering i nformation o n a two
d i mensi o n a l s u rfa ce a n d decisions have to be m a de as to w h i ch pieces of i nfo rmation w i l l be tra n sferred onto a m a p out of the vast a m ou nt of deta i l i n t h e worl d . As few commerci a l ly prod u ced m a p s were ava i l a b l e at this t i m e, pa rt of i n struction in geogra p hy was to create m a ps a nd m u ch of this was done o utside the c l assroo m . These were some of the first fieldtri p s . Physiogra p h y ( p hysica l geogra p hy) beg a n to be ta u g ht i n t h e late 1 9th ce ntury, a nd a genera l accepta nce that a ny adeq uate u ndersta n d i ng of this aspect of t h e world co u l d only be u n d e rstood by loca l study p rom pted fieldwork to be u n derta ken . Thus the study of m a pp i ng a nd p hy siog ra p hy led to the fi rst fie ldtri p s i n New Zea land school s . Th is w i l l be discussed fu rther l ater in this c h a pter.
Section 3 . 4 considers the approach known a s environmenta l determ i n i s m , w h ich was a n atte m pt t o cla ssify t h e world i nto reg ions delim ited b y
p hysica l chara cteristics o f landform a nd climate . T h i s theoretica l perspective p ut too m u ch e m p hasis on p hysical characteristics a n d not e n o u g h on the age ncy of people for some geog ra p hers, a n d the next secti o n considers the a p p roaches that took m o re a uto nomous note of people a nd the land . S u ch ways of co nsideri n g g eogra p hy i nc l u de those of the French school of
geog ra p hy as p romoted by Vidal de la Blache, w h ich took a n a pproach that stud ied how people u sed the l a n dsca pe, a nd is someti mes termed
possibi l i sm a nd the Be rke ley Sch ool u n der Carl Sauer wh ich focused on cul tura l la n d sca pes . These o ntol ogies viewed people as having a n active
ro le in ove rco m i ng n at u ra l obsta cles to existence in an a rea . Fol lowing this a re sectio n s w h ich d iscuss theoreti cal perspectives which atte m pt to create a na lytical a n d/or d escri ptive order o ut of the chaos of the wo rld ; one is the a rea! d i ffe re ntiation a p p roach pop u l a rised by H a rts horne ( 1 939 ) which p rovided a basis fo r reg i o n a l geogra p hy . Where i nformation h a s been fo u n d t o s u p port these com m e nts, refe re nce t o fie ldtri ps that used th ese ways of constru ct i n g k n owledge a re m a d e .
This i s fol l owed by a n analysis of conte m po ra ry writings fro m the time w hen the theoretica l p e rspectives di scu ssed earl i e r were at t h e i r zenith. It a l so u ses m aterial from i nterviews with geogra p he rs, who took p a rt i n this study a n d tal ked of using fi eldwork a pp roaches that classified fi n d i n g s about the worl d , either, when they were students themselves, o r in their own
tea c h i n g s . Mea ni n g s related to fie l dtri ps, fro m either co nte m pora ry writings or those w h ich e m erged from the i nterviews a s be i ng i m po rta nt, a re a l so d i sc u ssed . Na rratives or meta p h o rs of these meaning s that were re ported i n t h e conte m pora ry literature, or emerged fro m the fieldtri p s t h a t the
pa rticipa nts ex pe rie nced , a re d escribed . The m i l ieux that i nformed these mea n i n g s a re a l so d iscussed . The last pa rt of the cha pter, exa mi nes, m o re g e ne ra l ly, the va rious beliefs a bout fi eldtrips t h at have e m e rged . These a re consi d e red in relation to the m e a n i n gs, meta p h ors, and m i l ieux of the
classifiers.
3 . 2 Ca pes a nd bays, co m merci a l geog ra p hy a nd travel writi ng
Geog ra p hy teachi n g beg a n i n N e w Zea land schools with t h e teaching of n a m e s from the holy l a nd in the ea rly m issio na ry schoo l s i n the 1 840s. This h a s been term ed Scriptura l Geog ra p hy by Gorrie ( 1 9 5 5 ) . T h e first sec u l a r tea c h i n g was fro m 1 8 5 3 using a b o o k p u blished by Archbishop of D u b l i n o n h isto ry a nd geography of t h e w o rl d with occasional com pa risons t o N ew Zea l a n d . Ed ucati o n i n New Zea l a n d was form a l i sed a nd m a d e com p u l sory u n d e r the 1877 Education Act . Textbooks, s u ch as Park 's A School Primer of the Geography and History of Oceania for Young People ( 1 8 6 6 ) , ex panded a l ittl e fu rther, i nto the cou ntry beyond the ca pes and bays, to i nclude rivers a n d tow n s . Geog ra p hy cont i n u ed to be ta u g ht i n schoo l s u ntil the turn of the 20th ce ntu ry with a 'ca pes a n d bays' ty pe of encycl opaedic knowledge b u i l d i ng a p p roa c h . Children often l ea rnt these n ames by rote , a s there were few textbooks ava i l a b le . Fieldtri p s d i d n ot feature i n this p e riod of the secon d h a lf of the 1 9th ce ntury .
T h i s a p p roach was fol l owed by the emergence of comme rcia l geogra phy, a type of geog ra phy desig ned to m ake children fa m i l i a r with the g reat tra d i n g ro utes that l i nked N e w Zea l a n d w ith the rest of the Britis h E m p i re, of w h ich it w a s p a rt, a nd with the com m od ities that were traded . Other a spects of geog ra p hy that e m e rged in co n nection with the i nterest i n trade and e m p i re were a n i nte rest i n exploration, travel writi n g , a nd enviro n m ental
dete rm i nism (Peet, 1 9 8 5 ) . M a d d re l l ( 1 996, 1 9 9 8 ) has di scu ssed the dom i na n ce of patrioti s m a nd citize nship in the context of the textbooks, u sed i n Brita i n , in the latter pa rt of the 1 9th ce ntury a nd ea rly 20th ce ntury . Ra d cl iffe ( 1 9 9 9 ) a nd M orga n ( 1 999, 2003 ) a rg ue that school geog ra p hy has been i m p l icated in nation b u i l d i n g as it ta kes it i nto the co m m o n l iteratu re a nd e d u cati onal tea c h i n g by expressing stateme nts on geopolitics as 'co m m o n sense', n o rm a lising certain relati o n s h i ps, and m a k i ng others i nvisible . N ew Zea l a n d geogra p hy tea ching w a s thus li nked to i nform i n g chi l d ren of t h e im p orta n ce of t h e British E m p i re a nd New Zea l a n d 's pl a ce i n the E m p i re i n the late 1 9th a n d early 20th centuries.
Dete rm i n i s m will be dealt with in later sectio n s of this thesis but com m e rci a l geog ra p hy a nd expl orati on will b e con sidered here . Geo g ra p hy beg a n i n a sm a l l way at N ew Z e a l a n d u n iversities, bei n g ta u g ht as a fi rst yea r pa per i n courses o f comm erce . T h i s placing o f geogra p h y i n t h e Department of
Com merce is i n d i cative of the strong l i n k to tra de at tha t ti me a nd e m p i re in the latte r years of the 19th ce ntury and the early yea rs of the 2 0th ce ntury . A s e a rly a s 1 9 0 4 there w a s provision wit h i n t h e Un iversity o f N e w Zea l a nd
reg u l ations for the tea chi ng of Physical a nd Commercial Geog raphy ( l ater Eco n o m i c Geogra p h y ) at Stage One level (fi rst year level ) in the Schools of Com merce (Anderso n , Kea rns, a n d Hoski n g , 1 9 9 6 ) .
Po p u l a r textbooks at t h i s time were by George Chishol m , t h e Handbook of Com mercial Geography, ( 1 88 9 ) a n d Britannic Confederation I l l , The
Com merce of the British Empire ( 1 89 1 ) . T h e second of t hese was rei ssued by D ud l ey Sta m p , a pro m i n ent British geog ra pher i n the m i ddle of 20th ce ntury , a nd w a s sti l l being re- p rinted a s l a te a s 1966 as Chisholm 's
a nd was u sed i n so m e N ew Zea l a nd schools u ntil t hat time. The i nfl u e n ce of com merci a l geogra p hy a nd its desce n dent, reg i o n a l geog ra p h y , w a s
prominent u ntil the 1 98 0 s i n New Z e a l a n d schools .
The sch ool syl l a b u s i n New Zea l a n d i n the early 2 0th ce ntury m e ntioned that child re n s h o u ld be ta ug ht a bo ut the prod u ction of com m e rcia l ite m s for trade wit h i n the E m p i re a nd the ca u ses of the rise and im porta n ce of the British E m p i re (Depa rtment of Ed ucatio n , 1 908) . S u ch geog ra p hy had its ways of cla ssifying the world by focusing on differe nt aspects of com mercial activity , such a s tra d e routes, i n d u stri a l cities, the prod ucti o n of
com modities that entered trade, a nd the ty pes of p hysica l l a n d sca pe that were able to prod uce d i ffe re nt pro d u cts such a s cotton, sug a r, a nd tea that entered tra d e wit h i n the Empire . This geogra phy was about pro m oti ng the concept of Em pire to t h e general p o p u l ation . I n itial ex pa nsion of the E m p i re had emerged from exploratio n .
A n interest i n ex ploration resu lted i n a sepa rate a spect of geog ra p hy emerg i ng as an a rea of i nterest a n d study . Fiel dtri ps have l i n k s to these early expl oratio n s of the world i n that they create a sense of d i scove ry for