Navigation – Plan du site

AccueilVie ScientifiqueÉditoriauxIn praise of the unassuming

In praise of the unassuming

Denise Pumain
Cet article est une traduction de :
Eloge de la modestie

Texte intégral

1There is no Nobel prize for geography – even if it is supposed to be replaced by the highly respected Vautrin Lud Prize, awarded each year at the Sant Dié des Vosges  International Festival ( this year's winner was Horacio Capel). Geography is an unassuming and unostentatious science, it is not in the spotlight of prestigious marks of recognition, nor is it the focus of the excesses of the media, their enthusiasms and their condemnations.

2Thus, rather than giving way to sarcastic comment about a prize that alternately distinguishes one school of economics and then its rival, not always in manner that is unconnected with current events, geographers can congratulate Paul Krugman. One reason is that this brilliant laureate has not hesitated to associate the proletarian qualifier "geographical" with the "new economy" that he has set out to promote. Another reason is that his view of the world, with its divisions, its well-manned fortifications, and its carefully nurtured inequalities, is very close to  the view entertained by geography, very far-removed from the convergences and balance constructed by mainstream economics.

3Whether or not fair recognition has been given to these borrowings from geographers is of little matter: what is the weight of academic quarrelling when the issue is to improve knowledge of the social logics that underpin policies. The events of recent weeks have proved that those who advocated state regulation rather than the "freedom" demanded by the markets were right. The historical trend towards an amplification of  inequalities as a result of the "free" market, which also enhances the asymmetry between centre and periphery, wealthy countries and poor countries, has long been pointed to by geographers and numerous specialists in other social sciences, where proponents have however often been reluctant to formalise their observations too early. Is this reserve justified when the world is complex, and science has not said its last word? The facts are obstinate. And it is the theories that have won the day – so far!

Haut de page

Pour citer cet article

Référence électronique

Denise Pumain, « In praise of the unassuming », Cybergeo: European Journal of Geography [En ligne], Éditoriaux, mis en ligne le 21 octobre 2008, consulté le 29 mars 2024. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/cybergeo/20513

Haut de page

Auteur

Denise Pumain

Articles du même auteur

Haut de page

Droits d’auteur

CC-BY-4.0

Le texte seul est utilisable sous licence CC BY 4.0. Les autres éléments (illustrations, fichiers annexes importés) sont « Tous droits réservés », sauf mention contraire.

Haut de page
Rechercher dans OpenEdition Search

Vous allez être redirigé vers OpenEdition Search