THE CULTURAL TURN - FASHION OR PROGRESS IN HUMAN-GEOGRAPHY

The cultural turn marks a reorientation of human geography's interdisc iplinary concerns toward the wide field of cultural studies. It is arg ued that this reorientation has been mediated by distinctive forms of commercial academic book publishing. These have been the medium for th e internationalisation of cultural studies upon which human geography' s serious engagement with the field has depended. It is argued that th e combination of a greater reliance upon work drawn from the humanitie s and the imperatives of publishing have led to the contemporary proli feration of cultural theory being associated with new forms of academi c celebrity. The critical questioning of the cultural turn is therefor e located in relation to the forms of authority and evaluation that it has the potential to promote.