Yi-Fu Tuan

Yi-Fu Tuan (Traditional Chinese: 段義孚, born 5 December 1930) is a Chinese-U.S. geographer.

Tuan was born in 1930 in Tientsin, China. He was the son of a rich oligarch and was part of the top class in the Republic of China.

Tuan attended University College, London, but graduated from the University of Oxford with a B.A. and M.A. in 1951 and 1955 respectively. From there he went to California to continue his geographic education. He received his Ph.D. in 1957 from the University of California, Berkeley.

Career

From New Mexico, Tuan first moved to Toronto between 1966-1968 teaching at University of Toronto. He became a full professor at the University of Minnesota in 1968 and there began his focus on humanistic geography. He describes the difference between human and humanistic geography in a 2004 'Dear Colleague' letter:

Human geography studies human relationships. Human geography's optimism lies in its belief that asymmetrical relationships and exploitation can be removed, or reversed. What human geography does not consider, and what humanistic geography does, is the role [relationships] play in nearly all human contacts and exchanges. If we examine them conscientiously, no one will feel comfortable throwing the first stone. As for deception, significantly, only Zoroastrianism among the great religions has the command, "Thou shalt not lie." After all, deception and lying are necessary to smoothing the ways of social life. From this, I conclude that humanistic geography is neglected because it is too hard. Nevertheless, it should attract the tough-minded and idealistic, for it rests ultimately on the belief that we humans can face the most unpleasant facts, and even do something about them, without despair.

After fourteen years at the University of Minnesota, he moved to Madison, Wisconsin and continued his professional career at University of Wisconsin–Madison as the J.K. Wright and Vilas Professor of Geography (1985–1998). He was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1986, of the British Academy in 2001 and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2002. Tuan was awarded the Cullum Geographical Medal by the American Geographical Society in 1987.

Yi-Fu Tuan is an emeritus professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He occasionally gives lectures, continues to write his 'Dear Colleague' letters and to publish new books on geosophy. His most recent books are Human Goodness (2008) and Religion: From Place to Placelessness (2010). He resides in Madison, Wisconsin.

Space/Place Definitions

In Space and Place : The Perspective of Experience, Tuan contends that a space requires a movement from a place to another place. Similarly, a place requires a space to be a place. Hence, the two notions are co-dependent.

Selected bibliography

• Religion: From Place to Placelessness. 2010. Center for American Places, Chicago, IL. ISBN 9781930066946

• Human Goodness. 2008. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, WI. ISBN 9780299226701

• Coming Home to China. 2007. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN. ISBN 0816649928

• Place, Art, and Self. 2004. University of Virginia Press, Santa Fe, NM, in association with Columbia College, Chicago, IL. ISBN 1930066244.

• Dear Colleague: Common and Uncommon Observations. 2002. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN. ISBN 0816640556.

• Who am I? : An Autobiography of Emotion, Mind, and Spirit. 1999. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, WI. ISBN 0299166600.

• Escapism. 1998. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD. ISBN 0801859263.

• Cosmos and Hearth: A Cosmopolite's Viewpoint. 1996. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN. ISBN 0816627304.

• Passing Strange and Wonderful: Aesthetics, Nature, and Culture. 1993. Island Press, Shearwater Books, Washington, DC. ISBN 1559632097.

• Morality and Imagination: Paradoxes of Progress. 1989. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, WI. ISBN 0299120600.

• The Good Life. 1986. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, WI. ISBN 0299105407.

• Dominance and Affection: The Making of Pets. 1984. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT. ISBN 0300032226.

• Segmented Worlds and Self: Group Life and Individual Consciousness. 1982. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN. ISBN 0816611092.

• Landscapes of Fear. 1979. Pantheon Books, New York, NY. ISBN 0394420357.

• Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience 1977. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN. ISBN 0816608083.

• Topophilia: a study of environmental perception, attitudes, and values 1974. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. ISBN 0139252487.

• The Climate of New Mexico. 1973. State Planning Office, Santa Fe, NM.

• Man and Nature. 1971. Association of American Geographers, Washington, DC. Resource paper #10.

• China. 1970. In "The World's Landscapes". Harlow, Longmans. ISBN 0582311535.

External links

• Yi-Fu Tuan's homepage.
• Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article about the Professor from June 24, 2007.