The French “géographie théorique et quantitative” (1971-1996). Overview of a multi-faceted tradition’s blossoming

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This tals (and chapter, soon) focuses on the history of the French “géographie théorique et quantitative” from its rise at the beginning of the 1970’s to its “climax” in the middle of the 1990’s, with a double emphasis on the social features of the movement and its singularities. The social and epistemological history that is provided is deliberately collective, because the movement was mostly supported by groups imbued with a collective spirit partly inherited from the events of May 68. But this presentation also makes small breaks to introduce significant figures (like Roger Brunet or Denise Pumain). Some of the individuals summoned here are among the most notorious in French geography, but as they might not mean anything to an Anglophone audience, a special effort is made to introduce them and shed light on some national challenges. First we will explain why a “scientific revolution” occurred in the seventies, when different trends became explosive. Then we will analyze these “revolutionary” seventies, keeping in mind that “quantitative geographers” remained a minority and that nothing like a replacement of the Vidalian paradigm occurred. Lastly, we will explore the small climax (1981-1996) when “spatial analysis” seemed to take leadership over the whole of French geography.