What is a colonial geographer? Jean Brunhes, irrigation and human geography (1894-1911). English version.
Résumé
Our analysis of the beginning of Jean Brunhes’ career and his thesis on irrigation in arid regions (1902) shows how the imperial context and colonial networks oriented scientific debate and the comparative approach of an author considered one of the founding fathers of human geography. His comparison of different native and colonial systems thus participates in the debate on the proper governance of water and the exercise of sovereignty. The deconstruction of “colonial geography” as a category of the academic practice allows us to nuance further our understanding of the emergence of human geography at the beginning of the 20th century.