David Harvey

Harvey was born on born 31 October, 1935 at Gillingham, Kent, England.

In his childhood, he studied at the Gillingham Grammar School for Boys and later pursued both undergraduate and postgraduate courses at St John's College, Cambridge, England.

He passed B.A. Honours in Geography with a First Class in 1957 followed by an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Geography in 1961. He also did post-doctorate studies at the University of Uppsala, Sweden from 1960–1961.

From 1961-69, Harvey worked as a Lecturer in Geography at the University of Bristol, England. By mid-1960s, he made significant contribution to spatial science and positivist theory.

In 1969, he shifted to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA and became Associate Professor of Geography. Around that time, he started taking active interest in the newly emerged field of radical and Marxist Geography.

Racial discrimination and abuse were common in Baltimore at that time and movements against these social menaces were frequent. ‘Antipode’ - the periodical was initiated at Clark University and he became one of its first contributors. Along with his peers, he began challenging traditional approaches in 1971, during the Boston Association of American Geographers meetings.

Till 1973, he continued as Associate Professor, following which he became Professor of Geographyat Johns Hopkins University, and continued in the position till 1989.

Meanwhile, from 1987 to 1993, he was Halford Mackinder Professor of Geography at the University of Oxford. In 1993, he returned to the Johns Hopkins University as Professor of Geography and continued till 2001.

Harvey’s first publication, ‘Explanation in Geography’ (1969) became an important text in the field of Geography. In this book, he applied the philosophy of science to geographical knowledge. After its publication, he moved on to issues of social injustice and the capitalist system.

In ‘Social Justice and the City’ (1973) he clarified that in the face of urban poverty and allied evils, Geography cannot remain purely ‘objective’. He made a significant contribution to Marxian theory by proposing that capitalism destroys spaces to ensure its own growth.

He wrote ‘The Condition of Postmodernity: An Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change’ (1989) while he was a Professor at Oxford. The best-selling book was a materialist evaluation of postmodern ideas and opinions that emerge from inconsistencies within capitalism itself.

‘Justice, Nature and the Geography of Difference’ (1996) focused on social and environmental justice. ‘Spaces of Hope’ (2000) had a Utopian theme, with thoughts on the structure of an alternative world. ‘Paris, Capital of Modernity’ (2003) was his most elaborate historical-geographical work.

In ‘The New Imperialism’ (2003) he criticised the war in Iraq, arguing that the war allowed the US neo-conservatives to divert attention from the letdowns of capitalism back ‘at home’. ‘A Brief History of Neoliberalism’ (2005), provided a historical examination of the theory and divergent practices of neoliberalism since the mid-1970s.