James Morris Blaut (October 20, 1927 – November 11, 2000) was an American professor of anthropology and geography at the

University of Illinois at Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a public research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus established under the University of Illinois ...

. His studies focused on the agricultural microgeography (geographical activity of villagers), cultural ecology, theory of

nationalism Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...

, philosophy of science, historiography and the relations between the First and the

Third World The term "Third World" arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Western European nations and their allies represented the " First ...

. He is known as one of the most notable critics of

Eurocentrism Eurocentrism (also Eurocentricity or Western-centrism) is a worldview that is centered on Western civilization or a biased view that favors it over non-Western civilizations. The exact scope of Eurocentrism varies from the entire Western worl ...

. Blaut was one of the most widely read authors in the field of geography.Kent Mathewson; David Stea
''In memoriam: James M. Blaut (1927–2000)''
''Annals of the Association of American Geographers'', 93(1), 2003, pp. 214–222

Life and career

James Morris Blaut was born on October 20, 1927, in New York City. He attended the

Little Red School House The Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School, also referred to as LREI, is a school in Manhattan, New York City. It was founded by Elisabeth Irwin in 1921 as the Little Red School House and is one of the city's first progressive ...

and

Elisabeth Irwin High School The Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School, also referred to as LREI, is a school in Manhattan, New York City. It was founded by Elisabeth Irwin in 1921 as the Little Red School House and is one of the city's first progressive ...

. He entered the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

in 1944 at the age of sixteen, as part of the program for advanced high-school students, and achieved two bachelor's degrees (in 1948 and 1950). Next, from 1948 to 1949, he studied in the

New School for Social Research The New School for Social Research (NSSR) is a graduate-level educational institution that is one of the divisions of The New School in New York City, United States. The university was founded in 1919 as a home for progressive era thinkers. NSS ...

, from 1949 to 1950 at the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture in

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

, and from 1950 at

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 n ...

. After the end of the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...

, he also served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

, and was involved in an incident which resulted in

court-martial A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...

of his commander and the dismissal of the camp's commandant. In 1954, he was drafted into the army, went to basic training at

Camp Gordon Fort Gordon, formerly known as Camp Gordon, is a United States Army installation established in October 1941. It is the current home of the United States Army Signal Corps, United States Army Cyber Command, and the Cyber Center of Excellence. It ...

, Georgia and served for two years rising to the rank of private first class.Mathewson, Kent
"James M. Blaut (1927-2000"
in H. Lorimer and C.W.J. Withers (editors) ''Geographers: Biobibliographical Studies'', 27 (New York: Continuum), page 113. He received his PhD in 1958, at which time he was already working at the

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...

. In 1960 he moved to

University of Puerto Rico The University of Puerto Rico ( es, Universidad de Puerto Rico, UPR) is the main public university system in the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is a government-owned corporation with 11 campuses and approximately 58,000 students and ...

, where he stayed till 1963. In 1964 he moved to the

College of the Virgin Islands The University of the Virgin Islands (or UVI) is a public historically black land-grant university in the United States Virgin Islands. History UVI was founded as the College of the Virgin Islands on March 16, 1962. In 1986, it officially becam ...

. In 1967 he returned to the United States for a position at

Clark University Clark University is a private research university in Worcester, Massachusetts. Founded in 1887 with a large endowment from its namesake Jonas Gilman Clark, a prominent businessman, Clark was one of the first modern research universities in th ...

, where in 1969 he helped establish the '' Antipode Journal'' and the

Union of Socialist Geographers Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** '' ...

. In 1971, told that his activities and ideas were too extreme for Clark, he moved back to the

, and finally to

. Blaut died from heart failure at his home on November 11, 2000, before he had completed a trilogy of books criticizing Eurocentric theories of a "

European miracle The Great Divergence or European miracle is the socioeconomic Socioeconomics (also known as social economics) is the social science that studies how economic activity affects and is shaped by social processes. In general it analyzes how mod ...

". The series begins with ''The Colonizer’s Model of the World'' and is followed by the ''Eight Eurocentric Historians''. He was a member and activist of

Henry A. Wallace Henry Agard Wallace (October 7, 1888 – November 18, 1965) was an American politician, journalist, farmer, and businessman who served as the 33rd vice president of the United States, the 11th U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, and the 10th U.S. ...

Progressive Party Progressive Party may refer to: Active parties * Progressive Party, Brazil * Progressive Party (Chile) * Progressive Party of Working People, Cyprus * Dominica Progressive Party * Progressive Party (Iceland) * Progressive Party (Sardinia), Ita ...

. He supported a variety of activists' campaigns during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. He was also a supporter of the

Puerto Rican independence movement Throughout the history of Puerto Rico, its inhabitants have initiated several movements to obtain independence for the island, first from the Spanish Empire from 1493 to 1898 and since then from the United States. A spectrum of pro-autonomy, ...

Legacy and honors

Blaut received several awards for distinguished service and scholarship, such as the

Association of American Geographers The American Association of Geographers (AAG) is a non-profit scientific and educational society aimed at advancing the understanding, study, and importance of geography and related fields. Its headquarters is located in Washington, D.C. Th ...

's Distinguished Scholarship Award in 1997. The Cultural and Political Ecology Study Group of the Association of American Geographers issues the annua
James M. Blaut Award
in recognition of innovative scholarship in cultural and political ecology. The Socialist and Critical Geography Specialty Group of the AAG also issues a James Blaut Award and has a Memorial Lecture. In his private life, his hobbies included

bird watching Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, by ...

Publications

*1987 –
The National Question: Decolonising the Theory of Nationalism
' (London:

Zed Books Zed Books is an independent non-fiction publishing company based in London, UK. It was founded in 1977 under the name Zed Press by Roger van Zwanenberg. Zed publishes books for an international audience of both general and academic readers, co ...

) *1992 –
Fourteen Ninety-Two: The Debate on Colonialism, Eurocentrism and History
' (with contributions by S. Amin, R. Dodgshon, A. G. Frank, and R. Palan; Trenton, NJ: AfricaWorld Press) *1993 – ''The Colonizer’s Model of the World: Geographical Diffusionism and Eurocentric History'' (NY: Guilford Press) *2000 –
Eight Eurocentric Historians
' (NY: Guilford Press)

References

Notes Further reading *Kent Mathewson, "James Morris Blaut (1927–2000)," pp. 107–130 in H. Lorimer and C.W.J. Withers, editors, ''Geographers: Biobibliographical Studies'', 27 (New York: Continuum, 2008).

External links

James M. Blaut Page
Marxism mailing list archive
The Geographical and Political Vision of J. M. Blaut
Special Issue of '' Antipode'', vol. 35, n° 5, pp. 900–1050 (co-edited with B. Wisner) by Kent Mathewson, 2005. {{DEFAULTSORT:Blaut, James Morris 1927 births 2000 deaths 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American anthropologists 20th-century geographers American geographers Clark University faculty Deaths from congestive heart failure Little Red School House alumni Louisiana State University alumni Military personnel from New York City Puerto Rican nationalists Scholars of nationalism The New School alumni United States Army soldiers University of Chicago alumni University of Illinois Chicago faculty University of Puerto Rico faculty Writers from Chicago Writers from Manhattan Yale University faculty

Life and career

Legacy and honors

Publications

See also

References

External links