Bibliography of SWA Geography and Related Fields

Geography and related fields 2000 Titles (closed 1966)
Logan, Richard F.
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Title: Bibliography of SWA Geography and Related Fields
Subtitle: Geography and related fields 2000 Titles (closed 1966)
Author: Richard F. Logan
Scientific Research in South West Africa
Published by the Committee of the S.W.A. Scientific Society
Windhoek, 1969
Soft cover, dust jacket, 17x24 cm, 152 pages

About: Bibliography of SWA Geography and Related Fields

This bibliography is designed to serve as a guide to sources useful in research on the geography of South-West Africa. The materials included are very wide in scope - far wider, perhaps, than is normally the case with a bibliography on a scientific subject.

Many non-scientific items have been included since very often the researchist finds important pieces of information or new and interesting attitudes in the writings of people who are not scientifically trained, but who happen to have viewed a certain area or phenomenon, or who lived at a certain time. The materials are also wide in scope because of the very nature of geography itself. Geography has never been properly or finally defined, but most of the modern definitions of the subject center about the fact that geography is the study of the relationship between Man and his environment.

Therefore, in order to study geography it is necessary to study Man and his physical nature; to study all aspects of his environment, both physical and cultural; and to study the culture and institutions that he has evolved and/or imported while in contact with that environment. This bibliography, therefore, has as its focus the field of geography - but it reaches far out into the neighbouring fields, to whatever extent they remain consequential to geography.

Thus, in the case of geology, all aspects of geomorphology are included, since geomorphology sets the stage on which the human drama is enacted. Stratigraphy, on the other hand, is considered only as far as the lithological nature and the attitude of the beds are concerned; studies of the agerelations of the strata and their correlations with other areas are omitted. Similarly, mineral occurences are considered, since they form the basis of the mining industry, but their chemistry and modes of origin are largely passed over.

Paleontology is not generally considered except in cases where the fossils are extraordinary or unique and hence constitute a present or potential tourist attraction or economic resource - as in the case of petrified woods, fossil foot-prints and the like. Similar considerations pertain in other fields, quite remote from the geologic.

Anthropological studies have been included as long as they deal with the physical form of the peoples; with their present and former distributions as evidenced by aspects of their tribal histories, legends, rock paintings, linguistics or even blood groupings; with their adaptations to, use of, and effect upon their environment - as their uses of plants and animals, methods of cultivation, tools and implements, locations and patterns of dwellings and villages, etc. On the other hand, studies of their religions, social structures, kinship systems and psychologies have largely been omitted. In much the same way, studies of the political geography of the Territory - its boundaries, basic patterns of administration, and developmental plans - are included, while most of the material relating to its political status, the legality of the Mandate, and its relations with South Africa and the United Nations are omitted.

As far as possible, each citation in the bibliography follows the same pattern. All entries are arranged in alphabetical order by author's surname, and are numbered consecutively. Names of the principal authors are inverted, but those of secondary authors are given in the usual form: JONES, EDWARD D., and WILLIAM B. SMITH. Titles of books and articles are cited in their original form. To save space, Southwest Africa in any form or in any language is abbreviated SWA, DSWA for GSWA) or DSW (or GSW).

Comments by the compiler regarding the work cited appear at the end of the citation, enclosed in brackets. Thus all bracketed material is the work of this compiler, who assumes the sole responsibility for them. Citations have been classified into various categories on the basis of their subject matter. The categories are listed and numbered in the "Subject Classification". The appropriate number or numbers are listed in the right-hand margin opposite each citation. The citations pertaining to each category are accumulated by citation number in the "Subject Index".

The bibliography is an indirect outgrowth of the writer's participation in another research project: the compilation of a bibliography of research on the arid lands of the world, undertaken by the Office of Arid Lands Studies of the University of Arizona under contract to the U.S. Army and under the direction of Drs. W. G. McGinnies, John Healy and Bram Goldman.

In both the Arizona project and the current undertaking, the writer received inestimable aid from his research assistant, Susan L. Courtney. Bibliographic research for the current undertaking was carried on by the compiler in libraries on four continents, and was greatly assisted by a number of individuals, among them: Herr Helmut Drubba of the Bibliothel: of the Technische Hochschule, Hannover, Germany; Dr. T. Kawai of the Tenri Central Library, Tenri University, Japan; the staff of the Library of Stellenbosch University; and Frau Benseler and Herr Strohmeyer of the Library of the South-West African Scientific Society, Windhoek.

But the bibliography is far from complete. It has been compiled from a wide variety of sources: other bibliographies, footnotes and references in books and articles, and the card catalogues of several libraries. Wherever possible, the compiler has consulted the reference in its original, has read or at least scanned it, and has made brief commentary upon it. Nevertheless, fully half of the citations still remain unseen by him, and consequently stand herein without commentary, and often only with partial citation. However, it is felt that a partial citation is better than no citation; and that it is better to have a partially complete bibliography now than no bibliography at all: hence the publication of this partial, incomplete and probably somewhat inaccurate listing. [...]