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Changes in Geography over the Last Century: Evidence from Doctoral Dissertations
Geography as a field has undergone dramatic changes in terms of where it is taught, the growing presence of women in the field, and in the relative prominence of various specialties. Using a database which includes the title, author, gender, date, university, and specialty for every geography doctoral dissertation written in the United States over the last 120 years, I track changes in the field along all of these dimensions. I examine how specializations in geography have shifted over the last century and how these are related to particular universities. I provide an overview of the different schools in geography and their influence within separate historical periods. And I look at changes in the percentage of women completing doctoral dissertations and how this relates to geographical sub-disciplines.