Integration in geography: Hydra or Chimera?

Integration: how many and diverse are the connotations of this word! Emotional responses can range from fascination to panic. For about a century now, geography texts have held up “integration” as a Holy Grail, a nec plus ultra many today believe that if the discipline is to survive in the future it must reintegrate its many branches, project an integrated self-image and bolster its claims to an integrated image of the world. Well, how has such rhetoric worked in the past? Have geographers fare better with integrated or dispersed world views? And regardless of intellectual preference, what has geography gained or lost through efforts to align its research and teaching with ongoing societal interests? Can integration make monsters? I’d like to introduce here two imaginary creatures, the Hydra and the Chimera, hoping that they may raise some doubts and queries about the issue of integration in geography.