Scale as Relation: Musical Metaphors of Geographical Scale

Author(s): Richard Howitt

Source: Area, Vol. 30, No. 1 (Mar., 1998), pp. 49-58
Published by: The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers)
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Area (1998) 30.1, 49-58

Scale as relation: musical metaphors of

geographical scale

RichardHowitt
School of Earth Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109 AUSTRALIA.
Email: richard.howitt(mq.edu.au

Revised manuscript received 25 September 1997.

Summary The concept of geographical scale, despite being one of geography's foun
dational concepts, has been undertheorized compared to other core concepts such as
environment, space and place. Two aspects of the concept of geographical scale (size and
level) are relatively well recognized. A third aspect (scale as relation) is not. In this
exploratory paper, the implications of the metaphors conventionally used to think and
write about scale are considered, and some musical metaphors of geographical scale are
used to sketch out the importance of scale as a relation.

The rise of postmodernism in the social sciences Why metaphors matter

has drawn critical attention to the importance of
metaphor in representing, analysing and interpreting Metaphors shape the way we think about and
social and material realities. In particular, we have interact with both the material world and the world
seen wide adoption and adaptation of spatial of ideas. Ifwe consider the ways inwhich key new
metaphors beyond the discipline of geography. metaphors (or new uses of existing metaphors)
Despite its importance, for example in influential shape the way we think, speak and teach about
metaphors of globalization, geographical scale has aspects of complex and dynamic geographies, we
remained undertheorized. Since the late 1980s, there can glimpse the power of metaphor to illuminate the
have been consistent calls to theorize scale better (eg issues with which we work. Consider, for example,
Smith 1988; Herod 1991; Jonas 1994), and scale is how Doreen Massey's brilliant 'layers of invest
certainly on the agenda for discussion (eg the recent ment' metaphor (Massey 1984, 118) has influenced
special issue of Political Geography, see Delaney and the way geographers think, speak and teach about
Leitner 1997; Agnew 1997; Leitner 1997; Herod historical transformation of industrial localities; or the
1997; Miller 1997; Brenner 1997). This exploratory way inwhich the musical metaphor of 'polyphony'
paper' considers how employing new metaphors of (eg McDowell 1994) has changed how geographers
geographical scale might lead to new insights into the and others deal with issues of representation,
nature of geographical scale and its utility as an difference and diversity.
analytical and conceptual tool in constructing applied At some level, allwriting, indeed all thinking, relies
peoples' geography (Harvey 1984; Howitt 1993a). on metaphors and abstractions to communicate
Specifically, the paper considers some musical meta (Ollman 1993). Our representations, even of simple
phors of geographical scale, in order to throw some things, can never be the thing itself.When it comes
light on a facet of scale that remains undeveloped in to our representations of complex things-dynamic,
discussions of scale-its constitution not just as a multifaceted, complex geographical totalities, for
matter of size and level, but also as a relation.Musical example-our reliance on metaphor to establish,
scales provide a useful metaphor for understanding clarify and analyse connections, comparisons and
the ways in which geographical scale involves re meaning is even greater. It seems, however, that it
lations between elements of complex and dynamic is easy to lose sight of the metaphorical element in
geographical totalities. some representations.

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50 Howitt

The increased importance of spatial metaphors in cultural realities should be empowering, and provide
the social sciences has been noted by several a basis for social action. Following Oilman's sugges
observers (Soja 1989; Barnes and Duncan 1992; tion that we should refuse to 'take the boundaries
Massey 1993; Smith and Katz 1993; Demeritt 1994; that organize our world as given and natural'
Price-Chalita 1994; Gibson-Graham 1995; Silber (Ollman 1993, 38), an applied peoples' geography
1995). Despite this,we rarely find thorough decon would aim to construct concepts and abstractions
struction of these metaphors, or careful explor that cast new light on the relationships and pro
ation of either the genealogies of the terms used, cesses that produce unjust, unsustainable and
or the content of the concepts involved.2 We also inequitable realities, inwhich diversity and difference
find some confusion between abstractions and are subsumed by privileged discourses of power and
metaphors inways that, as Jonas observes, conflate meaning (eg Howitt 1995; Rushdie 1991; Morrison
the application of analytical abstractions and meta 1992). In this task, challenging dominant metaphors
phorical generalizations (Jonas 1994). In geography, and exploring new ones is an important part of
of course, spatial metaphors have long been geographers' conceptual toolkits. Doing this in
naturalized as invisible 'master metaphors': relation to the rather chaotic concept of scale is long
overdue. It is to be hoped that such work might
that is,metaphors not simply used to adorn or enliven
help to unsettle the dominant binaries and master
... writing otherwise notorious for itsoften unpalatable
narratives that constrain the way inwhich geographi
style but actually playing a central role in the shaping
cal 'problems' are understood, and may open up
and controlling of sociological [and geographical]
theory and research (Silber1995, 324). new spaces for understanding and action. In terms of
the agenda implied in Harvey's manifesto for the
The naturalization of metaphors leads to them all but discipline, there is an urgent need for empower
losing their metaphorical value. Metaphors such ing, spatialized politics of scale in the context of
as 'system', 'market', 'machine', 'organism', 'body', globalization in all its diverse forms.
'field', 'boundary', 'text', 'centre', 'margin' and Music has previously been alluded to as a source
'development', for example, have all become of metaphor for work on geographical scale (Bird's
naturalized to the point of invisibility as metaphors. use of 'scale modulation' 1993, 42). The seren
Indeed, many of the metaphorical terms used to talk dipitous homonym for both geographical and
about geographical scale (local, regional, national, musical scales provides a starting point, but there
global, etc) have become naturalized as categorical is, as yet, no thorough discussion of how
givens and are no longer deliberately constructed for musical metaphors might provide new insights into
a specific analytical or political purpose-if indeed geographical scale.
they ever were (Howitt 1993b).3 They have lost their
identity as analytical abstractions and have come to
Geographical scale and geographical
be seen as things in themselves to be dealt with
totalities
categorically.
Our ability to 'see', and consequently our ability to Scale has played a pivotal role in the development
analyse, the ways in which such naturalized terms of geography as an academic discipline, and it is
are themselves constructed socially (ways which appropriate to consider it as one of geography's
subsequently constrain and construct knowledge) foundational concepts. Harvey (1996, 7) identifies
is increasingly restricted. The subtle shift from space, time and nature as foundational concepts, but
metaphorical generalizations or abstractions to acknowledges (1996, 41) that spatial scale has been
unthinking applications of naturalized scale labels, a source of central confusion for the discipline of
disguises a shift to a rather naive and simplistic geography. Horvath, in contrast, suggests environ
objectivism, even in those parts of the disci ment, place, space and scale (Horvath 1996). While
pline ostensibly committed to a more 'cultural' or the completeness of this list might be debated, it
'humanistic' turn. provides a useful reference point for discussing
Ifwe take Harvey's notion of an applied peoples' how the discipline has dealt with scale. Following
geography (1984) as a reference point for evaluating Horvath, we could characterize the emergence of
geographers' efforts to understand and intervene descriptive regional geography as a shift from
in the world, the categories and concepts we use emphasis on 'environment' to an emphasis on
to describe, analyse and affect material, social and 'place', and the subsequent positivist quantitative

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 Scale as relation 51

Table 1 Scale as size-Haggett's representation of comparative scales and terminology of regional hierarchies

Approximate size (sq miles) Fennemann 1916 Unstead 1933 Linton 1936 Whittlesey 1954 Map scales for analysis

10 Site
10 Stow Stow Locality 1:10 000
102 District Tract Tract District 1:50 000
103 Section Sub-region Section Province 1:1 000 000
104 Province Minor region Province
105 Major division Major division Realm 1:5 000 000
106 Major region Continent

Source: Haggett 1965, 264

revolution as a shift in emphasis from 'place' and intertwined foundational concepts of co-equal
'space'. To some extent, elements of the Marxist, importance. And Ifurtherwish to suggest that think
cultural and environmental turns in the discipline in ing about scale itself as more than just 'size' and
the 1970s and 1980s could be seen as efforts to 'level', will help lead us towards useful insights into
re-emphasize 'place' and 'environment'. What is both the nature of scale and the specifics of its
notable in this reading of the development of role(s) in thisweb of relationships.
geography is that 'scale' is treated as a derivative or
implicit element in the discipline's intellectual trajec
tory. In this, we can see at work what might be
Three facets of scale: size, level and
labelled a 'handmaiden' theory of scale. Scale is seen relation
not as an independent concept in its own right, but In this brief discussion of scale as having aspects
as limited to playing a role as handmaiden to the of size, level and relation, only the latter will be
more important concepts of place, space and considered in depth.
environment.
In terms of complex and dynamic geographical Scale as size: map scale as a metaphor of
totalities, however, it is the interaction of environ geographical scale
ment, space and place (and scale) that is fundamen Dealing with scale as an analogue of size has been
tal in creating the geographies that we study. This one of the principal metaphors used in dealing with
'handmaiden' theory of scale risksmisunderstanding geographical scale. The genealogy of this approach
not only scale, but also the relationships between the is outlined by Haggett (1965, 263-5). While this
nature of geographical totalities and the core con approach has proved productive in tackling issues of
cepts we use to understand, examine and respond to description, representation and analysis, it risks a
them. Because these relationships involve dialectical reductionist problem when the metaphorical ele
linkages, none of the 'core' concepts can reasonably ment and partial nature of size as an analogue of
be understood as a handmaiden in the sense of scale is naturalized. The summary table (Table 1), for
being inferior to the others, because each is a example, provides a useful reminder of the powerful
handmaiden of the others-each is necessarily influence of reductionist metaphors such as map
implied within the others. Without place, scale and scale, which reduce geographical scale to an issue of
environment, we risk reducing space to the rather size and a hierarchy of size-specific labels.
sterile metaphor of mathematical relations of dis
tance; without space, scale and environment, place Scale as level: a pyramid metaphor for
risks becoming an idealized notion, which misses geographical scale
many key material facets of 'realworld' geographies. Previous approaches to scale have also emphasized
In arguing that scale is a foundational concept for scale as level. This has often referred to a level of
geography, I am not suggesting that it should be complexity, or more simply to a level in a hierarchy.
given either conceptual primacy or conceptual inde One of the more interesting recent efforts to deal
pendence. Rather, Iseek to assert the importance of with scale as level is Edwards' paper on environ
scale in a web of relationships between dialectically mental security (Edwards 1996), which explores a

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52 Howitt

geometric metaphor of scale using pyramids in federal states, republics, monarchies, authoritarian
which a multi-faceted web of relations between governments, democracies and so on. So, clearly,
various systems of security-military systems, there is no simple or necessary correspondence
economic systems, political systems, societal systems between the metaphorical label 'national' and level,
and environmental systems-constructs a distinct any more than there was in relation to size. So, when
set of issues, processes and relationships, which we refer to issues involving the 'national scale'
Edwards represents as a pyramid, at specific scales. what is being implied?
While this geometric metaphor does provide valu By thinking about aspects of scale as relation, we
able insights into the relationship(s) between may begin to fill in some of the gaps left by a
environmental security and other aspects of security too-narrow focus on size and level as metaphorical
at various scales, the reliance on an implicit nested facets of scale. Clearly, when dealing with complex
hierarchy ultimately restricts the efficacy of the national geographies (geographical totalities ana
metaphor, in which interscalar links are difficult to lysed at a national scale), we need to consider a
represent or analyse, and in which the 'individual' number of relations between geopolitics, territory,
scale nesting beneath the last of the Russian structure, culture, history, economy, environ
doll-style pyramids is an inadequate representation ment, society and so on. Explaining justwhat makes
of the multiple individuals who in fact provide a the term 'national' an appropriate scale label in a
source for developing these systems. Reliance on particular circumstance, therefore, requires us to
such nested hierarchies to represent the complexity address these relations precisely. That is, it is these
of interscalar relations has been considered else relational, dialectical webs that make the word
where (Howitt 1993b, 38-9) and does not need to 'national' a sensible metaphorical label for examining
be revisited here. certain sorts of geographical totalities. In post-Cold
War Europe, for example, the label 'national' has
Scale as relation: an underemphasized facet of scale intruded to unsettle many aspects of the hegemony
Building on the assertion (Howitt 1993b, 38) that of nation states as the locus of 'national' issues.
scale is better understood dialectically than hier
archically, it is argued here that, in addition to
aspects of size and level, we should think of Musical metaphors and scale as relation
geographical scale as also having an important
facet of relation. While this paper explores musical Ibecame interested in exploring musical metaphors
metaphors to illustrate this point, letme first spell out for geographical issues when Ibegan to recognize
what ismeant inmore conventional terms. the powerful links between particular musics and
When we talk about the 'national' as a geographi particular places (or at least particular musical cul
cal scale, it is clear that there is no simple or tures that we so often linked closely to particular
necessary correspondence between the scale label places). In terms of scales, for example, one can hear
and elements of either size or level of the geographi an Indian, Javanese or Arabic scale, even played on a
cal totality being referred to. In terms of spatial size, Western keyboard, and recognize its origins. Not
for example, both Singapore and Russia collect and only is there the serendipitous homonym for both
report information at the 'national' scale. For the musical and geographical scales, but there is also
entire twentieth century, Hong Kong has been a a parallel between what I have come to think of
'national' scale space-yet it has now disappeared as geographical totalities and musical totalities. In
into the territory of the Chinese national space. In music, analytically discrete elements such as scale,
addition to the issue of spatial size, other aspects of tempo, timbre, rhythm, pitch, melody and harmony
size (eg population, economic production, military construct musical totalities that are greater than the
expenditure, etc) also need to be acknowledged. So, sum of their component parts, in much the same
despite the efforts of some to quantify scale in terms way as I suggested earlier that the foundational
of relatively simple issues of size, there is clearly conceptual elements of environment, space, place
something else going on. Although the conventional and scale underpin geographical totalities that are
use of such a label ismore likely to be to emphasize greater than the sum of these component parts.
scale as level, rather than scale as size, the 'national Some of these parallels can be seen in the history of
scale' can also be seen to encompass a wide range relations between music, science, nature and
of organizational arrangements-unitary states, cosmological order (eg James 1994).

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 Scale as relation 53

Table 2 Major scale sequence

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
(tonic) whole tone whole tone half tone whole tone whole tone whole tone half tone (octave)

Table 3 C-major scale

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
C D E F G A B C'
(tonic) whole tone whole tone half tone whole tone whole tone whole tone half tone (octave)

Table 4 Dorian mode

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
D E F G A B C D'
(tonic) whole tone half tonev whole tone whole tone whole tone half tone whole tone (octave)

So, what is it about musical scale that might lead goes as per Table 2. In the case of the major scale
us to a better understanding of 'scale as relation' in starting at the note C, this produces the sequence
our discipline? First, let us consider what a scale is in shown inTable 3. Of course, a whole range of other
music. Fundamentally, it is a sequence of tones in a relationships (other scales) can be constructed
specified relationship to each other. The term is some more 'musical' (useful) than others; and some
derived from the Latin scala (ladder). InGreek, the meaning more within a specific musical tradition
preferred term is dromo (road). Regardless of the than others. Medieval Church music, for example,
starting point (in terms of pitch),4 a musical scale used a system of modes (arbitrarily,but interestingly,
provides a predictable sequence of notes. In com named after territorial entities from Ancient Greece)
posing a musical totality, a composer or performer that developed as the foundation of the musical
can use a specified scale to limit the range of tones scales that provide the foundations of diatonic tonal
to be included in a composition. A scale by itself, music (Karolyi 1965, 39-41). For example, the
however, does not constitute what a layperson (a Dorian mode was produced by starting the
non-musicologist) would understand as a compo sequence of notes used in a C-major scale at D
sition or musical totality. Rather, it is one of the rather than C. That is, the same elements were used,
blocks from which musical totalities, whether com but assembled in a different relationship to produce
position or performance, can be built. Composers a different scale (Table 4). In contrast to the familiar
and performers draw on skills inmany other areas to eight-tone diatonic scales of western musical tra
build musical totalities. But, and this can be seen ditions, Asian traditions often rely on a pentatonic or
from the effort that many performers put into mas five-tone arrangement (equivalent to the black keys
tering their scales, facilitywith scales is fundamental on a piano). Arabic music is characterized by a
to realization of musical vision-the enabling of seventeen-tone scale. Indian classical traditions are
one's musical imagination. dominated by scales whose sequence of notes are
linked to specific moods, times of the day and
An introduction to musical scales5 ceremonial functions. In the blues, a blend of major
Since about 1600 the most prominent scales in scale harmonies and modified minor scale melodies
mainstream western musical traditions have been (using the 'blue' notes of the root scale) is common.
diatonic scales (containing two halftone steps in an In the first half of the twentieth century, 'classical'
octave). For example, in a major scale, the sequence tonal music was challenged by many composers. The

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54 Howitt

Table 5 C-major scale; A-minor scale

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
C D E F G A B C'
(tonic) whole tone whole tone half tone whole tone whole tone whole tone half tone (octave)

(C-majorscale)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
A B C D E Fsharp G sharp A'
(tonic) whole tone half tone whole tone whole tone whole tone whole tone half tone (octave)

(ascending melodic A-minor scale-relative minor of C-major; note the tones in common between the two scales)

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
A' C F E D C B A
(tonic) whole tone whole tone half tone whole tone whole tone half tone whole tone (octave below)

(descending melodic A-minor scale-relative minor of C-major; note that all tones are common between the two scales)

'breakdown of traditional tonality' (Salzman 1967, 7), banned, as was bouzouki, baglama and rembetika
a shift away from diatonic tonality, can be seen in music inGreece earlier this century. During the reign
the music of Debussy, Schoenberg, Stravinsky and of the Colonels inGreece in the 1960s, the popular
others. The adoption of 'twelve-tone' and 'whole songs and tunes of Mikis Theodorakis were out
tone' scales signalled a shift from the approach in lawed. Similarly, authorities in the USA have con
which the tonal centre becomes the 'global' refer demned various musical forms, particularly jazz and
ence point for framing the resolution of a compo rock, in various times. Itwould not be difficult to
sition, towards manipulation of simultaneous draw a parallel between this privileging of certain
tonalities, and a more local contextualization of musical traditions as sacred, authorized and
sounds within a composition. In the case of desirable (and the criminalizing of others), and the
Stravinsky, for example, Salzman suggests that: dominance and authorization of certain approaches
'Context ... is everything and it is the context-the to geographical analyses (eg the hegemony of
new environment-that gives the familiar and con positivist analyses in the late 1960s, or certain sorts
ventional gestures a new and powerful inevitability' of Marxism in economic geography in the 1970s, or
(Salzman 1967, 51 ).At the time, the radical shifts in the current hegemony of globalization in various
tonality, the rethinking of how scale relationships discourses). Inmany ways, hegemonic forces have
within a composition might be constructed were sought to authorize limits on the range of expres
seen by musical conservatives to be pushing the sion of both the musical and the geographical
boundaries of musicality.6 imaginations.
The censorious response to the innovations of Inmost musical forms, it is rare to find a single
twentieth-century composers has been repeated tonal centre used throughout a composition without
many times in the political history of music. Indeed, alteration. Composers manipulate both scale (the
inmany times and places, certain scales, instruments, relationship between notes) and key (the specific
compositions and styles have been outlawed as notes included in a particular scale). Melodies might
threats to social order (ie threats to patterns emphasize notes that are outside the root scale of a
of privilege and injustice). The profane Dorian composition-as in the use of blue notes in blues,
mode was outlawed by Church authorities in jazz and rock; or the use of complex bends and
medieval Europe, and popular cultural expressions glissandos in Indian classical music. It is also com
criminalized. In the process, many popular tunes mon to find the use of a harmonic sequence, or a
were reconfigured in standardized scales. During development of scales related to the original tonality
English colonization of Ireland, the Irishbagpipe was (scale and key). For example, a composition might

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 Scale as relation 55

Table 6 Major scales in the key of C-major and G-major

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
C D E F G A B C'
(tonic) whole tone whole tone half tone whole tone whole tone whole tone half tone (octave)

(Majorscale in the key of C-major)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
G A B C D E Fsharp G'
(tonic) whole tone whole tone half tone whole tone whole tone whole tone half tone (octave)

(Majorscale in the key of G-major, the relative fifthof C-major;note the tones in common between the two scales)

'modulate' the keys and scales it uses between a ent in a geographical analysis that spans across
small number of related structures: modulating different geographical scales. What changes in such
between a major scale and its relative minor scale analysis is not the elements themselves (the features
(eg between C-major and A-minor)7, retaining on a landscape, the sites involved in a production
almost all the same notes, but changing the focal process, the ecological processes affecting a social
point of the music to a new tonic note (from C to A): formation, the cultural practices performed by
Table 5. Alternatively, a composition may maintain people), but the relationships that we perceive
the scale relationship (eg a diatonic major) but between them and the ways in which we might
modulate the key to its relative fifth (a major scale emphasize specific elements for analytical attention.
built on the fifth of the tonic in the original scale). For What we emphasize at one scale may not be
example, a composition inC-major may modulate to what we emphasize at another. For example, Ihave
G-major, producing a change in the tonal focus been involved at various times in researching differ
(from the note C as tonic, to the note of G as tonic), ent aspects of aluminium production and its impli
while changing only one tone within the scale (F cations at a variety scales (see Howitt 1992; 1993a;
natural to F sharp): Table 6. 1993b; 1993c; 1994; 1995; Howitt and Crough
1996):
Musical scales and the geographical imagination
* Aboriginal rights and interests in resources of the
In terms of thinking about geographical scale, we can
Weipa area (local scale)
begin to see something very interesting here. In the
* the economic and social geography of theWeipa
major scale in the key of C, we find the following
locality (local scale)
notes: C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C'. The same notes are to
* the corporate strategies and cultures of Comalco/
be found in the descending melodic minor scale in
CRA-RTZ and their investments in various parts of
the key of A-minor: A'-G-F-E-D-C-B-A, and most
Australia (regional and national scales) and the
of them are also in the major scale in the key of G:
world (international scale)
G-A-B-C-D-E-F-C'.8 In these new scales,9 how
* the Australian aluminium industry (national scale)
ever, the role played by any particular note in the
* the international aluminium industry (global scale)
sequence-its relationship to the starting point, or
tonic note-is quite different to its role in the original In each of these studies, the Comalco Ltd bauxite
scale sequence. In other words, the change of scale mine atWeipa, on the west coast of Australia's Cape
has not changed the nature of the notes (their York Peninsula, is an important element. Its relation
tonality), but has instead changed the relationships ship to the particular totality under examination in
between them-it has changed the relationship each case is quite different, in a way that is similar to
between the elements being brought together into a the way inwhich we might find a C note in several
musical totality. scales playing quite different roles in the musical
Ifwe shift back to the geographical totalities, the totality, even though neither the C note nor the
musical metaphor allows us to see that in a geo Weipa mine changes as a material phenomenon in
graphical totality,many elements will remain consist these different scale contexts. Inother words, what is

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56 Howitt

'significant' about theWeipa mine depends on the stronger foundation for delivering applied peoples'
scale context inwhich it is placed-it has a different geography.
significance ifone is considering its role in producing
social, cultural and environmental change within the
Weipa locality, than if one is considering its role Scale and the politics of applied peoples'
within the corporate strategies of CRA-RTZ Ltd, or geographies
the international geopolitics of either bauxite or
aluminium production. None of the possible 'The language of scale is too powerful to be treated
representations of this mine in these various scale simply as a dimension of spatiality' (Jonas 1994,
contexts can be treated as more 'real' than the 257). Jonas' insight confirms that the reduction of
others. In terms of the criteria established by an complex geography to a single dimension such as
applied peoples' geography approach (the strategic space is inadequate. In the realworld of geopolitics
demands of working towards Aboriginal em (at all geographical scales), where the geographical
powerment at Weipa), it may be (and indeed imagination makes it possible to envisage more just,
has been) necessary to undertake analyses at all equitable, sustainable and diverse futures, scale is a
these scales simultaneously, and to consider the foundational element. It is not an element of geo
strategic implications of findings on relations and graphical totalities to be derived from concepts such
processes at each scale of analysis. Itwould cer as space, time, environment (or nature) or place, but
tainly be inappropriate to assert an automatic pri is a co-equal (co-dependent) concept at the root of
macy of one scale of analysis (eg local impacts or the geographical imagination. In fact, we can find
globalized production issues). The geographical many real-world examples of the scale politics of
imagination would be unnecessarily fettered by spatiality, where governments, corporations and
such action. non-government organizations simultaneously con
struct different identities at different scales using
Scale as relation precisely the same elements (note the parallel here
Adopting a musical metaphor to consider how these with the musical example of a major scale and its
various sorts of and scales of analysis might intersect relative minor). In Australia, for example, trans
and inform each other facilitates a shift in under national corporations such as BHP, Arnotts, Holden
standing of scale from an (over)emphasis on scale and Comalco have all represented themselves as
as size and/or scale as level, to include aspects of having a 'local' (ie national) identity, at the same time
scale as relation. This allows us to consider not just as constructing a powerful 'global' identity from the
the sorts of connections (relations) that help to same corporate elements, in order to secure global
constitute particular geographical scales, but also to funds, markets, expertise and resources.
begin to see geographical scale as what Bertell In terms of applied peoples' geographies, re
Ollman calls a 'big-R'Relation-a factor in itself, a visioning (and subsequently revising) the nature and
structure, system or unit that can be abstracted from role of geographical scale in thisway provides a way
geographical totalities as having some relatively of rethinking the relationship between geographical
autonomous (though never independent) causal research and social action. In the context of in
efficacy (Ollman 1976). In other words, this creased policy emphasis on the global arena as the
approach may provide a better way for us to talk location of opportunity, accountability and pressure,
about why scale is a co-equal concept with more social action at scales other than the global are at risk
theorized notions such as environment, place and of being misunderstood or marginalized. A better
space. understanding of the politics of scale (including a
Recognizing scale as a Relation-a factor in the better understanding of the political implications of
construction and dynamics of geographical totalities scale as relation), provides one way of framing more
rather than simply as a product of geographical effective strategic responses to ostensibly 'global'
relations (a handmaiden to 'real' causal factors) pressures. It seems increasingly clear that applied
or simply as a matter of size and level, is a peoples' geography must urgently tackle the crucial
first step to recognizing how geographical analy questions of how to act at multiple scales simul
sis that is more scale-literate might provide taneously; how to think globally and act locally, at
more powerful insights into the nature and the same time as thinking locally and acting globally
dynamics of complex geographical totalities, and a (and at other scales simultaneously).

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 Scale as relation 57

Notes 9 It isworth noting here that themusicological distinction

between 'scale' and 'key' is easily confused by non
1 An earlier version of this paper was presented to the
musicologists. For instrumentalists, the term 'scale' is
Second JointConference of the Instituteof Australian often used as a shorthand to refer to the particular spatial
Geographers and New Zealand Geographical Society, arrangement of notes (for example on a fretboard)
University of Tasmania,Hobart, 28-31 January1997. I involved in producing melodies in a certain key. My
would like to thankRon Horvath and Bob Fagan for their intention is not to use musicological terminology as an
continued engagement with me on questions of scale.
analytical tool in geographical analysis.Rather, I simply
Iwould also like to acknowledge Area's anonymous
wish to consider itsvalue as a metaphorical tool. Like all
referees, Rochelle Braaf, Kathie Gibson, Sue Jackson,
metaphors, itsvalue in casting new lighton key issues is
Andy Jonas,Marcia Langton, PhilipO'Neill, David Rich,
diminished by interpretingit literally,or tryingto insiston
Sandra Suchet, Liza Tonkin and Jan Turner for their one-to-one correspondence between the substantive
helpful comments on various versions of these ideas. and metaphorical issues.That is,of course, the strength
2 There are some notable exceptions to this.For example, and limitationof metaphors.
Fraserand Gordon's detailed deconstruction of 'depen
dency' (1994), and the detailed consideration of the
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