Parsons, James (1915–1997)

James Jerome “Jim” Parsons was a noted cultural geographer in the tradition of Carl Sauer. He was a professor in the geography department at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1948 to 1986. He was an advisee and student of Carl Sauer, long recognized as one of the most influential modern geographers. Parsons obtained his PhD in 1948 at Berkeley and was hired to stay there. As a student of Sauer's, and because he never left Berkeley, Parsons is often so directly linked to Sauer as to not be seen as different from his mentor.

A review of his academic work and publication record suggests that Parsons was a generalist and that the topics he researched and studied were closely aligned with the Berkeley School of ...