What is Culture?
Culture is the characteristics of
a particular group of people, defined by everything from language, religion,
cuisine, social habits, music and arts.
NOTE: there can be several
cultures over time, in which can occupy many areas (cities, countries, etc),
and can vary in size and magnitude. Examples include drug culture, youth
culture, etc. Culture(s) make up a social community (society).
Cultural geography is the study
of cultural products and norms and their variations across and relations to
spaces and places. It focuses on describing and analysing the ways language,
religion, economy, government and other cultural phenomena (sexuality,
behaviour, etc) vary or remain constant, from one place to another and on
explaining how humans function spatially.
The areas of study of cultural
geography are very broad:
- Globalization has been theorised as an explanation for cultural convergence. For example globalization has allowed cultures to become more globally connected and recognized. Westernization or other similar processes such as modernisation, americanisation, islamisation and others are also linked within the globalisation of culture.
- Cultural area differentiation, as a study of differences in way of life encompassing ideas, attitudes, languages, practices, institutions and structures of power and whole range of cultural practices in geographical areas.
- Study of cultural landscapes and cultural ecology (cultural hotspots).
- Other topics include spirit of place, colonialism, post-colonialism, internationalism, immigration, migration and ecotourism (cultural tourism).
Origin:
Cultural geography was studied in
Ancient times (AD 168), but in academic study it first emerged as an
alternative to the environmental determinist theories at the early Twentieth
century, which had believed that people and societies are controlled by the
environment in which they develop. Rather than studying pre-determined regions
based upon environmental classifications, cultural geography became interested
in cultural landscapes (created/used/inspired by man). This was led by Carl O.
Sauer (called the father of cultural geography), at the University of
California, Berkeley. Sauer saw that
cultures and societies both developed out of their landscape, but also shaped
them too.
In with the New:
The new areas of Cultural
Geography; areas overlooked in the NC and in GCSE/A-Level Specifications:
Since the 1980s, a new cultural
geography has emerged, drawing on a diverse set of theoretical traditions,
including Marxist political-economic models, feminist theory, etc. A particular
area of interest in the field is that of identity politics and construction of
identity in the following studies. Some within the new cultural geography have
turned their attention to critiquing some of its ideas, seeing its views on
identity and space as static.
- Examples of areas of study include:
- Feminist geography
- Children's geographies
- Some parts of Tourism geography
- Behavioural geography
- Sexuality and space
- Some more recent developments in Political geography
- Music Geography
·
These will be covered in greater detail at a
later date!
THE ABOVE SUBDIVISION OF CULTURAL
GEOGRAPHY SHOULD BE TAUGHT AND LEARNT INDIVIDUALLY AS WELL AS USED TOGETHER AND
INTERLINKED.
References:
- Debres, Karen (2005) ‘Burgers for Britain: A Cultural Geography of McDonald's UK’. Journal of Cultural Geography 22.
- Livescience (2013) What is Culture? [online] available from < http://www.livescience.com/21478-what-is-culture-definition-of-culture.html > [30/06/13]
- Jordan-Bychkov, Terry G.; Domosh, Mona; Rowntree, Lester (1994). ‘The human mosaic: a thematic introduction to cultural geography’. New York: HarperCollinsCollegePublishers.
Introductory clip to Cultural Geography.
Additional definition
ReplyDelete"Cultural geography is the study of the many cultural aspects found throughout the world and how they relate to the spaces and places where they originate and then travel as people continually move across various areas"