Geography; The Cultural Component.: Cultural Models:

Purpose of this Blog

The purpose of this blog is to aid mine as well as others (teachers, students and the public) understanding and knowledge in the subject field of Geography, with particular emphasis on the human domain; specifically cultural geography. This is an area I know limited about, in comparison to my specialism, and an area that I have come to find neglected in school education (*explained below). Firstly, this blog will introduce the concepts of GEOGRAPHY, to give details to those with limited understanding and experience; to outline the complexity of this ever changing subject and field. Secondly, and introduction to cultural geography and its branches will be outlined, with some sub-division examine in more detail than others. This is based on what I feel is lacked in education and the curriculum. Finally, a list of resources and references will be presented, which can be used for KS3 and used for all exam boards at GCSE level.

It needs to be noted that cultural geography is multidisciplinary and multifaceted within the geographical field, so overlaps into other geographical disciplines. I have tried to keep it purely separated for the sake of this blog, but it can be used for addition disciplines.

*This statement is based on my interpretation of the National Curriculum (NC) and GCSE specifications, where some of the branches within cultural geography e.g. sexuality and space, children's geography, music and behavioural geography are not fully acknowledged or identified within the NC for geography or in GCSE/A-Level specifications. In all honesty, cultural geography seems to be side-lined and/or integrated within economic, development and population geography. I feel for people (teachers, students and the public) to fully understand the scale and magnitude of geography, they need to be informed of the different branches and sub division within geography/cultural geography; highlighting individual branches of geography, whilst at the same time, explain and identifying how the different branches connection and are in relation to one another. For example, a number of schools in Leicestershire in year 9 look at music festivals and there locations, but they fail to highlight the key concepts of geography within that topic. For example, that topic would include cultural geography in the form of musical, behavioural, sexuality and tourism geography, but these are not identified and explained, leading to narrow-minded approaches within society. No wonder people assume geography is just colouring in, volcanoes and rocks.

The different branches and sub-branches of cultural geography will be explain in due course.

Sunday 15 September 2013

Cultural Models:

I have tried to research cultural models (most things in geography has model!) and have yet to find any relevant models on culture. I have found some to do with employment culture and recruitment, but none in the context of geography. The following images are some images (models) of cultural identity and internal/external factors. These are relevant as they can act as visual tools to aid pupils understanding of culture and its influences. They don’t have names, which makes remembering them a little easier! J

The following images illustrate diagrams that can be used in lessons to illustrate cultural diversity, and what components and fields influence and create a culture(s). Some 'models' are more complex than others, with an emphasis needed to be put on time and the interconnection of the different and diverse components of culture.