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CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY AND THE INVENTION OF THE ELSEWHERE - Coggle Diagram
CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY AND THE INVENTION OF THE ELSEWHERE
Emergence of cultural geography as a discipline
15th-17th century: period of intense exploration of the world by European powers
made possible by the improvements in tecnology > better ships, navigation tools, mapping techniques
accounts from distant lands and maps spread with the help of new printing press > new age of scientific and intellectual inquiry
encounter with new cultures poses a series of philosophical questions of western societies
culture
: idea that the humanity of human beings is expressed in the distinctive practices that they adopt as solutions to the challenges of existence and of their environment
infinitive varieties of solutions
to the challenges posed by human existence
Paradox of enlightment
human dignity is understood to be rooted in the universal human capacity of
reason
when people engage in cultural practices that are unfamiliar or disturbing to the European observer, they appear
irrational
and undeserving of recognition and respect
World map of Colonialism in 1800
Enlightment and the challenge of cultural pluralism
> tension between universalistic concepts such as human right and the realities of cultural diversity
Liberalism
: all individual share a capacity of reason and self-government
the theory of developmental history modifies this universalism with the notion that these capacities only merge at a certain stage of civilisation
Colonialism
: "the White Man's Burden", Rudyard Kipling (1899), symbol of British High Imperialism
German School
anthropogeography
comes from physical geography > the physical aspects of the environment have an important impact on the human society
vision of Ratzel: two types of races
Naturvolker society
: based on the concept that this society can't change its destiny
Kulturvolker society
: the cultural raises can adopt the vision of a line space > I can occupy other spaces, this is the basis of the expansion
linked with the evolutionary ecology of Charles Darwin (1859)
Environmental determinism
: idea that the environment (soil, landforms, climate) determines the patterns of human culture and societal development
an area's physical characteristics are believed to have a strong impact on the phsychological outlook of its inhabitants > spread throughout a population and define the behavior and culture of a society
related to the idea of
Lebenstratum
(living space): people that successfully adapted to one location would proceed naturally to another, this expansion to fill available space was a natural and necessary feature of any healthy species
French School
vision of Paul Vidal de la Blache: recognizes the impact of the environment on human societies but takes a different approach
strong correlation between a social fact and a geographical fact > the task of the geographer is to study this system of relations
Holism
the distinctive contribution of geography is that it tackles geographical and social phenomena as a whole
plants get organized physiologically to adapt to the environment influences according to elevation, weather, drought, humidity
they modifie the outer features of the plants, but alsoharmonize between one another to divide up and occupy space
beings come to join and to unite, finding advantage and profit in the conditions determined by the presence of the others
Forest
: a kind of collective being, in which trees, undergrowth, fungi and a host of equally dedicated hosts - insects, termites, ants - coexist in temporary harmony
presented as
organized groups
, assosiations governed by a balance that man constantly disturbs or restores by putting his hand to it
environment as correlative and synonymous with adaptation
manifested in a series of interrelated phenomena set in motion by general causes
Possibilism
in opposition to
Determinism
counters a
linear, teleological
view of human progress and development
we try to understand the single element adapted in relation to the environment, there's the possibility to adapt
we can change the result because the human action can be independent from the environmental condition
GENRE DE VIE - WAY OF LIFE
problem: the risk of a complete descriptive approach > you can identify the characteristics of the way of life, but you need to understand why there is this particular way of life
the mode of subsistence developed over time frome the resources of the local environment that is occupied and used by the human population
collective organization with the aim of producing and maintaining the social, economic and religious life of a group in a given geographical space
Tableau de la géografie de la France
> establishes regional geography and regional monographs as a key contribution of cultural geography
Political dimensions of his work
> diversity of landscapes is not a threat to political unity; these various trait are brought together to shape the contours of a nation
American School
Sauer
son of German immigrants
taught at the University of California Berkeley
strongly influenced by the work of European geographers
refers to the work of Vidal de la Blache
the regional monographs that proceeded from his school expressed far more adequately than had been done before the full form content and structural relation of the landscape
cultural landscape: the culminating expression of the organic area
result of human action on landscapes: man is the main factor of change and transformation
natural landscapes are made of row material
the problem of the action of the human society on the natural landscapes is the production of a cultural landscape
refuses the deteministic approach but uses some inspiration from de la Blache
the landscape can change and produce the evolution of the cultural one
a new culture produces a new cultural landscape
it collects the signs of the change inside the human group that change the cultural asset
MORPHOLOGY OF LANDSCAPE
CHOROS
> unity between life and landscape
LANDSCAPE
> system that humans are part of
THE HUMAN FACTOR
> humans transform or fragilize the landscape
Legacy
for conceptualizing the relations between people and place
Humanist and critical approach
> a good deal of the meaning of area lies beyond scientific regimentation
Environmental approach
> through culture, humans exploit natural forms, alter them and, in many cases, can go as far as to destroy them