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THE NEW CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY - Coggle Diagram
THE NEW CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY
Definition
term that was bor during the '80s related to social economic changes that happen due to globalization and in terms of social and spatial space
needs to be politicized studying the quality, hegemony and the differences between different cultural groups > interactions, interviews
Challenges to early concepts
MODERNIZATION
tools
with which humans transform the environment are changing due to
mechanization
environmental
adaptation
through techniques can no longer explain the diversity of human presence and diffusion accross the globe
the idea of cultural centers (foyers) and diffusion is complicated by
new models of cultural transmission
URBANIZATION
the
genre de vie
approach is not quite suitable to analyze
urban
environments
ethnographic societies are disappearing across the globe thanks to their increasing
exchanges with and presence in the city
DISCOURSES AND REPRESENTATIONS
the ways in which people
think
about the world and
talk
about the world has an impact on the production of landscapes
beyond techniques and the resources of the environment, the ideas that people have about
nature
, the
universe
,
god
or
other cultures
has a
material
impact on the shape and use of landscapes
ideas: impact on the
distribution
of human societies across the Earth's surface
Critique: the superorganic approach to culture
Culture
belongs to human groups, not individuals
as an entity, stands above individuals
the whole, not the part, is the determining factor
has the power to influence the territorial dynamics, but you don't know what exactly it is > approach based on social anthropological studies
you have to approach in a critical way and understand the differences inside the concept
Theory of culture
outlined by the anthropologists Alfred Kroeber and Robert Lowie during the first quarter of the twentieth century, later elaborated by Leslie White and passed on to Carl Sauer and a part of his students at Berkeley
Culture viewed as an
entity above man
, not reducible to the actions of individuals, mysteriously responding to
laws of its own
3 major consequences
environmental determinism is replaced with
cultural determinism
culture seems much more
homogeneous
than it really is
the favourite image of the
romantic ethnographer
is a seamless superorganic unit within whose collective embrace the individual simply disappears into a cloud of mystic harmony
this perspective results in
reification
> you consider only few aspects of a culture, you simplify its features, we don't understand the conflicts that are inside every single social group
world described by the cultural geographers > world in which the
individual
is largely
absent
,
consensus prevails
, deviance is ignored; world untouched by intracultural conflict
Reification
objectification, turning something into an
object
or an
abstraction
involves separating out something from the original context in which it occurs, and placing it in another context, in which it lacks some or all of its
original connections
yet seems to have powers or attributes which it doesn't really have
leads to stereotyping
people use stereotyping to speed up thought processes in their daily lives
people attribute a set of
complex characteristics to individuals
they barely know on the basis of preconceived notions
Culture as power
a Marxist approach: culture is seen as a
material
relation
determined by the
economy
, by
consumption
domain of
ideology
and
hegemony
> it reflects the values and ideas of the dominant class
approach inspired by the Center of Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) at the University of Birmingham, England
people that have much power can impose their hegemony, so there are a lot of inequalities in the production of this culture
Maps of meaning
first book that uses the new approach to culture
geographers need to study the dynamic of power to understand the symbols that are produced by the approach
symbols: semiotic elements that have to be considered as messages with meanings
culture is political > rejection of the traditional notion of its
unitary view
and recognition of the
plurality
of cultures
the meanings will be contested according to the interests of those involved
Culture as a semiotic system
Duncan analyses the relationship between landscape and the pursuit of power in the city of Kandy (Sri Lanka) in the 19th century
landscape is not the only result of genres de vie, it can be consciously produced to further the interests of those in power
an architecture and the built form don't necessarily arise organically from genres de vie but can be used to materialize ideologies and beliefs
Thick description: toward and interpretative theory of culture (1973)
culture is
public
, it isn't a common structure of
behavior
but a common structure of
communication
cultural (anthropological) analysis is a matter of leaning to
converse
with others