Cultural geography

Cultural Spheres world

Descriptive map of London poverty, 1889 Wellcome L0074435

Inglehart Values Map

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Gong and Chime Culture Map

Cultural geography is a subfield of human geography which focuses on the study of cultural norms and their variations across the world. It examines how culture—with its various identities, practices, beliefs, and spaces—is both shaped by and shapes the physical landscape and environment. Cultural geography is interested in how cultural processes interact with other aspects of social life, including economics, social structures, and politics, as well as the natural environment.

Overview

Cultural geography explores the ways in which space, place, and landscape are central to the production, maintenance, and transformation of cultures. It involves the study of cultural phenomena such as language, religion, art, music, and national identity, and how these are expressed in the physical space. This field also looks at the distribution of cultural traits and how they spread over space and time, a process known as cultural diffusion.

Key Concepts

Space and Place

In cultural geography, space refers to a location which has no social connections for a human being. Conversely, place is a space to which people have attached meanings and values. Cultural geographers study how places are made, imagined, and managed by people, and how these places influence human behavior and social relations.

Cultural Landscape

The concept of the cultural landscape is central to cultural geography. It refers to the visible imprint of human activity and culture on the landscape. This includes buildings, fields, cities, and other modifications to the earth's surface. Cultural landscapes are read and interpreted to understand cultural practices and their evolution over time.

Identity and Power

Cultural geography also examines how culture and identity are constructed and how they intersect with issues of power and politics. This includes studies on gender, race, ethnicity, and class, and how these social categories shape, and are shaped by, geographical spaces.

Research Methods

Cultural geographers use a variety of research methods, including qualitative methods like interviews, ethnographies, and participant observation, as well as quantitative methods and GIS (Geographic Information Systems) to map cultural phenomena. The choice of method often depends on the research question and the nature of the data being studied.

Subfields and Related Areas

Cultural geography overlaps with several other areas of geography and interdisciplinary studies, including:

• Social geography: Focuses on the relationship between society and space, including issues of social policy, inequality, and justice.
• Environmental geography: Examines how cultural beliefs and practices affect the environment and vice versa.
• Urban geography: Studies cities and urban life, including the cultural aspects of urban development and planning.
• Political geography: Investigates the spatial expression of political behavior, including the cultural underpinnings of political ideologies and movements.

Conclusion

Cultural geography offers valuable insights into the complex ways in which cultures and societies are intertwined with the physical landscape. By examining the cultural dimensions of human life, cultural geographers contribute to a deeper understanding of the diverse ways in which people inhabit and give meaning to the world.