Defining ‘cultural geography’

Although cultural geography is arguably one of the most vibrant and contested subfields within human geography, it’s definition is certainly not proving as easy to identify... 

Conventional themes of cultural geography have included plant and animal domestication, technological and material practises, ecologies of water and fire engineering, modes of agriculture and human conduct in various geographical landscapes (Johnson et al., 2000).

 However, since the 1990’s it appears there has been a shift in cultural studies from simply looking at how different communities of people operate, to why they might practise certain activities, such as farming methodology and hazard mitigation, in a particular way.

 In order to achieve this perspective it is now encouraged that as geographers we take on a more ‘holistic approach’ and look analytically at communities cultural beliefs in terms of religious views, language, architecture, music, dance, gender roles, work ethics etc (Heatwole, 2006). 

Overall, I think that despite the definition above being a bit "wordy" it is still a good base to begin a new topic with. I also feel that there would be several achievable activities that could be used to encourage students to begin thinking in the more holistic way that the definition demonstrates. One activity I have in mind for the classroom would be to produce two laminated fact cards for students to have on the table in front of them. The first card would introduce a family and their basic "way of life" and cultural beliefs, alongside what particular methods of farming they use – links could then be highlighted between cultural beliefs of say gender roles and how they farm e.g. females are thought as of the 'homemakers' and so the farming process is male-dominated in this particular case study.  The second card would only have a description of a certain community’s cultural views and the task would be for the students to use this background information to suggest what farming methods they might then practise. A similar task could be set up looking at why certain societies inhabit the flanks of volcanoes and look at their cultural beliefs regarding volcanic eruptions. By doing this type of activity I think it would really illustrate to students how understanding a particular communities culture and beliefs can help us to appreciate why they choose to operate in the way they do.

Heatwole. C.A., (2006) Culture:Ageographical Perspective. Found at: http://www.p12.nysed.gov/ciai/socst/grade3/geograph.html#geo and cult

Johnston. R.J et al., (2000) The Dictionary of Human Geography, 4th edition, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.