Geographical culture is part of universal human culture.
Part 1 – introduction
“Geography is the only ideological subject in school that forms in students a comprehensive and systematic understanding of the Earth. That is why geographic culture is an integral part of general culture.”Vladimir Pavlovich Maksakovsky.
Today, people around the world continue to ask the age-old question:“How to equip your earthly Home for yourself and future generations?”
The wider (and deeper) the geographical horizons of a particular people, the more opportunities they have.
Today, a “geographical renaissance” is taking place in education, if you can call it that - they have turned their face to geography again.
In geography, the unfading romance of wanderings is surprisingly combined with a special, deeply scientific vision of the world. There is hardly any other science that would be equally interested Live nature and territorial organization of people's life and activities. Problems of interaction between nature and society.
Vladimir Pavlovich Maksakovsky devoted great attention the study of geographical culture as a world-historical phenomenon. Maksakovsky reveals the concept of “geographical culture”, identifying the following groups in it:
1- geographical knowledge involved in the formation of a scientific worldview;
2- polytechnic knowledge about science, technology, production and management, in the coverage of which geography participates “on an equal basis” with other academic disciplines;
3- environmental knowledge and skills, in the formation of which geography plays an outstanding role (at the same time these are elements of environmental culture);
4- geographical thinking;
5- specific “language” of geography, as an element of geographical culture.
Should be added:
- introduction of cartographic knowledge into the everyday life of society;
- fundamental knowledge in the field of political and socio-economic geography, contributing to the formation of a “market” culture.
The question of geographic culture is very relevant, because the level of this education is still not high enough. Geography at school is one of the
educational subjects, aimed at giving students a holistic understanding of modern world, about Russia’s place in this world, to develop cognitive interest to other peoples and countries.
K. D. Ushinsky, justifying the role of geography as academic subject, especially noted the importance of students’ knowledge of the geography of their homeland in preparing for independent life.
Part 2 – examples from work experience
How do I try to incorporate the ideas of geographic culture into the teaching process in my lessons? As an example, I chose lessons through which I try to continue shaping the image of Russia in different aspects, based on reliable facts and emotional images.
9th grade. The regional section, the theme “Central Russia” provides excellent opportunities for the formation of geographical culture in the broadest sense of this concept. After a brief general introduction, students are divided into groups at will, taking into account their interests. Each group receives the task of creating a route through the cities and towns of Central Russia and preparing a performance. The topics of these routes are: Group 1 – economists compile an overview of the major industrial centers of C.R. - mechanical engineering, metallurgy, chemical and textile industries (Moscow, Yaroslavl, Lipetsk, Nizhny Novgorod, etc.); Group 2 – art critics – estate museums associated with the names of great writers, artists, composers (Tolstoy, Chekhov, Turgenev, Yesenin, Tchaikovsky, Levitan); 3 group - let's call them pilgrims , which go to the cities of the Golden Ring, temple complexes - these are national shrines of the Russian people (Sergiev Posad, Rostov the Great, etc.); Group 4 – masters of golden handsmake a route by year and place where folk crafts originated and were preserved (Rostov enamel, Mstera, Palekh, Fedoskino, Zhestovo, Torzhok); Group 5 – naturalists go in search of natural monuments, national parks and reserves (Meshchera, Ugra, Lake Pleshcheyevo, Valdai, etc.); if desired, you can organize; 6 group - cities associated with the names of scientists and others. famous people(Lipetsk - Semenov-Tyan-Shansky, Kaluga - K.E. Tsiolkovsky, Vladimir - A.G. Stoletov, Korolev,) or travel around the cities - Science cities... Each group prepares a presentation using digital resources on the recommendation of the teacher, for example a portal Culture of the Russian Federation in the “Image of Russia” section where you can find objects of interest + Google maps, with the help of which a route is laid and travel time from point to point is calculated. The performances are illustrated with colorful presentations, musical fragments (where appropriate), as well as samples of folk crafts. Each group plans its own route contour map, marking “stopping places”. After the performances of all groups, you can overlay maps and find places where objects with different features coincide - draw a conclusion, for example, the city of Yaroslavl is not only ancient historical Center which is a UNESCO heritage site, but also a major industrial center where the world's first synthetic rubber plant was founded; or national park Meshchera, also associated with the name of the writer K.G. Paustovsky, who glorified these magnificent places in his works.
Students create their own projects in groups obtain information independently regulating your actions and the actions of your team members - this impliescommunicative aspect; cognitive growth interest (after all, many had no idea where famous writers or scientists were born and lived); they are also built on this material meta-subject connections with literature and history. Main idea or target such a lesson - to show the territory of Central Russia, which is significant for our country, from different sides: in economic, historical, cultural, natural senses; show the importance of preserving traditions for preserving the identity of our people, cultural heritage and natural factors; also show in geographical concentration - a combination in a certain territory of the most important objects for the Russian people. Of course, the red thread of this lesson is education patriotism. Also, each proposed route can become a topicFor research work or take a summer trip, which is what I do.
8th grade. When studying a topic"Vegetable and animal world Russia" or "Natural areas of Russia"I developed a lesson-conference “The importance of Russian forests.”The main idea is to destroy the stereotypical consumer idea of city dwellers about forests, to show their incredible importance in our Everyday life. I start the lesson by reading from a magnificent passage by K. G. Paustovsky “The Forest of Meshchera”. Then a challenge - “provocation” of the student: - “Why do we need detailed knowledge about forests if we live in a city?” Teacher: “I want to convince you that the forest plays a big role in the modern life of people, knowledge about forests will be useful, and you will help me with this. But first of all, look at the map natural areas, in what zone is our city built?” Carrying out requires preparation. Students first receive assignments in groups - to prepare speeches on behalf of people of different professions: 1) historians - “the formation of the Russian people in the forest zone, the forest fed and clothed...”; 2) economists - “how forest resources are used in industry - 20 thousand types of products; how wood is used individual species(pines, spruces, larches, birches, lindens, etc.); 3) a group of ecologists - “the forest is the lungs of the planet, the protection of arable land, water resources, etc.”; 4) doctors - “doctor’s advice - how to be treated with forests, a person’s physical and mental health”; 5) tourists - use photographs from personal archives of the annual school tours in Lembolovo as an example of our stay in the forest (photos of garbage heaps that other tourists leave behind); 6) forest defenders - foresters - “how people sometimes behave in the forest, what they leave behind and what are the consequences” (here you can also recall A.P. Chekhov’s lines from the play “Uncle Vanya” - “Russian forests are cracking under the ax... there are fewer and fewer forests , the rivers are drying up"; 7) culturologists - "the aesthetic significance of forests - forests have inspired many poets, musicians and artists" - poems by Bunin, excerpts from the works of Paustovsky, music by P.I. Tchaikovsky from “The Seasons” accompanies the display of paintings by great artists.
Lesson summary – reflection – are diverse: 1) test “Formation of the spiritual makeup of a Russian person according to Klyuchevsky (select from the list of traits formed by the forest); 2) a table called “Final document of the conference”, where students briefly enter all the main ideas of the lesson; (*attached) 3) you can offer to develop “Commandments for those going into the forest” at home; as well as acquaintance with the diversity of Russian forests - a change in forest communities in the meridial and latitudinal directions. 4) How do you understand the phrase of Academician Likhachev -“The forest is the center of morality”?– this discussion brings us to the concepts of a moral and ethical plan;
The purpose of this lesson is not only educational - continue the formation of ideas and knowledge about the peculiarities of nature in Russia, the interconnection of the components of nature, show the importance of forest resources in their various aspects; continue the formation of environmental knowledge, show the significance of this knowledge. Metasubject connections are present in full - this historical material related to the formation of the Russian people, their relationship to forests and the use of their resources, biology – the impact of forests on human health; literature – poems by I.A. Bunin, P. Brovko, excerpts from the works of A.P. Chekhova, K.G. Paustovsky and others;art– reproductions of great masters – I.I. Shishkin, I.I. Levitan, music – use of musical design (Tchaikovsky, “The Seasons”); chemistry – chemical signs and symbols; compounds that pollute atmospheric air. Personal - the influence of forests on the physical, mental and spiritual health of people - “how to be treated with forests”; the need for knowledge about forests is dictated by the fact that residents of St. Petersburg are residents of the forest zone; fostering a sense of patriotism; careful attitude to the forests; spiritual, aesthetic development of personality, love of nature through its understanding; education of moral categories through understanding the consumer attitude of a person to forests - “the forest is the center of morality” - Academician Likhachev.Communicationaspects are manifested throughstories of students who act as representatives of different professions and their discussions. Regulatory - select the main ideas of the lesson; work with maps, diagrams, digital material; oral and writing, culture of public speaking, intellectual skills - analysis, generalizations, abstraction of situations.Educational environment:use - demonstration of a presentation as illustrations for a lesson, materials from a personal photo archive (tourist gathering); map of vegetation or, better yet, natural zones of Russia; tables, illustrations of forests; wood collection for clarity; Handout. Of course, you can study the zones according to a standard plan, which the students themselves draw up. We stick to it, but you can highlight your own flavor for each zone. For example, while studying the tundra zone, I decided to focus on the peculiarities of life of the population. I found a wonderful film on YouTube - “The Harsh Life in
tundra." This is a short story of a Nenets boy who goes in search of a reindeer herd. Not only the system of survival in these harsh conditions, traditions, but also his feelings are shown. The guys respond very vividly to this story - they gain a true understanding of what the geographical environment is.
7th grade. Oceans theme. "Comparative characteristics of the oceans."
Students go on expeditions across the oceans.
Stage 1 - work in pairs.Each pair receives a card with a task on two oceans in certain specialties:historians, climatologists, geomorphologists, biologists, economists and ecologists. Assignment - using texts§15, 16 about the oceans fill out the cards; prepare a story on your topic.*task cards 1 are attached
Stage 2 - work in fours.“Specialists” are united in fours, i.e. turn to the students sitting behind them, receive a card with questions for comparison in these specialties, write down the answers on the card.*task cards 2 are included
Stage 3 of the speech - homework.1 version of speeches - stories from groups of “specialists” (1-historians, 2-climatologists, hydrologists, 3-geomorphologists, 4-biologists, 5-economists, ecologists); Option 2 – specialists who performed work in one ocean are united in the “oceans” group (Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic)
Stage 4 – results - participants enter data into the table* table attached;or a test is offered * attached
Personal - try yourself in new activity“specialist” and assessing one’s own activities, expanding the range of interests, demonstrating creative abilities, gaining experience in speaking this issue. Regulatory - determine the goal, planning - build a chain of necessary knowledge, select information on a given issue, convert the information into a table, compare objects, evaluate the results of your own activities and compare and evaluate the work of others. Cognitive - research:identifying sources (textbook, maps, Internet) and searching for the necessary information; brain teaser: highlighting essential features, drawing up a plan, presenting information in table form and answering questions with “conclusions” in their specialties;iconic-symbolic:preparing a story about “your own ocean in your specialty.”Communication- organization of work in pairs, and then in fours; be able to express your judgment and defend your point of view, evaluate the answers of your classmates.
Conclusion. Today's humanity is the product of its yesterday's actions to use, adapt and change the nature of the Earth, first in the interests of its survival and then development. Therefore, the basics of geographical knowledge should become a necessary element of the culture of modern man.
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An analysis of the main directions of the new cultural geography in the North American and British national scientific schools has been carried out. Domestic human geography, which is in its infancy, is actively absorbing the approaches of foreign new cultural geography; Russian approaches to the study of the cultural landscape have a significant semiotic and constructivist bias. The deficits and opportunities of the main directions of the new cultural geography are shown, their prospects in the context of modern domestic cultural geography are outlined. In addition to achievements such as intersubjectivity, attention to the iconic side of the cultural landscape, the idea of its social construction, iconographic and textual “readings”, the new cultural geography has revealed a number of problematic issues that may be of value for scientific reflection in constructing theories of the cultural landscape and developing methods for it empirical study. Western new cultural geography, combining a wide range of approaches such as discourse analysis, situationism, poststructuralism, has great potential in the study of the cultural landscape.
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5. Czepczynski M. Cultural Landscapes of Post-Socialist Cities: Representation of Powers and Needs. - Abingdon, Oxon, GBR: Ashgate Publishing, Limited, 2008.
6. Harrison P. ‘Post-structuralist theories’ in Aitken, S. and Valentine, G. (eds), Approaches to human geography. - London: Sage, 2006.
7. Matless D. An occasion for geography: landscape, representation and Foucault’s corpus. //Environment and Planning: Society and Space. - 1992. Vol. 10. - No. 1. - P. 41–56.
8. Philo Ch. More words, more worlds. Reflections of the ‘cultural turn’ and human geography in: Cook, I., Crouch, D., Naylor, S. and Ryan, J.R. (eds), Cultural turns/geographical turns. Perspectives on cultural geography. - Harlow: Prentice Hall, 2000
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New cultural geography (NCG) emerged in the 1980s. and quickly took a strong position in the majority scientific centers Europe and USA. It was based on an updated interpretation of culture, understood as the central support social life. In turn, culture was considered through the concept of representation as a mediator through which social meanings are constructed and consolidated.
The cultural landscape (CL) has come to be viewed as a socio-natural construct, where the symbolic and representational components produce and establish the social meanings of visible physical forms. The problem field of new cultural geography is focused on cultural and landscape representations of “polyphonic” interests different groups. CL is interpreted as a mediator in the collision of their goals and practices. It identifies dominant, subdominant, rejected “excluded” communities, groups and classes that create their own subject “worlds”. The results of activity reveal struggle, cooperation and mutual adaptation of lifestyles. At the same time, the new cultural geography strives to explain the images of the landscape; its “imaginative” component becomes central.
As a result, over the last twenty years, geography has been significantly enriched by hermeneutic, interpretive methods and approaches, widespread in sociology, anthropology, philosophy, and which have allowed geography to speak the same language with these humanitarian disciplines, preserving the specificity of the subject of research - space and cultural landscape.
These processes are called the “dematerialization” of scientistic geography - the predominance of interest in culture, the discovery of intersubjective systems of meaning, the play of identity politics in the space of texts, signs, desires.
In our opinion, it is advisable to talk not about the “dematerialization” of geography as an integral discipline, but about the growth within its boundaries of a new movement focused on the knowledge of intersubjectivity.
Directions for studying the cultural landscape in the new cultural geography
Both culture and landscape are concepts with a huge number of interpretations, they are complex - time and space, sacred and profane, creativity and the routine of everyday life are mixed here. The combination of several research settings and methodologies is a necessary condition for studying CL. This is the meaning of methodological pluralism.
The complexity of approaches to CL is characteristic of domestic research: linguistics, ethnography, hermeneutics and history provide interesting conceptual alloys. A range of foreign destinations with greater experience and roots in philosophical tradition, much wider. Values, language and meaning determine the construction of social reality. The interrelated ordering of symbols and structures is based on interpretations. CL largely reproduces the picture of symbols rather than facts. The main directions of CL research include post-structuralist, social-constructivist, situationist, discursive cultural-geographical approaches (Fig. 1).
Poststructuralism in CL studies focuses on the fusion of two interpretations of CL: it is understood both as a representation and as an integral component of culture. He uses concepts from linguistics, psychology and anthropology to interpret CL “texts” and search for their meanings. Thus, the key metaphor of CL is a text that has many levels, functions, purposes and meanings. The individual as the “reader” and “creator” of the text is very important. “Self-perception” is a key category, because the meanings interpreted by the researcher are secondary to the meanings perceived by the reader and implied by the local community. Each “reader” creates his own individual goals, meanings and existence for a given CL text. The emphasis on individual experience leads to the construction of autonomous worlds of purpose, experience and meaning. In order to find common grounds for dialogue, to highlight the threads that “stitch together” the cultural, social and objective facets of reality with individual existence, it is necessary to deconstruct knowledge systems about CL. Of particular interest is the competition and interweaving of CL meanings: those inserted by the “author” of the landscape text and those perceived by its interpreters. “CLs are subject to historical descriptive analysis in order to decipher the worldviews and knowledge systems in the context of which they were created. Poststructuralism emphasizes the process of “production” of knowledge, “the technology of the relationship between the author and the reader in multi-layered interpretations of text labyrinths.” Landscape semiotics is focused on understanding how meaning is constructed. CL can be considered as a communication system, a language, where structures, objects, buildings, roads, other objects and the order of their combinations are likened to words and phrases. The key concept of semiotics is “code”, as an interconnected system of meanings and ideas that sets the standards of perception, activity and thinking of a member of a given culture. Semiotic studies are close to situationism in the sense of searching for the position of an observer or an insider.
By clarifying the semantic meanings of the environment, the researcher comes to decoding its meanings and symbols. At the same time, the scope of knowledge is not limited to CL - since there is an “agreement on meanings” in society, decoding CL, we obtain a wide range of information about the society that created it.
Social constructivism is associated with the works of A. Berger and N. Luckman, who proved that knowledge, including ideology, religion, childhood, community, are social constructs created by people within certain traditions. Such constructs embody patterns social interaction. Thus, the socialization of an individual in a certain CL “by default” leads to the fact that he begins to operate with the learned values and spatial “patterns” of culture, constructing the reality of the CL in which his children will be socialized.
Heritage, education, systems of values and meanings as well as CL are formed and stimulated by people, they can be important and understandable to people specific culture. The approach assumes the presence of competing axes: nationalism, regionalism, locality, class, gender, ethnicity, material wealth and political preferences can be chosen as the central category around which CL is constructed. Depending on the purposes of CL interpretation, one or another axes can be selected; their quantity and composition are variable and mobile. Simplifying somewhat, we can express the essence of the approach with a corrected aphorism: “Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder,” since the center of gravity becomes the culture and society that generate interpretations.
Situated knowledge is close to the described approaches. Its specificity lies in its concentration on the interests of the individual. The interpretation of cultural landscapes is always made from a certain point of view, it is “situated” (positioned). At the core of the CL is the observer, the position of the landscape decoder structures the “scene” of each time. Each “objectively” viewed image is a projection of its author, artist or scientist. In other words, this is a question of the relationship between time, identities, values, beliefs, worldviews. The set of personally significant axes gives the “positions” of the author, encoder and decoder of the landscape text.
The position that every “objective” image is a projection allows us to pose two questions to which there are no adequate answers in situationism. Firstly, how projections of the past CL are read (decoded) using completely different codes, forming, if we continue to follow spatial metaphors, a “gap” between correct and incorrect interpretations with less and greater depth of understanding. And, secondly, how do projections of the past KL, spatial / landscape images and messages meet the requirements of the soul of a person today? The result is a “clash” of interpretations, which methodological pluralism attempts to unite into a common frame. But the question of “bad”, shallow interpretations inevitably arises, and postmodern cultural geography says that only on the basis of a non-evaluative, comprehensive approach can integration of knowledge about the cultural landscape be achieved.
Discourse studies. E. Buttimer noted that geographers, when studying the functional organization of CLs, become “primary agents” of spatial differentiation. They create models and maps where “every type of spatial system - road networks, services, etc. had their own constructed ethos, and each such view appealed to the spatio-temporal horizons of the individual, being part of the intersubjective heritage of the place. A decade later, the direction she outlined developed into a theory of discursive studies of CL, interpreting it as the result of the materialization of competing discourses. Another option involves identifying not the discourses themselves, but the “discursive modes” of CL, which accumulate specific behavioral practices. Almost all activities in KL can be correlated with a certain discursive regime: civil initiatives, health care, government, state planning, etc. . Both discourses and discursive modes of CL express and embody the ideology, philosophical views of society, and the characteristics of power. The "discursive landscape" provides a certain way of communication - a language that reduces power relations to polymorphic texts. The discursive, negotiated nature of CL meanings lies in the fact that they do not simply express culture through space, but with the help of signs, symbols, metaphors, elites in power communicate meaningful stories about themselves and society. In its objective, material form, space represents competing discourses - strategies that combine to compress or limit both human action and the interpretation of any specific CL.
Interpretations of the cultural landscape in the new cultural geography
The main keys to interpreting CL in the ICG are text and image (icon). They guide research methods, both rooted in poststructuralism, positionism and social constructivism.
In the humanities, iconography is the study of images and signs important to a particular culture. This involves a critical reading of the imagery, taking into account social and cultural values. The iconography of KL emphasizes the aesthetic and political-economic aspects of the process. Aiconic interpretations go back to the research of D. Cosgrow: CL is the way in which certain classes represent their own social role through relationships with nature. CL is an independent way of seeing, with its own ideological foundations. CL is not only a way of seeing transmitted by a group, it is also a way of control and social coercion. Iconography connects art, literature, anthropology, architecture and cultural geography. Textual metaphor is used to highlight relationships of power and dominance. It shows how specific CLs can transform ideas into visual forms, metaphorically assimilating space to “text,” the key to which can be either symbols or culture itself. Moreover, this space-text “tells” about culture and social relations. “Reading the text” of a space involves establishing its biographical layers, ways of formation, and recognizing the traces of its “authors.” R. Shane believes that “it is more productive to consider the landscape as a palimpsest than as a cultural stratum, by analogy with the possibility of erasing and writing over previous records, with the simultaneous coexistence of several different manuscripts, implying not so much different historical eras, but the presence of several historical and modern "actors" in the cultural landscape."
The ICG highlights the leading role of CL in the construction of identity. The high value of hermeneutics and semiotics is explained by their holistic nature, based on the comprehensiveness of the concept “culture”. Behind long years the predominance of scientific-materialistic approaches of scientistic geography, questions of meanings, meanings and values embodied in CL, mutual flows - the processes of constructing both society and landscape remained undeservedly forgotten. The ICG filled this deficit, but the emphasis on intangibility and representations caused an undeserved neglect of the object component of the CL.
The intersubjective nature of postmodern approaches to CL is associated with a variety of overlapping meanings, positions of actors, competing discourses, ideologies, and power elites. Postmodernism began to master the field of CL research with the help of a spatial interpretation of culture. Intersubjectivity and polyphony are the main starting points of a new cultural geography. Spatial metaphors of culture characteristic of postmodernity have contributed to the growth of interest in CL research. The absence of a single metanarrative, recognition of the importance of each voice, inclusivity, and the search for multi-layered meanings of the landscape “text” allowed postmodern approaches to create a bright, dynamic picture of CL, filled with many meanings and colors. This is the strength of the NCG approaches, clarifying the “depth” of space and “revitalizing” its objects with the help of shared cultural meanings. Postmodernism declares fragmentation - of space, text, meanings, including the fragmentation of the subject, which is a point of criticism from humanistic geography. The “immateriality” of CL, the “ethereal kingdom of discourses and representations” are unlikely to become prevalent in the domestic cultural and geographical tradition. Therefore, we can hope for a productive synthesis with the Western NKG, without fear side effect“dematerialization” of research. Domestic human geography, which is in its infancy, is actively absorbing the approaches of foreign new cultural geography; Russian approaches to the study of the cultural landscape have a semiotic and constructivist bias. The achievements of new cultural geography - the depth of intersubjective analysis, attention to the symbolic side of cultural heritage, ideas of its social construction, iconographic and textual “readings” can significantly enrich the domestic palette of research.
Reviewers:
Korytny L.M., Doctor of Geography, Professor, Deputy Director for Science, Federal State Budgetary Institution of Science Institute of Geography named after. V.B. Sochavy SB RAS, Irkutsk;
Bezrukov L.A., Doctor of Geography, Head of the Laboratory of Georesource Science and Political Geography, Federal State Budgetary Institution of Science Institute of Geography named after. V.B. Sochavy SB RAS, Irkutsk.
Bibliographic link
Ragulina M.V. CULTURAL LANDSCAPE IN THE NEW CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY // Contemporary issues science and education. – 2014. – No. 6.;URL: http://science-education.ru/ru/article/view?id=15806 (access date: 02/01/2020). We bring to your attention magazines published by the publishing house "Academy of Natural Sciences"
This concept considers the spatial manifestations of a very complex phenomenon associated with human activity, which is called culture. Culture at its most general view is a manifestation of human activity. This is a property of human community and this distinguishing characteristic human personality. Culture does not exist without its leader and bearer. As Druzhinin (1999, p. 4) states, “culture is territorial, that is, it experiences full-scale influence geographical factor, is spatially differentiated and organized in a special way, developing and functioning in specific territorial forms immanent to it.” Hence, it is natural for geographers to show interest in studying the patterns of cultural genesis as a spatial phenomenon, in studying the origins and current state geoculture, cultural geography and cultural geography with various combinations of highly specialized problems considered.
Culture as a multidimensional phenomenon. This term also means what is included in the circle united by art and literature, a system of views, customs, behavioral reactions and religion, ways of life and production skills characteristic of regional population groups, ethnic groups, and national associations. For a long time, the territorial features of culture were studied within the framework of ethnography.
The beginning of an in-depth study of geocultural issues dates back to the second half of the 19th century. Among foreign geographers who paid great attention to cultural and geographical problems, mention should be made of D. Marsh, F. Ratzel, K. Sauer, E. Reclus, etc. In Russian geography, cultural approaches were present in the studies of V.G. Bogoraza-Tana, A.A. Krubera, A.D. Sinitsky, V.P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky. The importance of taking into account cultural aspects in geographical research was pointed out by N.N. Baransky, P.M. Cabo, Y.G. Saushkin. In-depth research into the problems of historical ethnoculture was carried out by L.N. Gumilev. The monograph by P.I. is devoted to the modern geography of religions. Puchkova. Problems of the formation of cultural landscapes and the geography of art are the objects of study by Yu.A. Vedenin and V.L. Kagansky.
V.P. pays significant attention to the study of geographic culture as a world-historical phenomenon. Maksakovsky (1998). He 478 identified four elements of geographical culture: a geographical picture of the world, geographical thinking, methods of geography and the language of geography. And for each of these areas Maksakovsky provides detailed reasoning. According to the conclusion of L.R. Serebryanny (2000) Maksakovsky’s book is “essentially a synthesis of the geographical science of the 20th century. in our country". A substantive disclosure of the meaning of geographical culture is given by Maksakovsky in the books “Historical Geography of the World” (1997) and especially in the two-volume monograph “World Cultural Heritage” (2000, 2003).
A serious study of the geography of Russian culture was carried out by S.Ya. Existing and A.D. Druzhinin. Druzhinin considered the theoretical foundations of the geography of culture most fully. Druzhinin (1999, p. 18) defines the geography of culture as a scientific direction “about the spatial features, factors and patterns of development and functioning of culture, about the processes of cultural-territorial system formation, about its prerequisites and consequences.” This definition can be revealed more fully depending on the specificity of the study of geocultural problems.
The geography of culture is considered as an integral part of social geography. By analogy with the study of territorial social systems, the object of cultural geography is called the territorial organization of culture. The cultural aspect can be considered as “cross-cutting” for all social geography. Geoculture is such a widespread territorial phenomenon that it is appropriate, along with the biosphere, technosphere, and ethnosphere, to talk about the cultural sphere as a special territory developing according to its inherent laws. Druzhinin introduced the concepts of geocultural process, geocultural space, geocultural and geoethnocultural systems, territorial systems of cultural infrastructure and gave their interpretation. Ethnocultural aspects are mandatory for studying geopolitical problems and overcoming internal social tensions in the country.
This area of geographical knowledge has not yet found a stable theoretical basis. There is no unity among scientists involved in research into the non-productive sphere of activity. For example, V.E. Komarov and V.D. Ulanovskaya (1980) separate the service sector from the service sector. In their opinion, the service sector occupies an intermediate position between material production and the non-productive sphere of activity, while at the same time, service sectors only provide the population with either goods created in the sphere of material production or services. According to M.A. Abramov (1985), the service sector covers all sectors of the non-production sphere and a number of sectors of material production. The service sector includes trade, catering, household and housing and communal services, transport and communications related to direct services to the population. A.I. Kocherga (1979) in the sphere of public services identified two types: consumer services (transport and communications, trade, catering, housing and communal services and consumer services) and services aimed at improving the person himself (education, culture, art, healthcare, physical education and sports, social security).
A significant contribution to the development of the geography of the service sector was made by S.A. Kovalev (1974, 1985, 1997). In his opinion, the service sector should include a wide variety of services for individual consumers: housing services, social security, retail trade and public catering, consumer, cultural and educational services, the provision of educational, legal, banking, insurance, medical and other services. Basic concepts and methods of service sector geography are presented in the book by A.I. Alekseeva et al. (1991).
The term “social infrastructure” is becoming increasingly common in scientific publications. This concept is most fully revealed by E.B. Alaev (1974, 1983). According to Alaev, social infrastructure includes a combination of buildings, structures, networks and systems necessary to ensure the daily life of the population.
In developed countries of the capitalist world, the share of participation of the amateur population in the non-material sphere, including the service sector, occupies one of the priority places. The sphere of various services, including intimate ones, is developing rapidly in Russia, especially against the backdrop of a sharp decline in industrial production. Spatial differences in needs for services and the level of their satisfaction constitute the subject of the study of the geography of the service sector, or the geography of the service sector. The study of problems related to the satisfaction of the population that is important for life, for physical and intellectual development, maintaining cleanliness and hygiene of the body and home, providing the population with a system of social, legal, educational and medical institutions and institutions is extremely important for the development of society. But it seems, and this has already been written about (Bogucharskov, 1998), that these problems should not be among the geographical priorities, especially at a time when geographers are quickly losing their traditional field of activity, namely the field of studying the interaction of society and the environment.
New directions being developed by economic geographers are far from being limited to those noted in this section.
CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY, the geography of culture, considers culture in geographic space, studies the spatial differentiation and diversity of its elements, their expression in the landscape and connection with the geographic environment, as well as the display of geographic space in the culture itself. IN foreign countries cultural geography is one of the four leading (along with economic geography, social geography and political geography) branches of social geography. In Russia, cultural geography has not fully formed into an integral scientific discipline and is a set of scientific directions that are close to each other in terms of the object of study.
The development of cultural geography was greatly influenced by the work of representatives of the German school of anthropogeography (F. Ratzel and others), as well as the French schools of human geography (P. Vidal de la Blache and others) and the German geographer A. Getner. The founder of cultural geography is considered to be K. Sauer, who created the American school of cultural landscape in the 1920s. From anthropogeography, cultural geography inherited two important scientific traditions: the so-called environmental (study of cultural and geographical differences in their connection with the conditions of the natural environment) and the tradition of spatial analysis of culture (study of its territorial organization and structure, relationships and connections between its elements).
In Russian geographical science, until the mid-1920s, descriptions of the culture of different regions and localities and their ethnographic features were part of anthropogeographical work. During the Soviet period, especially from the late 1920s to early 1930s, anthropocultural approaches to geography were largely lost. The development of cultural geography in Russia, which began in the 1980s, is based on foreign scientific experience, is associated with research in the field of landscape science, cultural landscape and ethnology.
Depending on the subject of study in cultural geography, the following sections (subdisciplines) are distinguished. Ethnic geography (ethnogeography, ethnocultural geography) studies the settlement of ethnic groups, the ethnic composition of the population of countries and regions (American scientists W. M. Kolmorgen, W. Zelinsky; Russian researchers V. V. Pokshishevsky, S. I. Brook, V. I. Kozlov ). At the end of the 20th century, cultural geography also developed studies of the uniqueness of ethnic processes in different countries and regions, geographical features ethnic cultures and traditions, their connections with natural environment. At the intersection of ethnic geography with ethnology and cultural anthropology, the following are being developed: the geography of traditional spiritual (so-called folk) culture (in English-speaking countries known as “folk geography”), which studies territorial features folk art; geography of everyday culture, exploring territorial distribution traditional types food, housing, transportation, cultural and geographical features of marriage and family relations, etc. The concept of economic and cultural types was of great importance for the formation of ethnic geography in Russia (M. G. Levin, N. N. Cheboksarov, B. V. Andrianov and etc.).
The geography of languages studies the geographical (territorial) patterns and features of the distribution of linguistic groups of different orders ( language families, groups, languages, dialects, dialects) (see Linguistic geography).
Geography of religions (confessional geography) examines the religious composition of the population of regions and countries, features of the territorial organization of religious structures, and the sociocultural consequences of confessional and geographical differences. The main theoretical works in the field of geography of religions were created in the middle and 2nd half of the 20th century (French geographer P. Desfontaines, German researchers P. Fikeler, K. Troll, M. Bütner, M. Schwind, American scientists D. Sofer, E. Isaac and others). In domestic cultural geography, since the end of the 20th century, the religious space of Russia has become the most important object of research.
The subject of the geography of art is territorial features of development and distribution various types artistic activity. Important areas of research are identifying the main artistic centers in regions and countries of the world, places of origin, areas and ways of spreading various artistic styles, differences in the location of training centers for traditional and innovative types of artistic activity. A widespread theme of works on the geography of art in modern foreign cultural geography is the reflection of real (or imaginary) geographical space in works of art. In Russia, the geography of art as a separate direction of cultural geography developed at the end of the 20th - beginning of the 21st century (Yu. A. Vedenin and others).
The geography of mass culture as an independent area of research is developing in foreign cultural geography (especially Anglo-American), considering territorial differences in popularity different types sports, styles modern music, various trends in modern fashion, show business, etc.
The geography of cultural infrastructure is a related subdiscipline at the intersection of cultural geography and the geography of the service sector, which studies the territorial organization of a network of libraries, museums and other cultural infrastructure facilities.
In the 2nd half of the 20th century, the object of study of cultural geography (especially in the USA) became the so-called ordinary, or vernacular (from the English vernacular - local, characteristic of a given area), areas that exist in the self-consciousness of the local population. They rarely coincide in their borders with the units of administrative-territorial division of states, but they always have a self-name and are perceived by local residents as culturally integral territories. At the beginning of the 21st century, the most promising research is in the field of regional identity, which in cultural geography is understood as the phenomenon of self-identification of a population with a certain territory. (For information on the rapidly developing areas of cultural geography in the late 20th and early 21st centuries that study systems of ideas about geographic space, see the article Humanitarian Geography.)
Research in the field of cultural geography is of great applied importance, which sharply increased towards the end of the 20th - beginning of the 21st century in the context of globalization and related processes of cultural unification, leveling or loss of local cultural traditions and cultural values, erosion and disappearance of original ethnocultural and sociocultural territorial communities. Taking into account the results of cultural geography research is important when developing strategies for social economic development countries and regions, substantiation of concepts and selection of specific areas of regional policy. Value systems, types of mentality, norms of behavior accepted in certain societies, traditions of economic ethics, economic and environmental culture, regional uniqueness of traditional sociocultural institutions influence the nature of economic development. Specialists in the field of cultural geography participate in the development of international and national government programs for the protection of cultural heritage, proposals for the inclusion cultural sites on the World Heritage List, etc.
Lit.: Sauer S. O. The morphology of landscape // University of California Publications in Geography. 1925. No. 2; Spencer J., Thomas W. Cultural geography: an evolutionary introduction to our humanized earth. N.Y., 1969; Zelinsky W. The cultural geography of the United States. 2nd ed. Englewood Cliffs, 1973; Carter G. Man and the land: a cultural geography. 3rd ed. N. Y., 1975; Jordan T., Rowntree L. The human mosaic: a thematic introduction to cultural geography. 4th ed. N. Y.; L., 1986; Existing S. Ya., Druzhinin A. G. Essays on the geography of Russian culture. Rostov-n/D., 1994; Cultural geography / Scientific editor Yu. A. Vedenin, R. F. Turovsky. M., 2001; Streletsky V.N. Geographical space and culture: worldviews and research paradigms in cultural geography // Izv. RAS. Ser. geographical. 2002. No. 4; Claval R. Geographie culturelle. Une nouvelle approche des soci6t6s et des milieux. R., 2003; Ragulina M.V. Cultural geography: theory, methods, regional synthesis. Irkutsk, 2004.
Differences in the subjects of the research areas of the CG force
think about the structure as a whole complex of disciplines united under a common
the name “geography of culture”, and the core of the Civil Code - cultural geography itself.
Even within the framework of the theoretical direction, CGs coexist different understandings
subject of cultural geography (in particular, object, aspect, etc.). That's why
we can already talk about the gradual formation within the core of the GC (i.e.
cultural geography proper) of at least four subdisciplines (branches
KG with own objects and subjects of research), which can be called
ethnocultural, economic-cultural, environmental-cultural and social
cultural geography.
The objects of study of CG subdisciplines are:
ethnocultural geography - ethnocultural communities, in economic and cultural
geography - economic and cultural complexes, ecological and cultural geography -
natural and cultural complexes (cultural landscapes), socio-cultural
Geographies - geocultural communities of people. If the chorological approach (or
aspect of research) can be applied within all subdisciplines of CG, then
for example, currently for the study of natural, cultural and economic
cultural complexes, an ecological approach is more often used, and
the axiological (value) approach is becoming increasingly popular in
studies of ethnocultural and geocultural communities of people.
Thus, it is possible to define the subjects of research of four
the above-mentioned emerging subdisciplines of cultural geography.
Ethnocultural geography– scientific direction within the framework of geography
culture, studying the features of the territorial organization of ethnic
culture, as well as the factors determining its development and functioning.
The geography of ethnic cultures is much more complex than the geography of ethnic groups and not
matches her. The basis for the differentiation of ethnocultural space is
a set of elements of ethnic culture that are highly mobile.
It is different in each ethnocultural group, which is associated with adaptation processes in
space. Interacting and intertwining, ethnic cultures form
complex geographical pattern. The ethnocultural picture of the world is complicated
intra-ethnic cultural differences, including territorial ones, and
also interethnic similarities. Ethnocultural differentiation is influenced by
influence geographical position and landscapes, features of migration
behavior and interethnic interaction, social stratification society,
the level and nature of urbanization, features of economic organization and other factors.
Economic and cultural geography called upon to study
spatial diversity of economic and cultural complexes, i.e.
traditions of environmental management (in particular, land use) existing in
various geo- and ethnocultural communities, and their connections with the geographical environment, and
also territorial differences in the economic culture of the population.
Ecological-cultural geography may be characterized by studying
natural-cultural complexes, in particular, the study of expression in
landscape (cultural landscape) of individual elements of material and spiritual
culture, their connection with the geographical environment, as well as territorial differences in
ecological culture population.
Socio-cultural geography, apparently, should study
processes and results of differentiation of geocultural communities, i.e.
territorial communities of people with stable stereotypes of thinking and
behavior, original systems of values and preferences, expressed in
specifics of social and political culture, and reflected in
geospatial (regional, local, etc.) identity.
Each of the subdisciplines of cultural geography is now beginning to
acquire its own internal structure (sections of CG subdisciplines).
These sections, as their structure develops and becomes more complex, may
perspective to go beyond cultural geography and take shape as
independent branches of geography (or interdisciplinary areas),
directly included in the complex of “geography of culture”.
Each of the CG subdisciplines has its own “analogue” within the entire complex
disciplines forming the Civil Code. These are usually interdisciplinary areas,
formed at the intersection with cultural studies (as well as ethnography, sociology,
political science, landscape science and other areas of geographical and
related sciences), and, to some extent, responsible for the formation of their
“analogues” in cultural geography. These interdisciplinary areas
(and, at the same time, branches of civil society) can be attributed to geoethnoculturology (analogue
ethnocultural geography), ethnocultural or cultural-geographical
landscape science (analogous to ecological-cultural geography), as well as traditional
areas of research at the intersection of cultural geography and ethnography (study
economic and cultural types) and sociology (the study of territorial
communities of people).
On the other hand, the subdisciplines of the CG are designed to synthesize the achievements
interdisciplinary areas located at the interface with CG, but included in
complex of “geography of culture”. Moreover, each subdiscipline of the CG is responsible for
“own” sector within the entire complex of the Civil Code.
Within the framework of the subdisciplines of the CG, individual sections began to form only
in the 1990s, when CG became an independent scientific discipline.
Now we can talk about the first stages of the formation of only a few sections
subdisciplines of CG, “discovered” by geographers.
In ethnocultural geography such sections can be called
study of ethnic contact zones, as well as the geography of ethnic minorities and
diaspora The study of ethnocontact zones was initiated precisely by geographers (in
In 1989, the IFGO published the collection “Ethnocontact zones in the European part
USSR"), and only in the 1990s. has been taken up by historians and others
specialists in the field of humanities. In 1995, a collection appeared
"Contact zones in history of Eastern Europe" In the second half of the 1980s and in
1990s several monographic works devoted to major
ethnic contact regions (Chizhikova, 1988; Islamo-Christian borderland...,
1994, etc.), as well as many articles that highlight ethnic processes in
within some ethnic contact zones, incl. located within the region
of the present study (Kupovetsky, 1985; Sosno, 1995).
Together with traditional ones for ethnography and ethnic geography
research in the field of ethnic migrations and ethnic groups (minorities),
in the late 1980s - 1990s. the formation of another section has begun
ethnocultural geography - the geography of ethnic diasporas, where geographers also
took a very direct part. Work has been carried out to study
Jewish, Greek, German, Armenian and other diasporas (Yukhneva, 1985;
Ilyin, Kagan, 1994; Kolossov et al., 1995; Polyan, 1999, etc.). Due to the collapse
USSR began to pay more attention to the study of cultural specifics
Russian population living outside of Russia and suddenly finding themselves in
position of an ethnic minority (Druzhinin, Suschy, 1993; Geopolitical
position..., 2000).
In economic and cultural geography two can be distinguished
areas of research (sections) corresponding to different scientific schools.
Continuation of traditional research devoted to the study
territorial differences in the culture of ethnic environmental management (more precisely,
land use), is currently favored by geographical study
ethno-economic complexes (Klokov, Syroechkovsky, 1991; Klokov, 1996, 1997,
1998). Another geographical school in the field of studying ethnic traditions
environmental management and culture of the indigenous peoples of the North developed under the influence
ideas of L.N. Gumilyov, whose followers attempted to study
stability of ethnocenoses of the Russian North (Ivanov, Nikitin, 1990; Ivanov,
Gromova, 1991; Chistobaev et al., 1994; Khrushchev, 1997; Ivanov, 1998).
In ecological-cultural geography thanks to cultural studies
landscapes that unfolded at the Russian Research Institute of Cultural and Natural
heritage, a large layer of publications on the geography of cultural
heritage (Vedenin, 1995, 1996; Stolyarov, Kuleshova, 1996; Vostryakov, 1996;
Vedenin et al., 1995; Vedenin, Kuleshova, 1997; Shulgin, 1995, etc.). Director of that
same Institute Yu.A. Vedenin made a great contribution to the development of another section -
geography of high culture, having initiated the creation of a series of collections
monograph “Essays on the Geography of Art” (1997b). Geography high
significant sections are devoted to culture in the book by S.Ya. Existing and A.G. Druzhinina
“Essays on the Geography of Russian Culture” (1994) and a number of works by other researchers
(Lavrenova, 1996, 1998a, 1998b).
In socio-cultural geography, which itself is in the stage
formation, a division is being formed at the junction with the political
geography - the geography of political culture. Until the end of the 1980s. V
Within the framework of this direction, isolated studies have been carried out, and even then
exclusively on foreign material (Belov, 1983; Smirnyagin, 1983; Kolosov,
1988, etc.). In the 1990s, as electoral science developed in Russian
geography, attempts began to be made to identify the dominant
political subcultures on the territory of Russia (Smirnyagin, 1995) and actually
regional political cultures (Zhuravlev, 1992; Turovsky, 1999;
Regional identity..., 1999, etc.).
V.N. Streletsky believes that the time has come to form another
directions of cultural and geographical research - urban geography
culture (Streletsky, 1999, 2001). It is obvious that geographical study
urban culture can be considered as promising direction(chapter)
socio-cultural geography. However, traditional approaches used in
geourbanistics (city geography), in in this case not enough, so
should be paid more close attention to interdisciplinary
studies of the urban environment that have a spatial aspect and are carried out
joint efforts of architects, sociologists, psychologists and other specialists
(Socio-cultural..., 1982; Cultural dialogue..., 1994; City like
sociocultural..., 1995, etc.).
It is worth identifying a number of emerging interdisciplinary scientific
areas working “part-time” in cultural geography, which can be
be considered as new “butt” industries of the Civil Code (with double, triple and
etc. "scientific citizenship").
The traditional name of the scientific direction is geography of religions
(confessional geography), however, the design of this industry in the domestic
GC falls only in the late 1980s - 1990s. If you left before this period
isolated works devoted primarily to the geography of foreign religions
world (Puchkov, 1975), then in the 1990s. There have been many publications devoted to
confessional geography of Russia (Darinsky, 1992; Antonova et al., 1992;
Krindach, 1992, 1996; Sidorov, 1997; Safronov, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, etc.).
The geography of religions is considered as an interdisciplinary scientific direction,
located at the intersection of geography with religious studies and theology (Krindach, 1992).
Also, at the intersection of several scientific disciplines, the formation of
geo-ethnocultural conflictology, in the formation of which the active participation
geographers also accept (Kolossov et al., 1992; Turovsky, 1992; Petrov, 1994; Alaev,
1996, Streletsky, 1997, etc.). Another emerging interdisciplinary
direction of research is based on an ecological model and can be
considered as a “butt” branch of the Civil Code - ethnoecology (Krupnik, 1989;
Kozlov, 1994b). Within this direction, geographers claim, firstly,
turn, on their own approaches to the study of ethnic crises (Gladky, 1995;
Gladky I.Yu. and Yu.N., 1995; Dmitrevsky, 1998). Therefore, as a section of this scientific
disciplines can be considered geoethnoecology “closer” to CG.
And finally, an interdisciplinary area of research that
domestic science has not yet received a name accepted by all, is being formed on
the intersection of cultural geography with psychology and sociology - cognitive