GG102 Lecture 7: October 22
Document Summary
Examined how cultures created their characteristic cultural landscape: e. g. , the mennonite cultural landscape is characterized by the presence of certain, styles of houses/farming methods/church buildings/village layouts, etc, languages and place names. Tcg studies the distribution and evolution of those characteristics. Tcg did not question why research was done or who benefits. Ncg sees culture as a form of power struggle between humans: who owns/controls the cultural landscape, who has the power to define others. Symbol: something that stands for something else think of your car"s dashboard. Math, religion, music, art, calenders, gifts, gestures, maps, language, etc. are symbolic too! Why are cultural geographers interested in language: language transmits culture, language is necessary to describe the world even maps are a form of language. Language diffuses across space: this allows conclusions about spatial interaction. Language is place-ma(r)king: which is a form of power. Language may give clues as to the serial occupancy of an area.
