UVAROV Mikhail Semenovich / Mikhail UVAROV
Russia, Saint-Petersburg. St. Petersburg State University, Faculty of Philosophy, Department of Philosophical Anthropology.
Doctor of Philosophical Sciences, Professor.
Russia, St. Petersburg.
St. Petersburg State University. Faculty of Philosophy. Department of philosophical anthropology.
PhD in philosophy, professor.
CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY IN THE CULTUROLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE (ANALYTICAL REVIEW)
The article is devoted to the development of cultural geography as a new humanitarian direction on domestic soil. From the author's point of view, the history of the formation of cultural geography resembles the fate of cultural studies both in terms of the main problems and the criteria of institutionalization. At the same time, the "worlds" of cultural studies and cultural geography today exist independently of each other. Specialists in the field of cultural geography use semiotic, philosophical and cultural methodology, but rarely refer to cultural and philosophical knowledge directly. The author examines the general trends in the relationship between cultural geography and cultural studies. Particular attention is paid to the correlation of problematic fields of cultural geography, humanitarian geography, geopoetics, sacred geography. The article includes an analytical review of the latest sources on cultural geography in Russian and English.
Key words: cultural geography, cultural studies, humanitarian geography, poetic geography, geopoetics, sacred geography, cultural landscape, topochrone, urban studies
Cultural Geography in Perspective of Culturology (an Analytic Review)
The article deals with the development of cultural geography as a new research field in Russia. From the author's point of view, the history of cultural geography examines the fate of culturology in terms of the major problems, as well as the criteria, of institutionalization. However, culturology and cultural geography exist independently of one another today. Specialists in the field of cultural geography use the methodologies of semiotics, philosophy and culturology (cultural studies), but rarely apply them directly to culturology and philosophical knowledge. A survey of contemporary publications in Russian and English is included.
Key words: Cultural geography, culturology, cultural studies, human geography, poetic geography, geopoetics, sacral geography, cultural landscape, topochronos, urban studies
Introduction
Cultural geography on domestic soil is undoubtedly booming. In this sense, its fate resembles the fate of culturological knowledge - both in terms of issues, and in terms of the timing of its emergence, and in terms of the signs of the initial "non-recognition", and in terms of the criteria of official institutionalization. At the same time, the world of cultural studies and the world of cultural geography still exist relatively independently of each other. As a rule, culturologists (as well as philosophers) at the first mention perceive the concept of "cultural geography" as new and obscure. The same applies to the related concept of "humanitarian geography". Cultural
* The work was supported by a grant from St. Petersburg State University, Event No. 7 for 2011 (compilation of scientific and analytical reviews)
geographers, for their part, using a similar methodology, rarely address cultural and philosophical knowledge directly. Thus, we have a situation of mutual maturation, very reminiscent of the nihilistic (adolescent) stage of the formation of a person who defends his autonomy and independence.
The purpose of this introductory article is to consider those general trends that in the future may be able to unite the efforts of specialists from different humanitarian profiles, to remove some external discrepancies.
Cultural geography has historically emerged as a special direction within socio-economic geography. The subject of her research was the spatial and cultural differences between the regions of the Earth, based on the identification of geographical spaces in terms of
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UVAROV Mikhail Semenovich /Mikhail UVAROV
| Cultural Geography in a Cultural Perspective (Analytical Review) |
CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY
their cultural identity. The scientific direction itself was founded by the American scientist Karl Sauer in the early 30s of the XX century. A significant contribution to the development of cultural geography was made by Richard Hartshorne and Wilbur Zelinsky.
In Russia, cultural geography is mainly interpreted as a branch of (meta)geographic research. At the same time, there is an obvious tendency to use in cultural geography the most proven methods of the humanities, primarily semiotic and philosophical-culturological ones. In the domestic tradition, there are a number of fundamental studies (Yu. M. Lotman, V. N. Toporov, R. O. Yakobson, D. S. Likhachev, S. S. Averintsev, M. M. Bakhtin, A. Ya. Gurevich, M. S. Kagan, A. Ya. Flier and others), made in the semiotic and historical and cultural keys. They never belonged to the direction of "cultural geography", although they implicitly contain the ideas of this direction of the humanities. At the same time, there is a special trend in cultural and geographical thought, whose followers directly develop the ideas of cultural (and humanitarian) geography (Yu. A. Vedenin, R. F. Turovsky, V. L. Kagansky, V. N. Kalutskov , A. G. Druzhinin, D. N. Zamyatin, V. P. Maksakovskii, M. V. Ragulina, I. I. Mitin, O. A. Lavrenova, etc.).
Thus, the general trends in the development of cultural geography indicate that we are dealing with an interdisciplinary research field that requires its interpretation in a broad cultural horizon. There is no doubt that the potential of "landscape" and "topochronous" strategies of cultural and geographical knowledge is very high.
Such common problems for cultural studies and cultural geography as clarifying areas of knowledge about culture within the framework of a common “classification of sciences”, coordinating basic research strategies and descriptive procedures, and identifying local originality of the main spatial universals of culture need to be discussed. Experience shows that the difficulties that arise in the way of serious cultural studies are similar to the problems that arise in other areas of humanitarian knowledge (psychology, pedagogy, cultural/humanitarian geography, etc.).
Cultural geography, humanitarian geography, poetic geography (geopoetics), sacred geography: their relationship.
Geographic knowledge, both physical and social, has a long history. In history, geographers have often described the features of terrestrial spaces that today are considered to be related to creative activity human, and not to the physical characteristics of the landscape. So, one of the predecessors of Herodotus, the ancient Greek historian and geographer Hecateus from Miletus (490-550 BC), along with a description of the geographical features of the area, interpreted the nature and habits of the inhabitants of the ancient era, that is, combined geographical studies with "human studies".
Having experienced a long “positivist” period in its history, when concrete geographical methods in the field of economic, physical, political geography prevailed and were even considered the only possible ones, geographic
physical knowledge has entered a new period of its development. From 1960-1970 In connection with the criticism of positivist and Marxist approaches, the first conceptual studies appeared that combined geographical and general cultural discourses. This is connected with the emergence of such a direction as critical geography.
Critical geography was already on the threshold of that variety of cultural-geographical knowledge, which later received the names of "humanistic" (in Russian meaningful transcriptions - "humanitarian") geography and "new cultural geography".
At the same time, the problems of the so-called poetic geography (geopoetics) are becoming topical today. The general humanitarian roots of geopoetics can be found in ancient culture - both in its artistic aspect and in theoretical research (Aristotle's Poetics). In Russian culture, the roots of geopoetic thinking can be found both in the works of great poets (A. S. Pushkin. M. Yu. Lermontov, F. I. Tyutchev, N. Gumilev, A. A. Akhmatova. A. Blok, I. Brodsky) and prose writers (L. N. Tolstoy, A. P. Chekhov, M. A. Bulgakov, A. Platonov, A. Green), and in other areas of art. Modern cultural thinking "necessarily comes to geopoetics" (V. Kulakov). As numerous studies of semiotics and topology have shown, spatial consciousness today acquires the status of "cartographic", receives artistic "vision" where the ordinary eye sees only geometric schemes of cities and transport interchanges.
The founder of Western geopoetics is Kenneth White, who describes the history of the emergence of this direction in the following way:
“I created the International Institute of Geopoetics on my own in Paris, having knocked together an intellectual core of 40 people around me. The main thing I am interested in is the continuation of life on earth (this is what mankind neglects to the greatest extent!) -the earth through all the riches of the language. To accomplish this task, the category of the poetic is fundamental. The poetic underlies all spiritual and intellectual activity. Why can we talk about the category of poetic in linguistics, psychology, sociology, but not in politics.
The importance of the poetic (perception of the world) is obvious and it is necessary to work on creating a more dynamic, life-giving, life-forming poetics. This is what I have been working on for the past few years. This is my own work - in prose and in verse, in collections of essays - and our institute is based on this. This is an interdisciplinary community that brings together, for example, geographers, biologists, psychologists and sociologists. The goal of common work is a wonderful and harmonious sense of the world...” (From an interview with Atlas magazine).
We have been separated from the earth for a long time: all Western philosophy and science is based on classification and division (roughly speaking, in order to “know” a thing, a Western person must dissect it, tearing it out of the environment).
UVAROV Mikhail Semenovich /Mikhail UVAROV
| Cultural Geography in a Cultural Perspective (Analytical Review) |
CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY
And only now are we beginning to turn to a more holistic understanding of things.
I prefer to introduce philosophical reasoning into the canvas of the narrative gradually, unobtrusively, implanting them in being and traveling. Heidegger noted somewhere that it was the Germans who always sinned with a detailed, comprehensive reflection on phenomena, and this reflection is usually associated with “pacing”, with walking, traveling.
The main question of my close attention is the earth: how to exist on it, how to coexist with it for a person. This is the main question. And not even because most of the answers to it turned out to be untenable and did not withstand any criticism of time, but more because the need to answer it becomes a matter of survival ... ”(From an interview with Jonathan Fraser about the American edition of the book“ La Route Bleue ")1.
Many Western researchers insist on a synthetic understanding of the concept of "cultural geography" (for an overview of their points of view, see the corresponding section of this article), although we do not find an unambiguous understanding here either. For example, one of the authoritative English-language sites gives the following basic definitions:
Cultural geography is one of the two major branches of geography (along with physical geography) and is often referred to as human geography. Cultural geography is concerned with the study of the many facets of culture found throughout the world and how they relate to the geographic locations where cultural events take place, and at the same time explores how people move in different directions. Some areas of cultural geography focus on the study of language, religion, various economic and government structures, art, music, and other cultural aspects that explain how and/or why people exist in the areas in which they live. In this sense, globalization becomes that important factor, based on which various cultural phenomena easily "travel" around the world.<..>. Today, cultural geography has practical implications in more specialized areas such as feminist geography, children's geography, tourism, urban geography, gender geography, and political geography. It is developed with the aim of studying a variety of cultural practices and human activities, to the extent that they are spatially interconnected2.
We find a similar understanding in the Encyclopædia Britannica. At the same time, the English-language Wikipedia considers cultural geography to be a section of Human geography.
1 See: http://www.liter.net/geopoetics/golov.html
2 http://geography.about.com/od/culturalgeography/a/culturalovervie.
As for the relationship between cultural and humanitarian geography, D. N. Zamyatin has a special point of view on this issue. In particular, he believes that
Humanitarian geography is an interdisciplinary scientific direction that studies various ways representations and interpretations of terrestrial spaces in human activity, including mental (mental) activity. The basic concepts that humanitarian geography operates with are a cultural landscape (also an ethno-cultural landscape), a geographical image, a regional (spatial) identity, a spatial or local myth (regional mythology). The concept of "humanitarian geography" is closely related and intersects with the concepts of "cultural geography", "human geography", "sociocultural (social) geography", "social geography", "humanistic geography"<...>At the beginning of the XXI century. the concept of "humanitarian geography" is often perceived as a synonym for the concept of "cultural geography". Unlike cultural geography, humanitarian geography: 1) may include various aspects of the study of political, social and economic geography related to the interpretation of terrestrial spaces; 2) is positioned as an interdisciplinary scientific field that is not included in whole or in its main part in the complex of geographical sciences; 3) shifts the center of research activity towards the processes of formation and development of mental constructs that describe, characterize and structure the primary complexes of spatial perceptions and ideas...3 In recent years, research on the so-called "sacred geography" has become increasingly relevant. Here, there are no particular disputes about its relationship with other "geographies", and, despite the fact that sacred geography is gradually being singled out as a special area of research, it is usually considered one of the sections of cultural geography. Most of the works written in this genre are quite culturological in content and synthesize such areas of cultural knowledge as artistic creativity, religious art and religious philosophy, cultural and historical research.
As it seems to the author of this article, from a cultural point of view, the thematic division that exists today within the general problems of cultural geography is not associated with fundamental differences in methodological guidelines or in the subject of research. More often we are talking about the competition of various scientific schools and directions, the struggle for priority, etc.
So, for example, the "absorption" of cultural geography by human geography can be terminologically explained by the fact that the concept of "humanitarian" is wider than the concept of "cultural", since the sciences of culture are part of the humanities. But at the same time, the "sciences of culture" include a large
3 Zamyatin D.N. Humanitarian geography: space, imagination and interaction of modern humanities // Sociological Review. T. 9. No. 3. 2010. S. 26-27.
UVAROV Mikhail Semenovich /Mikhail UVAROV
| Cultural Geography in a Cultural Perspective (Analytical Review) |
CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY
a layer of anthropological knowledge, and in this sense there can be no talk of any “absorption”. Rather, we can talk about the intersection of cultural studies and cultural geography. Moreover, such an intersection, in which cultural-geographical knowledge can be partially represented as cultural knowledge.
Thus, terminological studies only confuse the essence of the issue. The author of the article believes that from the standpoint of modern culturological knowledge, one can speak of four varieties of cultural geography, which are peculiar levels (spheres, layers) of geographical knowledge, considered in a culturological perspective:
1. Macro level: [New] cultural geography
2. Micro level: Human geography
3. Meta level: Poetic geography (geopoetics - geopoetics)
4. Sacred level: Sacred geography (sacral geography)
Our Review latest literature is based precisely on this understanding of the structure and tasks of cultural geography.
previous reviews. In many studies on cultural (humanitarian) geography, there are solid reviews of the literature. Let's take a look at two of them.
Harvey, David. Justice, Nature & The Geography of Difference. N.Y.: Blackwell Publishing, 1996.
Hayden, Dolores. The Power of Place: Urban Landscapes as Public History. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 1991.
Lefebre, Henry. The Production of Space / Transl. by Donald Nicholson-Smith. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1991.
Lofland, Lynn. The Public Realm: Exploring the City "sQuintessentialTerritory. N. Y., 1998.
Soja, Edward. Postmodern Geographies: The Reassertion of Space in Critical Social Theory. L., N. Y.: Verso, 1989.
According to N. A. Chernyaeva (and many other modern researchers), today the humanities are experiencing a significant shift in the field of methodology, associated with the strengthening of the spatial-geographical component. In place of the former thinking matrices based on the historical paradigm (in which any material was located primarily along the temporal axis and was considered in historical development), there are such ways of understanding the material that can be called geographical. The influence of "geographical" thinking is felt in philosophy, literary criticism, anthropology, sociology and many other branches. Each of these sciences more and more actively operates with metaphors of space, starting with the concept of "situational knowledge" (situated knowledge), introduced into scientific circulation by feminist theory, the concept of "localized subjective
4 Humanities. Issue. 9. (No. 35 (2005), section "Reviews".
localized subjectivity in cultural studies and cultural anthropology and ending with such metadisciplinary categories as globalization, diaspora, post- and neo-colonization, etc. The new cultural geography, according to many of its followers, supplies the means of expression and voice to those social subjects, which are associated with the deterritorialization of modern space - with shifts in state and cultural boundaries, with neo- and post-colonial development, with the marginalization of some and the rise of other territories ...
Conceptual reviews of the problems of cultural and humanitarian geography are contained in the main works of D. N. Zamyatin, one of the founders of modern Russian humanitarian geography.
In the work “Culture and Space: Modeling of Geographical Images”, published in 2006, the author devotes the first chapter (pp. 21-84) to the classification of the diversity of sources on the topic under study. The traditions of studying the images of geographical space in philosophy, in other humanities, in humanitarian geography, natural sciences, as well as the general specificity of geographical images in culture are consistently analyzed. At the end of the chapter, conclusions and links to several hundred sources are given.
Reviews of various volumes are also contained in the relevant dissertations and monographic studies on the topic.
Overview of sources in Russian
Let's start the review with the abstracts of I. I. Mitin's conceptual speech at the meeting of the Commission on Cultural Geography, held in Moscow in February 2006.
“It is advisable to propose a new framework and more geographical definition of cultural geography as one of the geographical sciences that studies the patterns of formation and development, as well as the rules for constructing and transforming territorial cultural systems. The latter are proposed to be understood as systems consisting of elements (artifacts and mentifacts) of culture, the relationship between which is mediated by the territory. All interpretations of cultural landscapes (cultural areas, cultural areas) fall under this definition - both implying real objects and ideas about them in culture; in fact, attention to the second understanding adds to cultural geography the second part of the subject area. In this interpretation, the creation of complex cultural and geographical characteristics is one of the main tasks of cultural geography; it is a method of research and a form of presentation of information about the territorial cultural system, aimed at reflecting the uniqueness of the place<...>"5.
II Mitin understands cultural geography in the applied (practical) sense, which allows modeling the plan and methodology of concrete field research. This point
5 http://rgo.msk.ru/commissions/cultural/2006_02_08-2.html
UVAROV Mikhail Semenovich /Mikhail UVAROV
| Cultural Geography in a Cultural Perspective (Analytical Review) |
CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY
ka of view is extremely important, as it allows cultural geography to remain on solid "geographical" ground, without crossing the line of merging with cultural studies (or with cultural anthropology). In addition, this point of view is quite consistent with the latest trends in Western cultural geography, which emphasizes the practical use of cultural-geographical knowledge.
Dissertation research. In recent years, several doctoral dissertations have been defended in cultural geography in the field of geographical sciences, as well as cultural studies (D.N. Zamyatin) and philosophy (O.A. Lavrenova). Let's highlight some of them.
Ragulina M. V. Cultural geography: Theories, methods, regional synthesis. Dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Geographical Sciences. Irkutsk, 2005 (specialty 25.00.24)
scientific problem, solved in the dissertation, is connected with an analytical understanding of the phenomenon of cultural geography, identifying trends in its modern development in Russia. According to the author of the dissertation, cultural geography is a powerful and authoritative branch of human geography, which is currently being rediscovered by Russian geographical thought. The content and possibilities of today's human geography are directly related to the dynamic and not always predictable nature of the changes taking place in society. Not so long ago, evolutionary models proclaiming the limitless possibilities of technology and scientific and technological progress were the basis of general scientific methodology. Modernization and post-modernization of Western societies gave rise to globalist theories of what seemed to be a near future. In Russian geography, the most important problematic fields often remained “behind the scenes” that did not fit into its rigid framework. The living fabric of human-natural being was divided into a strictly defined and ranked subdisciplinary series, where a person as such, together with his everyday life world, was simply not appropriate: The hypertrophied anthropocentricity of foreign branches of human geography was criticized as a manifestation of subjective idealism. In Russia, problems and approaches, the very spirit of anthropogeography of the early twentieth century. could become a solid foundation; further development of geography.
Kalutskov VN Landscape concept in cultural geography. Dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Geographical Sciences. Moscow, 2009 (specialty 25.00.24)
The scientific problem to be solved by the dissertation research can be formulated as the development of a new cultural and landscape area of research in cultural geography. Modern Russian geography has a powerful predecessor in the form of Russian anthropogeography of the first quarter of the 20th century, which makes it possible to better understand the uniqueness of the processes of humanization of modern Russian geography. However, these processes are quite painful. And it would be a great simplification to see only ideological reasons in everything. Probably in much more the humanization of geography is influenced by the established scientific traditions, including the institutional forms of the organization of science, and the traditions of the geographical
education. At the same time, in each geographical area, in each of its scientific disciplines (even, it would seem, very far from humanitarian issues), there are points of growth that affect the process of humanization of science. In cultural geography, one such point of growth is the landscape concept.
Ethnocultural landscape science is one of the promising areas for the implementation of the landscape concept in cultural geography. In the process of its development, it seeks to fully use the cultural and linguistic possibilities of the very concept of landscape and the theoretical and methodological possibilities of the landscape concept. The subject of ethnocultural landscape science covers the range of issues of ethnocultural development of the Earth's landscapes. It includes four research areas - the doctrine of the cultural landscape, ethno-natural landscape science, anthropological landscape science and linguo-landscape science.
Lavrenova OA Semantics of the cultural landscape. Dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Moscow, 2009 (specialty 24.00.01). M., 2010.
In this work, the relationship between the problems of cultural geography and semiotic analysis is most clearly manifested, which is used in philosophical and cultural discourse.
As the author writes, the problem of the relationship between culture and space, the spatial characteristics of culture is an area of constant interest in both the humanities and the natural sciences. In multidirectional studies of culture, the meanings of geographical space and landscape created by culture are becoming increasingly important.
One of the fundamental ideas of the dissertation is related to the fact that the existence of culture in geographical space is inseparable from the process of symbolizing the environment. At the same time, according to O. A. Lavrenova, geographical objects and/or toponyms become metaphors, symbols, signs if there are stable associations in culture with certain historical events, artifacts or unique features of the natural landscape. Therefore, we can say that geographic space is inseparable from the images and symbols created by culture, which acquire the characteristics of an integral system, which can reasonably be considered as a geocultural space.
The cultural landscape is a phenomenon that lies in that section of the semiosphere, where the sign systems of culture are directly connected with the geographical space in general and its individual objects in particular.
Accordingly, it is possible to raise the problem of studying the cultural landscape as a sign system - the problem of the semantics of the cultural landscape. The study of this problem brings to a new methodological level a whole layer of disparate studies on the geography of spiritual culture, philosophical and cultural studies in the field of geographical images and ideas as a phenomenon of culture.
Monographic studies and periodicals. The range of monographic research in areas adjacent to cultural geography is extremely large. Let's take a look at some of the work.
UVAROV Mikhail Semenovich /Mikhail UVAROV
| Cultural Geography in a Cultural Perspective (Analytical Review) |
CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY
Gachev G. D. National images of the world. M., 1993-2007. In this series, the author, in particular, published books:
Images of India: experience of existential cultural studies. M., 1993
National Images of the World: General Issues Russian. Bulgarian. Kyrgyz. Georgian. Armenian. M.: Sov. writer, 1988; Moscow: Progress, 1995.
Cosmo-Psycho-Logos. M., 1995.
America in comparison with Russia and the Slavs. M., 1997.
National images of the world: a course of lectures. M., 1998.
National images of the world: Eurasia - the space of a nomad, a farmer and a highlander. M.. 1999.
National images of the world. Russia's neighbors. M., 2003.
Mentality of the peoples of the world. M., 2003.
Cosmo-Psycho-Logos. (2nd ed.). M., 2007. Multi-volume book of the famous Russian philosopher and
culturologist, devoted to the analysis of national images of the world in the dynamics of their development. It gives a detailed presentation of the spatio-temporal characteristics of cultural worlds in their unique historical coordinates. These works have never been "officially" related to the problems of cultural geography, they are not often referred to by representatives of this direction of geographical thought. However, their role in understanding the synthesis of the problems of cultural, humanitarian and poetic geography is undoubted.
1. The problem concerns the Whole. It is comprehensible only by the joint efforts of rational and figurative thinking, and therefore the work here goes on “thought images”.
2. The study is animated by the pathos of internationalism and equality: in the orchestra of world culture, each national integrity is dear to everyone else and its unique timbre, and harmony with everyone.
3. Every nation sees the Single dispensation of Being (international) in a special projection, which I call "the national image of the world." This is a variant of the invariant (a single world civilization, a single historical process).
4. Any national integrity is Cosmo-Psycho-Logos, that is, the unity of national nature, mentality and thinking.
5. The nature of each country is a text, full of meanings<.. .>In the course of work during the time of History, a specific people solves the call and testament of Nature and creates Culture.
6. Nature and Culture are in dialogue: both in identity and in complementarity: Society and History are called upon to make up for what is not bestowed on the country by nature.
7. The national (as well as the ethnos and language) is subject to social, class differences, tensions and splits, but this is a problem of the second stage and aerobatics; first you need to find out what can become splinterable.
8. The national image of the world is reflected in pantheons, cosmogony, shines through in a set of basic archetypes-symbols in art. The path closest to us is the analysis of the national figurativeness of literature and the consideration through it
the entire thickness of culture, including natural science - as texts of scientific literature.
This analysis is extended by G. D. Gachev to the cultural and geographical images of various regions of the world.
The first and obvious thing that, according to the author, determines the type of the national model of the world is the nature in which the people grow up and create their own history. The nature of each country is not a geographical concept, not an environment. Nature is a mystical substance, “prirodina” is nature and homeland, mother is the earth to her people. As a metalanguage for my descriptions, the author writes, I use the language of four elements, adhering to the ancient tradition of natural philosophy: earth, water, air, fire, understood broadly and symbolically - the essence of the words of this metalanguage, and eros serves as syntax. I am researching, G. D. Gachev continues, which element of culture outweighs, for which people or country space is more important, for which time, which is more characteristic of this people in culture.
Kagansky VL Cultural landscape and Soviet habitable space: Collection of articles. M., 2001 (additionally: Kagansky V.L. Landscape and culture. M., 1997; his own: Cultural landscape: basic concepts in Russian geography // Observatory of Culture: review journal. - 2009. - No. 1. P. 62-70)
According to the author, the cultural landscape over the past decades has become a subject of increased interest, especially in Russia. The concept of “cultural landscape” itself attracts considerable attention. It has never belonged entirely to any one field of knowledge or activity, but the cultural landscape as such is explored, comprehended and represented mainly by geography (understood broadly). One of the leading leitmotifs of all geography is precisely the landscape.
V. L. Kagansky adheres to a fairly broad understanding of the term "culture", which implies, in particular, the consideration of science, and, consequently, the scientific discipline "geography" as one of the areas of human culture. Thus, the functioning of the concept of "cultural landscape" in science is a special case of its existence in our culture. The cultural landscape is a phenomenon and an object (both scientific and cultural), which is obviously given as a family of concepts, and none of them can claim universality and monopoly.
Archetype of the cultural landscape. The landscape, according to V. L. Kagansky, is also shaped in that sphere of its existence, which is now commonly called mentality. Landscape images, including conceptual images, its self-descriptions, “auto-presentations”, images-and-myths, are its component, a special part no less important and no less durable than all the others. This is by no means an appendage or appendage to the physicality of the landscape, on the contrary: the majority of people live precisely and above all in this reality of the image, the myth; For most people, phase space is more vital than landscape space. Actually, few people live in the landscape. The character “the author is a resident of the landscape; texts - stories of a traveler in the world of landscape.
UVAROV Mikhail Semenovich /Mikhail UVAROV
| Cultural Geography in a Cultural Perspective (Analytical Review) |
CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY
In many ways, the collection of scientific articles published in Vilnius adjoins the previous edition:
P.S. Landscapes: optics of urban research / holes. ed. N. Milerius, B. Cope. Vilnius, 2008.
The collection is an interesting attempt to present a variety of approaches and conceptualizations in urban space studies in a context that is usually labeled as post-socialist. Abbreviation "P.S." in the interpretation of the authors of the book and in its various sections, it means both Post-soaalist, Post-Soros, and Post-Scriptum, and even Pferd-Starke. The preface to the book explains in detail this author's move, which makes it possible to highlight various aspects of the formation and existence of post-Soviet urban spaces in a style. The main purpose of this collection is to initiate a discussion about the different dimensions of urban space and how it can be coordinated with the social whole. The collection is intended primarily for university audiences, anyone interested in the methodology of social and cultural research, as well as for various researchers of urban space practices.
The main sections of the book:
P.S. cities: Breaking the order of time and space
P.S. cities: Economics and/or politics?
P.S. cities: Urbanization in question?
According to the author, the cultural landscape is a problematic field of the relationship between culture and space, the spatial characteristics of culture; this is a part of the semiosphere, where geographical objects, toponyms, hydronyms act as signs. In it, the meanings of geographical space created by culture are of great importance. Culture re-structures the space of its habitat, and ideas about the environment turn into a sign system. Thus, the sign system created by culture is genetically linked to the basic attitudes and codes of culture. Being realized in space, any culture becomes a spatial phenomenon that cannot be studied without relying on the concepts of noosphere and pneumatosphere.
The work is interesting due to the use of a pronounced semiotic and cultural-philosophical methodology, as well as a specific analysis of various geographical spaces, including the semiotics of St. Petersburg, Moscow and Perm.
Abashe VV Perm as a text: Perm in Russian culture and literature of the XX century. Perm, 2008.
The second edition of the book (the first was published in 2000) is the first volume of a 12-volume project of publishing books about Perm, which is currently underway.
According to the author's concept, the Perm text includes a wide range of "internal texts" characteristic of historically important geocultural spaces. So, analyzing written sources from Epiphanius the Wise
to Pasternak and modern samizdat poems, the author includes in the concept of the Perm text features of landscape, history, geography, everyday life in their semiotic horizon. The analysis of the local texts of Perm in the last century leads to the conclusion about the interaction of various semiotic coordinates of the cultural text.
The author's point of view is that the development of modern culture as a whole is characterized by the enlargement of the objects of study. The city as a phenomenon of culture and social life is of increasing interest. Here the interests of history, anthropology, sociology, political science and geography meet.
Trubina E. G. City in theory: experiments in understanding space. M., 2011.
The book examines classical and modern theories of cities - from the classical Chicago school to the actor-network theory that has developed over the past decade. Significant ideas of urban theory are reproduced taking into account the specifics of post-Soviet cities and the difficulties that researchers face in studying them. As emphasized in the reviews of this book, it is rather a textbook on the sociology of urban studies, which is rather rare in our educational space. At the same time, the book is built on the basis of a good knowledge of the Western urban tradition and fits well into the general dynamics of the study of modern cities. According to the author, in the course of fixing large-scale social transformations of modernity by European philosophy and sociology, the city acts as one of the most representative parts of society, embodying the relationship of industrialization and urbanization, alienation and normalization. Urban theory, as the author believes, can be considered a part of social theory. The complexity of the interaction of social theory and the city is due to the fact that the city is both the main space in which social changes take place and the key place in which social theory is created.
The book is equipped with interesting applied material, as well as a detailed bibliography by chapters of the study.
IN Lately, as already mentioned, are gaining more and more weight in works related to the problems of sacred geography. And although most researchers believe that sacred geography is a special branch of cultural geography associated with the study of cultural spaces of various religious content, nevertheless, the specifics of research on sacred geography are quite obvious.
The boundaries of the sacred in modern culture are not always fixed accurately. This feature is manifested, in particular, in the ability of our contemporary to freely perform a "nomadic movement": to cross cultural and geographical boundaries, to move from one cultural-re-
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| Cultural Geography in a Cultural Perspective (Analytical Review) |
CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY
religious center to another, that is, to be a citizen of the world, a man of culture. Religious modifications inherent in the world without borders impose special obligations on all participants in this cultural and geographical process. One of the indicative concepts within the framework of sacred geography is the book by Lidov A. M. Hierotopia: Spatial Icons and Paradigm Images in Byzantine Culture, Moscow, 2009.
The work is devoted to the history and theory of the creation of sacred spaces in culture (on the example of Byzantine art). It is based on recent research, which largely continues the author's work on the symbolism and iconography of the Byzantine and Old Russian churches. At the same time, it reflects a fundamentally new methodological approach and a special theory of artistic culture. The theory is based on three interrelated concepts introduced by the author into the humanities and included in the title of the book. The most general is the concept of "hierotopy", according to which the creation of sacred spaces should be considered as a special sphere of creativity and an independent area of historical research. Based on all available sources, the book reconstructs specific projects of "spatial icons" and reveals characteristic "images-paradigms", at the same time it offers a new look at a whole layer of phenomena of artistic culture that previously did not fall into object world art history.
According to the author of the book, the almost complete absence of scientific works in this direction is largely due to the fact that in the modern language there is no adequate term-concept denoting this area of activity. The widespread term "sacred space" cannot fully correspond to the task, since it is too general, describing almost the entire sphere of the religious. A few years ago, a new concept was proposed - "hierotopia". The term itself is built on the principle of combining the Greek words “hieros” (sacred) and “topos” (place, space, concept), just like many words that have taken root in modern consciousness over the past hundred years (for example, iconography). The essence of the concept can be formulated as follows: hierotopy is the creation of sacred spaces, considered as a special kind of creativity, as well as a special area of historical research in which specific examples of this creativity are identified and analyzed. The task of hierotopy is to realize the existence of a special and very large phenomenon that needs to determine the boundaries of its research field and develop special methods of study.
A series of books by a well-known researcher, one of the leaders of Russian humanitarian geography. Zamyatin D.N. Humanitarian geography: Space and language of geographical images. St. Petersburg, 2003; Zamyatin D.N. Meta-geography: Space of images and images of space. M., 2004; Zamyatin D.N. Culture and space: Modeling of geographical images. M., 2006.
From his point of view, throughout its history, geography was predominantly a natural science, but not alien to art. Geographers never forgot about
images of places and territories, about the beauty of the earthly space itself. Geography became interested in space in itself quite recently - only in the first half of the 19th century, when the German geographer Karl Ritter formulated the methodological foundations for the study of terrestrial spaces. Remaining largely a natural science during the 19th-20th centuries, geography gradually increased its humanitarian and scientific capabilities and "ambitions", trying to understand the laws of human perception and transformation of the Earth.
Actually, the entire series of books by D.N. Zamyatin is devoted to the interpretation of this issue. The layer of problems that the author introduces into the sphere of humanitarian geography is impressive. In addition to geopolitical and geocultural discourses, D.N. Zamyatin draws on material from the history of artistic culture, urbanism, postmodern philosophy and culture, and many others. In this sense, humanitarian geography is more likely to become a kind of cultural discipline than an independent field of study (it is worth recalling that D.N. Zamyatin defended his doctoral dissertation for a degree in cultural studies).
The author is interested in the problem of modeling geographical images, which is one of the most important. The rapid introduction in the last few decades of social-scientific and humanitarian-scientific approaches in various areas of geographical research has led to the formation of an interdisciplinary problematic methodological field.
Space and time are the most natural and organic coordinates of culture, the author believes. Every culture has its own unique spatial dimensions. These dimensions are expressed not only in specific geographical conditions in which culture develops, but also in certain images of space (geographical images) generated by the culture under study. Geographical images are an essential component of the culture in question, as well as culture in general (taken in its abstract sense). At the same time, these images have a significant impact on the formation and development of culture itself, defining a number of its unique features and phenomena.
The problems of the correlation of culture and space, their interaction are extremely relevant both in the field of scientific search for various humanitarian disciplines (culturology, political science, history, philology, psychology, etc.), and in the field of direct practical human activity - whether it is the protection of cultural and natural heritage , foreign and domestic policy of states, international relations, socio-economic development of various regions and countries. A significant part of modern humanitarian and scientific research is focused on the study of various kinds of spatial concepts and images, and such studies have a serious impact on the development of the general methodology of the humanities in general (for example, the study of images of space in linguistics and literary criticism). Along with this, most of this kind of work practically does not come into contact with similar attempts and research in the natural sciences - primarily in cultural, political and social geography.
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| Cultural Geography in a Cultural Perspective (Analytical Review) |
CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY
The presence of such a "Rubicon", which has not yet been crossed, reduces the overall methodological and applied potential for studying the problems of interaction between culture and space.
D. N. Zamyatin notes that economic practices are increasingly focused on the use of images of space, ranging from images of small rural areas, cities, cultural landscapes and ending with images of administrative and political formations of the state, regional political unions and even civilizations. Cultural policies, political actions and economic decisions in modern world we cannot imagine without purposeful, well-packed applied spatial images, which are their integral and significant part.
In fact, the problem of modeling geographical images refers, according to D.N. Zamyatin, to the phenomenology of culture, which analyzes theoretical and methodological searches in other sciences, but at the same time provides a single, “cross-cutting” view of the problem posed and, accordingly, determines the range of proposed author of theoretical and methodological techniques.
Additional sources. Summarizing scientific and methodological articles and studies, including a detailed review of the formation of the idea of cultural geography in Western and Russian humanitarian thought. Different in genres, sometimes incompatible in terms of historical, cultural, cultural and philosophical concepts of research, revealing the possibility of a polyvariant consideration of the basic ideas of cultural geography. Leading researchers in this area reveal a variety of approaches in this area6.
Humanitarian geography. Scientific and educational almanac. Issue. I-VI. Moscow: Institute of Heritage, 2004-20097.
Almanac "Humanitarian Geography" is devoted to the study of the "alternative" (and at the same time basic) concept of "gu-
6 Vedenin Yu.A., Turovsky R.F. Cultural geography, M., 2001; Kalutskov V.N. Landscape in cultural geography. Moscow: New Chronograph, 2008; Cultural geography / Nauchn. ed. Yu.A. Vedenin, R.F. Turovsky. M.: Institute of Heritage, 2001; The geography of art. Issue. I-IV. Moscow: Institute of heritage, 1996-2005.
7 Main issues: Humanitarian geography: Scientific and cultural and educational almanac / Compiled, responsible. ed. D. N. Zamyatin; ed. Baldin A., Galkina T., Zamyatin D. et al. Vol. 1. M.: Heritage Institute,
2004. 431 p.; Humanitarian geography: Scientific and cultural and educational almanac / Comp., otv. ed. D. N. Zamyatin; ed. Andreeva E., Belousov S., Galkina T. et al. 2. M.: Heritage Institute,
2005. 464 p.; Humanitarian geography: Scientific and cultural and educational almanac / Comp., otv. ed. D. N. Zamyatin; ed. Abdulova I., Amogolonova D., Baldin A. et al. Issue. 3. M.: Heritage Institute,
2006. 568 p.; Humanitarian geography: Scientific and cultural and educational almanac / Comp., otv. ed. D. N. Zamyatin; ed. Abdulova I., Amogolonova D., Gerasimenko T. et al. 4. M.: Heritage Institute, geography) and related fields. The journal raises topical issues related to the social and cultural problems of geography and contributes to the development of scientific discussions about them. It strives to be accessible to the international scientific community by inviting foreign authors and experts for cooperation.
The journal supports the publications of young scientists (bachelors and masters). All scientific articles in this journal are peer-reviewed.
Journal of Cultural Geography Published By: Frequency: 3 issues per year. Volume Number: 28
Journal of Cultural Geography. Routledge Publishing (frequency 3 issues per year; Issue No. 28, 2010 - latest available issue).
Since 1979, this journal has been an international forum for scientific research on the territorial aspects of the residence of various groups of people and their activities. In published studies, these problems are associated with landscape representations and diverse cultural phenomena. The journal is distinguished by the high quality of articles written in an accessible style. In addition to voluminous scientific works, popular essays are published on special thematic issues related to the main topics of the journal. Reviews of new books on cultural geography and related disciplines are also published.
Don Mitchell. Cultural Geography: A critical introduction. 2000. 325 p.
Don Mitchell. Cultural Geography: A Critical Introduction. Wiley-Blackwell, 2000. 325 p.
A critical appraisal of the transformations within Western cultural geography that have taken place over the past two decades. Cultural geography, according to the author, explains cultural changes in various geographical areas - from politics to everyday life, in the sphere of production and consumption - up to the problems of sexuality, gender, race and nationality.
Among the specific issues requiring further attention and highlighted in the work of Don Mitchell are the following:
Analysis of recent transformations in cultural geographical theory, revision and demand for the most
valuable aspects of old traditions;
Resumption of discussions on the problems of the ideology of culture, the production of value and the role of cultural confrontation in the reproduction of social life.
The development of cultural-geographical theory on the example of understanding modern "cultural wars".
Beyond Territory Dynamic Geographies of Knowledge: Creation, Diffusion and Innovation / edited by Harald Bathelt, Maryann Feldman, Dieter F. Kogler. Published by Routledge, 2011. 294 p. (Series: Regions and Cities)
Beyond the Territory of Dynamic Geographies of Knowledge: Creation, Diffusion and Innovation / eds.: Harald Butler, Marianne Feldman, Dieter F. Kogler. Routledge Publishing House, 2011. 294 p. (series "Regions and cities")
The main purpose of the book is to discuss new trends in dynamic geographic innovation. The authors argue that in the era of growing globalization, two trends seem to be dominant: a rigid territorial model of innovation and localized configurations of innovation activity. The book brings together scientists who work in this field. Instead of addressing well-known concepts and theories, the book is aimed at discussing the unclear ("narrow") issues associated with rigid territorializations (territorializations) and simplistic political activity. The authors present evidence that innovations, although not exclusively dependent on regional contexts, can have a special impact on the situation in each separate territory. The book introduces new empirical and conceptual data. The work was carried out by an interdisciplinary team of leading scientists in such fields as economic geography, innovative research and political science. Building on recent discussions around innovation systems of various types, it aims to summarize new economic and cultural innovations and new perspectives in the field of cultural geography research.
It is significant that in the Western tradition there is a practice of publishing reference books (books for reading) on cultural geography, which are collections of original articles written in a fairly simple language. They are used in educational work with students, and also serve as a kind of "encyclopedia" of the current state of research in cultural geography. One such popular publication is the Handbook of Cultural Geography / ed. by K. Andersson, M. Domosh, S. Pile, and N. Thrift. Sage Press, 2003 (first edition; last edition - 2009). Handbook of cultural geography / ed.: K. Andersson, M. Domosh, S. Pyle, N. Trift. Sage Press, 2003 (reissued every 1-2 years; latest edition 2009)
For Sage, these publications represent the study of the "art of cultural geography" in its specific fields. The book is intended for an audience that has a fair degree of familiarity with the subject but would like to learn more about a particular topic or expand their understanding and scope of work in that area.
According to the publishers' point of view, cultural geography is not just a "landscape" or "field" discipline. At
UVAROV Mikhail Semenovich /Mikhail UVAROV
| Cultural Geography in a Cultural Perspective (Analytical Review) |
CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY
discussing the subject of cultural geography, its boundaries with adjacent humanitarian areas, it becomes obvious that the "field" of cultural geography is determined by the violation of the usual academic boundaries. It is based on an insatiable enthusiasm for finding new problems and ideas.
When we began to draw up a research plan, the authors write in the preface, we decided that we should try to give it an interdisciplinarity regime, violating in a sense the usual framework of cultural geography. For this purpose, experts were invited to edit sections of the handbook that reflect the thematic interests of cultural geography. The most important were precisely the "fields of interaction" with other disciplines.
This book contains the main questions that cultural geographers are occupied with, reflects the specifics of the discussions that take place in their environment.
A distinctive feature of cultural geography is the transfer of geographical representations to various cultural objects. Geographers are interested in why things, where they are, are presented in their particular meaning, and what happens when they begin to move, cease to be isolated. It is also important how and why this happens. In addition, cultural geography is able to change the style of traditional thinking that exists in geographical knowledge. One could even say that cultural geography is a particular way of thinking that embraces a wide range of questions and ways of answering them.
A Handbook of Cultural Geography, the publishers write, is ultimately a bit of an "unruly" affair. We hope to delight readers, to help them appreciate not only what is inside the book, but what else can be achieved with the ideas invested in it. A book may intrigue, annoy or surprise - but that is exactly what cultural geography is about and aims for. The book includes eight sections (and more than thirty problematic articles):
Fabian, Johannes. Memory versus culture. Duce Univ. press, 2007.
In this book, renowned anthropologist Johannes Fabian evaluates contemporary anthropological practices and their new forms. Twelve essays provide theoretical reflections related to the substantiation of the results of the researcher's previous ethnographic work. Fabian reviews central issues theoretical debates closely related to the idea of cultural geography: language and time, history and memory, ethnography and the experience of recognition. The author demonstrates a comprehensive vision of the problems of modern anthropology, making the problem of language the focus of attention.
The place of linguistics in the modern language, as well as the role of studying material culture, if we imagine it filled with “other” objects. Turning to the practice of ethnography, Fabian considers the role of the Internet, field notes, and other written documents related to field ethnographic research. Ethnography is understood by him as a necessary part of the geographical vision of the world, and cultural memory as a reflection of the results.
field research conducted by interested practitioners of the case.
The author writes that when he collected essays for the book (the book itself is a transcription of lectures and seminars held over five years), he grouped the main problems into four headings: "Expanding Anthropology", "Language, Time, Objects", "Forget and Remember" and "Ethnography". Although each essay was written for its own purposes, a certain sequence was obtained that reflected both the personal interests of the author and the interests of the organizers and sponsors with whom he collaborated.
On the whole, the book is a typical "course" of Western anthropological thought, according to which the sciences of man should be based on a serious applied foundation, one of which, according to the author, is the "anthropological expansion" of the possibilities of comprehending the space and time of culture.
Additional sources
Carl Sauer on Culture and Landscape: Readings and Commentaries, edited by William M. Denevan and Kent Mathewson. Baton Rouge LU Press, 2009.
Landscape and Culture: The Studies of Carl Suarez. Texts and comments / ed. W. M. Denevan and Kent Meifson, 2009.
Collection of original texts by a well-known Western theorist in the field of cultural and landscape geography, with comments, introductory and final articles by the editors of the publication.
Piet, Richard. Reflections on Modern Geography, Blackwell Publishing, 1998.
The work, written by a professional geographer, is based on historical, applied and theoretical material that reveals the interaction of cultural and geographical spaces in the dynamics of their development.
Zelinsky W. Globalization Reconsidered: The Historical Geography of Modern Western Male Attire // Journal of Cultural Geography. 2004; Zelinsky W. This Remarkable Continent: An Atlas of North American Society and Cultures. (with John F. Rooney, Jr., Dean Louder, and John D. Vitek) College Station: Texas A&M University Press. 1982.
Zelinsky, Wilbur. Reassessing Globalization: The Historical Geography of Modern Western Menswear // Journal of Cultural Geography, 2004; Zelinsky, Wilbur. This Wonderful Continent: An Atlas of North American Society and Cultural Diversity (with input from Zelinsky's students and colleagues), 1982.
Classic studies of one of the patriarchs of American cultural geography (b. 1921), withstood a large number of editions in different languages. A series of articles in the Journal of Cultural Geography (1985-2005), as well as about 10 fundamental studies of a monographic nature, provide an objective picture of the development of American cultural geography in the 20th century.
CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY
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| Cultural Geography in a Cultural Perspective (Analytical Review) |
David Atkinson. Cultural Geography - Wiley-Blackwell, 2005.
The book of a well-known American author sets as its main task the definition of the real territory that cultural geography “occupies”. The work reveals a circle of ideas with the help of which this scientific space is formed. The book is primarily addressed to students of the humanities.
A companion to cultural geography / ed. by James S. Duncan, Nuala Christina Johnson, Richard H. Schein. 2004. 529pp.
Guide [accompanying] to cultural geography / eds.: J. S. Duncan, Christina Johnson, Richard N. Shine.
The book presents a series of essays on the comparative cultural geography of nature, identity, landscape and power. In practice, it is an introduction to modern cultural geography, based on the interpretation of the subjective-objective premises of its interaction with sociology, anthropology (personality theory), natural science and political philosophy.
Conclusion
From the point of view of cultural studies, cultural geography today covers a wide range of social and humanitarian disciplines related to the idea of culture. It acquires its identity as an interdisciplinary direction, the object of study of which is both the spatial diversity of cultures and the problem of their localization in different regions of the Earth. In a broader sense, we are talking about the mutual influence of various symbolic spaces of culture in the topos (and chronotope) of its development. Cultural studies today need to “reverse” the traditional concept of “chronotope” and turn to topochronous studies that nurture the ideas of sustainability, spatial and territorial localization of cultural objects, the semantics of cultural
spaces. In this regard, the theoretical foundations of cultural geography seem to be quite universal in the general humanitarian (and cultural) horizon. Therefore, it requires careful study of methodological issues.
A comparative analysis of domestic and Western sources shows that in Russia the formation of cultural geography occurs with a delay of about 30-40 years. If in Western humanities the quantity and quality of published works is at the level of development of other areas of knowledge (cultural anthropology, economic and political geography, comparative studies within the framework of Cultural Studies, etc.), then we are still talking only about the formation of cultural and geographical knowledge, on determining the boundaries of its competence and lines of interaction with other areas of the humanities. In this sense, the fate of cultural geography resembles the fate of cultural studies on domestic soil, which is also in its infancy.
There is an urgent need not only for close interaction between culturologists, philosophers and specialists in cultural geography, but also a clear request for a philosophical and cultural understanding of the problems of cultural geography. At present, culturologists and philosophers practically do not deal with these problems, do not know about the existence of a special geographical discourse in the field of culture, and do not mention cultural geography in their studies. For its part, the cultural-geographical community is little interested in what is happening in the field of cultural studies. Intersection points are formed, so to speak, at the level of the “reference apparatus”: in scientific papers different authors cite the same sources (for example, Yu. M. Lotman or V. N. Toporov), but that's all.
It seems that this situation is temporary, and normal scientific contacts will be established in the coming years.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
In Russian
R. S. Landscapes: Optics of Urban Studies. Vilnius, 2008.
Abashev V.S. Perm as a text: Perm in Russian culture and literature of the XX century. Perm, 2008.
Vedenin Yu. A., Turovsky R. F. Cultural geography, M., 2001.
Gachev G. D. National images of the world. M., 1997-2007.
The geography of art. Issue. WELL. Moscow: Institute of heritage, 1996-2005.
Humanitarian geography. Scientific and educational almanac. Issue. ¡-IV / Ed. D.N. Zamyatin. Moscow: Institute of heritage, 2004-2007.
Gumilyov LN Ethnogenesis and biosphere of the Earth. L.: Izd-vo LSU, 1989. 495 p.
Delez J., Gwatari F. Capitalism and Schizophrenia: A Thousand Plateaus. M., 2010.
Druzhinin A. G. Theoretical foundations of the geography of culture. Rostov-on-Don: Publishing House of the SKNTs VSH, 1999. 114 p.
Zamyatin D.N. Humanitarian geography: Space and language of geographical images. SPb., 2003.
Zamyatin D.N. Culture and space: Modeling of geographical images. M., 2006.
Zamyatin D.N. Meta-geography: Space of images and images of space. M., 2004.
Zamyatin D. N. Modeling of geographical images: The space of humanitarian geography. Smolensk, 1999. 256 p.
Kagansky VL Cultural landscape and Soviet habitable space. M., 2001.
Kagansky V. L. Landscape and culture. M., 1997.
KalutskovV. N. Landscape in cultural geography. Moscow: New Chronograph, 2008.
Cultural geography / Nauchn. ed. Yu. A. Vedenin, R. F. Turovsky. M., 2001.
Cultural landscape as an object of heritage / Ed. Yu. A. Vedenina, M. E. Kuleshova. Moscow: Institute of Heritage; St. Petersburg, 2004.
Cultural landscape of the Russian North / Ed. ed. A.A. Ivanova, V. N. Kalutskov. M., 1998.
Lavrenova OA Spaces and meanings: the semantics of a cultural landscape. M., 2010.
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International Journal of Cultural Research
© Eidos Publishing House, 2011. For personal use only. www.culturalresearch.ru
© 2011 Publishing House EIDOS. For Private Use Only.
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| Cultural Geography in a Cultural Perspective (Analytical Review) |
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Lidov A. M. Hierotopia: Spatial icons and paradigm images in Byzantine culture, Moscow, 2009. Lotman Yu. M. Unpredictable mechanisms of culture. Tallinn, 2010. Lotman Yu. M. Semiosphere. M., 2006. MaksakovskiyV. P. Geographical culture. M., 1998. Ragulina M. V. Cultural geography: theory, methods, regional
synthesis. Irkutsk, 2004. Trubina EG City in theory: experiments in understanding space. M., 2011.
Fadeeva T. M. Crimea in sacred space. Simferopol, 2002. Cultural landscape of the Russian North / Ed. ed. A. A. Ivanova,
V. N. Kalutskov. M., 1998. Streletsky V. N. Cultural geography in Russia: features
formations and ways of development // Izvestiya RAN. Ser. geographical. 2008. No. 5.
Present S. Ya., Druzhinin A. G. Essays on the geography of Russian culture. Rostov-n/D, 1994.
On English language A companion to cultural geography / ed. by James S. Duncan
Christina Johnson, Richard H. Schein. 2004. 529 p. Bridging the Gap: Connecting Christian Faith and Professional Practice in a Pluralistic Society/ Dort College Press, 2009.
Carl Sauer on Culture and Landscape: Readings and Commentaries, edited by William M. Denevan and Kent Mathewson. Baton Rouge LU Prss, 2009.
David Atkinson. cultural geography. Wiley-Blackwell, 2005.
Debres, Karen. Burgers for Britain: A Cultural Geography of McDonald's UK. Journal of Cultural Geography. 2005.
Donald, Mitchell. Cultural Geography: A Critical Introduction. 2000. 352 p.
Fabian J. Memory against Culture. Duke Univ. press, 2007.
Fabian J. Moments of Freedom: Anthropology and Popular Culture. Unov. Press of Virginia, 2008 (2nd ed.)
Handbook of Cultural Geography / ed. by K. Andersson, M/ Domosh, S. Pile, and N. Thrift. Sage Press, 2003 (first edition).
Peet, Richard. Modern Geographical Thought; Blackwell; 1998.
Postmodernism and the Postsocialist Condition: Politicized art under socialism / ed. by Martin Erjavec. Univ. of California Press, 2003.
Social and Cultural Geography. Routledge Press, Vol. 12, 2010.
Zelinsky W. Globalization Reconsidered: The Historical Geography of Modern Western Male Attire // Journal of Cultural Geography. 2004.
Zelinsky W. This Remarkable Continent: An Atlas of North American
Society and Cultures. (with John F. Rooney, Jr., Dean Louder, and John D. Vitek) College Station: Texas A&M University Press. 1982.
Geographic culture is part of the universal culture.
part 1 - introduction
“Geography is the only ideological subject at school that forms a comprehensive and systematic idea of the Earth in students. That is why geographical culture is integral part common culture".Vladimir Pavlovich Maksakovskiy.
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 outlook of a people, the more opportunities they have.
Today, a “geographical renaissance” is taking place in education, if you can call it that - geography has again turned its face.
In geography, the unfading romance of wandering is surprisingly combined with a special, deeply scientific vision of the world. There is hardly any other science that would be equally interested in living nature and the territorial organization of people's life and activities. Problems of interaction between nature and society.
Vladimir Pavlovich Maksakovskii paid great attention to the study of geographical culture as a world-historical phenomenon. Maksakovskii reveals the concept of "geographical culture", highlighting the following groups in it:
1- geographical knowledge involved in the formation of a scientific worldview;
2- polytechnical knowledge about science, technology, production and management, in the coverage of which geography participates "on an equal footing" with others academic disciplines;
3- ecological knowledge and skills, in the formation of which geography plays an outstanding role (at the same time, these are elements of ecological culture);
4- geographical thinking;
5- specific "language" of geography, as an element of geographical culture.
Should be added:
- introduction of cartographic knowledge into the daily life of society;
- fundamental knowledge in the field of political and socio-economic geography, contributing to the formation, among other things, of a "market" culture.
The issue of geographical culture is very relevant, because the level of this education is still not high enough. Geography at school is one of the
subjects, which aims to give students a holistic view of the modern world, the place of Russia in this world, to develop a cognitive interest in other peoples and countries.
K. D. Ushinsky, substantiating the role of geography as an educational subject, especially noted the importance of students' knowledge of the geography of their homeland for preparing for independent life.
Part 2 - examples from work experience
How do I try to embody the ideas of geographical culture in the learning process in my lessons? For example, I chose the lessons through which I try to continue the formation of the image of Russia in various aspects, on reliable facts and emotional images.
Grade 9 The regional section, the theme "Central Russia" provides excellent opportunities for the formation of geographical culture in the broadest sense of the term. After a brief general introduction, students are divided into groups, if they wish, taking into account their interests. Each group receives a task - to make a route through the cities and towns of Central Russia and prepare a performance. These itineraries are: Group 1 - economists make up an overview of the major industrial centers of Ts.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 the national shrines of the Russian people (Sergiev Posad, Rostov Veliky, etc.); 4 group - masters of golden handsmake up a route according to the years and places where folk crafts originated and survived (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 and; 6 group - cities associated with the names of scientists and other famous people (Lipetsk - Semenov-Tyan-Shansky, Kaluga - K.E. Tsiolkovsky, Vladimir - A.G. Stoletov, Korolev,) or make a trip to the cities - Science cities ... Each group prepares a speech using digital resources on the teacher’s recommendation, for example, the Culture of the Russian Federation portal in the “Image of Russia” section, through which you can find objects of interest + Google maps, with the help of which a route is laid and travel time is calculated from point to point. Performances are illustrated with colorful presentations, musical fragments (where appropriate), as well as samples of handicrafts. Each group plots its route on a contour map, marking "stops". After the performances of all groups, you can overlay maps and find places where objects with different features coincide - to conclude, for example, Yaroslavl is not only an ancient historical center that is a UNESCO heritage site, but also a large industrial center where the world's first synthetic rubber plant was founded ; or Meshchera National Park, also associated with the name of the writer K.G. Paustovsky, who sang these magnificent places in his works.
Students create their projects in groups collect information on their own regulating their actions and the actions of their team members - this impliescommunicative aspect; growing cognitive interest (after all, many had no idea where famous writers or scientists were born and lived); on this material are also built metasubject connection with literature and history. main idea or target such a lesson - to show the territory of Central Russia that is significant for our country from different angles: in the economic, historical, cultural, and natural senses; show how important it is for the preservation of the identity of our people to preserve traditions, cultural heritage and the natural factor; 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"The flora and fauna of Russia" or "Natural zones of Russia"I developed a lesson-conference "The Importance of Russia's Forests".The main idea is to destroy the stereotypical consumer perception of forests by citizens, to show their incredible importance in our daily life. I begin the lesson by reading from a magnificent excerpt by K. G. Paustovsky “Forest of Meshchera”. Then the challenge - "provocations" of the student: - "Why do we need detailed knowledge about the forests, if we live in the city?" Teacher: “I want to convince you that the forest plays a big role in the modern life of people, knowledge about forests will come in handy, and you will help me with this. But first of all, look at the map of natural zones, in which zone is our city built? Conducting requires preparation. Students preliminarily 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 of certain species is used (pine, spruce, larch, birch, linden, etc.); 3) a group of ecologists - "forest is the lungs of the planet, protection of arable land, water resources, etc."; 4) doctors - "doctor's advice - how to be treated by the forest, the physical and mental health of a person"; 5) tourists - use photos from the 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) defenders of the forest - forest rangers - “how people sometimes behave in the forest, what they leave and what are the consequences” (here you can recall the lines of A.P. Chekhov from the play “Uncle Vanya” - “Russian forests are cracking under an ax ... there are less and less forests , rivers dry up"; 7) culturologists - "the aesthetic significance of forests - forests inspired many poets, musicians and artists" - Bunin's poems, excerpts from Paustovsky's works, music by P.I. Tchaikovsky from "The Seasons" accompanies the display of paintings by great artists.
The results of the lesson - reflection - diverse: 1) the test “Formation of the spiritual warehouse of a Russian person according to Klyuchevsky (select from the list the features formed by the forest); 2) a table called the “Conference Final Document”, where students briefly enter all the main ideas of the lesson; (* attached) 3) you can offer to work out the "Commandments going into the forest" at home; as well as acquaintance with the diversity of Russian forests - the change of forest communities in the meridional 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 the moral and ethical plan;
The purpose of this lesson is not only cognitive - to continue the formation of ideas and knowledge about the features of the nature of Russia, the relationship of the components of nature, to show the importance of forest resources in their various aspects; to continue the formation of knowledge of ecology, to show the significance of this knowledge. Metasubject connections are present with might and main - this is historical material related to the formation of the Russian people, their relationship to forests and the use of their resources, biology – impact of forests on human health; literature - poems by I.A. Bunin, P. Brovko, excerpts from the works of A.P. Chekhov, K.G. Paustovsky and others;art- reproductions of great masters - I.I. Shishkin, I.I. Levitan, music - usage musical arrangement(Tchaikovsky, "The Seasons"); chemistry – chemical signs and symbols; compounds that pollute the atmosphere. Personal - the influence of the forest on the physical, mental and spiritual health of people - “how to be treated by the forest”; the need for knowledge about forests is dictated by the fact that the residents of St. Petersburg are residents of the forest zone; fostering a sense of patriotism; respect for forests; spiritual, aesthetic development of the personality, love for nature through its understanding; upbringing of moral categories through understanding the consumer attitude of a person to forests - "forest is the center of morality" - Academician Likhachev.Communicativeaspects are revealed throughstories of students who act as representatives of different professions and their discussion. Regulatory - select the main ideas of the lesson; work with a map, diagrams, digital material; culture of oral and written speech, culture of public speaking, intellectual skills - analysis, generalization, abstraction of situations.Educational environment:use - demonstration of the presentation as illustrations for the lesson materials from the personal photo archive (tourist rally); a map of vegetation or, better, natural areas of Russia; tables, scaffolding illustrations; a collection of wood for clarity; Handout. Of course, you can study p.zones according to a standard plan, which the students themselves draw up. We adhere to it, but you can highlight your own zest for each p.zone. For example, while studying the tundra zone, I decided to focus on the characteristics of the life of the population. I found a wonderful movie on YouTube - "The Harsh Life in
tundra. This is a short story of a Nenets boy who goes in search of a deer herd. It shows not only the system of survival in these harsh conditions, traditions, but also its feelings. The guys respond very vividly to this story - a true understanding of what a geographical environment is comes.
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 for two oceans in certain specialties:historians, climatologists, geomorphologists, biologists, economists and ecologists. Assignment - using texts§15, 16 about oceans fill in the cards; prepare a story on your topic.*cards with tasks1 attached
Stage 2 - work in fours."Specialists" unite in fours, i.e. turn to the students sitting at the back, receive a card with questions for comparison in these specialties, write down the answers on the card.*cards with tasks 2 are attached
Stage 3 performance - homework.1 option of presentations - stories of 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 combined into a group of "oceans" (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 the new activity of a "specialist" and evaluate your own activities, expand the range of interests, display creativity, gaining experience in speaking this issue. Regulatory - define the goal, planning - build a chain of necessary knowledge, select information on this issue, convert information into a table, compare objects, evaluate the results of one's own activities and compare and evaluate the work of others. Cognitive - research:identification of sources (textbook, maps, Internet) and search for the necessary information; brain teaser: highlighting essential features, drawing up a plan, presenting information in the form of a table and answering questions of “conclusions” in their specialties;sign-symbolic:preparation of a story about "one's own ocean in one's specialty."Communicative- organization of work in pairs, and then in fours; be able to express their opinion and defend their point of view, evaluate the answers of classmates.
Conclusion. Today's humanity is a 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 foundations of geographical knowledge should become a necessary element of the culture of modern man.
As a result of studying the material in this chapter, the student should:
- know foundations of ethno-cultural, linguistic, confessional geography of Russia;
- be able to to reveal the cultural and geographical originality of the country and its regions; use material literary works for the cultural and geographical characteristics of the country and regions;
- own basic concepts and terms of cultural geography.
The diversity of ethnic groups, languages and religions is an important feature of the Russian cultural space. It has developed historically in the process of expanding the borders of Russia and incorporating new peoples and new territories into its composition.
Some cultural and geographical concepts and terms
In the second chapter, it was shown that the geographical zone is not only a natural, but also a cultural phenomenon; in each geographical area, nature and traditional culture are "tuned" to each other, and even in the 21st century. the law of geographical zoning "works" both in the natural environment and in the sphere of culture. For example, zonalysh, those. correlate with a well-defined geographical landscape, many activities: agriculture and forestry, hunting and fishing, tourism and recreation; zonal national cuisine, reflecting the resource potential of the surrounding landscape.
Another important concept is the enclosing landscape. The author of the term is L. N. Gumilyov. accommodating there is such a landscape (forest, steppe, mountain), with which a certain people is connected historically and mentally and which is perceived by them as their own. The surrounding landscape is ecological and historical the cradle of the people, its "ecological niche"; at the same time, the “native” landscape is not only well understood by the representatives of the people, but is also “felt”, perceived by all senses. In this context, it is appropriate to cite a legend about the Polovtsian Khan, who settled in the Transcaucasus and did not want to leave there, but when he was given a bunch of dry wormwood to smell, the “smell of the homeland” turned out to be stronger than rational arguments: the Khan with his horde left the place and returned to his native Polovtsian steppes.
As a rule, medium and small peoples are associated with one zonal landscape, large peoples - with several. So, for the Mari, the landscape of the zone of mixed and broad-leaved forests is the motherland. Russians in the historical and cultural-linguistic aspects are mainly associated with four enclosing landscapes: the zone of mixed and broad-leaved forests, the taiga zone, the forest-steppe zone and the steppe zone.
Different zonal natural conditions - forest And non-forest - brought to life different types of farms: with a predominance of agriculture and with a predominance of cattle breeding. Various natural conditions initially favored the formation of different ways of life - settled And nomadic , and, accordingly, a different attitude to the house, space, territory. Sometimes natural conditions and cultural traditions contributed to the formation of transitional settled-nomadic forms, for example, as among the Russian Pomors.
An analysis of the results of mass ethnographic research in various regions of the world and developments in physical and geographical zoning allowed ethnographers to conclude that natural landscapes had a significant impact on the traditional economy of peoples. The theoretical understanding of these conclusions resulted in the concept economic and cultural type , according to which the material and economic features of the traditional culture of the peoples of the world correlate with natural zonal conditions.
An economic and cultural type is a historically established traditional natural and economic complex, typical of peoples who have different origins, but live in similar natural conditions. The economic and cultural type is an economic and natural system, where economic activity and the natural and geographical environment largely determine the characteristics of the material culture of peoples. Thus, the concept of economic and cultural type, in fact, is a concept natural and economic type.
Economic and cultural types are types of material culture that have developed under the influence of similar natural conditions and adapted to them, i.e. adaptive , types of traditional economic activity. The combined effect of similar natural conditions and historically changing types of economic activity led to the formation of similar cultural characteristics among different peoples. For example, peoples as distant from each other as Ukrainians, Karelians and Mari belong to the same economic and cultural type - settled plowed farmers of the forest zone. As a consequence, elements of a cultural community can be expected among these seemingly dissimilar peoples.
At the same time, within one people, due to historical circumstances, found itself in different landscape and, consequently, economic conditions, different economic and cultural types are formed, which leads to cultural divergence and the formation of sub-ethnic groups. These groups include, in particular, brilliant And coastal Chukchi engaged in various types of traditional economic activities: cattle breeding and hunting for sea animals.
Thus, the concept of the economic and cultural type makes it possible to better understand the origins of the cultural differentiation of ethnic groups associated with the heterogeneity of natural (physico-geographical) conditions, which in different enclosing landscapes lead to different results of cultural adaptation.
- For more details, see: Levin M. G., Cheboksarov II. II. Economic and cultural types and historical and cultural areas // Soviet ethnography. 1955. No. 4. S. 3-17.
- See: Alekseeva T. I. Human adaptation ... S. 218-219.
The concept of "Cultural geography"
Remark 1
Cultural geography, as one of the branches of geography, considers culture in geographical space and is often defined as the geography of a person.
Cultural geography is one of the leading branches of social geography in foreign countries along with economic, social and political geography.
In Russia, cultural geography is a set of scientific areas that are close in terms of the object of study, but it has not yet taken shape as an integral scientific discipline.
In the 1920s, a school of cultural landscape was created in the United States, so K. Sauer, who founded this school, is considered to be the founder of cultural geography.
At that time, in Russian geographical science, the culture of different regions and its description were part of anthropogeography. The development of cultural geography in the country began in the 80s, and was associated with the study of the cultural landscape and ethnology.
In cultural geography, sections are distinguished depending on the subject of study:
- ethnic geography;
- geography of languages;
- geography of religions;
- geography of art;
- geography of mass culture;
- geography of cultural infrastructure.
Currently, cultural geography has practical significance in more specialized areas, for example, feminist geography, children's geography, tourism, gender geography, urban geography, political geography.
Cultural geography has its own object, which is geocultural space - a product of the interaction of spaces, cultural and geographical.
The object of study of cultural geography in the foreign world, especially in the United States in the second half of the 20th century, was local areas. In their borders, they rarely coincide with the boundaries of the administrative-territorial division, but the population perceives them as culturally integral territories.
The purpose of the development of cultural geography is the study of cultural practices and human activities to the extent that they are spatially related to each other.
Globalization, which began in the 21st century, is associated with such processes as the unification of culture, the loss of local cultural traditions, and the loss of cultural values. Distinctive ethno-cultural territorial communities were blurred and disappeared, therefore, research conducted in the field of cultural geography began to be of great practical importance.
Studies of cultural geography and their results are important in the development of strategies for the socio-economic development of countries and regions. The nature of the economic development of a country is influenced by the accepted system of values, norms of behavior, type of mentality, traditions of economic ethics, economic and environmental culture.
Specialists working in the field of cultural geography are involved in the development of both national and international government programs for the protection of cultural heritage.
In Soviet post-war geography, only anthropogenic landscape science really developed. Cultural geography was a project of the future, and today its status has remained almost unchanged.
Even N. N. Baransky said that the formation of cultural geography would be desirable. Cultural geography was part of the social, on which social needs were concentrated.
S. B. Lavrov at that time noted that specialists in social geography should not switch to cultural and geographical aspects, because social geography itself is far from perfect.
Remark 2
Thus, it turns out that at this time, cultural geography, not yet restored, suffered from a close connection with social geography. It never went beyond social geography and did not become a science of the way of life of local communities.
Nevertheless, in the late 80s of the last century, cultural geography emerged as a narrow applied field of knowledge. At first, she studied the distribution of cultural artifacts on the territory of the country and was associated with the works of A. G. Druzhinin, who considered the concept of the noosphere to be the methodological basis for the geography of culture.
A. G. Druzhinin introduces the concept of a geocultural situation as its property, and not as a special territorial system. He believes that it is geocultural situations that form geoethnocultural systems, so the study of the geography of a particular culture is reduced to their selection.
He very clearly defines the distinctive facet of cultural and social geography and at the same time their inseparability. According to him, this continuity is as follows:
- cultural infrastructure, being an important component of the territorial organization of culture, is subject to social infrastructure;
- the territorial community of people and geocultural situations are connected as varieties of territorial social systems.
In his monograph, A. G. Druzhinin points out that cultural geography is a kind of integral approach in the system of geographical sciences, it permeates all subsystems of socio-economic geography.
A. G. Druzhinin was the first theorist and creator of cultural geography in the country. He names the prerequisites for the formation of cultural geography:
- the availability of research in the field of socio-cultural geography of the population among domestic geographers;
- new disciplines related to geography - lifestyle geography;
- geography of education;
- geography of consumption, science;
- formation of the conceptual apparatus of socio-economic geography.
After a long break, cultural geography in the country was formed in the last years of the existence of the USSR as a special branch of social geography, and its subject matter concerns the territorial organization of cultural objects.
And, at the same time, it must be said that the formation of cultural geography in the country is proceeding independently of Western cultural geography, and without relying on the Russian anthropogeographic school.
Cultural and geographical zoning
Cultural-geographical regions are divided into two types - real regions, mental regions.
Real areas, in turn, are divided into homogeneous and heterogeneous. They can be homogeneous both culturally and culturally-naturally.
In mental cultural-geographic regions, mythological and vernacular regions are distinguished.
The law of geographical zonality, discovered by V.V. Dokuchaev at the beginning of the 20th century, is subject to zonal regions, and the author himself considered his discovery as the law of natural and cultural zonality, i.e. considered much broader.
The law of zonality, V. V. Dokuchaev believed, not only applies to nature, it applies to cultural phenomena, the economic life of the population, to ongoing social processes and phenomena of spiritual life.
According to L. N. Gumilyov, nature and traditional economic activity are interconnected in the zonal enclosing landscape.
Within Russia, the following zonal natural and cultural regions successively replace each other from north to south: the region of the Arctic deserts, the region of the tundra, the forest tundra, the taiga region, the region of mixed and broad-leaved forests, the forest-steppe region, the steppe region, the region of semi-deserts, the region of deserts, the Mediterranean region.
According to Gumilyov, the zonal enclosing landscape of Russian culture includes the zone of mixed and broad-leaved forests of the East European (Russian) plain.
Most of the ancient Russian cities are located within these limits. If we take into account ethnic borders with neighbors, then it is necessary to single out the Central region of traditional Russian culture.
In the north of the Russian Plain, during the Novgorod and Rostov-Suzdal colonization, a northern Russian region was formed with a traditional northern housing complex and a "surrounding" dialect. The taiga has become the ecological niche of this region.
In the southern part of the Russian Plain, the South Russian region was formed, stretching from the Kursk region to the Krasnodar Territory. The steppe and forest-steppe enclosing landscapes have become an ecological niche of the South Russian region.
Remark 3
Nature and traditional culture, especially in the European part of Russia, have changed significantly in the course of globalization processes, and the features of a particular natural and cultural region in a purer form can now be found in museum reserves and in national parks.
Lecture plan
- 1. Cultural geography as a science. Place of cultural geography in the modern theory of culture. Theoretical and applied research in the field of cultural geography.
- 2. Ideas and concepts of cultural geography in the works of P.Ya. Chaadaeva, N.A. Berdyaev, O. Spengler, A. de Tocqueville, A. Toynbee, M. Foucault,
E. de Soto, D. Norta, X. Ortega y Gasset, A. Rappoport, M. Weber.
3. Economic development and cultural values. Types of countries in the coordinates of cultural values. Cultural differences between regions of the world: measurement scales. Cultural and geographical models of various countries. Cultural landscape: basic models and concepts. Social capital: approaches and concepts.
The historical emergence of cultural geography is connected with the increasing specification of socio-economic geography. As a subject of study of cultural geography, it is customary to highlight the differences between individual regions of the planet - both spatial and cultural, due to the cultural originality of geographical locations. Cultural geography arose at the beginning
30s XX century., Its founder is the American K. Sauer. In Russia, cultural geography has developed in two main directions: implicit and explicit. The first group includes a number of works by such authors as Yu.M. Lotman, D.S. Likhachev, M.M. Bakhtin and others. Working in the fields of cultural history and semiotics, representatives of this trend expressed ideas that can be considered cultural and geographical. The second direction is represented by V.L. Kagansky, RF. Turovsky, A.G. Druzhinin, M.V. Ragulin and others.
Starting to determine the disposition of cultural geography in the modern theory of culture, it is necessary to try to outline its position among consonant directions. A number of scientists believe that the field of research in humanitarian geography is wider than the field of cultural geography, since the sciences of culture are an integral part of the humanities. D.N. Zamyatin clarifies the differences between humanitarian geography and cultural geography as follows: “... humanitarian geography 1) may include various aspects of the study of political, social and economic geography related to the interpretation of terrestrial spaces; 2) is positioned as an interdisciplinary scientific field that is not included in whole or in its main part in the complex of geographical sciences; 3) shifts the center of research activity towards the processes of formation and development of mental constructs that describe, characterize and structure the primary complexes of spatial perceptions and ideas” 1 .
Poetic geography, or geopoetics, is rather a direction of knowledge that is adjacent to cultural geography. Geopoetics, founded by C. White, according to his opinion, is called upon to study the harmonious existence of man on Earth, which would be based not on the analytical attitude to the surrounding reality traditional for Western culture, but would be based on a poetic worldview. Sacred geography is one of the branches of cultural geography, specializing in the study of religious philosophy and religious art. The boundaries of the directions are due not so much to methodological differences as to the desire of various schools to stand apart.
Zamyatin D.N. Humanitarian geography: space, imagination and interaction of modern humanities // Sociological Review. 2010. V. 9. No. 3.
M.S. Uvarov proposes a systematization of cultural and geographical knowledge, according to which the previously identified areas are distributed over several levels. Thus, the macrolevel is represented by a new cultural geography, the microlevel - by humanitarian geography, the metalevel - by poetic geography, and the sacred level - by sacred geography. Cultural geography in modern domestic science is one of the new directions, and, as M.S. Uvarov, the development of cultural geography is similar to the path that culturology follows. At present, there is no doubt about the interdisciplinarity of the field of research conducted within the framework of cultural geography.
Modern domestic scientists increasingly understand cultural geography in an applied sense, which is consistent with the trends observed in Western science. But within the framework of cultural geography, research is also being carried out on a theoretical level. For example, one can note the dissertations of M.V. Ragulina, V.N. Kalutskova, O.A. Lavrenova, which are devoted to the following theoretical problems: analysis of the phenomenon of cultural geography and the peculiarities of its existence on domestic soil; development of a new cultural landscape direction in cultural and geographical research; the problem of correlation between cultural geography and semiotic analysis. Foreign scientists engaged in theoretical research develop the methodology of empirical research; analyze the latest transformations in cultural geography; they develop modern theory through the development of "cultural wars", etc. In the field of applied research in cultural geography, such issues as the dynamics of changes in national images of the world are topical; cultural landscapes of individual regions of the world; images of some spaces in culture and literature; geographical images in cinema; cultural geography as a genre of modern fiction; cultural genesis of symbolic forms, etc.
Next, we should consider the ideas and concepts of cultural geography. It is worth starting with the views of P.Ya. Chaadaev, who spoke about the dilemma between West and East and Russia's place in it. In the "Apology of a Madman" P.Ya. Chaadaev praises Peter I, who brought the values of the West, who renounced old Russia. Peter changed the language, named the new capital in a Western manner, adopted a Western title, etc. Chaadaev notes that Russia adopted the clothes and customs of the West, it was the West that taught Russia its own history through Western books. Declaring that the important facts of history, as well as significant ideas, are all borrowed, nevertheless, P.Ya. Chaadaev insists that this is not a reason for resentment, such is the logic of Providence. Understanding East and West not only as two geographical areas that have been opposed to each other since ancient times, but also as “two principles corresponding to the two dynamic forces of nature, two ideas embracing the entire life structure of the human race”, Chaadaev enumerates: the human mind in the East closes on the very itself, in the West - it radiates in different directions; The East is characterized by the dominant role of public power, the West - power based on legal principles. Chaadaev opposed those who advocated that the true path for Russia is the path of the East, since beliefs and laws were adopted from there in ancient times; besides, the East is losing ground, therefore, it is Russia that can become its full-fledged successor. Despite the fact that a number of regions of Russia are located in the East, its center gravitates towards the West; “There is one fact that dominates our historical movement, which runs like a red thread through our entire history ... - a geographical fact.”
ON THE. Berdyaev also addressed the problem of relations between the West and the East and Russia's place in them. On the one hand, he notes that the West and the East began to interact closely again, the East is actively adopting Western civilization, but at the same time without mastering Christian spirituality, besides, there is a decomposition of their own religious beliefs; "... even the Hindus, who were many times more spiritual than the bourgeois and materialized peoples of the West, are losing their spirituality and are becoming civilized." Turning to the eternal question of the place of Russia, Berdyaev opposes Eurasianism, but at the same time notes its positive aspects, in particular, the fact that Eurasians correctly assess the scale of changes taking place in the world. But if the scale is assessed correctly, then the essence of the changes is not properly understood: according to the Eurasians, it lies in the decomposition European civilization. ON THE. Berdyaev believes that it would be more correct to call the movement he analyzes not Eurasianism, but Asiaticism or even anti-Eurasianism, closing in nationalism, fencing itself off from Europe. The autonomies of Asia and Europe are becoming a thing of the past, and the trend of universalism is growing, which is completely alien to the views of the Eurasians. The world is coming towards the formation of a single spiritual cosmos, in which Russian universality and all-humanity should play an important role. The lack of understanding of this among the Eurasians allows Berdyaev to declare that "Eurasianism remains only a geographical term and does not acquire a cultural and historical meaning, the opposite of any isolation, complacency and self-satisfaction" .
O. Spengler focused his attention on the originality of individual cultures, in particular, he analyzed ancient, Arabic, Chinese, Egyptian, Babylonian and other cultures. He believed that houses, architectural structures are the purest expression of the “breed”, or the essence of culture: “... every feature of the original customs and forms of existence, marriage and family life, tribal routine - all this is found in the plan and its main premises. .. your image and likeness”. Spengler considered different cultures not only separately, but also in their relationships. For example, he developed the phenomenon of historical pseudomorphoses - cases, “when an alien old culture gravitates so powerfully over a country that a young and native culture for this country does not find free breathing and not only is not able to create pure and own forms of expression, but also does not is truly aware of himself” .0. Spengler named two cases of pseudomorphosis - these are Arabic and Russian cultures. In each of these cases, it marks a turning point in history, during which, if history had taken a different path, the consequences would have differed radically from the immediate ones: if the Arabs had won the battle of Actium, the outcome of the confrontation between the Apollonian and magical spirit, polytheism and monotheism, principle and caliphate was completely different.
Like O. Spengler, A. J. Toynbee addresses the history of antiquity in his writings. He presented the history of mankind as a system of civilizations passing through a series of phases in their development; the change of civilizations with each other was traced; Turning to the iconic moments of human history, Toynbee was engaged in an analytical analysis of the essence of the events and their value for the subsequent development of not only individual civilizations, but also humanity as a whole. For example, we are talking about his work “If Philip and Artaxerxes had survived”, which deals in detail with the relationship between Macedonia and Persia in the 4th century BC. BC, West and East.
A. de Tocqueville dealt with the problem not of the East and the West, but of the Old World and America, which is reflected in his work "Democracy in America". On the one hand, he approved of the democratic structure of America, based on the rule of the people, as opposed to the aristocracy of Europe, he valued the equality of opportunity provided by America. But, on the other hand, he was concerned that the desire to provide the entire people with an adequate level of living would eventually lead to the final primacy of material values over spiritual ones, which would also affect the fate of art, doomed to fade; in addition, the emphasis on the pursuit of prosperity leads to greater individualization and disunity within the country. Social problems, brought to life by the widespread and pressure of monetary, commodity relations, became the topic for the analysis carried out by X. Ortega y Gasset, set forth in the doctrine of "mass society", within which the role of the individual is increasingly reduced to the faceless performance of the functions assigned to him by weight. To get rid of this state of affairs, which is based on democratic massification, is possible through the new aristocratic elite.
Exploring America is one of the major themes for economist D.S. North, who focused on the study of economic growth, economic history, the phenomena of poverty and wealth. He is one of the representatives of such a direction as cliometry, which deals with the application of economic methods for the study historical events and forecasting the future. Economic problems are the main thread of research by E. de Soto, who turned to the development of capitalism in the West and the shadow economy in various parts of the world. E. de Soto in the mid-1990s discovered that the volume of savings in developing and former socialist countries is several times greater than foreign investment and aid, but at the same time these states continue to remain at a fairly low level of capitalist development, having stopped at the stage passed by the West 1.5 centuries ago. The reason the West has gone further, according to de Soto, is the change in property laws; the adoption of such laws in countries with a shadow economy will allow them to begin to develop intensively. M. Foucault was occupied not so much with questions of economics or political structure as with the history of social institutions and the history of knowledge. So, he separately analyzed the formation and development of systems of medicine, psychiatry, knowledge, punishments, etc.
M. Weber in his writings raises questions of the correlation of the economy and religious beliefs, the types of domination that are dominant in various societies. He singled out three main types of legitimate domination: rational, traditional and charismatic characters. In the first case, there is submission to an impersonal order, the legality of decisions does not cause formal doubts; in the second case - submission to the master due to traditions; in the third - due to the charisma of the latter. Important from the point of view of cultural geography is the work "City" by M. Weber, considered as one of the most important works of urban studies.
Differences between the regions of the world in cultural values, economic development are a hot topic for research conducted by scientists from different countries. As an example of such a study, we can designate the works of the Dutch author G. Hofstede. Taking as a basis the idea of the universal foundations of culture, he differentiates five dimensions of national cultural differences: power distance, which is associated with different solutions to the basic problem of human inequality; prevention of uncertainty associated with the level of tension in society in the face of an unknown future; individualism versus collectivism, which is associated with the integration of people into primary groups; masculinity versus femininity, which is associated with the division of emotional roles between men and women; long-term versus short-term orientation, which is related to the choice of the center for the efforts made by people: the future or the present.
Let's take a closer look at the first two dimensions. G. Hofstede introduces a special designation for the measurement of “power distance”, which he calls the “Power Distance Index” (PDI). In every society, two opposing forces can be found: one is trying to eliminate the inconsistency of the statuses of various strata; a counterforce tries to maintain inequality. But also in society there are certainly people who are in the middle position. The need for the existence of such a stratum to relieve possible tension is based on the great attention of the authorities to the so-called middle class. The countries where the power distance is greatest are India and Venezuela. Hofstede finds that RTI is directly correlated with wealth and inversely correlated with corruption.
The second main dimension national cultures Hofstede calls uncertainty avoidance. Technology has helped protect against nature's insecurities; law - from uncertainty in the behavior of others; religion - from internal uncertainty. Hofstede concludes that the IDI and the Uncertainty Avoidance Index (DOI) are positively correlated. The PIT is of no small importance in the educational sphere: when the PIT is relatively large, students and teachers prefer to study situations with precise goals. When uncertainty prevention is weaker, students and teachers disdain structure, they like open learning situations with vague goals. Differences in PIT can be traced in the consumer market, in the religious and political spheres.
One of the areas in which research is being conducted within the framework of cultural geography is developments in the field of cultural landscape, which V.L. Kagansky defines it as "orderliness, interconnectedness and regularity of phenomena on the surface of the Earth in a spatial aspect, first of all - the unity of natural and cultural (in the broad sense) components of the landscape" . V.L. Kagansky considers a number of approaches that exist within this direction: the cultural landscape as a transformation of the natural landscape; cultural landscape - elements of culture on a natural basis; cultural landscape - natural and cultural heritage; ethnocultural landscape studies, etc. Let us briefly characterize the latest concept, according to which ethnocultural groups have different effects on environment, the consequence is the formation of various cultural landscapes in the same natural conditions. This approach is used to study small ethnic groups that maintain a traditional way of life.
One of the important concepts for cultural geography is "social capital" - both similar to other forms of capital, and radically different from them. Social capital is the least tangible in comparison not only with material, but also with human capital, which is due to the existence of social capital only in relationships between individuals. There are at least four approaches to the definition of social capital. According to the community approach, it is a collection of civil society organizations; the more of them, the more social capital. The network approach focuses on the study of vertical and horizontal links between people, organizations, corporations, etc. The institutional approach considers social capital as the result of the activities of political and legal institutions. Supporters of the synergistic approach insist that the greatest effect will be the combination of social capital and state activity.
