THE MONUMENT AND THE BUNGALOW

ABSTRACT. Students of human landscapes often view those landscapes as documents and seek to “read” them for cultural and historical meaning. But how does one learn to read landscape? And how can students be taught to do it? After many years of teaching courses about commonplace American landscapes, I have discovered that students must learn two things before they can expect to read human landscapes. First, they must learn to pay attention to commonplace things which most Americans normally ignore. Second, they must master vocabularies that permit them to classify elements in the landscape and to connect small things with larger ideas. Two examples in the landscape of Bellefonte, Pennsylvania—the town's war memorial and a scattering of California bungalows-demonstrate how these ideas work.     

A PLACE UNBECOMING: THE COFFEE FARM OF NORTHERN LATIN AMERICA*

ABSTRACT. This article examines recent transformations of the coffee landscape of northern Latin America through the optic of “place as process.” As coffee became the most important regional export crop, its “place” evolved. Coffee lands in northern Latin America now embrace 3.1 million hectares, often contiguous across international borders. Like many agricultural systems, coffee has succumbed to intensification, a process termed “technification” in the Latin American setting. The result is a landscape mosaic in which a traditional agro-forest coffee system coexists with coffee lands transformed by modernization. The institutional forces behind this process, as well as some of its social and ecological consequences, are discussed.     

THE RISE AND FALL OF THE AIZJOMI LANDSCAPE†

This article considers the history of a particular Latvian cultural landscape, located on the coast of the Baltic Sea. Known as an aizjomi landscape, it consists of small, humanly made tilths on the seashore. These features are both physical elements and repositories of historical and cultural meaning. In one sense, through hard labor humans created the aizjomi landscape, adjusting the morphological and dynamic elements of the landscape and continually maintaining them. These human efforts made agriculture possible in the dunes, and in so doing they fashioned a means for producing a livelihood and, indeed, for sustaining life. The aizjomi landscape became a materialization of the people's day‐to‐day life in the middle and late nineteenth century and can thus be considered a “taskscape,” pulsating simultaneously with the rhythm of nature and historical events. I have analyzed empirical evidence from archival documents, reviewed ecological and historical studies, and conducted field research on specific farming practices that shaped the landscape that, in turn, shaped agricultural activities. Through a retrospective analysis I trace the development and decline of the aizjomi landscape.     

Man and his Exvironnent in Germany

Abstract

The American city is almost universally described as being made up of a series of zones decreasing in age and density outward from the center. The most popular model for generalizing about the structure and organization of the American city remains the concentric zone model in which the nature of each ring is more specifically denned. The purpose of this paper is to discuss some reasons for the “popularly perceived zonation” of the American city as opposed to, say, the European city, through a study of cultural attitudes toward the architectural environment. More specifically, the urban housetype and attitudes toward the urban housetype are used to illustrate the concentric zone model and to shed some light on such “zonal” concepts as the “inner city” and “suburban ring.” In addition, the increasingly negative attitude of Americans toward central cities is explored and related to some major urban problems and American landscape tastes. It is hoped that students will be encouraged to discuss aspects of the “alternate future” presented for the American urban landscape.     

THE GREATER MIDDLE EAST AND REFORM IN THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION'S IDEOLOGICAL IMAGINATION

ABSTRACT. In pursuit of its foreign‐policy goals, the administration of President George W. Bush has attempted a dramatic reshaping of the vision of the Middle East in the American mind. References to the “new” or “greater” Middle East now include countries far outside traditional concepts of the region, including those in West Africa, Southeast Asia, and Central Asia. The administration argues that this region is defined not by cultural (Arab) or religious (Islam) characteristics but by a lack of democracy; hence a grand strategy is needed to execute reform. This article examines current U.S. efforts to achieve reform in the region, the components of the ideological construction of the New Middle East, the perceived role of Iraq, Turkey's potential role as a “model” for the region, and responses from the region to current U.S.‐led reform efforts.     

反思地标在旅游中对地方形象的表述——以玉溪红塔山为例

从符号学视角阐释红塔山成为玉溪市地标的原因,并结合Dean MacCannell“景观神圣化”的5个阶段分析红塔山地标景观吸引力的构建过程,即地方地标景观如何实现旅游化。通过实地调查,采用访谈法了解游客对红塔山地标景观的符号解读及感知的地方形象。研究表明红塔山地标作为一个文化符号可以通过其景观文化与实践活动来表述地方形象。但地标景观的表述功能受地标景观外在形态、地标景观所承载的文化意义、地标景观所处的时代背景、公众对地标景观的认知以及地标景观所承担的空间功能等因素的制约,地标景观所表述的地方形象与真实的地方形象存在错位。     

文化景观基因视角下传统村落保护与发展——以黔东北土家族村落为例

通过深度访谈和意象图分析,对土家族传统村落朝阳村的文化景观基因进行识别、挖掘和提取,发现村落景观基因由环境基因“山-水-田-寨”“上寨-中寨-下寨”十字轴线空间格局,布局基因“屋-巷-屋”“屋-坝-巷”交织的街巷肌理,建筑基因穿斗式、干栏式民居建筑形式与惜字塔、王字格及虎图腾窗花、八字朝门等土家族建筑装饰元素,以及文化基因中的惜字文化、傩堂戏、摆手舞、土家礼仪等共同组成。研究发现,由于过度的旅游开发,无序地挖山采石,导致水土污染、梯田荒废,朝阳村传统村落山水田格局、屋坝巷肌理和传统建筑元素均遭到了严重破坏。为走出困境,朝阳村借助“公众参与”理念,通过搭建“政府-村委村民-社会团体”体系,组织多方共同参与朝阳村文化景观基因保护,更好地传承与延续文化景观基因。与此同时,在整合建筑符号元素、统一街巷传统风貌、整治村落自然环境等方面取得一些可供借鉴的经验。     

The scientific legacy of V. B. Sochava,and future prospects of cultural geography

This paper is concerned with the main statements of V.B. Sochava’s theoretical legacy which are currently central to the advancement of modern cultural geography. Among them are the geographical science studies: metageography and geographical tectology, structural-dynamical approach to culture and landscape, and the concept of the geosystem and its invariant. The study brings out the importance of systems approach to culture and landscapes as well as the significance of the theory of geosystems, a catalyst for the emergence of new cultural-geographical knowledge. The problem of geographical tectology as stated by V.B. Sochava is implemented by adjusting the methods and knowledge of related disciplines for the particular purposes of geographical investigation. An outline is given of the specific character of methodological development of cultural geography in circumstances where the postmodernism world outlook platform is dominant as well as of the “drift” of the interests of the scientific community from the material aspect of man–environment interaction to the postmodern “dematerialization” of social geography. These processes which are progressing more intensely in Western science have influence on national geocultural research. Furthermore, the key characteristics of postmodernization, i.e. recognition of the equivalence and uniqueness of cultural-geographical phenomena, the equality of research standpoints, and refusal from the search for a “metanarrative” unfairly push to the methodological periphery the issues related to evolution, hierarchy, and interobjective connections of culture and landscape. The dominant emphasis on the nonmaterial aspects of cultural-geographical phenomena and processes does not imply that their systems side has lost value. V.B. Sochava’s theoretical developments provide a meaningful potential source for a further advancement of cultural geography. Moreover, even the international science has recently shown an enhancement in the tendency toward the “restoration of materialism” in cultural geography. This paper is built upon an integral approach to demonstrate an avenue for a harmonious combination of the “material” and “nonmaterial” sides of the discipline.     

Sustaining the “Societal and Scriptural Fence”: Cultural,Social, and Political Topographies of Same-Sex Marriage in Alabama

In June 2006, voters in Alabama overwhelmingly approved a statewide referendum that added a prohibition against same-sex marriage to the state's constitution. This research examines the Alabama vote by “placing” the politics of sexuality within the state's multifaceted web of cultural and social space. We fuse a traditional electoral geography approach with an overall postpositivist cultural and social perspective, beginning with an assessment of the politics of place by situating Alabama as a place with a long history of battles over the so-called culture wars. The cultural politics of the legislative debate and the geographic distribution of the actual vote are also examined within a socio-demographic context, drawing some comparisons from a similar vote in Georgia in 2004, another state in the American Deep South. Those opposed to same-sex marriage in Alabama made effective use of various social constructions that are deeply embedded within a “moral” geography, situating the state as a fenced-off bastion of “religious traditional values,” a common theme throughout the American South. In this vein, social boundaries and territory were demarcated as a powerful political act in Alabama, a strategy that situated the state as hetero-normatively “in place,” while deeming sexual minorities as “out of place.”     

“汤之乡”—丰顺县的旅游发展思路

广东省丰顺县是一个经济欠发达的山区县，旅游业发展处于起步阶段，文中认为丰顺县发展旅游业宜发挥后发优势，利用其丰富的地热资源“汤”，树立“汤之乡、汤之旅”的旅游地形象，推出以“汤之乡”为统一品牌的系列温泉旅游产品-洗汤、泡汤，赏汤、玩汤，食汤，以吸引潮汕和梅县以及深圳等地区的游客。     

HYPHENATED GEOGRAPHIES: THE DEINDUSTRIALIZATION OF NATURE‐SOCIETY GEOGRAPHY*

As visions of ecological crisis mark the daily headlines, industrial spaces of intensive energy and material consumption become a more intense object of political and social concern. In this article, I attempt to situate geography's relative neglect of the ecological underpinnings of industrial capitalism within the context of the history of geographical thought. I argue that the ways in which geographers read the hyphen in the phrase “nature‐society” reveals epistemological limits to their object of study. I then offer three dramatically different readings of the hyphen and discuss how they have affected the lineages and trajectories of geographical research—Barrows's human ecology, Sauer's cultural landscape, and critical theories of social nature. I conclude by suggesting that geography needs to let go of its empirical and conceptual fixation on “nature”.     

Born of geographical environment,coloring for regional context: Concept and progress of geo-architecture

In today’s world, where re-examination has been given to cultural globalization, the relationship between architectures and specific regions is one of many specific issues. At this time, the study of architecture from the perspective of geography has significant meaning for treasuring regional characteristics and protecting the essence of ethnic culture. The study of geo-architecture includes two aspects: the influence of geographical environment upon architecture and reflexively, architectural responses to geographical environment. In “Geo-Architecture and Landscape in China’s Geographic and Historic Context Series” (4 volumes), published by Springer Nature in 2016, the contents of “geo-architecture” has been interpreted from various angles as form, function, semantics and symbol. This book is the first to be entitled “Geo-Architecture”, which studies the relationship between geography and architecture from the perspective of geographical environment and historical context in China. The book’s research reveals the influences of different geographical scales, such as zone (macro), region (middle) and site (micro) scales, on architecture; it discusses dynamic and systematic thought, including such research elements as “Object-Subject-Time”, and it reflects views on pattern and process of cultural landscape. Research on geo-architecture aims to help construct the security pattern of the cultural landscape for the new requirements of a new era, which is used to optimize spacial structure, stimulate heritage conservation and renewal, respect the geographical environment, pay attention to historical culture and sustain emotional memory.     

基于景观基因图谱的古城镇“画卷式”旅游规划模式 ——以靖港古镇为例

根据景观基因及其图谱理论,探讨景观基因及其图谱和画卷式旅游规划概念,建立了基于三者之间内在关系的古城镇“画卷式”旅游规划技术;遵循“一目标、二意义、三功能、四特性、五要素”的理论结构,探讨以基因信息的遗传路线和文化故事表达为图谱形态的“画卷式”旅游规划模式。在此基础上,以靖港古镇为例,结合实地走访与历史文化特色分析等方法,探寻了该古镇景观主体基因图谱,构建并运用了“画卷式”旅游规划模式。结果表明：靖港古镇宜居宜业的生态文明是主体基因图谱表达的画卷模式;军事科教的活动体验是内在唯一基因图谱表达的画卷模式,地方性很强的民俗活动是外在唯一基因图谱表达的画卷模式;宗教文化活动是局部唯一基因图谱表达的画卷模式。     

The Council at Work

Abstract

This paper attempts to illustrate certain important concepts in the field of cultural geography through the study of a very popular phenomenon—Rock and Roll music. The roles that the White and Black rural South and various American cities played as culture hearths and centers of culture contact are discussed along with the effects of mass migrations and mass media on American musical tastes and styles. Rock and Roll is looked at from a diffusionist point of view in that throughout its evolution, various places played important parts as “way stations” as certain American musical styles gradually spread from rural southern shacks to New York recording studios.     

SHIFTING SYNANTHROPY OF THE CROW IN EASTERN NORTH AMERICA

The American crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) falls into a category of wild organisms, called “synanthropes,” that have developed an affinity for, or dependency on, human interventions in the landscape. The distribution and numbers of crows in North America east of the Mississippi River have been largely tied to the anthropogenic fragmentation of the forest. As ground feeders, crows need open space for foraging, but they also need trees for nesting and roosting. Conflicts between corvids and people centered on the former's damage to agriculture. Both Native American peoples and Euro‐American settlers sought to thwart corvine preference for maize through a series of ingenious measures. After 1950 rural concern about corvine depredations greatly diminished. The appearance of large winter roosts in cities shifted the conflict with crows. Like humans, crows have undergone change, and their synanthropic character can be seen as fundamental to their biogeography.     

African Fire Cultures,Cattle Ranching,and Colonial Landscape Transformations in the Neotropics

Fire regimes emerge partly from human activities that reflect cultural‐ecological knowledge of the relationships among fire, vegetation, grazing, climate, and other variables, as well as social relations. More knowledge of such “fire cultures,” past and present, therefore remains necessary to better understand the causes and persistent consequences of landscape burning. In the neotropics, people have used fire for centuries to manage livestock pastures. Conventional wisdom has long posited that such practices derived solely from antecedent European and indigenous, Native American fire cultures. Analysis of accounts of rangeland burning from throughout the neotropics during colonial times, however, demonstrates that ranchers incorporated African fire cultures and that the timing of burning shifted from early during the dry season in the sixteenth century to late during the dry season by the nineteenth century.     

CHANNING COPE AND THE MAKING OF A MIRACLE VINE*

ABSTRACT. The history of kudzu illustrates the fluidity with which people can redefine their cultural relationship with exotic species. Although much of American society views the fast‐growing Asian vine as a pest, this has not always been the case. During the first half of the twentieth century, individual entrepreneurs and government officials touted kudzu as a “miracle vine” and carried out massive planting campaigns across the southeastern United States. This study traces the changing place of kudzu within southern society from its introduction in the late 1800s to the present. Specific attention is devoted to the role that the gentleman farmer, author, and radio personality Channing Cope played in popularizing the cultivation of kudzu. Cope's promotional activities are interpreted as environmental claims making. Analysis focuses on the metaphors he used in persuading the public of kudzu's supposed benefits. Conducting such an examination advances our general understanding of the historical geography of exotics in America and the importance of human agency and cultural representation in the spread of non‐native organisms.     

CONTESTING PISCO: CHILE,PERU, AND THE POLITICS OF TRADE*

This article examines the geography of pisco, a South American brandy claimed as the national drink of both Peru and Chile. The historic tension between these two nations—based notably on the nineteenth‐century War of the Pacific—is used as a backdrop to understanding the cultural and political contestation over the “ownership” of this beverage. Although both countries see exportation of pisco as a means of agricultural development, much of the animosity of this trade dispute is couched in cultural and historical terms. International trade policies, including the use of geographical indications (labels of geographical origin) for the purposes of trademarking, and the physical geography that makes pisco production possible are discussed.     

THE LOS ANGELES COAST AS A PUBLIC PLACE

ABSTRACT. In the public‐space discourse Los Angeles is usually portrayed as more “anti‐city” than city. Its landscape is overrun by houses, “private‐public” squares and plazas, theme parks, shopping malls, and so on and lacks inclusive public places. Yet this discourse has essentially disdained to contemplate a major public space that contradicts its general thesis: the Los Angeles coast. The coast is meaningful public place in two specific senses. First, it symbolizes Los Angeles as a whole and therefore provides a basis for regional public identity. Second, Angelinos themselves take the coast seriously as a public place, and they have striven to make it inclusive in practice.     

NEOTRADITIONALISM IN THE SUBURBAN LANDSCAPE: CULTURAL GEOGRAPHIES OF EXCLUSION IN VANCOUVER,CANADA

During the 1990s, urban geographers have become fascinated with what are termed “neotraditional landscapes,” yet have ignored the broader cultural contexts of neotraditionalism. In this paper, I use a more encompassing and culturally based conception of neotraditionalism to demonstrate a salience of neotraditionalism in the suburban landscape beyond strict neotraditional developments. My argument is that neotraditionalist beliefs are transforming “ordinary” suburban landscapes in subtle but distinctive ways beyond the presence of neotraditional developments. This different reading of suburban neotraditionalism is filtered through qualitative material collected during in-depth interviews in two suburban neighborhoods in Vancouver, Canada. Though the research is suggestive rather than definitive, I suggest that it has important implications for rethinking geographies of suburban exclusion.