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.