Maps of Meaning: An Introduction to Cultural Geography (Contours)

This innovative book marks a significant departure from tradition anlayses of the evolution of cultural landscapes and the interpretation of past environments. Maps of Meaning proposes a new agenda for cultural geography, one set squarely in the context of contemporary social and cultural theory. Notions of place and space are explored through the study of elite and popular cultures, gender and sexuality, race, language and ideology. Questioning the ways in which we invest the world with meaning, the book is an introduction to both culture's geographies and the geography of culture.;Cover -- MAPS OF MEANING -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- Foreword -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction: maps of meaning -- An introduction to cultural studies -- Cultural politics and the politics of culture -- Notes -- 1 The heritage of cultural geography -- The 'Berkeley School' and its legacy -- The cultural landscape -- Culture history and human agency -- Cultural anthropology: Boas, Lowie, and Kroeber -- The super-organic approach to culture -- Cultural geography and the new humanism -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 2 Problems and alternatives. Cover -- MAPS OF MEANING -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- Foreword -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction: maps of meaning -- An introduction to cultural studies -- Cultural politics and the politics of culture -- Notes -- 1 The heritage of cultural geography -- The 'Berkeley School' and its legacy -- The cultural landscape -- Culture history and human agency -- Cultural anthropology: Boas, Lowie, and Kroeber -- The super-organic approach to culture -- Cultural geography and the new humanism -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 2 Problems and alternatives. The study of culture and 19th-century anthropology -- The problem of culturalism -- Culturalism and the city -- Culturalism and poverty -- Cultural materialism -- Culture and society -- A materialist cultural geography? -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 3 Culture and ideology -- The concept of ideology -- Hegemony and power -- Culture and capital in urban change -- Rituals of resistance -- Folk devils and moral panics -- Territorial struggles -- Cheerleaders and ombudsmen? -- Notes -- 4 Popular culture and the politics of class -- The meaning of 'popular culture' Popular culture in pre-industrial Britain -- Fun without vulgarity: the battle of the music halls -- Policing the public -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 5 Gender and sexuality -- Feminist theory and cultural geography -- The female frontier in America -- Women's work? -- The landscape of female prostitution -- The spatial basis of gay identity -- Gay politics and the restructuring of San Francisco -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 6 Languages of racism -- The social construction of 'race' -- The roots of British racism -- Representing 'race' -- Reporting the riots -- The myth of 'Asian' ethnicity. Imagining the Orient -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 7 The politics of language -- Cultural geography and linguistic theory -- The problematic character of language -- Linguistic variation: dialects, pidgins, and Creoles -- Linguistic communities -- The discourse of 'discovery' -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 8 An agenda for cultural geography -- Culture and interpretation -- Sheep raids and revolutions: culture, politics, and society -- Poetics and politics: the dilemmas of post-modernism -- Cultures and landscapes -- Culture ... -- ... and geography -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index. 'This is a revealing and intellectually challenging way head for a branch of human geography that has fallen behind other branches in recent decades. The book and the series that it launches deserve more than the usual attention given to new texts for undergraduates. Many of their teachers should find the series interesting, stimulating and even provocative.' - Geography As a geographical introduction to cultural studies, this innovative book marks a significant departure from traditional approaches to cultural geography. Instead of emphasising the evolution of cultural landscapes and the interpretation of past environments, it draws on the literature of contemporary social and cultural theory, focusing on urban as well as rural environments, and on popular culture as well as on vernacular architecture, folk styles and the culture of the elite. `Maps of Meaning' refers to the way we make sense of the world, rendering our geographical experience intelligible, attaching value to the environment and investing the material world with symbolic significance. The book introduces notions of space and place, exploring culture's geographies as well as the geography of culture. It outlines the field of cultural politics, employing concepts of ideology, hegemony and resistance to show how dominant ideologies are contested through unequal relations of power. Culture emerges as a domain in which economic and political contradictions are negotiated and resolved. After a critical review of the work of Carl Sauer and the `Berkeley School' of cultural geography, the book considers the work of such cultural theorists as Raymond Williams, Clifford Geertz and Stuart Hall. It develops a materialist approach to the geographical study of culture, exemplified by studies of class and popular culture, gender and sexuality, race and racism, language and ideology. The book concludes by proposing a new agenda for cultural geography, including a discussion of current debates about post-modernism.

focusing On Urban And Rural Environments, And Also On Popular Culture And Vernacular Architecture, This Draws On The Literature Of Contemporary Social And Cultural Theory To Create A Departure From Traditional Approaches To Cultural Geography.

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reprint Of A Work Published In 1989 By Unwin Hyman Ltd. Instead Of Reiterating The Field's Conventional Emphasis On The Evolution Of Cultural Landscapes And The Interpretation Of Past Environments, This Introduction Reflects The Current Transformation Of Cultural Geography And Its New Orientation With Regard To Social Geography And Cultural Theory. Annotation C. Book News, Inc., Portland, Or (booknews.com)

First of a series on this subject this survey attempts to illustrate the potential for a revitalized cultural geography. The author draws on theoretical developments in cultural studies and social theory and suggests new ways of approaching that concept geographically.