Retheorizing urban geography: mutual relationships between English- and German-speaking communities

This paper takes a comparative look at urban geography in the German- and English-speaking academic communities, based on a critical reflection of publication activities, sub-disciplinary discourses and conceptual developments. It is argued that Anglophone discourses tend to embed urban research into a broad range of conceptual and theoretical frameworks, whereas many writings in German-speaking urban geography are committed to pursuing empirical studies and applied research, thereby producing planning studies and policy recommendations; only recently, studies inspired by the cultural turn have evolved that are also addressing urban topics. In both language communities, a certain body of geographical work can be detected that deals with core urban themes without evolving from a distinct ‘urban geography’ community. In this context, a mutual trans-national dialogue between cultural, social and urban geographies is considered helpful for better linking the two different language and academic communities. Accordingly, the paper provides suggestions on how to reconceptualize urban geography at the intersections of recent debates in both language contexts by highlighting specific theoretical approaches, policy linkages and methodologies.     

国际背景与中国特色的经济地理学

近一、二十年来,以英美地理学家为主导的国际经济地理学界开始注重制度和社会文化因素对经济空间现象的影响。柔性专业化、网络与根植性、集聚与集群,区域管制等概念,频聚出现于国际主导地理刊物和国际会议讨论之中。国内也有一些学者引进这些相关理论并结合中国实例作了一些可喜的探索。这种引进理论--中国实际研究--理论总结的研究模式,推动着上世纪中国经济地理学发展。但是,从中国特色的经济地理学角度考虑,还应该探索其他研究思路。中国经济地理学发展背景,有一些在世界十分独特,如最大的且近20多年经济增长最快的发展中国家,工业化与城市化不相一致,体制变革、文化传统的特殊影响,人口与资源的尖锐矛盾,区域差异巨大,经济地理学在地理学中地位的特殊性等。根据这些背景,中国经济地理学需要冷静地审视国际学术动向和中国特色。立足中国实际,加强国际交流,凝练解释中国特殊经济地理现象的理论观点,逐渐培育国际经济地理学界中的中国流派。     

重申全球化时代的空间观:后现代地理学的理论与实践

"空间"是人文地理学研究的核心概念。全球化时代,空间概念的内涵与外延都发生了重要变化。本文通过重述后现代主义哲学、当代城市与区域空间重构的社会实践、当代人文地理学前沿理论三者之间相互印证的理念与事实,重申全球化时代的空间观为空间与社会辨证统一的后现代空间观,并阐述了其对当代人文地理学研究的重要意义。     

当代西方"新文化地理学"知识谱系引论

当代西方人地理学在“后现代地理学”之后蓬勃发展起“新化地理学”。新化地理学是地理学的“化转向”和“化研究”以及社会科学普遍的“空间转向”之后的学术互动产物。它与地理学以往的知识遗产包括传统的化地理学既有联系也存在从研究议题、概念、认识论和方法论的重大差别,是走向批评范式的人化和理论化的知识体系。本立足丰富庞杂的理论献,全面综述和分析了新化地理学的知识谱系和未来的发展走向。     

海岛文化研究进展及展望

海岛型区域文化是有别于大陆区域文化的一种区域文化形式和类型。有关海岛文化的研究在国外始于20世纪70年代,近十多年来在我国也逐渐得到重视。本文通过对国内外相关文献的分析整理,试图对国内外海岛文化研究进展进行系统的述评,并探讨其研究视角、研究内容及研究方法方面的异同,以期对国内文化地理学的研究有所裨益。     

Charting the development of social and cultural geography in Mainland China: voices from the inside*

This article provides an overview of the recent development of social and cultural geography in China. It discusses six major bodies of work: cultural areas, cultural diffusion and cultural integration; geographies of ethnic cultures; cultural landscape and cultural economy; place and place-based cultural politics; marginal social groups; and geographies of social injustice. Although social and cultural geography is still located on the periphery of the disciplinary landscape of Chinese human geography, it is nonetheless developing into a noteworthy field of research. We start this review by calling attention to some problems in epistemologies and analytical approaches. Social and cultural geography in China often suffers from an analytical separation between environment and culture as ontologically enclosed entities. Also, it pays insufficient attention to the mutually constitutive relations between the social and the spatial. However, more recent studies have begun to engage with constructionist/poststructuralist approaches, and develop less positivist interpretations of space, social relations and cultural meanings. This review suggests that social and cultural geography in China needs to develop broader research scopes and strengthen theoretical frameworks. It concludes by calling for constructive dialogues between Chinese and Western human geographical scholarships.     

ROMANCE,PRACTICE AND SUBSTANTIVENESS: WHAT DO LANDSCAPES DO?

Although Torsten Hägerstrand is not known primarily as a landscape geographer, he made significant contributions to the understanding of landscape in Swedish geography. This paper argues that Hägerstrand examined the importance of representation for the understanding of landscape as place and territory, which is a key ingredient in current engagements with landscape within (Nordic) geography and the broader European political context. The current debate on landscape, however, reaches beyond Hägerstrand's rather “scientistic” approach and brings out a stronger sense of the cultural, social and political powers conveyed by landscape and representation. We show that this is made explicit in recent scholarly work on the so‐called substantive landscape. The paper also provides an introduction to the essays of this theme issue, which reflects a selection of the landscape research presented at the Inaugural Meeting of Nordic Geographers at Lund, Sweden, in May 2005.     

Too little,too much: Cultural feminist geographies

This paper traces some of the contours of recent critiques of cultural geography and reflects upon the implications they have for the continuing vitality of a feminist geography concerned with the cultural. The paper seeks to work away from this current disenchantment suggesting that in the field of feminist geography there are explicit intellectual and political imperatives that keep central the field of concerns associated with cultural geographical perspectives. Along the way we examine emergent scholarship on the governance of gender through culture concepts, the idea of gender as a form of foundational ordering grammar, the implications of non-representational claims for feminist scholarship, and the nature of performativity. We conclude by encouraging feminist cultural geography to chart the emergent geographies of relational natures and material cultures that reveal gender as both embodied and discursive, given and enacted.     

从百期《人文地理》看中国文化地理学的发展脉络

《人文地理》从创刊至百期,一直关注中国文化地理学研究的发展。正是依靠《人文地理》所搭建的平台,在《人文地理》的扶持、关爱及帮助下,我国文化地理学的发展才取得今日尽管依旧弱小,但也能悄然展放、显现美丽的局面。从过往100期的历程可以明了的是,它作为一个温床、一片实验田和一个跳板,孕育了包括文化地理在内的众多中国人文地理各分支学科的发展,也鼓舞、扶持了众多年轻的莘莘学子从稚嫩、从恐惧、从胆怯到充满自信、到成长,进而走向成熟。从这样的角度看,《人文地理》不啻又肩负了导师、领路人的角色。本文通过百期《人文地理》中文化地理学研究的回顾,包括载文数量、文献作者和文献内容的分析,梳理了近二十年来国内文化地理学研究的发展脉络。文化地理学研究正处在蓬勃发展的重要阶段,在社会发展与学科发展的新形势下,有必要继续在《人文地理》的领航下,借助新的理论视角和方法,依靠与国际研究的接轨和对话,体现中国文化地理学研究的区域特色,促进包括文化地理学在内的中国人文地理学科的整体突破。     

Exploring the Transition: Coursework to Research‐Based Study in the Geography Honours Year

The transition from coursework study to independent research is a component of many geography Honours programs in Australian tertiary institutions. Despite being canvassed at the 2003 annual meeting of the Australian Heads of Geography Units, it is a topic that has, to date, received relatively little academic attention. This paper developed from a review of the Geography Honours program at the University of Sydney, conducted by the authors in early 2004. The paper aims to help address the perceived deficiency of research into Honours study. Three topics, related to the Honours year transition, are discussed. These are: the rationale for the Honours year transition from undergraduate coursework to research‐focussed study; the composition and rationale behind coursework programs for geography Honours students, and student‐supervisor relations and their impact on independent Honours research. In the process of examining these issues this paper offers suggestions as to how tertiary geography schools can look to develop their Honours year programs. These recommendations are made with the understanding that all tertiary Honours programs are unique and that issues such as staffing levels and departmental structure will influence what suggestions are appropriate for individual institutions. It is hoped that this paper will encourage more discussion about the nature of the Honours year. It is through such communication that the value of the Honours year in student development can be enhanced     

Discourse analysis in German-language human geography: integrating theory and method

In the context of various conceptual turns in German-language human geography over the past decades (e.g., linguistic, cultural, and material turns), which have been adopted largely via writings from English-language human geography, theoretical perspectives in these two academic communities have been converging. However, there are still aspects that are quite distinctive for debates in the German-language context. We argue that, for example, in the case of poststructuralist approaches, a distinct development has taken place, which emphasizes the links between theoretical, methodological, and methods-oriented empirical research, e.g., through the operationalization of linguistic methods. Following Michel Foucault's notion of ‘discourse’, these empirical analyses are often referred to as ‘discourse analyses’. This paper gives an overview of the field of discourse analysis in German-language human geography and discusses possible reasons for the different ways in which discourse theories have been emerged and developed in English-language and German-language geography. We argue that there are three developments which make ‘discourse analyses’ in the German context distinct: (1) the significance of theoretical debates on the role of the subject, (2) the intensive interdisciplinary networks within the wider context of German-language social sciences and linguistics, and (3) closely related to the second point, the strong emphasis on questions of methodical implementation.     

Cultural memory, gender and age: young Latvian women's narrative memories of war-time Europe, 1944–1947

This paper examines the war-time experiences of dislocation and loss, as well as the transition to independent adulthood, of 25 Latvian women who came to Britain as European Volunteer Workers after the end of the Second World War. Despite the recent work in cultural history exploring memories of wartime dislocation and the growing use of oral narratives in this exploration, relatively little is known about the 1944 migration from the Baltic States to the UK or about the particular experiences of young women in this movement. This paper begins to address this forgotten history through interviews with now-elderly women living in Britain in the context of recent debates about cultural memory and forgetting.     

近二十年来中国文化地理学文献分析

自20世纪80年代以来,我国的文化地理学得到了长足的发展。本文搜集了1985-2004年的文化地理论文文献,将论文按地理类、学报类和其他类三类期刊进行统计分析,运用文献分析的方法,分析了我国文化地理学期刊载文数量的时空分布特点、作者生产率、作者地域分布和单位分布、论文资助情况以及文献研究的内容等方面的问题,揭示了近20年来我国文化地理学发展的状况和特点,为我国文化地理学者了解和把握文化地理学研究热点和发展趋势提供依据。     

国外交通地理学研究的知识图谱与进展

交通地理学作为人文地理学的重要分支,一直充满着活力与多样性,获得人文地理学者的广泛关注。本文基于CiteSpace可视化软件,采用Web of Science中收录1982-2014年的4840篇交通地理学论文作为原始数据,梳理了近30年的研究脉络,绘制了学科发展的知识图谱,系统地归纳了学科的研究热点与发展趋势,以期为中国交通地理学研究提供借鉴。研究发现:国外交通地理学研究方法和研究内容日趋多元化,研究视角趋向微观化,质性研究突显;初步形成城市规划学派、理论地理学派、时间地理学派等六大学术共同体;出现社会、行为、文化和流动的诸多转向,呈现出人本导向、信息导向和交叉化的发展趋势。     

DESIGN SPACES: AGGLOMERATION AND CREATIVITY IN BRITISH DESIGN AGENCIES

Although there is a growing body of research into the cultural and creative industries, little work has focused specifically upon on the geography of design and its role in regional economies. The relative neglect of the geography of the UK design industry is surprising given recent assertions about the sector's role in national economic competitiveness; its contribution to product innovation; and its importance as an urban regeneration resource. This paper explicitly considers the extent to which existing conceptualizations of agglomeration and creativity provide insights into the realm of design. Our discussion reflects upon recent surveys of the design sector and analyses current design organization membership data, both of which reveal an overwhelming concentration of design activities in London and the South East. Our analysis of the strategies, organization and practices of agencies in London reveals that a number of the key features associated with cultural industries in general are significantly less discernible within design.     

从地理学视角看城市历史文化景观集体记忆的研究

通过对国内外文献的分析,总结了景观、记忆与地理学的研究进展,指出景观、记忆与地方认同联系密切,而且景观与记忆的研究大多与历史文化景观相关。由于集体记忆所体现出的社会性,通过物质的和象征性的城市历史文化景观,去探究其集体记忆的认知空间和情感空间更具有现实意义。文章探讨了GIS和认知地图方法在城市集体记忆研究中的应用,并对佛山城市历史文化景观的集体记忆进行了实证研究。认为在全球化、城市化趋势下,从地理学视角,透过对历史文化景观集体记忆的分析,将有助于城市历史文化遗产持续性地保护和塑造城市地方感。     

大数据背景下国内人文地理研究进展与方法审视

通过梳理人文地理领域杂志近年大数据文章解释其与大数据应用的关系，强调其应用给人文地理学研究带来机遇和挑战：①大数据作为研究方法，不能代替传统人文地理研究范式，而是对现研究方法的补充。大数据和小数据需对话交流；②大数据本身是一种话语权，嵌入人文地理研究系统。保证人文地理学多样性，避免过度依赖大数据，需在批判角度审视和运用；③需关注大数据对于人文地理学研究方法和思想的影响；④运用大数据解读地理和空间过程复杂性的同时，应看到大数据应用对公共服务的潜力，思考其结果如何更好的服务社会。     

Names and their meanings: teaching cultural geography with the poem the names of migrant workers

ABSTRACT

This paper introduces a new teaching method, poetry, into the geography classroom, accompanied by an out-of-class discussion on a blog, and finds that its effects are rather different from those of traditional teaching methods, as it allows new perspectives on instructional content related to migrant workers’ lives and identities in China. The method enables students to analyse content from the perspective of cultural geography, in which poetry acts as an art form that connects people’s identities and social spaces. On the basis of this, we also provide some suggestions to engage students in critical analysis of poetry, from the perspective of cultural geography, through interactive online platforms such as blogs.     

新文化地理学视角下的女性主义地理学研究

在文化地理学研究向新文化地理学转向、女性主义运动蓬勃发展、女性主义理论在跨学科过程中日益完善的背景下,西方女性主义地理学从女性经验、性别权利、女性内部差异入手,提供了以女性主义视角分析地理学问题的新的发展领域,并发展出质疑与抵抗男性权威话语的学科范式。本文依循女性主义地理学中对身体、工作、空间和国家/民族等主要议题的探讨,梳理西方学者的研究进展,以期对本土研究提供有益借鉴。     

Boundary spanning in social and cultural geography

This article situates interactions between German- and English-language social and cultural geographies since the mid-twentieth century within their wider intellectual, political and socio-economic contexts. Based on case study examples, we outline main challenges of international knowledge transfer due to nationally and linguistically structured publication cultures, differing academic paradigms and varying promotion criteria. We argue that such transfer requires formal and informal platforms for academic debate, the commitment of boundary spanners and supportive peer groups. In German-language social and cultural geography, these three aspects induced a shift from a prevalent applied research tradition in the context of the modern welfare state towards a deeper engagement with Anglophone debates about critical and post-structuralist approaches that have helped to critique the rise of neoliberal governance since the 1990s. Anglophone and especially British social and cultural geography, firmly grounded in critical and post-structuralist thought since the 1980s, are increasingly pressurized through the neoliberal corporatization of the university to develop more applied features such as research impact and students’ employability.