Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
To some extent, this is to be expected as the research frontiers
push forward, but with the new cultural geography new
dimensions have been reached. Critical theory, postmodernism,
and post-structuralism have drawn geographers into the literature
of philosophy
per se
, well beyond the philosophy of science. This
has to be a positive trend but begs the question of the amount
of literature geographers can get their heads around? Do they
expand into a wider fi eld or retain their focused, disciplinary
niche? David Harvey is sceptical about the continual importing
of new thinkers, theorists, and theories into 'the grand parade of
external interlocutors as to what geography might and should be
about'.
There are additional skills to be derived from these trends. The
new literature is shared with a burgeoning fi eld of cultural and
media studies; modern society looks for skills and awareness
in these areas and many of the study themes have strong
communality. The works of Jean Baudrillard, who writes
powerfully about imagery and the ways in which landscape
and society can be 'read' from the 'texts' that are portrayed
through the likes of posters and billboards, and Ferdinand
de Saussure and Jacques Derrida, who focus on signs, icons,
and the study of semiotics, provide examples of 'imports' from
French intellectuals. Growing interest in discourse analysis and
non-representational theory (see box in Chapter 3) adds new
dimensions.
The new 'subjects' for interpretation include fi lm, works of art,
music, dance, and theatre, all of which carry messages about
the societies in which we live. As Sarah Whatmore, a British
geographer, has commented, the world speaks through many
voices and we may rely too much on the spoken and written
word. Novelists such as Dickens and Steinbeck wrote works of
fi ction, but their topics throw light on the contemporary societies
and places in which their stories were set. Painters such as
Renoir and Rembrandt leave us with depictions of people and
