Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
In the traditional model, much emphasis was placed on
assimilation as a process, and it was often argued, for example,
that it took three generations to assimilate new immigrants to
their host society. The model offers an example of the thrust
of the empowered parts of society to reduce or eliminate
differences and achieve conformity. It ignores the fact that full
assimilation is not possible for poor immigrant and minority
groups (though distinctions in the assimilation process between,
for example, cultural and economic assimilation have long
been recognized). Whereas one favoured approach might be
to tolerate difference and diversity in a multicultural society,
political circumstances argue against the idea of societies
within societies, or subcultures, that might threaten the existing
hegemony.
Changing systematic human geographies
What we have termed the systematic human geographies, such
as economic geography, population geography, and historical
geography, are still in common use but have often been replaced
by much more focused theme-based approaches. A brief look
at what is available in departments of geography in British
universities shows that these themes are refl ected in course
modules currently available, such as urban services; global issues
and problems; geography of money and consumption; memory,
space, and place; cyberspace geographies; and the geography of
affect and emotions. The plural term 'geographies' is often used to
emphasize the variety of approaches that now exists.
Some commentators on the roles of more traditional systematic
geographies argue that they have experienced the wider impact
of the 'cultural turn'. The economy, for example, is no longer a
self-evident object of study as economic and cultural practices
increasingly 'bleed' into one another and intermix. A relational
approach would integrate economic, social, cultural, institutional,
and political aspects of human geography and move away from
