Cultural geographers

Cultural Geographers and the Relationship between Geography and Culture

Cultural geographers investigate the relationship between geography and culture by examining how various characteristics such as language, religion, and ethnicity relate to a specific physical region. To analyze these links, proof must be supplied to ensure that the statements regarding the said location are real. This proof could be in the form of tangible legacy that can be seen, touched, and felt, or it could be in the form of intangible heritage that cannot be seen. Many geographers have evolved to prefer working with tangible heritage over immaterial heritage over time for a variety of reasons. Tangible heritage validate the memory of certain occurrences, provided basis of certain ideas as well as validate the ideas and give geographers a clear picture on how the ancestors of the given location used to live.

Preserved Artefacts and Memory Validation

Preserved artefacts validate the memories of what was happening at the time they were being made hence a person looking for information about the society is likely to get more accurate information on a certain event if there is any existing physical artifact that may trigger the memory of the community members (Bille, 2012). An individual having a physical item to connect to a certain historic event is more likely to remember the historic activity if the physical item is still with them. Having those tangible cultural items is important as it will help them remember the times when they were used or made as well as the activities that were happening at that given time. The human brain is designed to recall the happening of certain events it has physical item ties to the said event. The information gained here is more likely to be true in comparison to the information a geographer may gather in a community which has no physical artifact to tie to the event being studied. (In Rizzo & In Mignosa, 2013).

Validating Ideas and Providing Basis for Claims

Provide basis for ideas as well as can validate them. In the study of the past life of human life, our history and culture needs to have concrete evidence before coming up and making a claim about it. Having tangible artifacts to prove that what is being said is true will make a claim be valid unlike a cultural practice which cannot be validated as a person along the way may decide to come up with the practice and people are likely to follow it. Many people not only geographers tend to believe in what they see rather than in what they hear. Having a seen artifact to support your claim about a certain culture will make it easier to convince people that your research is true in comparison to having intangible artifacts as the support of your claim. (Swensen, Jerpasen, Saeter & Tveit, 2013).

A Clear Picture of Ancestors’ Lifestyle

Tangible heritage artifacts give the geographers a clear picture of how our ancestors lived as they are able to see the items they used at that particular time. This makes it easier for the geographer to draw a conclusion of the lifestyle of people in the past rather than believing stories told by a given community with no basis of proving that they are true. They may be made up stories told in the past and they were passed onto the next generation and with time every person forgets it was all a lie and begins to believe in it as the “new truth”. Having tangible artifacts to serve as evidence on how our ancestors lived will eliminate all doubts about it being a lie as we have physical evidence supporting the claim the geographer is making. Seeing is believing. (Deacon, Dondolo & Mrubata, 2004).

Dating and Validation

Most traditional artifacts’ age can be determined as there are many modern and advanced means such as carbon dating method used in the process. This makes it even easier to validate if the said artifacts belong to the said historic time which the community is placing them hence making it easier to find out if the information given by the community on the said artifact is accurate. Having the exact historic time and period a certain tangible heritage is said to have been made will make it easy for the geographer to use it to describe the cultural events that were happening at that period.

Storage and Preservation for Future Reference

Tangible heritage such as the collected artifacts by the geographer undertaking the study are kept for future reference. Hence, if in the future someone has a claim against the conclusions drawn by the researcher, it is easier to go back to the drawing board and provide the evidence that led to that conclusion. Comparing this to the intangible heritage which is harder to store for future reference, making it difficult for one to support their claim if somebody has a claim against it in the future. This is one of the reasons why many geographers will lean towards tangible heritage as they are assured of evidence to support their claim in the future as long as it is stored and preserved well in specified areas such as museums.

Tangible Heritage as the Cornerstone of Cultural Practices

In any given community or society which values the storage of their heritage and they preserve it, hardly will one ever get a particular cultural value or practice that came to be known through one story rather one is likely to find out that there are more than two or even many stories that are directly connected to this particular cultural heritage and in many if not all cases the factor that ties these stories is usually a tangible artifact. This makes it easier to conclude that one of the stories told about the artifact is true. This makes most tangible heritage artifacts as the cornerstone towards determining the certain cultural practices of the given community. This is the other reason as to why many geographers prefer to deal with tangible heritage when undertaking research in comparison to the use of intangible heritage (Ruggles & Silverman, 2009).

The Evolving Definition of Cultural Heritage

Heritage is a mental construct as it is made by the combination of values which are then projected on a process or an item. Taking into consideration a building or a dance or even an oral piece of music, for example, which in the society is considered as heritage. This particular item, be it tangible or intangible, visible or audible, stationary or movable, is merely considered to be a projection of our values. The term Cultural Heritage meaning has been changing as time passes. But it does not only consist of the collection of objects and monuments present in the community but also extends to other practices (In Kitchin & In Thrift, 2013).

Intangible Heritage and its Role in Cultural Studies

Nevertheless, intangible heritage, also referred to as Living Heritage, comprises of many different practices, traditions, and customs of a given society. This includes practices such as the family events celebrated, the stories told down to generations, the languages that are spoken, the healing traditions, holidays of the said community, the knowledge about natural spaces, beliefs, and cultural practices. These may also be used by geographers in the study of the culture of a given community as they are readily available in comparison to tangible heritage, which may be a bit difficult to come across (Zabbini, 2012). Intangible heritage is associated with three main specific characteristics, which include: it is usually inclusive as it may be shared by two or more communities; it is contemporary, traditional, and living at the same time; and it is community-based, meaning that it can only be passed down to the next generation if the current one embraces it and no one will come from the outside and force them to embrace it and pass it down to their descendants.

Conclusion

In conclusion, geographers tend to lean on depending tangible heritage as a means of studying people’s culture due to various reasons as mentioned in the paper above. The main reason being that most, if not all, people believe in what they see rather than what they hear. Hence, having physical evidence to support your claim as a geographer is a big milestone towards making it true. This, as well, provides an assurance to the geographer that in the future, no one is likely to deny the conclusion they came up with earlier as they do have physical evidence supporting the claim that was made.

REFERENCES

Arizpe, L., & Amescua, C. (n.d.). Anthropological Perspectives on Intangible Cultural Heritage [recurso electrónico].

Bille, M. (2012). Assembling heritage: investigating the UNESCO proclamation of Bedouin intangible heritage in Jordan. International Journal of Heritage Studies, 18(2), 107-123.

Cassar, B., Noshadi, S., & UNESCO. (2015). Keeping history alive: Safeguarding cultural heritage in post-conflict Afghanistan.

Deacon, H., Dondolo, L., & Mrubata, M. (2004). The subtle power of intangible heritage: Legal and financial instruments for safeguarding intangible heritage. Cape Town: Human sciences research council (HSRC).

In Rizzo, I., & In Mignosa, A. (2013). Handbook on the economics of cultural heritage. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.

In Kitchin, R., & In Thrift, N. J. (2009). International encyclopedia of human geography: Volume one.

Morrissey, J., Nally, D., Strohmayer, U., & Whelan, Y. (2014). Key Concepts in Historical Geography.

Ruggles, D. F., & Silverman, H. (2009). Intangible heritage embodied. New York: Springer.

Swensen, G., Jerpåsen, G. B., Sæter, O., & Tveit, M. S. (2013). Capturing the intangible and tangible aspects of heritage: Personal versus official perspectives in cultural heritage management. Landscape Research, 38(2), 203-221.

Zabbini, E. (2012). Cultural routes and intangible heritage. Almatourism-Journal of Tourism, Culture and Territorial Development, 3(5), 59-80.