Cultural geography

Though the first traces of the study of different nations and cultures on Earth can be dated back to ancient geographers such as Ptolemy or Strabo, cultural geography as academic study firstly emerged as an alternative to the environmental determinist theories of the early 20th century, which had believed that people and societies are controlled by the environment in which they develop.

[1] This was led by Carl O. Sauer (called the father of cultural geography), at the University of California, Berkeley.

A revitalized cultural geography manifested itself in the engagement of geographers such as Yi-Fu Tuan and Edward Relph and Anne Buttimer with humanism, phenomenology, and hermeneutics.

Examples of areas of study include: Some within the new cultural geography have turned their attention to critiquing some of its ideas, seeing its views on identity and space as static.

[11] It is commonly thought that physical geography simply dictates aspects of culture such as shelter, clothing and cuisine.

Geographers are now more likely to understand culture as a set of symbolic resources that help people make sense of the world around them, as well as a manifestation of the power relations between various groups and the structure through which social change is constrained and enabled.

Academic peer reviewed journals which are primarily focused on cultural geography or which contain articles that contribute to the area.