3 Review(s)

This book provides a critical evaluation of the transformation of cultural geography which has occurred over the past two decades. "Cultural Geography" explains cultural change in different geographical settings, from the politics of everyday life to the production and consumption of landscapes, to the politics of sexuality, gender, race, and nationality. Using a range of contemporary "culture wars" as examples - ranging from a struggle over public art in Denver to the politics of Jean-Marie le Pen in France - the author illustrates how cultural geographic analysis can be an important tool for understanding, and progressively intervening in contemporary cultural change. The book is divided into three parts. Part I considers the historical development of cultural geography and the critical examination of cultural theory, both within geography and other fields from which geographers draw.The second part of the book explores the most traditional of cultural geography's research foci - the landscape. It examines what a landscape is, what it means, and how we should understand its production and use.The final part of the book comprises five chapters that explore different aspects of cultural politics.Moving between the practices of control and resistance in each chapter, Mitchell shows how cultural meaning, and the spaces in which we live, are continually struggled over. Writing with the needs of advanced undergraduates and post-graduates in mind, Mitchell unravels complex ideas, yet at the same time, challenges the reader to think critically about cultural geography and about the cultural geographies that structure our lives.