Behavioural Geography and the Cultural Landscape
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5778899 |
|---|---|
| Authors | O F G Sitwell (University of Alberta), Gloria Latham (University of Alberta), G R Latham (University of Alberta) |
| Year | 1979 |
| Volume | 61 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 51-63 |
| Publication date | 1979-10-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Geografiska Annaler Series B Human Geography (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0435-3684 • E-ISSN: 1468-0467 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/04353684.1979.11879442 |
| OpenAlex | W2320951443 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 9 |
The primary purpose of the paper is to provide a philosophical foundation which will serve the needs of geographers who seek to use a cultural landscape as evidence about the beliefs and attitudes of the society which created that landscape. Secondary purposes include the identification of one possible methodology which could be used with this foundation. The paper has five sections. The first is devoted to examining the assumptions on which a consistent theory of the relationships between belief and landscape could rest. Justification is also provided for the assertion that it is the underlying assumptions which need especial consideration rather than the body of theory itself. The development of the latter will call for future research, though a sketch of one possible line of research is provided later in the paper. In the second part, some published studies which relate belief to landscape are examined to show that considerable empirical works has already been done in this area, though on an ad hoc basis. The third part outlines one possible method of inferring beliefs and attitudes from evidence provided by the cultural landscape. The method implies a hypothesis which, together with its necessary assumptions, is discussed briefly. Fourthly, the method is applied in three cases, using evidence provided by archaeologists with respect to British prehistoric landscapes. In the final section of the paper the findings derived from the three case studies are linked to some of the work of the French anthropologist, Claude Lévi-Strauss, in order to make the point that it is frequently useful to distinguish between explicit beliefs (what people say they believe) and functional beliefs (the beliefs that people show they hold by what they do). Conventional sociology, based on interviews, provides evidence about the former. As the cultural landscape is the product of human action, it provides evidence about the latter. The possibilities for research by geographers, with their long tradition of studying the cultural landscape, are obvious
Assertion · Cultural landscape · Foundation (evidence · Identification · Section (typography · Sketch · Diverse Aspects of Tourism Research · Ecology, Conservation, and Geographical Studies · French Urban and Social Studies
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,07 |
| Citation span | 1981 - 1986 (6) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |