“Cultural Branch” of Human Geography in Contemporary Russia: Genesis, Main Peculiarities, and Priorities of Development

This paper presents the overview of the historical origins, specifi c features, development trends, and key issues of development for the cultural-geographic branch of the Russian human geography. In the global academic landscape, this discipline is known as Cultural Geography. Two concepts are used on the national research scene: Geography of Culture or Cultural Geography. The impact of anthropological and cultural traditions, inherited from the pre–Soviet period of the Russian geographic science and anthropogeographic research approaches of the early Soviet period, on the development of cultural geographic research in Russia is analyzed. The consequences of the period of oblivion of the humanistic traditions in the Russian anthropogeography, which marked the cusp of the 1920s–1930s, for the development of economic geography in the USSR are investigated. The orientation of the national human geography towards the cultural geographic dimension at the end of the last century is explored. Statistical data on dissertations defended in the fi eld of geoculture between 1995 and 2012 in Russia are analyzed. Special attention is paid to the assessment of major problems and priority areas of cultural and geographical research in view of general trends and prospects for the development of modern human geography in Russia. It is concluded that the potential of cultural geography in Russia has not yet been fully tapped into. The theoretical and methodological framework of cultural geography has to be further developed. The authors point to the rise of the phenomenon of “neoculturalization” in the national geographic science based on a closer relation between cultural geography with other disciplines of human geography.

human geography, culture, society, cultural geography, Russia, spatial and regional studies, cultural turn in geography, cultural space, cultural regionalism, cultural landscape

1. Agafonov N.T. The principles and main tasks of the Soviet social geography, Izv. Vseross. Geogr. Obshchestva, 1984, vol. 116, no. 3, pp. 205–211. (In Russ.).

2. Baranskii N.N. Towards compilation of the series of economic-geographic monographs in the republics and oblasts, in Ekonomicheskaya geografiya. Ekonomicheskaya kartografi ya (Economic Geography and Mapping), Moscow: Geografgiz (Publ.), 1960, pp. 81–89. (In Russ.).

3. Berg L.S. The subject and objectives of geography, Izv. Imper. Russ. Geogr. Obshchestva, 1915, vol. 51, no. 9, pp. 463–475. (In Russ.).

4. Bogoraz-Tan V.G. Rasprostranenie kul’tury po Zemle. Osnovy antropogeografi i (Global Distribution of Culture. Guidelines for Anthropogeography), Moscow: Gosizdat (Publ.), 1928, 186 p.

5. Vedenin Yu.A. Problems of formation of cultural landscape and issues of its study, Izv. Akad. Nauk SSSR, Ser. Geogr., 1990, no. 1, pp. 5–17. (In Russ.).

6. Gladkii Yu.N. Gumanitarnaya geografi ya. Nauchnaya eksplikatsiya (Humanitarian Geography. Scientific Explication), St. Petersburg: S.-Peterb. Gos. Univ., 2010, 644 p.

7. Gokhman V.M. Relationship between theory and practice in modern geography, in Osnovnye ponyatiya, modeli i metody obshchegeografi cheskikh issledovanii (Main Defi nitions, Models, and Methods of General Geographical Studies), Moscow: Inst. Geogr., Akad. Nauk SSSR, 1984, pp. 183–196. (In Russ.).

8. Gokhman V.M. Human geography: principles and structure, in Vopr. Geogr. (Problems of Geography), 1984, nos. 122/123, pp. 57–64. (In Russ.).

9. Gumanitarnaya geografi ya (Humanitarian Geography), Moscow: Inst. Naslediya, 2004–2010, nos. 1–6.

10. Dmitrevskaya N.F. and Dmitrevskii Yu.D. Geography of culture and new political thinking, in Geografiya, politika i kul’tura (Geography, Politics, and Culture), Leningrad: Nauka (Publ.), 1990, pp. 127–134. (In Russ.).

11. Druzhinin A.G., Methodological principles of geographical studies of culture, Izv. Vseross. Geogr. Obshchestva, 1989, vol. 121, no. 1, pp. 59–64. (In Russ.).

12. Druzhinin A.G. Geography of culture: some aspects of formation of new scientific direction, Izv. Vseross. Geogr. Obshchestva, 1989, vol. 121, no. 4, pp. 307–312. (In Russ.).

13. Druzhinin A.G. Theoretical and methodological principles of geographical studies of culture, Doctoral (Geogr.) Dissertation, St. Petersburg, 1995. (In Russ.).

14. Druzhinin A.G. Teoreticheskie osnovy geografii kul’tury (Theoretical Principles of Geography of Culture), Rostov-on-Don: Sev.-Kavk. Nauchn. Tsentr Vysshei Shkoly, 1999, 114 p.

15. Druzhinin A.G. Russian human geography at the beginning of the 21 century: old problems and new challenges, Ekon.-Geogr. Vestn. Yuzhn. Fed. Univ., 2008, no. 5, pp. 3–9. (In Russ.).

16. Druzhinin A.G. From humanization towards neohumanization of Russian socio-economic geography: trends, problems, and priorities, Yuzh.-Ross. Forum: Ekon., Sotsiol., Politiol., Sots.-Ekon. Geogr., 2011, no. 1 (2), pp. 34–51. (In Russ.).

17. Druzhinin A.G. Demographical and economic dynamics of southern regions of Russia: long-term and new trends in Russian and global context, Yuzh.-Ross. Forum: Ekon., Sotsiol., Politiol., Sots.-Ekon. Geogr., 2012, no. 1 (4), pp. 3–16. (In Russ.).

18. Druzhinin A.G. New conceptualization of Eurasia: a view of geographer-social scientist, Vestn. Assots. Ross. Geogr.-Obshchestvoved., 2013, no. 2, pp. 25–36. (In Russ.).

19. Zhivopisnaya Rossiya. Otechestvo nashe v ego zemel’nom, istorichekom, plemennom, ekonomicheskom i bytovom znachenii (Pictorial Russia: Our Nation in its Regional, Historical, Tribal, Economic, and Household Dimensions), Semyonov, P.P., Ed., St. Petersburg: Vol’f” (Publ.), 1881–1901, vols. 1–12.

20. Zamyatin D.N. Modelirovanie geografi cheskikh obrazov: Prostranstvo gumanitarnoi geografi i (Modeling of Geographical Images: The Space of Humanitarian Geography), Smolensk: Oikumena (Publ.), 1999, 256 p.

21. Zamyatin D.N. Gumanitarnaya geografiya: prostranstvo i yazyk geografi cheskikh obrazov (Humanitarian Geography: Space and Idiomatic Order of Geographical Images), St. Petersburg: Alteiya (Publ.), 2003, 331 p.

22. Zamyatin D.N. Space as the image and transaction: towards establishment of geonomics, Obshchestv. Nauki Sovrem., 2008, no. 2, pp. 129–142. (In Russ.).

23. Zamyatina N.Yu. and Mitin I.I. Humanitarian geography, in Bol’shaya Rossiiskaya Entsiklopediya (The Great Russian Encyclopedia), Moscow: Bol’shaya Rossiiskaya Entsiklopediya, 2007, vol. 8, p. 151. (In Russ.).

24. Kabo R.M. Relationship of Nature and a Man as the subject of social-cultural geography, Vopr. Geogr. (Problems of Geography), 1947, no. 5, pp. 5–32. (In Russ.).

25. Kaganskii V.L. Kul’turnyi landshaft i sovetskoe obitaemoe prostranstvo (Cultural Landscape and Soviet Inhabited Space), Moscow: Novoe Literaturnoe Obozrenie (Publ.), 2001, 576 p.

26. Kalutskov V.N. Landshaft v kul’turnoi geografii (Landscape in Cultural Geography), Moscow: Novyi Khronograf (Publ.), 2008, 320 p.

27. Castells M. The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture. Vol. I. The Rise of the Network Society. Vol. II. The Power of Identity. Vol. III. The End of the Millennium. Cambridge, MA – Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 1996-1998. (Russ. ed.: Kastel’s M. Informatsionnaya epokha: ekonomika, obshchestvo i kul’tura. Moscow: GU VShE, 2000, 608 p.).

28. Kruber A.A. Obshchee zemlevedenie. Bio- i antropogeografiya (Fundamental Physical Geography. Biogeography and Anthropogeography), part 3, Moscow: Giz (Publ.), 1922, 404 p.

29. Krylov M.P. Regional’naya identichnost’ v Evropeiskoi Rossii (Regional Identity in the European Part of Russia), Moscow: Novyi Khronograf (Publ.), 2010, 240 p.

30. Kul’turnaya geografiya (Cultural Geography), Vedenin Yu.A. and Turovskii R.F., Eds., Moscow: Inst. Naslediya, 2001, 192 p.

31. Lavrenova O.A. Prostranstva i smysly: semantika kul’turnogo landshafta (Spaces and Senses: Semantics of Cultural Landscape), Moscow: Inst. Naslediya, 2010, 330 p.

32. Lavrov S.B. Establishment of social geography: supposed contradictions and actual problems, in Sotsial’naya geografiya Kaliningradskoi oblasti (Social Geography of Kaliningrad Oblast), Kaliningrad: Kaliningr. Gos. Univ., 1982, pp. 12–18. (In Russ.).

33. Lavrov S.B. Integration in geography, in Sovetskaya geografiya (Soviet Geography), Leningrad: Nauka, 1984, pp. 28–41. (In Russ.).

34. Lersaryan T. Boundless plain of the end of times, Otechestvennye Zap., 2002, no. 3, pp. 10–23. (In Russ.).

35. Manakov A.G. Geokul’turnoe prostranstvo Severozapada Russkoi ravniny: dinamika, struktura, ierarkhiya (Geocultural Space of the North-West of Russian Plain: Dynamics, Structure, and Hierarchy), Pskov: Tsentr Vozrozhdenie (Publ.), 2002, 300 p.

36. Manakov A.G. Na styke tsivilizatsii: Etnokul’turnaya geografiya Zapada Rossii i stran Baltii (In the Turn of Civilizations: Ethnocultural Geography of Western Russia and Baltic Countries), Pskov: Pskov. Gos. Pedagog. Inst., 2004, 296 p.

37. Markaryan E.S. Teoriya kul’tury i sovremennaya nauka (Theory of Culture and Modern Science), Moscow: Mysl’ (Publ.), 1983, 284 p.

38. Mezhevich M.N. Territorial community as the object of social planning, in Planirovanie sotsial’nogo razvitiya gorodov (Planning of Social Development of Urban Development), Moscow: Inst. Sotsiol. Issled., Akad. Nauk SSSR, 1975, no. 2, pp. 52–65. (In Russ.).

39. Mezhuev V.M. Culture as the philosophic problem, in Kul’tura, chelovek, i kartina mira (Culture, a Man, and the World Scene), Leningrad: Nauka, 1990, pp. 320–335(In Russ.).

40. Mitin I.I. Kompleksnye geografi cheskie kharakteristiki. Mnozhestvennye real’nosti mest i semiozis prostranstvennykh mifov (Complex Geographic Descriptions.

41. Numerous Realities of Places and Semiosis of Spatial Myths), Smolensk: Oikumena (Publ.), 2004, 160 p.

42. Mitin I.I. Cultural geography in the Soviet Union and post-Soviet Russia: history of recovery and factors of traditions, Mezhd. Zh. Issled. Kul’t., 2011, no. 4(5), pp. 19–25. (In Russ.).

43. Nefyodova T.G. Russian periphery as the socio-economic phenomenon, Reg. Issled., 2008, no. 5, pp. 14–31. (In Russ.).

44. Novikov A.V. Cultural geography as an interpretation of territory, in Voprosy ekonomicheskoi i politicheskoi geografii zarubezhnykh stran (Problems of Economic

45. and Political Geography of Foreign Countries), Moscow: Mosk. Gos. Univ., 1993, no. 13, pp. 84–93. (In Russ.).

46. Prostranstvo sovremennoi Rossii: vozmozhnosti i bar’ery razvitiya (razmyshleniya geografov-obshchestvovedov) (The Modern Russia: Possibilities and Barriers for Development: Refl ections of GeographersSocial Scientists), Druzhinin A.G., Kolosov V.A., and Shuvalov V.E., Eds., Moscow: Vuzovskaya Kniga (Publ.), 2012, 336 p.

47. Ragulina M.V. Kul’turnaya geografiya: teorii, metody, regional’nyi sintez (Cultural Geography: Theories, Methods, and Regional Synthesis), Irkutsk: Inst. Geogr., Sib. Otd., Ross. Akad. Nauk, 2004, 171 p.

48. Rossiya. Polnoe geograficheskoe opisanie nashego Otechestva (Russia: Integrated Geographical Description of Our Nation), Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky V.P., Ed., St. Petersburg: Izd. A.F. Devriena (Publ.), 1899–1914.

49. Saushkin Yu.G. Cultural landscape, in Vopr. Geogr. (Problems of Geography), 1946, no. 1, pp. 97–106. (In Russ.).

50. Saushkin Yu.G. Ekonomicheskaya geografiya: istoriya, teoriya, metody, praktika (Economic Geography: History, Theory, Methods, and Practice), Moscow: Mysl’ (Publ.), 1973, 559 p.

51. Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky V.P. Reflection of geographic landscape in national folk names, Zemlevedenie, 1924, vol. 26, no. 12, pp. 133–158. (In Russ.).

52. Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky V.P. Chto dolzhen znat’ kraeved o geografi i cheloveka? (What Each Connoisseur of Local Lore and Local Terrain Must Know about Anthropogeography?), Leningrad: Brockhaus i Efron (Publ.), 1927, 133 p.

53. Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky V.P. Raion i strana (A Region and Country), Moscow: Gosizdat (Publ.), 1928, 311 p.

54. Sinitskii L.D. Ocherki zemlevedeniya (Antropogeografiya) (Essays on General Geography: Anthropogeography), Moscow: Kniga (Publ.), 1923.

55. Sokolova A.A. Landshaft v sisteme traditsionnykh prostranstvennykh predstavlenii: geografi cheskaya interpretatsiya dialektnykh obrazov (A Landscape in the System of Traditional Spatial Concepts: Geographic Interpretation of Dialectal Images), St. Petersburg: Leningr. Gos. Univ. im. A.S. Pushkina, 2007, 392 p.

56. Sokolova A.A. Humanitarian geography: delimitation of subjects, Izv. Ross. Akad. Nauk, Ser. Geogr., 2011, no. 5, pp. 109–118. (In Russ.).

57. Streletskiy V.N. Ethnic settlement and geography of culture, in SSSR – SNG – Rossiya: geografiya naseleniya i sotsial’naya geografi ya.1985–1996. Analitiko-bibliograficheskii obzor (The Soviet Union – CIS – Russia: Social Geography and Population. 1985–1996. Analytical Bibliographical Review), Moscow: Editorial-URSS (Publ.), 2001, pp. 396–466. (In Russ.).

58. Streletskiy V.N. Geographical space and culture: theoretical attitudes and scientific paradigms in cultural geography, Izv. Ross. Akad. Nauk, Ser. Geogr., 2002, no. 4, pp. 18–28. (In Russ.).

59. Streletskiy V.N. Culture as geographical reality and scientific traditions in cultural geography, in Pyatye Sokraticheskie chteniya “Refl eksivnost’ sotsial’nykh protsessov i adekvatnost’ nauchnykh metodov” (Fifths Socrates Conference “Refl exivity of Social Processes and Conformity of Scientifi c Methods”), Shuper V.A., Ed., Moscow: Eslan (Publ.), 2004, pp. 127–141. (In Russ.).

60. Streletskiy V.N. Cultural geography in Russia: peculiarities of formation and development, Izv. Ross. Akad. Nauk, Ser. Geogr., 2008, no. 5, pp. 21–33. (In Russ.).

61. Streletskiy V.N. From anthropogeography to cultural geography: succession in development and new study approaches, in Kul’turnye landshafty Rossii i ustoichivoe razvitie (Cultural Landscapes of Russia and Sustainable Development), Krasovskaya T.M., Ed., Moscow: Mosk. Gos. Univ., 2009, pp. 23–29. (In Russ.).

62. Streletskiy V.N. Cultural regionalism in Germany and Russia, Doctoral (Geogr.) Dissertation, Moscow: Inst. Geogr., Ross. Akad. Nauk, 2012. (In Russ.).

63. Sushchii S.Ya. and Druzhinin A.G. Ocherk geografii russkoi kul’tury (Survey of Geography of Russian Culture), Rostov-on-Don: Sev.-Kavk. Nauchn. Tsentr, Vysshei Shkoly, 1994, 576 p.

64. Tkachenko A.A. Territorial community in the system of definitions of population geography, Izv. Akad. Nauk SSSR, Ser. Geogr., 1982, no. 4, pp. 94–97. (In Russ.).

65. Treivish A.I. Gorod, raion, strana, i mir. Razvitie Rossii glazami stranoveda (A City, Region, Country, and World. Development of Russia by the View of Geographer), Moscow: Novyi Khronograf (Publ.), 2009, 372 p.

66. Treivish A.I. How should you call us? Vestn. Assots. Ross. Geogr.-Obshchestvoved., 2012, no. 1, pp. 5–19. (In Russ.).

67. Turovskii R.F. Kul’turnye landshafty Rossii (Cultural Landscapes of Russia), Moscow: Inst. Naslediya, 1998, 210 p.

68. Fenomen kul’tury v rossiiskoi obshchestvennoi geografi i: ekspertnye meneniya, analitika, kontsepty (Phenomenon of Culture in Russian Human Geography: Expert Opinions, Analytics, and Concepts), Druzhinin A.G. and Streletskiy V.N., Eds., Rostov-on-Don: Yuzhn. Fed. Univ., 2014, 536 p.

69. Harvey D. Explanation in Geography, London: Edward Arnold, 1969. (Russ. Ed.: Kharvei D. Nauchnoe obyasnenie v geografii, Moscow: Progress (Publ.), 1974, 502 p.).

70. Claval P. Postmodernisme et géographies, Géographie et Cultures, 1999, no. 4, pp. 3–24.

71. Harvey D. The Condition of Postmodernity. An Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change, Oxford: Blackwell, 1989, 369 p.

72. Soja E. Postmodern Geographies: The Reassertion of Space in Critical Social Theory, London: Verso, 1989, 266 p.

73.