Geography, Culture and Knowing

Abstract

Contemporary geographic education research largely ignores the fact that geography — or place — matters. For example, much of the research on young people’s understanding of geographic concepts relies upon developmental psychology theory as an epistemological framework (Downs, Liben and Daggs, 1988; Forsyth, 1995; Hart, 1984; Matthews, 1992). This research is typified by a notion of childhood as universal, treats young people as human becomings rather than human beings, and often does not situate the learning process within a particular social, cultural, or physical context (James, Jenks and Prout, 1998; Jenks, 1996). In addition, many studies within geographic education, particularly within the United States, lack an analysis of scale. Often, studies focus upon a micro setting or scale of analysis, such as the formal learning environment of the classroom (for a review see Forsyth, 1995; Matthews, 1992). Fewer studies investigate the interconnections between home, community, and the larger sociocultural contexts in which knowledge is produced (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). This often leads researchers to neglect macro level changes in society and their impact on the everyday lives of learners in different places (Katz, 1994).