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The European culture area: a systematic geography
Book reviews / Political Geography 22 (2003) 585–598
593
Merje Kuus Department of Geography, The University of British Columbia Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z2 doi:10.1016/S0962-6298(02)00045-8
The European culture area: a systematic geography Terry G. Jordan-Bychkov and Bella Bychkova Jordan. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc., 2002, xviii and 437 pp. maps, photos, diagrams, index. $59.00 cloth (ISBN 0-7425-1628-8) The fourth edition of The European Culture Area represents more than the continuation of a popular regional geography textbook, it provides an initial breadth of readings for understanding Europe. Perhaps contemporary scholars conflate Europe’s power in the world-system with its unification process under the European Union at the expense of cultural diversity and territorial fragmentation that still impress common identities. Jordan-Bychkov and Bychkova Jordan present Europe in its complexity through twelve chapters organized systematically, and they incorporate ample maps and other figures that illustrate various diffusions, regions, and landscapes. For those already familiar with previous editions, except for the addition of a coauthor, the fourth edition remains very similar. In addition to the prerequisite updates, the most notable change from the third edition consists of chapter reorganization, for example, the authors eliminate the rural landscape chapter, which becomes part of the agriculture chapter, reorder a few chapters, and rename the ecology chapter into habitat. Chapter One remains an engaging introduction on defining Europe that clearly identifies Europe as a cultural entity. The second chapter takes on a background quality as they describe the physical geography of Europe, yet the authors also use this chapter to introduce anthropogenic changes to the environment, which becomes one of the subtle themes of the textbook. The next three chapters (3-5) return to the main argument that Europe is a cultural entity with each chapter describing a particular part of European self-identity: religion, language, and genes/race. The authors are careful not to declare these as absolute traits especially the later, but more in an ethnographic fashion of what Europeans express about themselves. Geodemography, geopolitics, and cities are the titles of the next three chapters; each focusing a distinct sub-field of geography onto contemporary Europe. The political geography chapter deserves a little more elaboration for this audience. The authors present fragmentation as the key political trait of Europe using the number of states, autonomous regions as well as the continued presence of separatist movements as evidence for fragmentation. After a discussion of states and boundaries, they present ten different case studies that highlight various political geographic principals. The chapter ends with some discussion of supranational entities specifically the European Union and NATO. The remaining systematic chapters include two chapters on the economy (organized around industries) and one on the agriculture of Europe; as a
594
Book reviews / Political Geography 22 (2003) 585–598
whole, they cover many of the activities one would actually observe in the landscape such as resource extraction, transportation infrastructure, tourism, and farming. The final chapter concludes with a synthesis of all this cultural diversity and an attempt at creating a simplified model that reinforces cultural differences between North— South and East—West with a fundamental geographical concept of core—periphery. Having just used this book as the primary textbook for a class of undergraduates— most of whom are geography majors, I can assess its utility as an educational resource. I thought students were effectively learning the important ideas and details from the book, and the book did not generate any complaints concerning readability. Like many educational situations, introducing every chapter topic before most students start reading seems to help in their comprehension. One issue with the textbook that came up during class is the maps, and more specifically the quality of map reproduction. A small number of the maps are poorly reproduced presumably in the printing stage. Another cartographic issue was a handful of maps have large number of categories that cannot be read properly, for example a choropleth map showing internet connectivity with eight ranges. In general, geography majors enjoy the complexity of the maps found in this textbook, but at the same time they do see the cartographic errors. Overall, the fourth edition of The European Culture Area is a superb educational asset for teaching the geography of Europe. While the authors exhibit exceptional knowledge of Europe, the book is written so non experts can understand the key geographical ideas without being overwhelmed with theoretical considerations. Moreover, the authors present Europe as a complex cultural entity with diverse social and ecological factors that hopefully our students will explore and appreciate better after becoming familiar with essential readings obtainable from this textbook. Erik Prout Texas A & M University, Department of Geography, College Station, Texas, USA E-mail address: [email protected] doi:10.1016/S0962-6298(02)00046-X
Geographical Identities of Ethnic America: Race, Space, and Place Kate A. Berry and Martha L. Henderson; University of Nevada Press: Reno, Nevada, 2002, 311 pp, index The editors of this volume had two goals in bringing together 11 essays studying various ethnic groups. One was to study how space and place influence racial and ethnic identities. The second was to see how groups and individuals through their identities construct spatial patterns and landscapes. After an introduction by the editors, the first chapter by Curtis C. Roseman presented a geographical analysis of the rapid growth of Asian and Hispanic populations. The study period from 1980 to 1990 at the county level revealed growth and spatial diffusion of Hispanic and Asian
593
Merje Kuus Department of Geography, The University of British Columbia Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z2 doi:10.1016/S0962-6298(02)00045-8
The European culture area: a systematic geography Terry G. Jordan-Bychkov and Bella Bychkova Jordan. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc., 2002, xviii and 437 pp. maps, photos, diagrams, index. $59.00 cloth (ISBN 0-7425-1628-8) The fourth edition of The European Culture Area represents more than the continuation of a popular regional geography textbook, it provides an initial breadth of readings for understanding Europe. Perhaps contemporary scholars conflate Europe’s power in the world-system with its unification process under the European Union at the expense of cultural diversity and territorial fragmentation that still impress common identities. Jordan-Bychkov and Bychkova Jordan present Europe in its complexity through twelve chapters organized systematically, and they incorporate ample maps and other figures that illustrate various diffusions, regions, and landscapes. For those already familiar with previous editions, except for the addition of a coauthor, the fourth edition remains very similar. In addition to the prerequisite updates, the most notable change from the third edition consists of chapter reorganization, for example, the authors eliminate the rural landscape chapter, which becomes part of the agriculture chapter, reorder a few chapters, and rename the ecology chapter into habitat. Chapter One remains an engaging introduction on defining Europe that clearly identifies Europe as a cultural entity. The second chapter takes on a background quality as they describe the physical geography of Europe, yet the authors also use this chapter to introduce anthropogenic changes to the environment, which becomes one of the subtle themes of the textbook. The next three chapters (3-5) return to the main argument that Europe is a cultural entity with each chapter describing a particular part of European self-identity: religion, language, and genes/race. The authors are careful not to declare these as absolute traits especially the later, but more in an ethnographic fashion of what Europeans express about themselves. Geodemography, geopolitics, and cities are the titles of the next three chapters; each focusing a distinct sub-field of geography onto contemporary Europe. The political geography chapter deserves a little more elaboration for this audience. The authors present fragmentation as the key political trait of Europe using the number of states, autonomous regions as well as the continued presence of separatist movements as evidence for fragmentation. After a discussion of states and boundaries, they present ten different case studies that highlight various political geographic principals. The chapter ends with some discussion of supranational entities specifically the European Union and NATO. The remaining systematic chapters include two chapters on the economy (organized around industries) and one on the agriculture of Europe; as a
594
Book reviews / Political Geography 22 (2003) 585–598
whole, they cover many of the activities one would actually observe in the landscape such as resource extraction, transportation infrastructure, tourism, and farming. The final chapter concludes with a synthesis of all this cultural diversity and an attempt at creating a simplified model that reinforces cultural differences between North— South and East—West with a fundamental geographical concept of core—periphery. Having just used this book as the primary textbook for a class of undergraduates— most of whom are geography majors, I can assess its utility as an educational resource. I thought students were effectively learning the important ideas and details from the book, and the book did not generate any complaints concerning readability. Like many educational situations, introducing every chapter topic before most students start reading seems to help in their comprehension. One issue with the textbook that came up during class is the maps, and more specifically the quality of map reproduction. A small number of the maps are poorly reproduced presumably in the printing stage. Another cartographic issue was a handful of maps have large number of categories that cannot be read properly, for example a choropleth map showing internet connectivity with eight ranges. In general, geography majors enjoy the complexity of the maps found in this textbook, but at the same time they do see the cartographic errors. Overall, the fourth edition of The European Culture Area is a superb educational asset for teaching the geography of Europe. While the authors exhibit exceptional knowledge of Europe, the book is written so non experts can understand the key geographical ideas without being overwhelmed with theoretical considerations. Moreover, the authors present Europe as a complex cultural entity with diverse social and ecological factors that hopefully our students will explore and appreciate better after becoming familiar with essential readings obtainable from this textbook. Erik Prout Texas A & M University, Department of Geography, College Station, Texas, USA E-mail address: [email protected] doi:10.1016/S0962-6298(02)00046-X
Geographical Identities of Ethnic America: Race, Space, and Place Kate A. Berry and Martha L. Henderson; University of Nevada Press: Reno, Nevada, 2002, 311 pp, index The editors of this volume had two goals in bringing together 11 essays studying various ethnic groups. One was to study how space and place influence racial and ethnic identities. The second was to see how groups and individuals through their identities construct spatial patterns and landscapes. After an introduction by the editors, the first chapter by Curtis C. Roseman presented a geographical analysis of the rapid growth of Asian and Hispanic populations. The study period from 1980 to 1990 at the county level revealed growth and spatial diffusion of Hispanic and Asian