Understanding Cultural Geography: Places and Traces

by Jon Anderson

This new and comprehensive book offers a holistic introduction to cultural geography. It integrates the broad range of theories and practices of the discipline by arguing that the essential focus of cultural geography is place. The book builds an accessible and engaging configuration of this important concept through arguing that place should be understood as an ongoing composition of traces. The book presents specific chapters outlining the history of cultural geography, before and beyond representation, as well as the methods and techniques of doing cultural geography. It investigates the places and traces of corporate capitalism, nationalism, ethnicity, youth culture and the place of the body. Throughout these chapters case study examples will be used to illustrate how these places are taken and made by particular cultures, examples include the Freedom Tower in New York City, the Berlin Wall, the Gaza Strip, Banksy graffiti, and anti-capitalist protest movements. The book discusses the role of power in cultural place-making, as well as the ethical dimensions of doing cultural geography. Understanding Cultural Places and Traces offers a broad-based overview of cultural geography, ideal for students being introduced to the discipline through either undergraduate or postgraduate degree courses. The book outlines how the theoretical ideas, empirical foci and methodological techniques of cultural geography illuminate and make sense of the places we inhabit and contribute to. This is a timely synthesis that aims to incorporate a vast knowledge foundation and by doing so it will also prove invaluable for lecturers and academics alike.

Genres: Nonfiction

240 pages, Paperback

First published September 22, 2009

About the author

Jon Anderson was an American poet. He published seven books of poetry, including Day Moon (2001), The Milky Way: Poems 1967–1982 (1983), Death & Friends (1970), which was nominated for the National Book Award, and Looking for Jonathan (1968).

He was the recipient of a fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation, two awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Poetry Society of America’s Shelley Memorial Award.

Reviews

[Julia Harper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Understanding Cultural Geography: Places and Traces is one of those academic books that actually feels lived in. After finishing it, what struck me most was how grounded and human the material is, even while Anderson covers a huge range of theory. Instead of drowning the reader in abstract concepts, he keeps bringing the discussion back to real places, real people, and the traces we leave behind physical, emotional, political, and cultural.

What I appreciated most is how clearly the book shows that geography isn’t just maps or landscapes, but the way we shape places and the way places shape us. Anderson uses examples like the Berlin Wall, the Gaza Strip, and even Banksy graffiti not as distant case studies, but as reminders that places carry memories, conflicts, hopes, and identities. As a reader, it made me reflect on my own surroundings and the “traces” of power, culture, and history I walk past every day without noticing.

The chapters flow well, and even the denser theoretical sections feel approachable because Anderson constantly ties them back to human behavior migration, belonging, identity, fear, creativity, nationalism, youth culture, capitalism. He never lets the theory float too far from lived experience. That kept me engaged even when the material got heavier.

There’s also an honesty to the way he talks about ethics and power in geography. He doesn’t pretend the discipline is neutral. Instead, he acknowledges how research and representation affect real communities, which made the book feel more relevant and responsible.

By the time I finished, I wasn’t just thinking about cultural geography I was thinking about how I move through the world, how I interpret space, and how much meaning is wrapped up in the places I take for granted.

A thoughtful, eye opening read. Realistic, grounded, and surprisingly personal for a textbook.

[Emily Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anderson's textbook provides a thorough, scholarly examination of the ways in which physical and symbolic landscapes both influence and are influenced by culture. It is arranged thematically and discusses key cultural geography concepts like place, space, trace, identity, globalization, and representation. In order to clarify abstract concepts, he uses real-world examples while coming at the topic from a theoretical approach. A strong point in this textbook is its use of interesting and distinctive case studies, such as body modification, tattooing, or digital media to show how practices in various cultures leave "traces" on places. These examples helped make the difficult subject matter easier to understand. The chapters have a logical sequence and help encourage reflection. Important concepts are also revisited in various contexts and chapters. On the other hand, the writing makes frequent use of scholarly jargon, which makes it harder for the general public to read, especially for those who are unfamiliar with cultural geography. More visual aids or providing simpler explanations for complex concepts would have improved a few sections. Overall, advanced undergraduate or graduate students would benefit greatly from reading this textbook. It forced me to thoroughly consider how what I previously thought to be small behaviors, such as how we dress or behave in public, are connected to more significant cultural influences. One important lesson I learned is that a place is more than just physical space. They hold meaning and are shaped by power and identity.

[Brandon Bateman · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Understanding Cultural Geography Places and Traces” does an excellent job in breaking down the complexities of the discipline and provides good background information on the history of each theory. The book truly excels when introducing the storied history of cultural geography. It covers the ways in which people work to shape and create environments and power dynamics as well as showing how the natural environment influences people. It does a wonderful job at providing examples to create a tangible sense of reality for the theories. The book is at its strongest when covering the history and with examples. The introduction chapter is one of the best by far, the Place and Power section gives great examples and really challenged my thinking on the subject. The individual scale with learning about the body also did a fantastic job at showing the micro scale of the discipline. The book does struggle at times with too much jargon and could use more frequent definitions. Additionally while part four is relatively solid chapter 8 could have used a great exploration of content. My biggest take away was looking at how people move around and change to best suit their environment. The second take away was the scale and just how small culture can be reflected even on the individual level of your own body.

[John Bultje · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would rate the book four stars out of five. I thought the textbook was well written and helped shape my understanding of culture. The book emphasizes the concept of traces to analyze how identities, power, and meaning are embedded in geographical contexts. Anderson discusses key themes like representation, mobility, and resistance, offering a critical perspective on how cultural geography intersects with everyday life and broader social processes. The text is accessible, blending theory with real-world examples to illustrate the dynamic relationship between people and place. I really enjoyed the real world images used throughout the book which helped me further my understanding of the concepts being discussed by Anderson. One critique I have for the book was to use less jargon. It was not that big of a deal, but there were times where I was confused over some words. One of my biggest takeaways from the book was the amount of attention put into discussing race and ethnicity. Overall I thought it was a good textbook and helped me better understand what cultural geography is. I would recommend it as a university textbook for students.

[Lakyne Hewitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This textbook gives great insight into understanding the methods and ideas used in understanding cultural geography. Anderson gives a great description of the diverse methods used in Chapter 17 while practicing cultural geography. The strongest points of the textbook were the use of real-life examples and explanations when identifying the definition of a word. An example of this would be in Chapter 6 while discussing dominating power. Anderson displays multiple examples of traces that have dominating power such as signs. The weakest point of the textbook was the language that was used. There was much use of jargon, which made the reading more difficult to comprehend. Two themes that stood out to me in my reading of the textbook were the relationship between powers and places cultures and places and and. Power can be seen through our cultural practices and in nature, which greatly affects places. Having different cultures within a place enhances diverse languages, traditions, and perspectives, which creates a dynamic environment.

[Blaise Silverman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am giving this book a rating of 4 out of 5 stars for a few reasons. The book does a phenomenal job on covering critical topics such as sense of place, Identity, and power. I think the book overall gives a very accurate description of cultural geography as a whole. I did however mark off a star from the overall rating due to how confusing some of the language is throughout, the writing of the book is loaded with a number of confusing and unnecessary wording. I do like chapter 3, which is related to the Body and Space, as that is an aspect of cultural geography I feel that I can relate too, I think this chapter overall worked very well and was very interesting for me to read. Overall, I found this book to be very interesting as a lot of it are things I either can relate too, and have my own feelings towards such as culture and sense of place. Or things I have never thought deeply about which this book led me to take a deeper look into, such as how other cultures interact and do certain things.

[Elyse Dvorak · Rating 4 out of 5]

This textbook, Understanding Cultural Geography: Places and Traces, is a relatively good book and was useful in further understanding the class that utilized this text. Not only did it help me understand the information in the class, but it also broadened my understanding of what cultural geography is. The text is set up in an easy to read way, having main headers for each chapter and subsequent subheaders to further divide the text, chunking up the information that makes it easy to find the information you would need.
The central theme of Anderson's work is the way that geographic space both shapes and is shaped by cultural practices. His method revolves around the idea of "traces," asking readers to think about the ways in which physical, social, and emotional imprints create the layers of meaning that characterize locations. By using this, the text tackles subjects like identity, power, globalization, mobility, and landscape. Though the wording can at times be ahead of its readers, using terms that not everyone may know, the overall text is solid and informational.

[Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very informational. I was assigned the third edition of your book and I have mixed reviews of the book. I do believe this is an excellent textbook to use in a Cultural Geography class. I believe a lot of the definitions and explanations were filled with a lot of words that made it hard to concentrate and get to the point. The content was very well, my best explanation would be to limit the amount of words used in explaining. I believe all figures or images were very well utilized and played a pivotal role in bringing some life to the book. Again, the content throughout this book is very well and if you are a very proficient reader and often read scholarly sources, this book is for you. I am used to reading in a historical context which also very much has a jargon element but I have over time adapted to the historical terminology and know keywords to search for within a reading. Very good book, please limit the number of words you use for an explanation because some readers do have a challenging times reading this book.

[Margaret Cahoon · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a Cultural Geography class at my university the professor chose this as the textbook. I chose a three star rating only for the personal reason of how the textbook itself seemed a bit more on the biases side for an academic textbook. But over all it was an excellent read and was very informative and gave us all the necessary information and vocabulary.

I feel like the overall organisation of the textbook was excellent, and the incorporation of images was amazing. But as other of my classmates will mention that it was a little jargon heavy. Yes, it seems like it is written like a college level textbook, but to too much jargon can cause students to no want to read it, and with a little less I feel like with the composition of the book being well done and the content being straight forward, it would be a much better textbook.

[Savanna Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is great as a university textbook, especially useful for those going into education for history or the social sciences. The book portrays cultural geography in a more present light, not the usual "boring" or "old" light many unfortunately associate with the study of geography.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book has really interesting examples from various parts of the world. It thoroughly presents a method to do research and also understand why cultural geography is important.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

“The definition of genius is taking the complex and making it simple.”― Albert Einstein
This book does not do that.