Cultural Geography Blog

When I was at Primary School in the late 1960s/early 1970s (check out those kipper ties, flares and sideburns on the old school photos - and that was just the female staff...) we had a playground with a high brick wall, which was fine for playing " Spot " - whatever happened to Spot ? Can you get it for the DS ?? And also there was British Bulldogs... Unfortunately, they're now all banned ... British Bulldogs is also a phrase often used to refer to people who are patriotic... The British Bulldog is a symbol of England... The British are " the bulldog breed " More recently, issues of national identity have come to the fore with discussions on the newly multicultural / pluralist nature of the UK. BBC BREAKFAST had a feature on national identity in 2004, and some interesting contents are still available. Check the excellent BBC BORN ABROAD minisite: 7.5% of people living in the UK were born abroad. Translate that to the population of your school.... This rises to ...

Image via Flickr (various users) This is a bit of a hot potato to get to grips with. It's important to offer a balanced view of all the issues related to the contemporary nature of the UK. There was also the recent story in the paper related to the change to a 'pluralist' balance of population in cities in the UK. It was suggested that Leicester would be the first city to get to this point. One slogan used in Leicester railway station to describe the place is a 'Diverse-city' of people. The phrase " sleepwalking to segregation " has emerged... Richard Littlejohn in the Daily Mail can usually be relied upon to say something that gets people talking... or ranting... Click the link for an interesting take on the Citizenship Guide. There was also a survey carried out on the attitudes of people in the UK in November 2007, which was also reported in the Daily Mail The findings are in the image above... Could make an interesting Have I got news for you style act...

What are the cultural experiences of the students ? This is an introduction to this idea, with a sort of quiz to get them thinking (hopefully) about the issue of culture and its relationship to groups within the population. Culture is manifested in music, literature, painting and sculpture, theatre and film and other things. Although some people identify culture in terms of consumption and consumer goods (as in high culture, low culture, folk culture, or popular culture), anthropologists understand "culture" to refer not only to consumption goods, but to the general processes which produce such goods and give them meaning, and to the social relationships and practices in which such objects and processes become embedded. For them, culture thus includes technology, art, science, as well as moral systems. (WIKIPEDIA) If you want to JAMENDO is a source for free music (thanks to Noel Jenkins for the tip-off) Some interesting stuff in one of my Christmas presents too: The Pub Lan...

Was just reminded of this video...

How much does it reflect English rural culture ? Here's a Christmas dose of Kate Rusby for you, with Andy Cutting on accordion

Excellent Independent feature, which includes a chance to download spreadsheets of the data that was used in the analysis. Click the front cover image for more details... There are already over 50 COMMENTS on the blog related to this story.. Would make a good example for Cultural Geography and also Global Branding...

Thanks to Tony for the tip off of this Daily Telegraph article , which suggests that we can be put into 4 groups: perfect for the Cultural Geography ideas that we will be exploring after Christmas. Which group are you in ? I'm a picky ominivore...

This post on the STRANGEMAPS blog has an intriguing suggestion for where the North - South split in the UK might be. Where would you have put the dividing line ?

Today, with my Pilot GCSE group, we explored the cultural references that were included in the episode of the Simpsons where they visited the UK We spotted about 40 or more cultural references to people, films, food, daily life, language (spelling color with a 'u') We also discussed why it was called the Regina Monologues, but we won't go into that here, it's a family blog.... Don't forget WIKIPEDIA for more information too on this episode... Also looked at the BBC NEWSROUND story from the time that the episode was first shown, where it was suggested that David Beckham was not famous enough. Would that change now that he plays for LA Galaxy ? And if you want to make your own SIMPSONS AVATAR or CHARACTER, you can visit the SIMPSONS MOVIE site. Here is an image of me as a Simpsons character: Why not make you ? The SIMPSONS CRAZY site features a large selection of Screenshots (as they do for each Simpsons episode), which is a great resource for teachers who want ...

OUR WORLD FILM FESTIVAL The night before next year's GA Conference is the OUR WORLD FILM FESTIVAL . This is being organised in association with the GIVE GEOGRAPHY ITS PLACE campaign. A showcase of geographical filmmaking, Our World Film Festival is a visual adventure into our changing planet to promote our understanding of the geographies that we live. Our World will be a wonderful mix of films made by both first-timers and professionals alike. If you haven't made a film before we have some support for you at the end of this page. Booking: Tickets will go on sale from Sunday 24 February at the Odeon Box Office. You can book in person, by phone or on the web. Further details will be provided soon. Folens geography@work film-making competition 11:00 - 12:00 £2.00 Student films: Do you really know where you live? Teacher films:...

We inhabit a material culture. We are surrounded by 'stuff'... This stuff adds up to a huge cost. Every year, there is the latest 'must have' gadget Thanks to Helen Nurton from SLN Forum for telling me about the STORY OF STUFF , which is the latest product of Free Range Studios (you may know them from such interactive web based resources as 'The Meatrix' and 'Store Wars'...) The resource is immediately engaging (it was to me anyway, but then I'm easily pleased...) and follows the cycle from EXTRACTION to DISPOSAL before suggesting an alternative way. Download the ANNOTATED script for loads of weblinks. An excellent piece of work.

"Up in the highrise, watching the girls eyes. Waiting to hear you, I am alive. Up in the highrise, tonight where the fun lies. Waiting I fear too...the elements rise." This Picture from the album "City of Sin" Image of Park Hill Flats above Sheffield Midland Train Station in the 1960s, taken by Flickr user sparkgap's dad. Let's play word association... "Tower blocks..." Try to avoid the following images: lifts smelling of urine, fear of crime, Ronan Point, concrete, demolition, windows, nowhere to play... Why has this image developed ? 'Is' this the image you had ? The development company URBAN SPLASH has some intriguing web resources. Several of their developments would be a useful counterpoint to the more negative images that people might have... I used to live in Huddersfield, and just up from the road in Newsome where I lived was an old textile mill with a huge chimney which was sat empty, but would perhaps now have been redevelo...