Cultural Geography Blog

The Places of Poetry website has launched today. I mentioned it earlier in the year when I first heard about it. It is collecting poems which are written about places, which can then be pinned to an interactive map. Click the menu icon top right on the home page for all the details and to add your own poem. Read about the project on the OS blog here.  There is a link with the Ordnance Survey. The project has been developed by Paul Farley and Professor Andrew McRae, who says: “Poetry has been used across the centuries to reflect on places and their histories. We’re using modern technology to reinvigorate this model, and we hope that as many people as possible get involved. We are excited to see where people pin their poems, and what they say about the places that matter to them.” I went on this morning and added my own poem to the map. You can view and read it here, just outside of the city of Ely. My poem also has a link to the Ordnance Survey, as it describes the s...

Outcrops by Spaceship A review can be read here. Focussing on a series of sandstone outcrops above the West Yorkshire town of Todmorden, Outcrops is an exploration of the geological history of the Upper Calder Valley and Cliviger Gorge. Revitalising an enthusiasm for geology that saw Williamson complete an undergraduate degree in Earth Science in the 1990s, each track was created to invoke a particular phase of that history, namely the interbedded sandstones and siltstones of the Millstone Grit, the formation of the Yorkshire coal measures and finally the glaciation of the valley during the last ice age. The album was recorded in the field, in a series of small caves where Williamson created the pieces that make up the album whilst almost encased within the landscape he was describing. These recordings were then treated to minimal editing and post production in Williamson’s home studio at the base of the hills where the recordings were made. In this way the album becomes analogo...

It's a pity that it's during the school holidays as we normally do a big push on this at school, and it's sometimes been later in the year. It's National Map Reading Week , so try to get out there this week with an OS Map and try the downloadable guides. Perhaps this is the week to do a trial of the OS Maps app - it's excellent...

I'm signed up to receive the newsletter from The Global Oneness project, and have just received one with information on an intriguing film explaining how some indigenous people 'map' their territories. It's embedded here: In this 10-minute film, we meet Jim Enote, a traditional Zuni farmer, elder, and director of the A:shiwi A:wan Museum and Heritage Center in Zuni, New Mexico. The film documents Enote’s work with Zuni artists to create maps that bring an indigenous voice and perspective back to the land. “Counter mapping” challenges the western notions of geography and the borders imposed on indigenous cultures.  In the film, Enote said that “Maps have done a lot to confuse things for people. More lands have been lost to native peoples probably through mapping than through physical conflict.” We discussed the positive and negative impacts of modern mapping and technology, the colonization of land and the re-naming of territories, as well as local natives and la...

A new manifesto for Primary Humanities has been launched today. Visit the website, read the manifesto and sign it if you like what you see. Primary schools have a duty to equip children for the challenges of the 21st century. We believe that the primary school curriculum in England is failing to do this or to fulfil the legal requirement for a balanced and broadly-based curriculum. Literacy and numeracy dominate the curriculum while other vital aspects of learning are often ignored. This is wrong. We want young children to be literate and numerate, but much more than that. We affirm that every child is entitled to rich, stimulating and engaging learning experiences. We want children to have more opportunities to be creative and to build on their sense of curiosity. We would like to bring more joy and imagination back into the classroom. Its 20.5.19 and its 20.20! We are live! https://t.co/3ZVckCnjwW >View the Manifesto. >Sign Up! Join in! >Spread the word! #RT...

Simon Armitage was announced today as the new Poet Laureate, replacing Carol Ann Duffy. I've been aware of Simon Armitage and his work for many years, going back to when I was doing my degree in Huddersfield, and he was living nearby in Marsden. He is the same age as me, the same age as Surtsey, about which he made an excellent radio programme - currently unavailable to listen to. He studied Geography at Portsmouth University, which makes him a geographer too, of course. Check out his poem Last Snowman , about Climate Change. I've read much of his poetry, and all of his non-fiction work. An early favourite (from 1999) was 'All Points North': a meditation on what it means to be from the North, and about the North... Also check out the recent books where he follows long distance footpaths, including the Pennine Way. Also check out his poem 'Poundland'  from a recent collection.

Hywel Roberts is running a webinar on the use of narratives in teaching, drawing on his work in this area with a number of other educators. It is described as a reverie. The link to the webinar is here. It's free, and having been fortunate to see Hywel present his ideas in person, I'll certainly be making every effort to listen in to this one.

Passed the 250 000 page view milestone this morning. Thanks for all the interest in this blog since I started writing it back in 2007. Not quite up to the level of the 5 million views of LivingGeography, but encouraging anyway....

A 36o degree Video... Watch this on your phone, or pan around... In Rio, one out of every five residents lives in a favela. More than one and a half million people. More than one and a half million stories. Step inside this 360 experience of a day in Favela and meet some truly inspiring people and view.