Cultural Geography Blog

Memories of a childhood in a Chinese take-away . This is good listening and reminds us of the cultural importance of food and its link to family and identity. The Chinese take-away is based in a former mining village in Wales. Angela Hui grew up behind the counter of her parents’ Chinese takeaway, Lucky Star, in the former mining village of Beddau, Wales.  It opened on the luckiest day of the century, 8 August 1988, an auspicious date with the number eight signifying good wealth, fortune and prosperity in Chinese culture – three key factors needed for a young, growing immigrant family.  On one side of the counter Angela interacts with the takeaway’s loyal staff, Cecilia, Dewi and Lowri.  They serve and deliver food lovingly prepped and cooked by Angela’s parents. Regular customers pester Angela at the counter as she tries to do her homework. Running a Chinese takeaway is hard work and there is tension in the overlapping spaces of home and work, playground and business. An...

While researching for my GA Presidents blog, I came across a book which featured a biography of Doreen Massey.

Cross posting from LivingGeography blog.  Very sad news of the passing yesterday of Yi-Fu Tuan, at 92. Such an important scholar in so many fields, from geography to Sherlock Holmes studies. pic.twitter.com/nk5wutDvCh — matthew edney (@mhedney) August 11, 2022 Sad news yesterday of the passing of geographer Yi Fu Tuan, whose work will be familiar to many, and who inspired some of our thinking around Mission:Explore and other work on place, and the idea of topophilia. I wasn't able to confirm the news, but it appears it is now confirmed. We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Professor Yi-Fu Tuan. His work has had a profound influence on the way in which we all think about key geographical concepts. He will be sorely missed both by those that knew him well and by the discipline as a whole. pic.twitter.com/zdndOzMCgk — Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) (@RGS_IBG) August 12, 2022 His work has been influential for many - particularly in the area of place and other conc...

 A lovely telling of a classic children's book.

Alongside the Radical Landscapes exhibition at the Tate Liverpool I have previously posted about, there is now another reason to visit the city this summer. The World Reimagined globes are arriving in the city as well. The Globes have been created by artists from LCR and across the UK, bringing the city to life with diverse experiences and creative styles. They include Ras Akyem, Bryony Benge-Abbott, Amy Bourbon, Fiona Compton, Nicola Constantina, Caroline Daly, Kimathi Donkor, Sumuyya Khader, Jioni Warner. A tenth Globe has been created by local artist Amber Akaunu, inspired by collaboration with local communities. Schools have also got involved, with approx 38 small globes being featured on the trail created by schools who have taken part in The World Reimagined learning programme this term. Plenty of interesting interactive content if you follow the links from the website. Plenty of cultural links.

Love this version of a classic Goldfrapp track from 2008. 

Cold War Steve's collages have provided a regular commentary on the (lack of) competence and self-serving nature of politicians in our government for some years now, and are all works of art, with some regular themes emerging during that time in the way that certain individuals are represented, and with links to other popular culture as well as classic works of art.  Other pieces are produced for particular events, such as the Queen's Jubilee 2022. There are also jigsaws of certain pieces as well for those who want a challenge. They make excellent gifts for the right person in your life. He has produced an affordable sized A3 print to coincide with the closing of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Benny’s Babbies (King Kong vs Mechanical Bull Special Edition). Signed! Only on sale until Monday. 👇👇👇 https://t.co/ADEkHxArg0 pic.twitter.com/VQls6uvZVl — Cold War Steve (@coldwarsteve) August 5, 2022 I have one ordered to be framed for the geography classroom to use as an ex...

This is a film I watched earlier in the week. ★★★★ - Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian. Don't miss the explosive Fire of Love. — Dogwoof (@Dogwoof) July 29, 2022 When I first started teaching, there were very few videos which had been made close to volcanoes. Plate Tectonics as a theory was only about twenty years old. The films we did have were mostly made by a couple of French volcanologists: Maurice and Katia Krafft. They were the Jacques Cousteau of volcanoes. He explored the sea, they prowled the edges of lava flows, photographing, filming and sampling. They made frequent media appearances and made films and wrote books to fund their research. The style of filming and the red hats are similar to those of Cousteau ( and the Wes Anderson homage as well ) They divided volcanoes into the red and the grey. The grey volcanoes were the dangerous ones... think Mt. St. Helens, Pinatubo, Nevado del Ruiz and Unzen in Japan. The film is made from media from their archive, with a few animation...