中国大陆社会与文化地理学研究领域综观

The overview of research areas of Chinese Mainland's social and cultural geography

中国人文地理学的发展经历了一条充满艰辛而又曲折的道路。改革开放以来,中国人文地理学开始回暖,社会与文化地理研究重焕新生,但学科所占位置相对边缘。在"文化转向"的背景下,近年来社会与文化地理学开始呈现出欣欣向荣之势。从文化区、文化传播与文化整合,民族文化地理,文化景观与文化经济,地方和基于地方的政治,边缘群体研究五个方面对中国大陆社会与文化地理研究现状进行综观性的概述和批判性的反思。建立在西方学术话语霸权之上的社会与文化地理学,需要开展建设性的对话并加以研究。未来的社会与文化地理学研究应更加强调跨学科视角和对当前社会问题的关注。

The discipline of human geography in China has travelled a difficult and tortuous path towards development. Since the reform and opening-up policy, the sub-discipline of social and cultural geography has gradually revived in accordance with human geography＇s renaissance in academia, but its relatively marginal position has not significantly changed. This article provides an overview of the recent development of social and cultural geography in China with its focus on five bodies of work： cultural areas, cultural diffusion and cultural integration;geographies of ethnic cultures; cultural landscape and cultural economy; place and place-based politics; marginal social groups. Three characteristics of the social and cultural geography in the mainland of China emerged in the past few years.（1） The research paradigms become diverse.（2） The applications of theories become trans-disciplinary.（3） The research topics are expanded. In sum, since the 1990 s, the Western geographical studies have started to reform based on the ＂cultural turn＂. Within this new research paradigm, space and place become no longer empty container or entity but root in the specific social discourse, non-substance,flexible, and an essence dimension of the production of cultural meaning and social relations.At the same time, the critics of ＂logocentrism＂ on the perspective of post-modernism in the Western academia bring out the discussion of spatial heterogeneity, pluralism, justice and righteousness. The past two decades witnessed a growing concern of theoretical dialogues between Chinese and Anglo-American academia; many new thoughts and theories from AngloAmerican world were introduced to China. In this article, we argue it is urgent for us to start the constructive academic dialogues with Chinese characteristics. Besides, the empirical evidence should be situated in the perspectives of ＂human-place＂ thought and contribute to the theoretical debate rather than just case studies. Nevertheless, to transfer Chinese philosophy and practical theories into an important school and break the dual structure of binary oppositions, as well as to seek the diverse ways of explaining identities, we need to start from the perspective of criticism and self-reflexivity and deconstruct the Western knowledge and the hegemony of epistemology. Moreover, future studies of social and cultural geography should straddle on the interdisciplinary perspective and focus more on the present social issues.