Blog #2

Chapter 2 of Place focuses on how geography relates to place. There are many different viewpoints when it comes to how place correlates to geography but there is no doubt that place is important to geography. The terms, region and place are interchangeable when it comes to speaking about geography. A regional geographer’s job is to be able to,”…describe a place/region in great detail, starting with the bedrock, soil type and climate and ending with culture,” according to Cresswell (16). Particular things in a region define a culture, ultimately making it a place, as stated in chapter 1, is defined as a “meaningful location” (7).

Politics also plays an important role in how place relates to geography. Cresswell touches on how ‘Chinatown’ was not merely a place that defines a particular culture, but how it was also a place that was defined as a moral failure with all the opium dens, gambling and prostitution (28). It was portrayed in the negative light because the people in power have the power to define a place (media and government) (29). It is scary to think how much power the media and the government has.