Themes

 and  Perspectives  of  Geography  

About  Place  
 
Geographical  Perspectives  
The  big  question  for  many  geographers  is  “what  is  out  there?”    In  your  reading  
so  far  you  have  come  across  Wallach’s  comment  that  geographers  are  
“terminally  childish.”    What  does  he  mean  by  this?  
 
Methods  used  by  geographers:  
• Narrative-­‐descriptive  
• Comparison-­‐contrast  
• Idiographic  (ideas)  
 
Concept  of  Place  
So,  what  is  “place”  and  why  does  it  have  meaning  for  us?    Geographer  Yi-­‐Fu  
Tuan  said  in  1975  that  place  is  the  “center  of  meaning  constructed  by  
experience”  for  humans.    It  is  the  way  we  make  the  world  meaningful  and  the  
way  we  experience  the  world.    
 
Another  way  of  thinking  about  place  comes  from  Tim  Creswell:    “When  
humans  invest  meaning  in  a  portion  of  space  and  then  become  attached  to  it  in  
some  way  (naming  is  one  such  way)  it  becomes  a  place.”  
 
Toponyms  (place  names  derived  from  topographic  features)  reflect  the  past  
and  shape  the  future.  
 
As  an  example,  let’s  look  at  a  place  in  India  –  Darjeeling.        Darjeeling  is  a  
place  nearly  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  world  from  us.    Darjeeling  is  located  in  
the  Indian  state:    West  Bengal.  
 Darjeeling  is  most  known  for  its  tea,  but  also  
its  designation  as  a  UNESCO  World  Heritage  
site.      It  is  actually  the  Darjeeling  Himalayan  
Railway  that  is  the  World  Heritage  Site.        The  
train  is  one  of  the  only  remaining  steam  
locomotives  still  in  use  in  India.  
 
But  it  is  Darjeeling  as  a  colonial  outpost  and  
internationally  famous  tea  region  that  
concerns  us  here.  

 
 
Darjeeling  is  on  the  other  side  of  the  world  so  why  should  we  care?    Why  does  
it  provide  such  a  good  example  of  “place”?  
 
• If  you  drink  tea  you  have  probably  been  connected  to  Darjeeling  in  some  
way.  
• It  teaches  us  about  “globalization”  and  its  history  
• It  teaches  us  about  “place”  and  all  its  complexities  
• Finally,  since  we  are  all  geographers  for  at  least  this  quarter  –  human  
curiosity.        This  is  partly  what  Wallach  means  about  geography  being  
terminally  childish.    Geographers  still  believe  that  curiosity  is  central  to  
research,  understanding  the  world  around  us,  and  coming  to  terms  with  
our  relationship  to  one  another,  “nature”,  and  non-­‐human  life  forms.  
 
 

Darjeeling  is  the  “Champagne  of  Teas”    

 
The  region  has  ideal  soil  and  a  temperate  tropical  climate,  which  is  perfect  for  
tea  production.    Traditional  hand-­‐crafted  methods  are  used  in  producing  
Darjeeling  teas.    Darjeeling  produces  nearly  20,000,000  lbs  of  tea  each  year  
about  7%  of  India’s  total  output.  The  carefully  cultivated  image  keeps  
Darjeeling  tea  in  the  center  of  the  market.    Darjeeling  is  both  place  name  and  
brand  name.  
 
Today  there  are  85-­‐90  tea  “gardens”  that  produce  the  bulk  of  the  region’s  tea.    
More  than  60%  of  the  workers  are  women  and  tea  plantations  are  
increasingly  operated  by  worker  cooperatives.  
 
Tea  plantation  in  Darjeeling  (Wikipedia  image)  
 

 
 
Global  Darjeeling  
 
“Globalization”  is  really  not  new  –  it  is,  in  fact,  a  very  old  idea.    We  think  of  it  
now  as  an  emerging  “new  world  order”  but  it  has  foundations  that  reach  back  
to  the  European  colonization  of  the  world.    The  East  India  Company  and  
British  Empire  dominated  most  of  the  world  beginning  in  1600  when  the  
Company  received  a  Royal  Charter  to  establish  outposts  throughout  South  
Asia.  
 

 
 
The  East  India  Company  dominated  South  Asia  through  trade,  diplomacy,  
military  conquest,  and  looting  (theft).      This  lasted  until  the  Sepoy  Revolt  of  
1857-­‐58  in  which  the  company’s  Bengalese  soldiers  revolted.    Rather  than  
freedom  from  domination,  though,  the  revolt  led  to  the  establishment  of  the  
British  Raj,  which  remained  in  power  from  1858  to  1947.  
 
Darjeeling  became  a  colonial  outpost  in  about  1835.    It  was  one  of  the  first  
“hill  stations”  established  by  the  British.    A  hill  station  is  just  what  it  sounds  
like  –  outposts  established  at  higher  altitudes  by  the  military  and  civilian  arms  
of  the  British  government.    Before  this,  though,  Darjeeling  was  a  tiny  mountain  
crossroads  dominated  by  Muslim  Mongols  around  1200.    Dominated  by  
Hindu-­‐Nepalese  Gorkhas  in  the  late  1700s.    The  East  India  Company  took  
possession  formally  in  the  1830s.    In  1839  tea  seedlings  were  smuggled  into  
Darjeeling  by  the  British  Superintendant  of  the  outpost.    By  1865,  cheap  land  
and  abundant  labor  provided  by  colonialism  made  possible  40  tea  gardens  
that  totaled  10,000  acres.  
 
Some  of  the  important  legacies  of  colonialism  still  visible  in  Darjeeling  include  
a  Hindu,  Napalese  majority,  territorial  inclusion  in  India’s  West  Bengal  State,  
and  modern  development.  
 
We  will  discuss  development  in  more  detail  later  in  the  quarter,  but  there  are  
conflicting  arguments  about  the  impact  of  colonialism  in  places  like  India.      
 
Did  colonialism  lay  a  strong  foundation  for  modern  development  in  the  form  
of:  
• Infrastructure  (e.g.  Darjeeling  Himalayan  Railroad)  
• Industry  –  tea  and  tourism  
• Connections  to  the  English-­‐speaking  world  
• Education  
 
OR  is  the  legacy  of  colonialism  in  India  permanent  underdevelopment?  
• Plundered  local  economies  
• Ruined  traditional  societies  
• Geopolitical  instability  
• Ravaged  environments  
 
There  are,  of  course,  other  good  examples  of  why  place  matters,  but  in  the  text  
Wallach  focuses  on  India  and  China  quite  extensively  so  this  seemed  a  good  
example  to  use.    Darjeeling  also  has  a  kind  of  romantic  appeal,  which  also  
makes  it  interesting.  
 
Human  Geography  
Place  forms  part  of  our  identity,  ranging  from  the  local  to  the  global.    There  
are  about  190  modern  states,  but  there  are  also  many  stateless  nations  as  
well  as  other  minorities/dependencies.    Some  examples  include  Kurdistan,  
Quebec,  Puerto  Rico,  and  Northern  Ireland.  
 
So,  how  do  we  group  ourselves  in  order  to  make  sense  or  some  kind  of  order  
in  our  perception  of  the  world  in  which  we  live?      
 
• A  simple  order  of  about  half-­‐dozen  pieces,  defined  by  nature?  
• 3  or  more  biological  “races”?  
• 5  or  more  geophysical  “continents”?  
 

 
 
 
A  Better  Choice?  
Perhaps  ten  or  so  world  regions  
• “continents”  but  different  than  how  they  are  currently  defined.    Perhaps  
defined  historically-­‐culturally  rather  than  naturally.  
• An  example  would  be  South  Asia  as  a  continent.  
 
 
South  Asia  as  a  Continent  
This  makes  sense  on  many  levels.      First,  South  Asia  is  one  of  the  world’s  major  
population  clusters.  
 
  
 
 
Hinduism  helps  distinguish  South  Asia,  but  look  at  the  map  below  and  
notice  the  presence  of  other  global  religions  also.  
 

   
 
South  Asia  is  also  home  to  a  major  branch  of  the  Indo-­European  language  family.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
BUT,  like  all  other  regions  of  the  world,  especially  the  large  “world  regions”  –  South  Asia  is  
not  a  monolith.    There  is  no  real  lingua  franca  (common  language)  despite  the  history  of  
Sanskrit.    There  are  dozens  of  different  living  languages,  many  of  which  are  official  
languages,  with  countless  dialects.    There  are  divisions  along  the  lines  of:    rich  vs.  poor,  
urban  vs.  rural,  modern  vs.  traditional,  Hindu  vs.  others.  
 
 
 
Wallach’s  South  Asia  (Ch.  8)  
 
Although  we’ll  read  chapter  8  later  in  the  quarter,  it’s  important  to  take  a  look  at  the  way  
Wallach  describes  South  Asia.    Could  it  be  considered  a  continent?  
Basic  Geography  
• India,  Pakistan,  and  Bangladesh  (  can  include  other  countries  also)  
• Himalayas  (“house  of  snow”)  and  the    Indus,  Ganges,  and  Brahmaputra  Rivers  
• Indo-­‐Gangetic  plain  (Punjab  to  Bengal)  
• The  margins:    Thar  Desert  and  Sind,  Chattisgarh  Jungle,  Deccan  Plateau  
Historic  Foundations  
• 4000  BP:  Indus  Valley  Civilization  (Harappa  and  Mohenjo-­‐Daro)  
• 3000-­‐4000  BP:  Indo-­Aryan  invation/migration  (“nobles”  from  the  northwest)_  
• Net  result:    agricultural  society  built  around  Sanskrit  and  the  “eternal  law”  
(Hinduism)  
Ideological  Foundations  
• Polytheism  (Brahma,  Vishnu,  Shiva,  and  their  many  “avatar”  representations)  
• Social  hierarchy  (Varnas/Castes)  marked  by  a  high  degree  of  fatalism  (samsara  
and  karma)  
• Social  order  and  “emotional  support”,  or  an  “impregnable  rationale  for  ignoring  
pain”  (78)  
 
Challenges  to  this  order:  
• Atheistic,  nonviolent  Buddhism  (Sri  Lanka,  Tibet)  
• Monotheistic  Islam  (Pakistan,  Bangladesh)  
• Modern  secularism  
 
Darjeeling  the  Place  
 
Place  Matters  
• Places  are  unique,  but  not  necessarily  exceptional,  settings.  
• Places  help  organize  out  thoughts,  “centers  of  meaning”  (Yi-­‐Fu  Tuan)  
• Place  is  thus  marketable  and  highly  imagined  
 
Questions  concerning  how  “place”  works?  
• What  do  we  learn  about  Darjeeling  the  city  (the  real  place)  through  our  
consumption  of  Darjeeling  the  tea  (the  imagined  place)?  
• What  do  you  not  learn?  
• Why  call  it  “Darjeeling”  tea?    How  important  is  authenticity  to  the  work  
of  “place”?  
 
 

 
 
The  Concept  of  Place  
 
Geographer  Tim  Cresswell  offers  three  major  versions  of  how  we  might  
conceive  of  place:  
 
• Meaningful  location  (What  place  is.)    Location  is  made  meaningful  as  
“sites  of  history  and  identity”.  
• Place  as  dynamic  process  (how  place  works).    In  this  context,  place  is  an  
“embodied  relationship  with  the  world.    Places  are  constructed  by  
people  doing  things  and  in  this  sense  are  never  ‘finished’  but  are  
constantly  being  performed.”  
• Place  as  politically  charged  way  of  understanding  the  world  (what  place  
should  be).    In  this  version,  place  becomes  “space  invested  with  meaning  
in  the  context  of  power.”    It  is  grounded  in  asymmetrical  power  
relations  among  peoples  within  and  between  regions  of  the  world.