ABSTRACT

This article explores the relevance and value of cultural geography within the undergraduate geography curriculum in light of graduate employability. The article is based on the assertion that employability is an objective to which universities are required to engage, and yet, cultural geography, as a sub-discipline, may be more challenging to map against the prevailing neoliberal employability discourse. To bridge this gap, I propose the use of “powerful knowledge” as a conceptual frame in order to demonstrate specific skills and knowledges cultural geography can and does offer the employability agenda. I briefly demonstrate how visual and ethnographic methods are deployed on two current geography courses in the UK in order to engage students with cultural geography. I end by proposing three key forms of powerful knowledge cultural geography has the potential to generate in graduates. These are: 1) situated knowledge and reflexivity; 2) thinking beyond the human, and; 3) a consideration of cultural landscapes.

摘要

本文根据毕业生的就业能力，探讨文化地理学在本科地理课程中的相关性和价值。这篇文章是基于这样的断言，即就业能力是大学必须参与的一个目标，然而，文化地理学作为一个子学科，与流行的新自由主义就业能力话语相比可能更具挑战性。为了弥合这一差距，我建议使用“强大的知识”作为概念框架，以展示文化地理学可以并且确实提供就业议程的特定技能和知识。我简要展示了如何在英国目前的两门地理课程中部署视觉和民族志方法，以使学生参与文化地理学。最后，我提出了三种关键形式的强大知识文化地理学有可能在毕业生中产生。它们是：1）情境知识和反思性；2) 超越人类的思考，以及；3）文化景观的考虑。