Genre de vie

From Geography

                                                                                                    Lotte Brouwer & Inge Schoenmakers

Genre de vie

The French geographist Paul Vidal de la Blache (1845-1918) developed a new approach which challenged the older theory about environmental determinism. This new approach means that human beings are not confined by their environment, rather this environment creates opportunities (Cloke, Philo & Sadler, 1991). Thus there is a movement from environmental determinism to possibilism. These topics will be explained in another wiki. Vidal de la blache made a distinction between natural environment and human communities. According to Vidal this mutual relation is an ongoing dialogue that produces a human world full of different ‘genres de vie’. Literally this can be translated as mode of life or lifestyle (Johnston, Gregery, Pratt & Watts, 2000). So through this mutual relation a new concept was born named ‘genre de vie’. These lifestyles can refer to particular peoples living in particular places. Groups of people are able to choose their own lifestyle by using their own ‘insights, traditions and ambitions’ (Cloke, Philo & Sadler, 1991).

References:

- Cloke, P., Philo, C. and Sadler, D. (1991). Approaching Human Geography. Chapman, London. - Johnston, R.j., Gregory, D., Pratt, G. & Watts, M. (2000). The dictionay of Human geography. Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Oxford.