Mutual relationship

From Geography

The concept mutual relationship is about the genuinely two-way relationship between land and life. This concept is a part of Paul Vidal de la Blaches (1845-1918) concept Genre de vie. Vidal identified an ongoing dialogue/relationship between natural environments (milieux) and the human communities (civilisations). With this approach he challenged the older tradition of environmental determinism. This was "a tradition that regarded all facets of human activity (from farming practices to political systems) as ultimately determined in character by the natural-environmental context (the mixture of climate, topography, hydrology, soils, flora and fauna) of the particular region under study" (Cloke et al., 1991, p.64). Through the mutual relationship between milieux and civilisations was a human world full of different genres de vie ('lifestyles') created (Cloke et al., 1991).

References

Cloke, P., Philo, C. & Sadler, D. (eds.) (1991). Approaching Human Geography, Guilford Press, London, UK.

Contributors

Published by Anke Janssen