National Character in the Perspective of Cultural Geography

Abstract

The geographer's concern with national character stems from his traditional interest in the mutual relations be tween a people and their land. Each society perceives the habitat through its own cultural spectacles and molds the land according to its needs and tastes. Thus, to the trained ob server the "cultural landscape" reveals in many ways the char acter of the people. The regional approach, a favorite tech nique of geographers, discloses meaningful localized patterns. Modern civilization tends to weaken provincialism, but it does not erase regionalism. Attention is drawn to "electoral geog raphy" and the regional novel as means to comprehend subcul tures within a nation. The question is raised whether "na tional character" is largely the value system and style of the dominant region. If so, national character may change when action centers shift. From ancient times the popular belief persists that the physical environment affects, if not determines, national character. To the scholar it presents a fascinating but elusive problem. Perhaps the reawakened interest in the ecological approach will bring new insights.