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Power Of Place: A Discussion Of Cultural Geography


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On this edition of Conversations from Studio B, WOUB’s Director and General Manager Tom Hodson talks with Dr. Kenneth Foote, a professor of geography at the University of Colorado, about cultural geography and the United States shift into a country of commemoration.

Dr. Foote served as president of the National Council for Geographic Education and the Association of American Geographers, and has authored multiple publications including the book, Shadowed Ground: America’s Landscapes of Violence and Tragedy.

Hodson and Foote discuss the difference in tragedy commemoration between the United States and Europe, the function of commemorative symbols as lightning rods for debate, and issues involved in the creation of sites of mourning on college campuses. 

“I first got interested in cultural geography because I was interested in the way people developed very strong, emotional attachments to place. We think of the attachment we have for our home environment, or for our neighborhood, our for a particularly favorite place – and I got interested in how those kinds of attachments developed through time, and that’s one of the central themes of cultural geography”, says Dr. Foote.

Dr. Foote was in Athens to speak at the annual Communication Week lecture series, presented by the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University.