Understanding Cultural Geography

In his book Understanding Cultural Geography, Places and Traces (2010), Anderson argues that cultural geography contributes to and affects place. He states that: “cultural life does not take place in a vacuum.”(1) Instead various "things ideas, practices, and emotions occur within a context" (1). Anderson defines the interest in this context as the study of geography. Geographical context can be “political territories, physical landscapes, or exotic places…they are clear identifiable spaces…defined by particular languages, laws, and customs.”(3) Geographical context according to Anderson influences or is influenced by the actions within the context. Also, Anderson argues that culture also includes all aspects, behaviors, and traits shared

Amin Malak describes it as "a tour de force of revisionist metahistory of Egypt in the twentieth century."(Davis, 73) The novel, told through the third person narrator Amal, is set between two historical timelines; colonial and post-colonial Egypt. Soueif employs the technique of flashback "to create parallelism"(El-Feky,144)(El-enany,9) as a link between her characters , and draw attention on postmodern

Traces can be viewed as "acts" (Maxey, 201) carried out by trace-makers which can have a wider "political and cultural meaning". (Anderson, 75) Drawing on Foucault's Transformative Capacity, these acts Anderson contends, are a way or a method of exercising power therefore, "power is defined as the ability to act."(54) That is to say, traces are acts of power, which are capable of re-ordering, structuring, and controlling the social setting. Colonialism as a cultural activity exerts power in the occupied places. In order for such an cultural activity to fully occupy the geographical place or setting, colonial power must gain control of the geographical space . Space as a term, is often associated with an empty, or a vacant area or idea. As a discipline, space is it dealt with as an abstract notion. However, French philosopher, Marxist, and urban sociologist Henri lefvbrev (1901-1991) argues against this. In his book The Production of Space, lefvbre claims that space is crucial to everyday life .() lefverbes approach, and significant contribution to Spatial Theory has provided researchers in the field of sociology with a new perspective on the social production of space and its