International Geographic Union Regional Conference

Buenos Aires (Argentina) October 9-11 2007

Under the conditions of globalization, culture presents itself in all the areas of everyday life.

Contrasting with perspectives that assume that we live in an increasingly homogenous society, we observe that different social actors (for example, transnational firms, local governments, social movements, NGOs, and ethnic, religious or linguistic groups) make use of material and symbolic practices to claim their place in the world.

Within this context, those approaches that analyze culture as an autonomous sphere show limitations to understand the ways it shapes reality. The intersections of culture with the political, social and economic dimensions of reality let us appreciate its participation in the organization of labor markets, the definition of current social and political conflicts, or in the commoditization of places.

In this sense, the spatial ‘turn' in Social Sciences and the cultural ‘turn' in Geography have generated theoretical and methodological tools that make it possible to advance in the analysis of the aforementioned intersections. They also contribute to develop research lines around the new and diverse cartographies and identities that shape and in turn constitute the present world.

- To contribute to the theoretical and empirical knowledge developed around the cultural turn and its articulation with the production of economic, social and political geographies.

- To stimulate the interaction among national and international experts working in similar issues.

- To consolidate existing lines of research and to open new ones.

These objectives are directly linked to the goal of the UGI Commission "The cultural Approach in Geography", which aims to develop a substantial critical analysis of geographical representations of the cultural realities over the last decades.

- Consumption cultures and commoditization of places.

- Culture and landscapes of inclusion and exclusion.

- Politics of difference and social cartographies.

- Global-local relationships and cultural strategies of domination and resistance.

- Everyday practices, forms of power and reconfiguration of identities.

- Cultural aspects in the economic, social and political geographies: theoretical and

methodological issues.