Cultural & Identity: A Geographical Perspective

Cultural Identity belongs to a specific group, often related to a person's nationality, ethnicity, religion, social class, generation, and locality. A social group will have their own distinct culture. In this way, cultural Identity is both the individual's character and the group of members sharing the same cultural Identity. [1]

Space & Place as a key concept

Space and Place are key terms that are used throughout the topic of culture & Identity. 'Space' is defined as a physical location with no social connections for human beings, while on the contrary, 'place' is more than just a location and is used to describe a location created by humans. Essentially Place adds meaning to a space. [2] Throughout this blog, the words space and Place continually appear, which is why they have been defined here.

Cultural Identity is a vast topic, studied across many disciplines. Most relevant to human geography are the subtopics: Place & Ethnicity, Place & Youth, as well as Place & The mind. These are the subtopics in which will be explored through this blog.

Why does this all matter?

Culture & Identity has been intensely investigated, but in recent decades, a newer form of Cultural Identity had appeared where categorisation of Identity has lead to widespread fragmentation & polarisation. The divisions between different cultures are growing. The modernisation process of culture is full of tensions and contradictions, which is why it is vital to understand how and why Culture & Identity are related to space and place to build a less divided place for everyone.

Place & Youth

The cultural group that youths fall into does not have a sense of place within the mainstream. As a result, the group will take and make places on society's edges, reinventing themselves and giving new insights into cultural geography. The Geography of youth culture does not run conventionally but rather transregionally. Youth culture is misunderstood and has been the victim of many moral panics; in this blog, we will explore why youth cultures are seen as disruptive, how youths define space and place, and the problems that occur along the road to adulthood.

Transgressional Youth Cultures

The most prominent issue youths can face is that society isn't ordered for them. Children deemed 'little angles' means society is geared for children in a certain way, as there is a concern for children in open spaces from stranger danger and abduction. Children are adequately constrained in what they can or cannot do via parent, carer and other caregiving institutes. Adult places are also clearly defined, the pub, club or betting shops and not areas in which you would expect to see a child, but instead areas in which you gain access when you reach a certain age. In this situation, where children's and adults' places are separate, where is the place for youth cultures? As Wyness argues, "Youths are not part of the social world that counts; due to youths in-between age a concomitant culture and a geographical grey area is produced youths are out of place in the mainstream" [1]

It is seen that youth's potential as adults has not been realised, a limbo between being a child and an adult. Youths have a limited status, and although this means they have no place made for them, it does not mean they have no place at all. Since place isn’t defined for the group, they will make their place, bordered and ordered for their culture.

In this photo from the youth Olympic games, we can see that youths are limited in what they can do due to their age, but this does not influence their ability to shape society.

Source: [2] John Anderson, 2014

How youth cultures define space

"Most police would ask, 'why are you hanging around the streets?' The kids say, 'this is where we live' [3]. Without a place ordered for youths by adults, youths have to take and make their places wherever they can [4]. The term street is a way of encompassing places in which youths can articulate and express their culture. For the young, the streets are an essential cultural setting, a lived space where they can affirm their own identity and celebrate their feelings of belonging. In essence, these places are worn out from adult society's fabric but are always in constant threat of being reclaimed [5].

Problems that occur from not having space

Another major issue that occurs when youths don't have a defined place is that cultural boundary zones are tested and become contest and resistance sites. A typical example is a mall, where young people exert their right of hybridity, no longer a child, but also not an adult. The mall is mainly for adults, you often need a car to get there, and money to buy products, meaning the mall is ordered for adults; youths are still allowed but are out of place.

The mall is for walking and shopping, not cycling or skating, and these modes of behaviour are strictly controlled; youths can be thrown out for transgressing these codes of conduct. [6]

From this image, we can see how youths are transgressing the rules, testing the cultural boundaries by cycling up an escalator

Source: Lam lam lee (2020)

Research was conducted on cultural boundary zones. Girls Helen and Molly, aged 15, were asked about their experiences in the mall "we went… into the shopping centre, and we went to Starbucks, and we sat there but again none of us bought anything because we were all skint so we got chucked out. All we wanted was to sit down, but they wouldn't let us, they were like 'someone is going to have to buy a drink', so Phil bought a drink, and they were like 'the rest of you are still going to be kicked out.' Phil stayed because he had bought a drink, but it didn't count for all of us."

Hoodie Culture

A moral panic about hoodie culture is apparent in the UK. As stated by McLean, the perception is that "the hoodie is the uniform of the troublemaker" [7]. This prejudice against an item of clothing and the culture it represents had lead to shops banning hoodies from their premises, and the young people who wear them being labelled as 'Mall Rats'. The identity youths have often mistaken, leading to misrepresentation and sensationalism.

Conclusion

Youth cultures can be seen as one of the most misunderstood groups in society, making places on the edges of society while also being under constant threat of having these places reclaimed; for youth culture to run more smoothly, there is a need to create more places in which youths can express their culture & identity.

Bibliography

[1] Wyness, M. (2006) Childhood and society: An introduction to the sociology of childhood. Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke

[2] Anderson, J. (2014). Understanding Cultural Geography. Swansea: Routledge, (P:195)

[3] Sinclair, I (2012) Ghost Milk. London: Penguin, (P:85)

[4] [5].Matthews, H., Taylor,m., Percy-Smith, B., and Limb, M. (2000) The unacceptable flaneur: the shopping mall as a teenage hangout. Childhood, 7 (3), 279-294

[6] Lee, L. (2020) Watch out, bike teen cycling plaza. AsiaOne (accessed 9th march 2021) available at https://www.asiaone.com/singapore/watch-out-bike-teens-cycling-plaza-singapura

[7] McLean, G. (2005). In the hood. The Guardian, G2, (accessed 8th march 2021) Available at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2005/may/13/fashion.fashionandstyle