From Environmental Determinizm to Political Ecology: Approaches in Human-Environment Geography in the World and in Turkey during the last 100 Years

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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the perspectives in human-environment geography with an Anglo-American perspective and evaluate the reflection of these perspectives in Turkish geography with a historical approach. One of the most common definitions of Geography states that geography is the study of human-environment relationships. This definition has been understood in terms of environmental influences until the last 100 years. However, due to social, technological and political developments on one hand, and development of scientific thought on the other, new interpretations of human-environment relationship emerged. The first objections to environmental determinism, which favored the environmental influences, based on the fact that the biophysical environment gives opportunities and it is up to the human groups to choose among various options. The technological and social developments have diminished the influence of the environment and stressed the culture and adaptation capabilities. Thus a new possibilistic approach has emerged and constructed the base for cultural ecology. Especially in the last 40-50 years environmental perception replaced the previous concepts as a result of ever increasing human mobility. On the other hand the large- scale projects and cultural constructions marked the human as changing the face of the Earth. Cultural ecological perspective replaced by political ecology shortly after because of increasing influence of political processes, policy effect and power relations between different socio-cultural groups. Characterized by regional geography methodologically and by environmental deterministic approaches philosophically, Turkish geography is far from following these paradigmatic shifts in a meaningful way. This research discusses all these different approaches and processes in Turkish geography and beyond.

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human , environment geography , cultural ecology , behavioral geography , political ecology , Turkish geography

eastern geographical review

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eastern geographical review