著者

野尻 亘

出版者

桃山学院大学

雑誌

国際文化論集 (ISSN:09170219)

巻号頁・発行日

no.47, pp.75-92, 2013-03-28

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American geography of the 19th century suffered a major backlash due to the influence of environmental determinism. However, with the dawn of the 20th century, area studies became a major field. Yet even when much regional elements were broken down into detail and presented in terms of distribution, the difficulty remained of categorizing areas into objective, uniform regions. To address this difficulty, a variety of methodologies were developed regarding the concept of region. Sauer's "Morphology of Landscape" (1925) marked the beginning of this movement, followed by the concept of sequent occupance, defined by Whittlesey (1929). This concept addressed the succession and transition of the cultural landscape over the course of developments such as the hunter-gatherer society of indigenous peoples ; the immigration of farmers ; the formation of villages ; industrialization; and urbanization. In contrast, Hartshorne (1939) was influenced by Hettner (1927) in Germany, proposing the concept of areal differentiation, which in turn had a dramatic impact on the field of geography in the United States in the 1940s and 50s. This topographical methodology cited differences in distribution of various aspects of the earth's surface including weather patterns, geomorphology, soil, resources, etc., and also explained the spatial relationship between them. The issue here was that interpretations were made based on differences in specified phenomena between places. In other words, regions were conveniently interpreted in a way that suited the specific index that was chosen. This meant rejection of the kind of geography that emphasizes the morphological aspect of the cultural landscape. Further, it was concluded that it was not necessary to limit research topics to visible landscapes ; the new way of thinking emphasized the importance of choosing an event that would facilitate significant change arising from differences in location, or an event that had the potential to facilitate a change in other phenomena. However, while this type of methodology tends to emphasize the diversity of different regions, it also tends to close the door to generalization. James (1952, 1954) asserted the need to pay attention to areal likeness, an approach that enables comparison between regions. In addition, Whittlesey (1954) categorized regions into uniform regions and nodal regions for purposes of study. The uniform region is characterized by specified indices, standards and definitions such as the Corn Belt and the Cotton Belt. In contrast, nodal regions are those that have a specific focal point; that is, a certain structure is expected of this central area, including the flow and circulation of people and information emanating from a specific focal point. Depending on different standards, such as commutable zone and consumer catchment area, one can identify a diverse array of nodal regions. As noted above, studies in the field of geography in the United States, particularly in the post-World War II period, showed a deepening interest in clarifying the hierarchy and behavior of nodal and functional regions and regional interaction, paving the way toward system theory research on regional function systems. As part of this series of movements, Berry (1964) attempted to develop a fusion of the topographical or factorial ecology methodology and quantitative geography, applying multivariable analysis to regional data.