Advanced search
Start date
Betweenand


The first draft of the geographic method of Vidal de la Blache based on studies of the Mediterranean. Continuities and ruptures in the context of the institutionalization of geography (1872-1918)

Full text
Author(s):
Larissa Alves de Lira
Total Authors: 1
Document type: Master's Dissertation
Press: São Paulo.
Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH/SBD)
Defense date:
Examining board members:
Manoel Fernandes de Sousa Neto; Lincoln Ferreira Secco; Perla Brigida Zusman
Advisor: Manoel Fernandes de Sousa Neto
Abstract

Vidal de la Blache (1845-1918) is considered one of the founding teachers of French academic geography. Having taught geography classes from 1873 to 1914, in France, there are many studies about him, especially concerning the last years of his career. The objective of this study is to clarify the concept of geographic method from Vidal de la Blaches studies on the Mediterranean. Based on a conception of a social history of ideas and permanences, the Mediterranean had been seen as the initial object (there are writings dated 1872) and the lasting one (until 1918) from the work of the historian who became a geographer at the end of the nineteenth century. Therefore, it had been possible to observe methodological transitions within a framework of continuities and ruptures. The Mediterranean is also an area of interest for botanic geography of the scientific expeditions of the nineteenth century which helped establish the glory of the Napoleonic Empire, as well as a zone of greed of French society, which carries out its imperial objectives in North Africa. In this context, and supported by his training as a historian, Vidal will later establish a geographical concept of the Mediterranean. Thus, this study points out as background, some routes of institutionalization of geography, i.e., the entry of geography in French universities in late nineteenth century. The sources start in the doctorate, in 1872, and follow sparsely to his death, in 1918. Out of the Mediterranean studies, and supported by complementary bibliography, three lines of analysis of Vidal de la Blaches geography rose: its history, its circulation and its adaptation. The first two were focused on in this study, for the third is already fully discussed in the historiography of geography. From the first two, there have been unfolded the concepts of circulation and the geographical time. In addition to the social history of ideas and permanences, we have used the bibliometric analyzes to reveal the main sources of the geographer, as well as the use of cartography to unravel the methodological process of Mediterranean\'s regionalization. The results are a conception of the Mediterranean that brings together the theoretical legacies of history and geographical vocation developed by physical geography, besides being useful for the colonial policy of the nineteenth century. The \'Mediterranean method\' uses the history and dynamics of Earth\'s movement as principles. (AU)

FAPESP's process: 09/11729-6 - The Conception of Mediterranean in the Circle of Affinities of Vidal de La Blache (1934-1948)
Grantee:Larissa Alves de Lira
Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master