Abstract:
Human being as a social creature is always interacting with his “place” of living. In fact, “place”
is part of the earth which has a variety of connections, communication networks, or social
processes acting at three main local, national, and global geographic scales. Although in
humanities, identity is considered as a social phenomenon, in geography, it is the results of
interactions between “human” and his living “place”. It requires “geographic explanation” of
foundations or factors affecting the identity. If “geographic explanation” is considered as the
explanation and interpretation of the “why” or “how” of the emergence of a geographic
phenomenon or event and its outcomes, this study intends to geographically explain the
foundations of identity at local, national, and global scales. It intends to find answer to the key
question that “why” and “how” “geography” affects the “identity” formation at various
“geographic scales”, employing analytical - descriptive method.
Machine summary:
Geographic Explanation of Foundations of the Identity at Local, National, and Global Scales Marjan Badiee Azandehie*- Assistant Professor of Political Geography, Tehran University, Iran Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf - Associate Professor of Political Geography, Tehran University, Iran Seyed Mousa Pourmousavi- Assistant Professor of Urban Geography, Imam Hossein University, Iran Mohammad Hadi Pooyandeh- Ph. D Student of Political Geography, Tehran University, Iran Received: 31/10/2012 Accepted: 15/12/2012 ____________________________________________________________________________ Abstract Human being as a social creature is always interacting with his “place” of living.
If “geographic explanation” is considered as the explanation and interpretation of the “why” or “how” of the emergence of a geographic phenomenon or event and its outcomes, this study intends to geographically explain the foundations of identity at local, national, and global scales.
In sum, the effect of human factors on identity can be analyzed based on the issues like the level of awareness and literacy, different forms of power relations, and function of socio-political institutions in various places.
“Geographic explanation of foundations of identity at local scale” As it is presented in table 1, in “local scale”, the identity of ethnic groups and local people can be considered regarding “human identity”, and village, localities, towns, cities, and geographic areas can be identified with respect to “identity of place”.
Geographic area and foundations of local identity: “geographic area” can be considered as the highest level of “local identity scale” which involves a specific set of cultural relations among a group (usually ethnic, linguistic, and religious) and their specific place.