Abstract
The so-called Cultural and Historical Geography, sometimes called even as the Historical and Cultural Geography, has been defined as an interdiscipline that encompasses several disciplines in Korea. Scholars with various academic background have participated in the academic activity of the Association of Korean Cultural and Historical Geographers that was organized in the late 1980s. The academic majors of these participants are cultural geography, historical geography, history of geography, urban geography rural geography, economic geography, social and economic history anthropology, landscape architecture, and so on. It was in the 1960s that articles about the Cultural and Historical Geography appeared for the first time in the major academic journals in Korea. The pioneers of publishing these articles in the 1960s continued to conduct their research, while training students majoring in the Cultural and Historical Geography in the 1970s. All of these pioneers and their students were very active in the formation of identity vrith the Cultural and Historical Geography In the 1980s. Cultural and Historical Geography in Korea took a great leap forward both in quantity and in quality. The number of articles in the journal increased substantially, and the range of research theme and methodology extended in a great deal. It was also in the late 1980s that the Association of Korean Cultural and Historical Geographers was organized in Seoul, Korea, and this association began to publish a professional journal named Cultural and Historical Geography once a year. In the 1990s, single-authored books dealing with Korean Cultural and Historcial Geography began to appear in public as textbooks or research monographs. These books are expected to speed up the spread of Cultural and Historical Geography in Korea. If it continues to grow further both in quantity and in quality as it has been, Cultural and Historical Geography in Korea will be able to stand as an independent academic field in the future. Until then, however, it cannot but avoid its mission to contribute to an integrated development of human geography in Korea. It has already gained not only its own merit in the humanistic perspective but also its own strength in its synthetic understanding.
한국의 문화-역사지리학계에서는 다양한 학문적 배경을 가진 학자들이 활동을 해 오고 있다. 이 분야는 문화지리학, 역사지리학, 지리학사, 사회.경제사, 문화사, 인류학, 조 경학 등의 여러 가지 학문분야를 망라하는 학제적 성격을 띠고 있다. 한국에서 이 분야에 관련된 논문이 주요 학술지에 처음으로 출현한 것은 1960년대 초이며, 1970년대에는 이 분 야에 대한 정체성이 확립되기 시작하였다. 1980년대는 한국의 문화-역사지리학이 양적으로 나 질적으로 일대 비약을 가져온 시기이며 이러한 경향은 1990년대로 이어지고 있는 것으로 보인다. 이러한 추세가 앞으로 상당 기간 지속된다면 한국의 문화-역사지리학은 더욱 전문 화되어 완전히 하나의 독립된 학문분야로 자리매김할 수 있을 것으로 전망된다.