Nonvisual Geographies

The interpretation of nonvisual landscapes explores the role of sensory and perceptual modes other than vision in the construction of geographic space. This topic positions itself at the boundary between social theory and behavioral geography by examining the ways in which nonvisual modes of information acquisition and processing reflect geographic environments and in turn shape those same places by structuring the subjective understanding and behavior of people and their symbolic understanding of space. This understanding and representation of geographic space emanates from several diverse conceptual perspectives, including behavioral geography and poststructuralism. At the individual level, we gather information in an environment from all our senses other than vision alone—hearing, smell, taste, and touch, which includes kinesthe-sia (muscle memory). Our spatial behavior is informed by these ...