×


 x 

Shopping cart
7%OFFYi-Fu Tuan - Cosmos And Hearth: A Cosmopolite’s Viewpoint - 9780816627318 - V9780816627318
Stock image for illustration purposes only - book cover, edition or condition may vary.

Cosmos And Hearth: A Cosmopolite’s Viewpoint

€ 26.99
€ 25.17
You save € 1.82!
FREE Delivery in Ireland
Description for Cosmos And Hearth: A Cosmopolite’s Viewpoint Paperback. Num Pages: 208 pages. BIC Classification: JFC; JHMP; RGC. Category: (P) Professional & Vocational; (UP) Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly; (UU) Undergraduate. Dimension: 131 x 198 x 11. Weight in Grams: 230.

In a volume that represents the culmination of his life’s work in considering the relationship between culture and landscape, eminent scholar Yi-Fu Tuan argues that “cosmos” and “hearth” are two scales that anchor what it means to be fully and happily human. Illustrating this contention with examples from both his native China and his home of the past forty years, the United States, Tuan proposes a revised conception of culture, one thoroughly grounded in one’s own society but also embracing curiosity about the world. Optimistic and deeply human, this important volume lays out a path to being “at home in ... Read more

Hardcover:

In this moving meditation on the difficult choices facing humanity in the next millennium, celebrated scholar Yi-Fu Tuan reaffirms his faith in the value of a cosmopolitan worldview.

In a volume that represents the culmination of his life's work in considering the relationship between culture and landscape, Tuan argues that “cosmos” and “hearth” are two scales that anchor what it means to be fully and happily human. Hearth is our house and neighborhood, family and kinfolk, habit and custom. Cosmos, by contrast, is the larger reality-world, civilization, and humankind. Tuan addresses the extraordinary revival of interest in the hearth in recent decades, examining both the positive and negative effects of this renewed concern. Among the beneficent outcomes has been a revival of ethnic culture and sense of place. Negative repercussions abound, however, manifested as an upsurge in superstition, excessive pride in ancestry and custom, and a constricted worldview that when taken together can inflame local passions, leading at times to violent conflict-from riots in American cities to wars in the Balkans. In Cosmos and Hearth, Tuan takes the position that we need to embrace both the sublime and the humble, drawing what is valuable from each.

Illustrating the importance of both cosmos and hearth with examples from his country of birth, China, and from his home of the past forty years, the United States, Tuan proposes a revised conception of culture, the “cosmopolitan hearth,” that has the coziness but not the narrowness and bigotry of the traditional hearth. Tuan encourages not only being thoroughly grounded in one’s own culture but also the embracing of curiosity about the world. Optimistic and deeply human, Cosmos and Hearth lays out a path to being “at home in the cosmos.”

Born in China and educated in Australia, the Philippines, England, and the United States, Yi-Fu Tuan is professor of geography at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and the author of Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience (Minnesota, 1977), Landscapes of Fear (Minnesota, 1982), The Good Life (1986), and Passing Strange and Wonderful: Aesthetics, Nature, and Culture (1993).

Excerpt:

“Thinking yields a twofold gain: although it isolates us from our immediate group it can link us both seriously and playfully to the cosmos-to strangers in other places and times; and it enables us to accept a human condition that we have always been tempted by fear and anxiety to deny, namely, the impermanence of our state wherever we are, our ultimate homelessness. A cosmopolite is one who considers the gain greater than the loss. Having seen something of the splendid spaces, he or she will not want to return, permanently, to the ambiguous safeness of the hearth.”

Show Less

Product Details

Format
Paperback
Publication date
1999
Publisher
University of Minnesota Press United States
Number of pages
208
Condition
New
Number of Pages
216
Place of Publication
Minnesota, United States
ISBN
9780816627318
SKU
V9780816627318
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 7 to 11 working days
Ref
99-50

About Yi-Fu Tuan
Yi-Fu Tuan is professor emeritus of geography at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and the author of Space and Place (Minnesota, 1977), Landscapes of Fear (Minnesota, 1982), and Escapism (1998).

Reviews for Cosmos And Hearth: A Cosmopolite’s Viewpoint

Goodreads reviews for Cosmos And Hearth: A Cosmopolite’s Viewpoint


Subscribe to our newsletter

News on special offers, signed editions & more!