2.1 Overview

Introduction

Cultural geography has been applied in a number of different disciplines, and none without so much controversy as within intelligence and military contexts. This lesson is designed to introduce you to the evolution of the use of cultural geography in military and intelligence disciplines, as well as to the value it brings to those disciplines. It will also introduce you to the controversies that have surrounded the inclusion of cultural geographic concepts at a variety of different scales. Finally, this lesson challenges you to consider the ethical dilemmas that surround this academic discipline’s inclusion in military and intelligence operations, and how to potentially ameliorate those dilemmas so these disciplines can complement each other in relative harmony.

Learning Goals and Objectives:

Upon completion of this lesson you should be able to:

1. Evaluate cultural geography's importance to intelligence and security.
2. Assess ethical issues in gathering cultural geographic intelligence.
3. Argue the impacts of ethical lapses in the use of cultural geographic concepts in intelligence.
4. Critique the use of cultural geographic intelligence in issues of security.