View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by RERO DOC Digital Library Published in Social & Cultural Geography 8, issue 4, 635-648, 2007 1 which should be used for any reference to this work From mosaic to network: social and cultural geography in Switzerland Ola Söderström Institut de géographie, Université de Neuchâtel, Espace Louis-Agassiz 1, CH-2001 Neuchâtel, Switzerland,
[email protected] Introduction: does Swiss geography exist? system. Universities are mainly funded by the cantons and receive only part (around 25 per It is already a tradition: most country reports ent) of their financial support from the State. in this journal start with questions and doubts There is therefore very little national steering concerning the relevance of thinking about the of education and research.1 The appointment production of geographical knowledge in of professors and researchers in geography national terms. I cannot avoid feeding this departments, for instance, is, unlike France, tradition as Switzerland is a particularly made with no connection to national insti- uncertain and fragmented nation. It is often tutions. Unlike Italy, the national association maintained that it certainly is a State but much of geographers is not a strong and important more dubious whether it really is a nation, forum of decision making and unlike the UK because it has no single language, but four or the USA this association does not organize national ones, no single religion and more an important annual conference and come- than twenty different educational systems. In together of the discipline.