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This article studies the processes through wich a pupil interprets a cartographical document. In class, a pupil forms his representations of a world regarded as a stretch of land which has been socialy adapted. The interpretation of maps is not an innate or an automatic activity. The concepts of representation, of a cartographical expression System and of an iconic pattern allow us to have a better understanding and to give account of the cognitive processes and the semiotic relationship at work. A map articulates a graphical expression based upon induced analogy and a verbal expression based upon a sequential reading of symbols. The identification of cartographical forms depends upon a methodological learning and a certain knowledge of the nature of geography. This approach does not exhaust all questions related to geography, but has proved to be particulary adapted to these sets of spatial analysis problems.

Keywords: analyse spatiale, didactique, épistémologie, espace, forme cartographique, système d'expression cartographique, type iconique, cartographical form, didactics, epistemology, cartographical expression System, iconic pattern, space, spatial analysis

Disaster risk reduction policies and practices largely depend on the socio-cultural capacity and knowledge of people. Although culture and knowledge are critical issues for reducing disaster risks, both domains are seldom systematically addressed in-depth in disaster studies and policy programmes. We are convinced that tapping the rich portfolio of research on culture and knowledge systems will significantly improve the effectiveness of disaster mitigation. This article illustrates important aspects of culture and knowledge with regard to disaster risk reduction and outlines critical challenges. Subsequently, we present a conceptual approach for capturing different qualitative levels of understanding: facts, data, information, knowledge, and wisdom. Throughout the article, we use examples from Viet Nam to illustrate common cases of culture, economics, and popular practice prevailing over disaster risk reduction logic, as well as the barriers responsible for the fragmentation of knowledge. Shifting the research focus towards issues of culture and social knowledge would lead to a better apprehension and capture of the structural processes causing disaster vulnerability, as well as the social-cultural processes constructing our understanding of disaster risks.

Keywords: culture des risques, géographie culturelle, gestion de l'information, réduction des risques de catastrophe, risques naturels, système de connaissances, priorités différentes, Viet Nam, risk culture, cultural geography, information management, disaster risk reduction, natural hazards, knowledge systems, differing priorities, Viet Nam

Over the past ten years, the contemporary Japanese horror film has been the site of a return of the ghost film. Through close analysis of specific sequences, the present discussion approaches this phenomenon by postulating a spectatorial mode of address, the ghost attraction. This concept takes into account both spectacular thrills and the special effect of ghostly appearances in the cultural tradition of Noh and kabuki theatre. It is linked in certain ways (independence from the narrative, shock effects) to the theory of attractions, from Eisenstein to Gunning. The staging of confrontations and changes of role make the victims take on the part of the viewer in a state of shock. Nevertheless, these contemporary films also incorporate serial and networked images of ghosts. The repetitive nature of the apparitions suggests a diegetic construction based on a “haunting” mode of disappearance and oblivion. But does the ghosts' field of attraction threaten the identity of the subject in the present-day context of the technological circulation of images? The appeal of Japanese horror cinema today creates, instead, a link between aesthetics and history: traumas re-emerge which are grasped through the visibility of ghosts which have already appeared and disappeared.

A vast body of literature the components of which formulate as many numbers of theories promoting cultural exchange already exists, but significant limitations in their central concepts have affected their impact on critics.Based on these theories and literary works by Caribbean authors, this presentation explores how metaphor can be related to the geographical displacements of populations and cultures, in order to suggest a new designation – tropicality, a metaphor relating the tropics and their crossing to tropes – of critical and artistic works springing from what they support: ethical cross-cultural exchange.

Keywords: trope, tropiques, métaphore, postcolonialisme, littérature, trope, tropics, metaphor, postcolonialism, literature

With the possible exception of New York City, Paris is one of cinema's most beloved “characters”. From the Lumière brothers to New Wave heroes, from Debord's psychogeography to Rohmer's emotional cartography, from the 1965 Six in Paris and the 1985 Japanese takes on the city to the 2006 Paris je t'aime, no other city has graced film and influenced filmmakers so often as Paris. Of general interest is the evolution of that city in contemporary Asian filmography and, in particular, the 2008 Night and Day by Hong Sang-soo, the only movie he shot outside his native South Korea. In keeping with his obsession with paring down locales (coffee shops, bars, apartments), neighbourhoods and events (drunken binges, love triangles, holidays), Night and Day is restricted to a familiar take on the city's 14th arrondissement. Focussed not so much on culture clash or encounters as on the city itself, Night and Day zooms in on the most trivial sights, the most ordinary settings, the drudgery of daily life and the paths trodden by the main character (who ends up meeting mostly South Koreans). Much like in Tsai Ming-liang's 2001 What Time Is It Over There? or 2009 Visage, or Hou Hsiao-hsien's 2007 Flight of the Red Balloon, the appropriation of Paris owes much to movie-making culture. Rohmer's influence on Hong Sang-soo is a case in point and this essay will look at how and through which cultural references the latter appropriates Paris in his movie.