APHUG Unit 3 Session 1

Cultural Geography

An important component of the human geography course

What are examples of cultural landscapes

• Houses

• Road systems

• Suburbs

Cultural landscape

The modification of the natural landscape by human activities

Cultural ecology

The field that studies the relationship between the natural environment and culture

The cultural landscape offers clues about:

• Cultural practices

• Priorities of inhabitants, both present and past

How do humans view natural disasters?

• Cultures shape our view of hazards and natural disasters

• As a result, human reactions to these events vary

Environmental Perception

Emphasizes the importance of human perception of the environment, rather than the actual character of the land

Environmental Perception examples

• If people believe that a flood was caused by the gods, they are likely to try to please the gods

• If other people believe that the flood was a natural disaster, then they may work to prevent future damage

What are the 3 philosophies?

1. Environmental Determinism

2. Cultural Possibilism

3. Cultural Determinism

What is environmental determinism?

The belief that the physical environment, especially the climate and terrain, actively shapes cultures

Human responses are molded almost entirely by…

The environment

Examples of environmental determinism

• People who live near coasts focus on fishing and navigating waterways

• Temperate (mild) climates produce inventive, industrious, and democratic societies that are most likely to control others

The school of thought in environmental determinism

Popular during the early 20th century, especially among English-speaking geographers who used their perspective to explain why Britain came to dominate the globe

The school of thought for cultural possibilism

The cultural heritage is as important as the physical environment in terms of shaping human behavior

Cultural Possibilism

• The physical environment offers many possibilities for a culture to develop but PEOPLE are the primary architects of culture

• People make choices based on their environment, BUT they are also guided by their cultural heritage

• Possibilities believe that technology increases the number of options people have

• So… technologically advanced cultures have more culture over their physical surroundings

Cultural determinism

• This perspective emphasizes human culture as ultimately more important than the physical environment in shaping/molding human actions

• Some cultural determinists have seen humans as in opposition to the environment, and if nature is not controlled, humans will die

What is culture?

• Culture is the complex mix of values, beliefs, behaviors, and material objects that together form a people’s way of life.

• Geographers specialize in the way that culture affects the natural environment, as well as the spatial organization that culture stimulates

Culture is divided into two types:

Non-material and material

Material Culture

• This type of culture includes concrete human creations called artifacts

• Artifacts reflect values, beliefs, and behaviors

• Material culture is reflected in a variety of ways, from the way homes are constructed to what equipment is used for construction and arrangement of roadways

Non-material culture

This type of culture consists of abstract concepts of values, beliefs, and behaviors

Values

Culturally defined standards that guide the way people assess goodness and beauty and serve as guidelines for moral living

Beliefs

Specific statements that people hold to be true

Behaviors

Actions that people take

Non-material culture key points

• Abstract concepts

• Consists of

Values

Beliefs

Behaviors

Norms meaning

The rules and expectations by which a society guides the behavior of its members

Material culture key points

• Concrete human creations

• Consists of artifacts such as

Houses

Churches

Roadways

The arrangement of buildings on the cultural landscapes

About culture traits

• Culture traits are not necessarily confined to a single culture

• Example: People in many culture uses brushes to clean their teeth

• However, the trait combines with others in a distinctive ways so that a culture complex is formed

Culture trait

A single attribute of a culture

Culture region

Consists of countless interrelated traits

Culture complex consists of

Values

Beliefs

Behaviors

Artifacts

Culture Complex

• A country may possess many cultural complexes

• Example: China

Modern city of Xi’an combines religions and beliefs such as Buddhism, Islam, and Confucianism in ways that makes it a separate culture complex

However, certain traits, such as Confucianism, are shared by other complexes around Xi’an

Cultural System

• An area with strong cultural ties that binds its people together forms a culture system

• A culture system is a group of interconnected culture complexes

Culture Regions

• Culture ties DIRECTLY to geography’s emphasis on space with the concept of culture region

What is a culture region?

It is an area marked by culture that distinguishes it from other regions

An example of culture traits and culture regions

Andes Mountains in South America

Culture Traits and Culture Regions

These traits help shape the culture region:

• Colorful clothing with the group’s skillful weave and design

• Building of roads and bridges across mountain ranges

• Construction of buildings without mortar

• Terracing of land for crop growth

Hearth

A point of origin

Cultural Health

• The areas where civilizations first began. They radiated the customs, innovations, and ideologies that transformed the world

• From their centers, cultural hearths grew until they came into contact with each other

• The ability to travel and come into contact with one another was limited by distance and level of technology

Early cultural hearths developed in:

1. Southwest Asia

2. North Africa

3. South Asia

4. East Asia

Earliest cultural hearths

The earliest cultural hearths were almost completely determined by their geographical locations. All were in river valleys where the soil was the most fertile and water most available for growing crops and transportation

Early Aegean Cultural Hearth

This cultural hearth differed from earlier hearths in that it centered on the Aegean Sea, not on a river valley. The sea is calm and the islands numerous, allowing for easy transportation so that Ancient Greeks could trade for goods that their natural environment did not provide

What is cultural diffusion

• The process whereby culture spreads from its hearth to other areas

• The long and complicated spread of culture often makes it difficult to trace the origin, spread, and timing of a particular trait

• Developments occasionally CAN be traced to a specific civilization. These developments are known as independent inventions

When does diffusion occur?

Diffusion occurs through the movement of:

• People

• Goods

• Ideas

Famous Geographers and Diffusion

Carl Sauer

• 1952

• Agricultural Origins and Dispersals

• Focused on process of diffusion

Torsten Hagerstrand

• Write about diffusion approximately the same time as Sauer

Types of Cultural Diffusion

Expansion diffusion

• Contagious

• Hierarchical

• Stimulus

Relocation diffusion

• Migrant

Expansion diffusion

Occurs when an innovation or idea develops in a source area and remains strong there while spreading outward

What are the types of expansion diffusion?

• Contagious diffusion

• Stimulus diffusion

• Relocation diffusion

• Hierarchical diffusion

Contagious diffusion

• Almost all individuals and areas adjacent to the source region are affected

• Direct contact between those in the source region and those in outlying areas is important

Examples of contagious diffusion

Contagious diseases like H1N1 virus, HIV/AIDS, Zika

Hierarchical diffusion

Ideas and artifacts spread first between larger places or prominent people and only later to smaller places or less prominent people

Examples of hierarchical diffusion

Sub-Saharan Africa

As Islam diffused to the regions, kings and nobility adopted the religion. Later, their subjects converted to Islam after giving up their native religions

Stimulus diffusion

• Stimulus diffusion occurs when a basic idea, but not the specific traits, spreads to another area or region

• It stimulates imitative behavior within a population

Examples of Stimulus diffusion

Mainland Asia to Japan

• As Buddhism diffused from the mainland to Japan, the Japanese imitated designs for Buddhist temples. However, interpretations of colors were from verbal or written descriptions and often differed from temples in China

Relocation diffusion

Individuals or populations migrating from the source areas physically carry the innovation or ideas to new areas

Examples of relocation diffusion

Christian Europeans carried their faith to the Americas, where they often actively sought to convert native

A form of relocation diffusion

A particular form of relocation diffusion is migration diffution

Migration diffusion

When the spread of cultural traits is slow enough that they weaken in the area of origin by the time they reach other areas

The Rate of Diffusion

• Diffusion can occur instantly

• However, the rate of diffusion is influenced by time-distance decay

• This means that the influence of the cultural traits weakens as time and distance increase