Flashcards for the students who literally can stand making physical ones
Artifacts
The material manifestation of culture, including tools, housing, systems of land use, clothing, etc. "What a culture uses"
Assimilation
the process of a person or group losing the cultural traits that made them distinct from the people around them
Built Environment
modifications made to the physical environment that represent material culture
Placelessness
loss of uniqueness of place in the cultural landscape so that one place looks like the next or does not inspire any strong emotional or cultural ties. (Uniform landscape)
Cultural Landscape
A natural landscape that has been modified by humans, reflecting their cultural beliefs and values
Cultural Relativism
the idea that a person's beliefs, values, and practices should be understood based on that person's own culture, rather than be judged through the eyes of another culture
Culture
The shared beliefs, values, practicesm behaviors, and technologies of a society
Custom
something that a group of people does repeatedly that becomes part of their culture (for example, bowing instead of shaking hands in Japan)
Ethnic (folk) culture
the cultural traditions that are generally held by a specific ethnic group, often localized in a specific area
Ethnocentrism
judging people or traditions based on your own cultural standards
Mentifacts
The central, enduring elements of a culture expressing its values and beliefs, including language, religion, folklore, and etc. "What a culture believes"
Ethnic Neighborhoods/Enclaves
people of the same ethnicity that cluster together in a specific location, typically within a major city.
Gendered Spaces
Places in the cultural landscape utilized to reinforce or accommodate gender roles for men and women.
Centripetal Forces
characteristics that unify a country and provide stability
Centrifugal Forces
characteristics that divide a country and result in instability
Contagious Diffusion
when a cultural trait spreads continuously outward from its hearth through contact among people
Democratization
the spread of representative government to more countries and the process of making more governments representative.
Expansion Diffusion
the spread of an idea/cultural trait through a population in a way that the number influenced becomes continuously larger. (Three types - contagious, hierarchical, stimulus diffusion)
Globalization
the trend towards increased cultural and economic connectedness between people, business, and organizations throughout the world without regard to borders or barriers.
Hierarchical Diffusion
spread of culture outward from the most interconnected places or from centers of wealth and power
Relocation Diffusion
spread of a cultural trait by people who migrate and carry their cultural trait with them
Reverse Hierarchical Diffusion
a trait that diffuses from a lower class to a higher class OR small rural communities to large urban centers.
Branch
a major division within a religion
Creole or Creolized Language
a language that began as a combination of two other languages and is spoken as the primary language of a group of people
Cultural Divergence
when a culture splits into different cultures because of lack of interaction
Cultural Ecology
the study of human adaptations to social and physical environment
Dialect
different forms of the same language used by groups that have some different vocabulary and pronunciations
Ethnic Religions
a religion that is focused on a single ethnic group (often in a centralized area) that doesn't attempt to appeal to all people. Referenced as Folk Culture sometimes.
Indigenous Language
a language that is native to a region and spoken by indigenous people
Indigenous People
the original settlers of a given region, in contrast to groups that have settled the area more recently
Pidgin
an extremely simplified language used by two people that speak two different languages. No native speakers
Bilingual
speaking two languages
Multilingual
speaking multiple languages
Orthography
the spelling system of a language
Denomination
a division of a branch that unites a number of local congregations into a single legal and administrative body
Sect
a relatively small group that has broken away from a denomination
Language Branch
collection of languages that share a common origin from thousands of years ago. They separated from other languages in their family and are distinct although related.
Language Extinction
a language that is no longer spoken by anyone as their native language
Language Family
a collection of languages that are all descended from an original, proto-language
Language Group
collection of languages that share a recent past with similar vocabularies
Lingua Franca
a language that groups of people who don't speak the same language use to communicate often for trade or business (EX: Swahili)
Monotheism
belief in one god
Official Language
used by the government of a country for laws, reports, public objects, money, stamps, etc...
Cultural convergence
when two cultures become more similar because of frequent interactions
Acculturation
adoption of cultural traits, such as language, by one group under the influence of another
Multiculturalism
when various ethnic groups coexist with one another without having to sacrifice their particular identities
Sense of Place
a strong feeling of identity that is deeply felt by inhabitants and visitors of a location
Sequent Occupance
the idea that the current cultural landscape is a combination of all the societies who lived there previously and the changes each group made
Sociofacts
The institutions and links between individuals and groups that unite a culture, including family structure and political, educational and religious institutions. "What a culture does"
Environmental Determinism
the belief that a physical environment is THE reason societies are shaped the way they are
Hearth
origin, starting point
Stimulus Diffusion
when people in a culture adopt an underlying idea or process from another culture, but modify it because they reject one trait of it.
Syncretism
the blending traits from two different cultures to form a new trait
Taboo
something that is forbidden by a culture or a religion, sometimes so forbidden that it is often not even discussed
Possibilism
the belief that a physical environment plays a role in the development of a society, but is NOT the ONLY factor at work
Universalizing Religion
a religion that attempts to appeal to all people and has a worldwide focus as opposed to a regional focus. (EX: Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Sikhism)