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Culture
The shared beliefs, values, practices, behaviors, and technologies of a society
Cultural Traits
Visible and invisible attributes that combine to make up a group’s culture
What are some examples of Cultural Traits
Artifacts, Sociofacts, Mentifacts
Artifacts
Visible, physical objects created by a culture
What are examples of Artifacts?
Houses, clothing, architecture, toys, tools, and furniture
Sociofacts
The ways in which a society BEHAVES and organizes institutions
What are examples of Sociofacts?
Family, school/education, government, religion, land use, and gender roles
Mentifacts
The ideas, beliefs, values, and knowledge of a culture (what they THINK)
What are examples of Mentifacts?
Religious beliefs, language, and food preferences or taboos
Local/Traditional Culture
Small, homogenous (similar) groups of people, often living in rural areas that are isolated and unlikely to change
Cultural Traits of Local/Traditional Culture
Architecture:
materials front the local physical environment
snow, mud, stone, bricks, wood, pelts, and grass
Land-Use:
Agricultural
Sense of Place
Sense of Place
Unique attributes of a specific location—- cultural influences and feelings evoked by people in a place (distinctiveness)
Global/Popular Culture
Large, heterogenous groups of people, often living in urban areas that are interconnected through globalization and the internet/social media (quick to change, time-space compression)
Cultural Traits of Global/Popular Culture
Architecture:
materials from factories and manufactured
glass, steel, drywall, cement
Land-Use:
urban and suburban
placelessness
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 Norms
Agreed upon cultural practices or standards that guide the behavior of a culture
Cultural Taboos
Behaviors heavily discouraged by a culture
Ethnocentrism
Judging other cultures in terms of one’s own standards and often includes the belief that one’s own culture/ethnic group is better than others
Cultural Relativism
An unbiased way of viewing another culture, the goal of this is to promote understanding of cultural practices that are not typically part of one’s own culture. Leads to the view that no one culture is superior to another culture when compared.
Cultural Landscape
A natural landscape that has been modified by humans, reflecting their cultural beliefs and values
What is Cultural Landscape composed of?
a combination of
agricultural and industrial practices
religious and linguistic characteristics
evidence of sequent occupancy
traditional and postmodern architecture
land-use patterns
Sequent Occupancy
The idea that societies or cultural groups leave their cultural imprints when they live in a place, each contributing to the overall cultural landscape over time. Most cultural landscapes are a mixture of historic and modern structures.
What is an example of Sequent Occupancy?
The Great Pyramids
What are some factors that make patterns in the Cultural Landscape?
Ethnicity, Gender, and Land-Use
Attitudes toward ethnicity and gender, include the following:
role of women
gendered spaces
ethnic neighborhoods
Ethnicity
A sense of belonging or identity within a group of people bound by common ancestry and culture. This is different from race which is based on physical characteristics.
Ethnic Neighborhoods/Enclaves
People of the same ethnicity that cluster together in a specific location, typically within a major city (ex: Chinatown)
Ethnic Patterns
There is oftentimes a predictable distribution of ethnicities that can be examined at multiple scales
What is the Ethnic Pattern in the U.S.?
Historically and contemporarily there are clusters of ethnic groups in specific regions
Southwest: Latin Americas and Native Americans
Southeast: African American
West: Asian Americans
Northeast: Irish/Italians
Midwest: Scandinavians/Northern Europeans
Appalachia: Scots/Irish
What is the role of women in traditional cultures?
Oftentimes the primary role of a woman is to have children, not be active in education or the workforce
Gendered Spaces
Places in the cultural landscape utilized to reinforce or accommodate gender roles for men and women
What are some examples of designated gendered spaces?
parking spaces of pregnant women
stores designated for women only
Why do geographers study land-use patterns?
To see the cultural values of the people living there by seeing and analyzing how the cultural landscape is used
Example of Land-Use: Terrace Farming
typically practiced in South, Southeast and East Asia, and Latin America
practice of cutting flat areas out of mountainous terrain to make it arable
rice farming is most commonly, although other crops can be grown this way too
Example of Land-Use: Indigenous Land-Use
U.S. Reservation System
Indian Removal Act of 1830: forcibly removed Indigenous peoples from land to make space and separation from American settlement (Trail of Tears)
U.S. government established reservations which were plots of land in which tribes were forced to relocate
Subsistence Whaling
Indigenous tribes in northern Alaska rely on the Bowhead Whale as both a food source and a cultural lifestyle
Traditional Architecture
Influenced by the environment and built with available local materials. Reflective of history, culture, and climate
What is an example of Traditional Architecture?
Stone and Clay houses in Nepal
Postmodern Architecture
Diverse designs, representative of popular culture, business and economic success
What is an example of Postmodern Architecture?
Skyscrapers
T or F: regional patterns of language, religion, and ethnicity contribute to a sense of place, enhance place making, and shape the global cultural landscape
True
Cultural Realm
Areas of the world that share cultural traits such as language families, religious traditions, food preferences, architecture, and/or a shared history. These cultural traits comprise a similar cultural landscape (although not the exact same) in each cultural realm.
What are some examples of Cultural Realm?
Both settlements could have been settled by Europeans, so they have the same base culture, but then grow separately to have different traits.
Centripetal Forces
Characteristics that unify a country and provide stability
What are contributing factors to Centripetal and Centrifugal Forces?
Language, ethnicity, and religion
What are examples of Centripetal Forces?
Common language (in France), ethnicity, religion (in Iran)
Centrifugal Forces
Characteristics that divide a country and create instability, conflict, and violence
What are examples of Centrifugal Forces?
Multiple competing ethnicities, languages (in Belgium), or religions (Northern Ireland)
Cultural Hearth
The geographic origin of a culture of cultural traits. Traits first diffuse from the cultural hearth.
What are examples of Cultural Hearths?
London, NYC, Paris, etc.
Diffusion
The movement or spread of cultural traits, knowledge, ideas that trend from the hearth
What are the types of Diffusion
Relocation and Expansion
Relocation Diffusion
The spread of cultural traits through migration of people (people take their cultural traits with them as they move)
What is an example of Relocation Diffusion?
The migration of Europeans to the Americas in the 13th and 14th centuries which resulted in the spread of Christianity and European languages such as Spanish and English
Expansion Diffusion
The spread of a cultural traits through the interaction between people (there are three subtypes of this diffusion)
What are the subtypes of Expansion Diffusion?
Contagious, Hierarchical, and Reverse Hierarchical
Contagious Diffusion
A cultural trait spreads rapidly, widely, and continuously from its hearth through close contact between people (time-space compression and globalization have accelerated this type of diffusion via the internet and smartphones)
What is an example of Contagious Diffusion?
Viral Videos
Hierarchical Diffusion
The spread of cultural traits from the most interconnected, powerful, wealthy people/organizations down to others
What are examples of Hierarchical Diffusion?
Cell phones were first only owned by wealthy elites in large cities, as time progressed they became mass-produced and spread to a wider market
popular culture trends, music, and fashion
Reverse Hierarchical Diffusion
The spread of cultural traits from the least interconnected, wealthy, or powerful people/organizations outwards
What are some examples of Reverse Hierarchical Diffusion?
Hip-hop music in the U.S. started in city centers with large amounts of poverty and discrimination against African Americans and then diffused to the broader public
Walmart was initially started in a small town in Arkansas and now has location internationally
Stimulus Diffusion
As cultural traits spread they are altered/modified due to a cultural barrier, taboo, or difference
What is an example of Stimulus Diffusion?
Followers of the Hindu religion are clustered in India and believe that cows are sacred and holy animals. It is a taboo to eat beef. As McDonald’s diffused to India, it was adapted to offer veggie burgers.
What are Historic Causes of Cultural Diffusion?
Imperialism, Trade
T or F: Colonialism causes Imperialism or Neocolonialism
False (imperialism causes the other two)
Imperialism
The dominance of one country over another country through diplomacy or force
Colonialism
When a powerful country established settlements in a less powerful country for economic and/or political gain
Neocolonialism
“new” colonialism—term to describe how in more modern times, imperialism can be pursued through the assertion of political, economic, and cultural influence rather than occupation
Trade
People interact in order to buy and sell goods—interaction results in the exchange of culture and ideas
What is an example of Trade?
The Silk Road was a network of trade routes that connected East Asia and Europe, and was central to the economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between these regions from the 2nd century BCE to the 18th century
T or F: as European powers took over colonies they imposed their language and religion on the indigenous people, which resulted in new forms of communication and cultural traits
True
Pidgin Language
An extremely simplified, limited non-native language used by two people who speak two different languages
What are examples of Pidgin Language?
Papua New Guinea: a mixture of English and Papuan languages. Result of British colonization of the territory.
Choppy language, but makes complete sentences.
Creole Language
A pidgin language that develops into a new combined language with native speakers. Frequently developed through settings of colonization or slavery
What are examples of Creole Language?
Cajun/Louisianian: spoken in Louisiana, traits of English and French
Haitian: spoken in Haiti,traits of Indigenous West African and French
Lingua Franca
A common language used by speakers of two different languages for communication. Usually for business, trade, commerce, or in popular culture
What are examples of Lingua Franca?
Globally: English
Regionally:
Mandarin in China
Swahili in Africa
Arabic in Southwest Asia
Russian in Eastern Europe and Russia
Dialects
Variations in accent, grammar, usage, and spelling and develop out of geographic distance or isolation
What is the difference between Dialects and Accents?
Dialects = different words
Accents = different pronunciation
What is an example of Accents in the U.S.?
You all, y’all, you guys, youse guys, you’uns
T or F: English only has one dialect
False (it has multiple dialects because of the large number of English-speaking countries)
Official Language
Used by the government of a country for laws, reports, signs, public objects, money, and stamps
Can having an official language be a Centripetal Force?
Yes and No, it can also be a Centrifugal Force
Friction of Distance
As a cultural trait diffuses, the people who adopt it might alter it—think of the game telephone. Things change over distance and time.
T or F: due to distance decay and friction of distance closer groups of people were more different than groups that were further from each other
False (they were more alike)
Globalization
The trend toward increased cultural and economic connectedness between people, businesses, and organizations throughout the world without regard to borders or barriers
What are some examples of how popular culture diffuses?
Internet and Technology
Social Media and Relationships
Media (TV/Movies/Radio)
Politics
The Economy
Urbanization
Time-Space Compression/Convergence
The shrinking of the world due to improvements in communication and transportation technologies (facilitates cultural convergence and the widespread diffusion of popular culture)
Cultural Convergence
The process of two or more cultures coming into contact with each other and adopting each other’s traits to become more alike
What are some examples of Cultural Convergence?
World Sports
K-Pop
McDonald’s
Language
The results of time-space convergence and the widespread diffusion of popular culture are:
loss of Indigenous languages and traditional cultures
of about 5,000-6,000 languages being spoken today, only half will exist in 100 years
What causes the extinction of languages and cultures?
Genocide
Pressure of Globalization and Cultural Convergence
Language Family
Largest group of related languages that are connected through a common ancient ancestry and traced back to a common hearth
What are some examples of Language Families?
Indo-European is the largest group with about 3.2 billion speakers distributed across the world
Sino-Tibetan is the second largest with 1.4 billion speakers mostly concentrated in East and Southeast Asia
Language Branch
Collection of languages that share a common origin from thousands of years ago. They were separated from other languages in their family and are now distinctive although related.
What are some examples of Language Branches?
Romance: includes languages like Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Italian
Germanic: includes languages such as German, English, and Dutch
Language Group
Collection of languages that share a more recent past with similar vocabularies and some overlap
What are some examples of Language Group’s
Similarities between Portuguese, Italian, and Spanish
West Germanic languages such as Dutch and Afrikaans will have more similarities than with their North Germanic ancestors and vice verse
Isogloss
A geographic boundary within which a particular linguistic feature occurs. Lines that divide dialects.
Kurgan Warrior Theory
Indo-European language first diffused from a hearth located in modern Russia/Ukraine around 1,000 BCE. The Kurgans, who were nomadic warriors conquered their way through Europe and South Asia and spread the language
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