AP Human Geography Unit 3 - Concepts of Culture

Culture

The beliefs, values, practices, behaviors, and technologies shared by a society and is passed down from generation to generation

Cultural Trait

A shared object or cultural practice

Artifacts

A visible object of technology that a culture creates

Sociofacts

A structure or organization of a culture that influences social behavior

Mentifacts

A central element of a culture that reflects its shared ideas, values, knowledge, and beliefs

Cultural Change

When groups from one culture move to a new place that is home to a different culture

Popular Culture

The widespread behaviors, beliefs, and practices of ordinary people in society at a given point in time

Traditional Culture

The long-established behaviors, beliefs, and practices passed down from generation to generation

Cultural Norms

A shared standard or pattern that guides the behavior of a group of people

Ethnocentrism

The tendency of ethnic groups to evaluate other groups according to preconceived ideas originating from their own culture

Cultural Relativism

The evaluation of a culture by its own standards

Cultural Landscape

A natural landscape that has been modified by humans, reflecting their cultural beliefs and values (Physical features, land use patterns, architecture, religion)

Identity

The ways in which humans make sense of themselves and how they wish to be viewed by others

Ethnicity

the state of belonging to a group of people who share common cultural characteristics.

Ethnic Neighborhoods

A cultural landscape within a community of people outside of their area of origin

Traditional Architecture

an established building style of different cultures, religions, and places

Postmodern Architecture

a building style that emerged as a reaction to "modern" designs, and values diversity in design

Religion

A system of spiritual beliefs that helps form cultural perceptions, attitudes, beliefs, and values

Pilgrimage

A journey to a holy place for spiritual reasons

Language

A distinct system of communication that is the carrier of human thoughts and cultural identities

Toponym

A place name that help define what is unique about a place

Gendered Space

A space designed and deliberately incorporated into the landscape to accommodate gender roles

Gender Identity

A persons innermost concept of self as male, female, a blend of both, or neither

Safe Spaces

A space of acceptance for people who are sometimes marginalized by society

Gentrification

The renovation and improvements standard to middle-class preferences

Third Place

A public space that is separate from home (first place) or work (second place)

Sense of Place

The subjective feelings and memories people associate with a geographic location

Placemaking

A community-driven process in which people collaborate to create a place where they can live, work, play, and learn

Sequent Occupance

Successive societies leave behind their cultural imprint which shapes the cultural landscape

Dialect

A regional variety of a language distinguished by vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation.

Adherent

A person who is loyal to a belief, religion, or organization

Denomination

The name for a special class of persons, such as a religious group

Sect

A relatively small group that has separated from an established denomination

Relocation Diffusion

The spread of an idea, cultural practice or innovation as a result of the physical movement of people (migration!)

Hearth

A place from which an idea, innovation, or cultural practice originates

Expansion Diffusion

When an idea, cultural practice or innovation starts at a hearth and spreads outward (no migration!)

Contagious Diffusion

The process by which an idea or cultural trait spreads rapidly among people of all social classes and levels of power

Hierachical Diffusion

The spread of an idea or trait from a person or place of power or authority to other people or places

Stimulus Diffusion

The process by which a cultural trait or idea spreads to another culture or region but is modified to adapt to the new culture

Colonialism

When a powerful country establishes settlements in a less powerful country for economic or political gain

Imperialism

When a country passes policies to extend its influence over other countries through diplomacy or force

Lingua Franca

A language that is adopted as a common language between speakers whose native languages are different.

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A language used to facilitate international or regional trade and communication

Creolization

The blending of two or more languages that may not include the features of either original language

Trading

Interaction between people from different places leading to an exchange of ideas, values, technologies, and practices.

What does Migration have to do with culture?

It Helps shape the patterns and practices of culture through the spread of ideas and cultural traits between countries and regions.

Note: People in different places may speak different dialects, (accent) pronunciation, and speed of the same language.

Remember this!

Globalization

The process by which people across the world have become increasingly connected through travel, trade, and technology

Urbanization

The flow of people from rural to urban areas means that more and more of us are living in large, diverse settlements where the mix of people brings many cultural ideas and practices together.

Cultural Convergence

The process by which cultures become more similar through interaction

Note: The farther away a group is from another, the less likely the two groups are to interact.

As a result, cultures in close proximity are more alike than those that were far apart.

Cultural Divergence

The process by which cultures become less similar due to conflicting beliefs or other barriers

Acculturation

Where people within one culture adopt some of the traits of another while still retaining their own distinct culture.

Example: Wearing the popular fashion trends of their adopted country but still retaining their own culture by wearing a traditional hijab.

Assimilation

A category of Acculturation in which the interaction of two cultures results in one culture adopting almost all of the customs, traditions, language, and other cultural traits of the other

Syncretism

Process of innovation combining different cultural features into something new

Muliculturalism

A situation in which different cultures live together without assimilating. Often occurs in large cities one example being the United States

Collectivist Cultures

Where people are expected to conform to collective responsibility within the family and to be obedient to and respectful of elder family members

Cultural Appropriation

The act of adopting elements of another culture: often gets attention at Halloween, as people's choice of costumes may reinforce racial, ethnic, or cultural stereotypes.

Note: Language can identify and differentiate a culture, unifying the people who speak a common tongue and separating them from those who speak other languages.

For example, the hundreds of millions of people in the world who speak Arabic share a common bond, whether they come from Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, the United States, or New Zealand.

Language Family

The largest grouping of related languages and includes those languages that share a common ancestral language from a particular hearth or origin from BEFORE recorded history - VERY OLD

Isolated Language

A language that has no known historic or linguistic relationship with any other known language.

*Isolates may occur because related languages have gone extinct*

Language Branch

A collection of languages within a family share a common origin and were separated from other branches in the same family thousands of years ago - Not as old as a language family

Language Group

Languages within a language branch that share a common ancestor in the relatively recent past and have vocabularies with a high degree of similarites

What is the order for categorization of languages?

Family, Branch, Group, Language, and Dialect

What is the most widely distributed language family? what regions of the world is it found?

Indo-European, found in parts of North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Russia, and Australia

Indo-European language family includes which language branches?

Spanish, English, Hindi, Portuguese, Arabic, Russian, French, German

What is the major language family of China? What language is predominantly spoken there?

Sino-Tibetan, Chinese/Maderin

What is the major language family of North Africa?

Afro-Asiatic which includes Arabic

What is the Kurgan Hearth Theory?

The Kurgan hearth theory asserts that the Kurgans, a nomadic-warrior people, migrated from an area around the present-day border between Kazakhstan and Russia into Europe, Siberia, Iran, and South Asia.

What is the Anatolian Hearth Theory/Sedentary Farmer Theory,?

The Anatolian hearth theory argues for an earlier diffusion and claims the first speakers of Proto-Indo-European were farmers who moved into Europe and South Asia in conjunction with agricultural practices

What languages was English derived from?

Celtic, Germanic languages, French, Latin, and borrowings from other languages

Where did English originate from?

On the island of Great Britain in the northwest corner of Europe

How many people speak English?

About 400 million native speakers and more than 1 billion second-language speakers

Note: English is one of the most spoken languages in the world and has become the dominant language of politics, business, finance, and technology in much of the world.

What types of diffusion does the English language exemplify?

Relocation diffusion and Hierarchical expansion diffusion.

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Leaders from various kingdoms and regions established English as the language of their expanding domains.

Language Divergance

A language breaks into two or more dialects or distinct languages due to lack of interaction after migration/separation

Language Convergence

Two or more languages become similar or blend due to consistent interaction

Pidgin Languages

1. A lingua franca that has no native speakers
2. Forms quickly for basic communication (due to colonization)
3. Compromise between 2 or more languages

Creole Languages

1. Usually starts as a pidgin language
2. Start teaching the language to offspring

What are the Romance languages?

French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Romanian

Christianity is the dominant religion in what countries?

Europe, the Americas, central and southern Africa, as well as in Australia and New Zealand. With origins in Southwest Asia

How did Christianity spread?

Through relocation and expansion diffusion as a small group of followers called disciples carried the Christian message throughout the Roman Empire and Mediterranean region.

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In the 300s, the emperor Theodosius declared Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, an example of hierarchical diffusion.

Where did the religion Islam originate?

It Southwest Asia, and is the main religion in Central Asia, Indonesia, Southwest Asia, and North Africa, as well as portions of southeastern Europe and India.

How did Islam spread?

Muslims spread the religion through trade, conquest, missionaries, and leaders adopting the religion of their people

Who is the historical founder of Hinduism?

Unknown

Who is the historical founder of Buddhism?

Siddhartha Gautama

Who is the historical founder for Judaism?

Unknown

Who is the historical founder of Christianity?

Jesus

Who is the historical founder of Islam?

Muhammad

What are the major of branches of Hinduism?

Vaishnavism and Shaivism

What are the major branches of Buddhism?

Theravada and Mahayana

What are the major branches of Judaism?

Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform

What are the branches of Christianity?

Catholicism, Protestantism, and Eastern Orthodox

What are the major branches of Islam?

Sunni and Shia

What are the sacred texts of Hinduism?

Vedas, Upanishads, Ramayana, Mahabharata

What are the sacred texts of Buddhism?

No single sacred text - vary widely by branch

What is the sacred text of Judaism?

Torah

What is the sacred text of Christianity?

Bible

What is the sacred text of Islam?

Quran

What is the place of worship for Hinduism?

Mandira

What is the place of worship for Buddhism?

Temple or Monastery?

What is the place of worship for Judaism?

Synagogue