Unit 3.1–3
🔹 3.1 Culture (TERMS + MEANING + WHY THEY MATTER)
Culture
Shared beliefs, values, behaviors, and material objects that are learned and passed down.
Why it matters: Culture explains spatial patterns, identity, and how people interact with places.
Cultural Trait
A single cultural practice or belief.
Analysis: Traits are the basic units of culture and are what diffuse over space.
Cultural Complex
A collection of interrelated cultural traits.
Analysis: Complexes explain why changing one trait can affect many others (ex: changing food systems affects land use, labor, and customs).
Material Culture
Physical objects created by a culture.
Landscape connection: Material culture is what we see in cultural landscapes.
Nonmaterial Culture
Beliefs, values, language, and norms.
Analysis: Nonmaterial culture shapes material culture (beliefs influence buildings and land use).
Customs & Values
Customs: habitual practices
Values: deeply held beliefs
Why tested: Values explain why cultures behave differently in similar environments.
Cultural Change
Culture evolves due to diffusion, globalization, innovation, and interaction.
AP angle: Culture is dynamic, not fixed.
🔹 3.2 Cultural Landscapes (MOST IMPORTANT SECTION)
Cultural Landscape
The visible imprint of human culture on the Earth’s surface.
Core idea: Landscapes reflect what a culture values and how it organizes space.
Natural Landscape
The environment before major human modification.
Analysis: Cultural landscapes are created when cultures alter natural landscapes.
Sequent Occupance
The idea that different cultural groups modify the same landscape over time, leaving layers of cultural features.
Why AP loves it: Explains why landscapes contain mixed architectural or cultural elements.
Built Environment
Human-made structures and infrastructure that shape daily life.
Analysis: The built environment reflects cultural priorities (transportation, housing, public space).
Toponym
A place name that reflects cultural values, history, or power.
Analysis: Renaming places can indicate cultural dominance or political control.
Symbolic Landscape
Physical features that represent cultural identity or power.
Examples (light): Monuments, religious buildings, memorials.
AP move: Ask what message the landscape is communicating.
Sacred Space
Areas designated as holy or spiritually meaningful.
Why important: Sacred spaces influence land use, access, and conflict.
Ethnic Enclave
A culturally distinct area inhabited by a specific ethnic group.
Analysis: Enclaves preserve culture but also shape urban landscapes.
Sense of Place
The emotional meaning people attach to a location.
Analysis: Strong sense of place often leads to resistance against landscape change.
Land Use
How humans utilize land for cultural, economic, or social purposes.
AP connection: Different cultures use land differently even in similar environments.
Cultural Dominance
When one culture controls public space and visible landscapes.
Analysis: Dominant cultures often shape laws, signage, architecture, and place names.
Cultural Erasure
The removal or suppression of cultural features from a landscape.
Examples (brief): Demolition, renaming, banning symbols.
AP angle: Often tied to colonialism or political power.
Placelessness
The loss of uniqueness when landscapes become standardized.
Analysis: Caused by globalization and mass-produced cultural features.
Cultural Syncretism
The blending of multiple cultural influences into new forms.
Landscape impact: Hybrid architecture, food, or religious spaces.
🔹 3.3 Cultural Patterns & Diffusion (TERMS IN ACTION)
Cultural Region
An area with shared cultural characteristics.
Purpose: Helps geographers organize and analyze culture spatially.
Formal Region
Uniform culture with clear boundaries.
Analysis: Often defined by language or religion.
Functional Region
Connected by movement or communication.
Analysis: Cultural traits spread efficiently through these regions.
Perceptual (Vernacular) Region
Defined by shared perceptions and identity.
Why tricky: Boundaries are subjective.
Cultural Diffusion
The spread of cultural traits across space and time.
Big picture: Explains how cultures grow, change, and interact.
Relocation Diffusion
Occurs when people migrate and carry culture with them.
Landscape effect: New cultural features appear in new locations.
Expansion Diffusion
Culture spreads outward while remaining strong at the origin.
Types:
Contagious: spreads rapidly through contact
Hierarchical: spreads through centers of power
Stimulus: idea adapts to local culture
Analysis: Stimulus diffusion often creates hybrid landscapes.
Acculturation
Adopting some traits of a dominant culture.
Landscape result: Mixed cultural features.
Assimilation
Full absorption into a dominant culture.
Landscape result: Original cultural traits become less visible.
Cultural Convergence & Divergence
Convergence: cultures become more similar
Divergence: cultures become more distinct
AP link: Globalization vs cultural preservation.