Culture

Cultural Geography – Looking at the distribution of cultural traits.

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Culture

• What is culture?– A people’s way of life– A people’s behavior– A people’s shared understanding about self and

the world– Makes actions of individuals understandable

Culture

• Think: a group of people stranded on an island

Culture traits• LANGUAGE• Art

– Music– Dance– Architecture– Painting– Sculpture– Literature

• Religion• Ethnicity

• Food• Clothing• Traditions/customs• Holidays• Education• Government• Economics/trade• Transportation• Communication• Agriculture

Culture RegionArea where shared distinctive cultural traits existInhabitants aware culture is different from othersBorders

Remember perceptual regions of emotions and feelings

Historically Integration of environment, spirituality, and local economies Post-industrial world - Still regions but less influence from physical environment. More reaction to consumer oriented “placeless” global economy

Regional Identity• Express cultural beliefs through symbols

– Monuments, flags, slogans, religious icons, house types– Promote ideas about values and identity

• Usually symbols of the majority, not minority• Consider a decreasing influence from culture

region center:– Core:

• Centralized zone of concentration, possess all culture traits to define region

– Domain:• Particular culture is dominant but less

intense– Sphere:

• Zone of outer influence where people can be a minority in other culture region

Core, Domain, Sphere

One culture’s core can lie within another culture’s sphere

ex. Tibet

Cultural Regional Identity

• Transitions can be gradual or abrupt– Abrupt

• Chinese Wall and Himalaya Mtns.

– Gradual• Curry, soy, language, religion

– Or syncretism – a blend of different beliefs or practices

Folk and Popular Culture

Amish Horse & Buggy, Ohio

Rad Scot with Kilt Seeking Killer Waves

The Forbidden CityBeijing, China

Beijing, China

Material vs. Nonmaterial

• Material culture: what a group of people make

• Nonmaterial culture: beliefs, practices, aesthetics and values of a group of people

Folk Culture

• Small• Incorporates homogeneous population• Typically rural• Cohesive in cultural traits• Preserve traits to be unique

Popular Culture• Large• Typically urban• Changes very quickly• Practiced by diverse people across the world• It is material and nonmaterial culture

New Zealand

Bhutan

Toledo, Spain

French Polynesia

Chincheros Natives, Peru

Frafra People, Ghana

Vietnam

Turkish Camel Market

Portuguese Fishing Boat Guatemalan Market

Folk food cultureEffects on Landscape: usually limited - does have some impact

Agricultural:

• smaller fields, terraces, grain storage

• Labor intensive

Thailand

Folk Agriculture

Peru

FOLK FOOD

How did such differences develop?

Food attractions and Taboo

• “staple” foods identified with regions• Spices reflect climate geography• Taboos – foods that embody negativity• Taboos to protect the environment• Taboos – Religious and social values

Hog Production and Food Cultures

Fig. 4-6: Annual hog production is influenced by religious taboos against pork consumption in Islam and other religions. The highest production is in China, which is largely Buddhist.

Popular food cultureEffects on Landscape: usually very visible – great impact

Agricultural:

• massive fields, ranches, farms, food storage

• capital intensive

Food attractions and Taboo

• Genetically modified foods (GMOs)• Uniform ingredients• Industry created• Uniform presentation

FOLK ARCHITECTUREEffects on Landscape: usually of limited scale and scope. Does have some impact

Dwellings:

• historically created from local materials:

• wood, brick, stone, skins

• Often traditionally arranged

• tied to physical environment.

FOLK ARCHITECTURE

Hearths & Diffusion of Popular Culture

• How do things become a part of popular culture?– Often begins with

contagious diffusion– Ex. Dave Matthews

Band– Also hierarchical -

importance places or influences

– Ex. Important cities, television, movies

A Mental Map of Hip Hop

Fig. 4-3: This mental map places major hip hop performers near other similar performers and in the portion of the country where they performed.

Popular CultureEffects on Landscape: creates

homogenous, “placeless” (Relph, 1976), landscape

Complex network of roads and highways Commercial Structures tend towards ‘boxes’ Dwellings may be suggestive of older folk traditions

• Planned and Gated Communities more and more common

Disconnect with landscape: indoor swimming pools, desert surfing.

Wave pool in Tokyo, Japan

Are places still tied to local landscapes?

Swimming Pool

West Edmonton Mall, Canada

Problems with the Globalization of Culture

Impacts or destroys Folk Culture – or preserves traditions as museum pieces or tourism gimmicks.

Mexican Mariachis Polynesian Navigators Act out cultural

assumptions

Satellite Television, Baja California

Marboloro Man in Egypt

Fiji

“Progress?”

“They’re growing houses in the fields between the towns.”- John Gorka, Folk Singer