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Culture
Cultural Geography – Looking at the distribution of cultural traits.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeEdoIwwTlw&feature=related&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-33JF2kc7BQ&feature=related&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1
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
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