CHAPTER 2 MANY WORLDS: GEOGRAPHIES OF CULTURAL DIFFERENCE

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CHAPTER 2MANY WORLDSGEOGRAPHIES OF CULTURAL
DIFFERENCE
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Introduction

• How geographic differences are influenced by
  culture
• World view affects perceptions and perceptions
  affect behavior
• Foundational assumptions, attitudes, religion
  cosmology
• Segregation in the United States
• Pejorative and racist place-names

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Introduction

• How geographic differences develop
• Cultural differences over short
  distancesexample of south Florida
• Effects of globalization

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Introduction

• Cultural Geographies
• No single way of seeing land and landscape
• Places experienced differently between men and
  women
• Relation to self and belonging

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Many cultures

• Increasing influence of globalization
• First use of word culture in the fifteenth
  century
• Term folk culture is invented relic
• Examples
• Subcultures age, economic, regional
• Examples

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Maintaining folk culture by immigrants in a new
land.
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Ethnic minority drummers in China
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Amish in Pennsylvania
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 Many cultures

• Classifying culture traits
• Material culture
• Examples
• Nonmaterial culture (conscious subconscious)
• Examples

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Material Culture traits (objects) Sicilian
Wedding Cart
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Many cultures

• Classifying cultures
• Folk culture (common characteristics)
• Maintaining a way of life the way it was in the
  past
• Rural people
• Cohesive
• Order maintained through religion or family
• Folk geography
• Examples

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Many cultures

• Classifying cultures
• Popular culture
• Mainly in urban areas
• Access to media particularly the Internet
• Cash economy
• Tends to change respond to fads

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Hip-Hop culture distinctive dress w/bling
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Globalization of Hip-Hop Tokyo Urban Hip-Hop
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Hip-Hop art mural on exhibition
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Many cultures

• Classifying cultures
• Popular culture
• Family structure weak
• Examples of outside influences
• Secular institutions of authority

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Many cultures

• Classifying cultures
• Indigenous culture
• Native
• Convention of indigenous and tribal peoples
• Live in colonized homelands
• Examples in USA?

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Regions of difference

• A. Material folk culture regions
• Vestiges of folk culture remain in the United
  States
• House types
• Example of African-American culture
• Mormon

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Florissant, MO French house type
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Regions of difference

• Material folk culture regions
• Example Québec French folk region
• Can be a force for dissolution or devolution in
  multi-national states such as Canada

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Britain has granted Scotland its own parliament
and Wales may follow. Sometimes granting greater
autonomy can stave off a full scale revolt and
independence.
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Regions of difference

• Is popular culture placeless?
• Greater mobility
• Less attachment to place
• Geographer Weissidentified 40 lifestyle
  clusters in the United States
• Used zip codes
• Subcultures

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Regions of difference

• Indigenous culture regions
• Generally located in more remote areas
• Example of Hill Tribes of South Asia
• Persist in Central Americaexample Mayan
  culture region
• Andean region of South America

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Pamfillo, 18-yr-old Mayan young man in Belize
with Jesuit priest Fr. Rich Buhler
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Regions of difference

• Food and drink
• Vary from place to place in the United States
  preferred types names of common types
• The South
• The North
• Fast-food consumption spatial variations

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Regions of difference

• Popular music
• Different styles of music reveal geographical
  patterns
• Cajun Doug Kershaw http//www.dailymotion.com/vid
  eo/x2h2s5_doug-kershaw-mensonge-de-la-fouille_extr
  eme
• Example of Elvis Presley

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Regions of difference

• Vernacular culture regions
• Spatial perception of population
• Wilbur Zelinsky's vernacular regions
• Joseph Brownell sought to delimit Midwest
• Often perpetuated by mass media

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Wilbur Zelinsky's vernacular regions
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Vernacular Architecture

• It is a type of architecture which takes shape
  during time and is based on the culture, climate,
  and materials of it's region as well as on the
  needs of its inhabitants. It becomes a pattern
  (model) and is a specification (defining trait)
  of the region.

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Diffusion and cultural difference

• Agricultural fairs
• Spread in a folk setting
• Example of spread from Yankee folk region
• Promoted by agricultural societies
• Entertainment was addedracetrack and midway
• Best prize in agricultural products was added

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Diffusion and cultural difference

• Blowguns diffusion or independent invention?
• Found in both hemispheres
• Probably first used on the island of Borneo
• No written record of their beginning or use
• Factors that can resolve the issue

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Amazon Blowgun
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Blowguns from Borneo
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Diffusion and cultural difference

• Diffusion in popular culture
• Hierarchical diffusion and McDonald's
  restaurants
• Reverse hierarchical diffusion and Wal-Mart
• Role of modern transportation and
  communications networks

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Diffusion and cultural difference

• Advertising
• Most effective in popular culture
• Can determine success or failure of a product
• Minimized importance of time-distance decay
• Image of place

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Diffusion and cultural difference

• Communications barriers
• Example of radio stations refusing to play punk
  rock
• Other forms of music encountered similar problems
• Live concerts helped spread the music
• 1950s TV wouldnt show Elvis below the waist

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Diffusion and cultural difference

• Communications barriers
• Government censorship
• Example of Iran
• Example of Taliban in Afghanistan
• Not sustainable because of modern communications
• 1989 Tiananmen Square
• Newspapers can act as selective barriers

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Tiananmen Square Demonstrations 1989
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IV. Diffusion and cultural difference

• Diffusion of the rodeo
• Rooted in the ranching cultureneighborhood
  effect
• Started in folk culture
• Cowboys held contests at roundup time
• Became formalized with prizes

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Diffusion and cultural difference

• Diffusion of the rodeo
• Commercial rodeo
• Example of Wild West show at Omaha
• Commercial rodeos spread throughout the West and
  parts of Canada
• Greatest acceptance in popular culture west of
  Mississippi and Missouri River

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Ecologies of difference

• Indigenous ecology
• Most see indigenous cultures as knowledgeable
  about their environment
• During European colonialization, indigenous
  peoples seen as destroyers of the land

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Ecologies of difference

• Indigenous ecology
• Indigenous cultures often occupy territory
  viewed as critical to global diversity
• Best known example?
• Example of national parks and other protected
  areas

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Ecologies of difference

• Indigenous ecology
• Indigenous cultures often occupy territory
  viewed as critical to global diversity
• Tropical rainforests around the world
• Importance of knowledge for management and land
  use practices

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Ecologies of difference

• Local knowledge
• Indigenous technical knowledge (ITK)
• May be superior to Western scientific knowledge
• Allowed experimentation with new crops and
  agricultural techniques
• Global economy applies heavy pressure to
  subsistence economies

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Ecologies of difference

• Global economy
• Example of the Miskito Indians in Nicaragua
• Subsistence economy
• Outside demand for green turtles decimated
  population
• Subsistence production in other areas suffered

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Ecologies of difference

• Global economy
• Indigenous cultures sometimes must seek support
  from government agencies
• Example of the Quichua populations in the
  Ecuadorian Andes
• Must use outside ideas and technologies to
  promote their own culture

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Ecologies of difference

• Folk ecology
• Have close ties to the land
• When migrating seek lands similar to ones left
  behind
• Example of Appalachian hill people

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Ecologies of difference

• Gendered ecology
• Gender is an important variable in cultural
  ecology
• Distinct roles in agroforestry
• Example Diane Rocheleaus gender study
• Environmental planning should address gendered
  differences

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Ecologies of difference

• Ecology of popular culture
• People less tied to environment
• People have enormous potential for producing
  ecological disasters

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Ecologies of difference

• Ecology of popular culture
• Recreation
• Increased in affluent regions
• Recreational machines create air pollution
• Soil erosion
• Overtaxing of environments in national parks

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Interaction and difference

• Introduction
• Core beliefs in folk culture limit degree of
  environmental disturbance
• Popular culture has potential, through
  interaction, to cause massive restructuring

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Interaction and difference

• Introduction
• Cultures are converging
• Wilbur Zelinsky's given-name study

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Interaction and difference

• Mapping personal preference
• Media often produces place images
• Color our perception
• May be inaccurate
• Example of Hawaii
• People have always formed images of faraway
  places

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Landscapes of difference

• Folk architecture
• Very distinctive
• Little change over time
• Traditional, conservative, and functional
  structures

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Landscapes of difference

• Folk architecture
• Harmony with the environment
• Numerous characteristics help classify
  farmsteads and dwellings
• Helps to establish cultural influences in a region

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Landscapes of difference

• Folk housing in Sub-Saharan Africa
• Compound of buildingskraal
• Use of local materials
• Shapes differ

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Landscapes of difference

• Folk housing in Sub-Saharan Africa
• Different cultures identified by change in house
  types
• Example Ndebele culture region

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Landscapes of difference

• Folk housing in North America
• Few are built today
• Yankee folk houses
• New England large house
• Changed as Yankee folk migrated westward

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Landscapes of difference

• Folk housing in North America
• Upland southern folk houses
• Smallerbuilt of notched logs
• Dogtrot house
• French-derived Creole cottage

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Dogtrot house
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French Creole Cottage
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Landscapes of difference

• Folk housing in North America
• Canada
• Common types with main story atop cellar
• Often built of stone
• Description of the Ontario farmhouse

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Landscapes of difference

• Folk housing in North America
• Interpretation of folk architecture is difficult
• Independent invention versus diffusion
• May be all that is left of the culture
• Florissant
• Houses
• Street names
• Town name
• Park name

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Landscapes of difference

• Landscapes of popular culture
• Continually changing
• Example studies of commercial malls and strips
• Five-stage model of strip evolution
• From houses to commercial landscapes

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Landscapes of difference

• Landscapes of popular culture
• Example West Edmonton Mall in province of
  Alberta, Canada
• Largest indoor mall
• Includes recreational areas
• Described as a landscape of myth and
  elsewhereness

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Landscapes of difference

• Leisure landscapes
• Designed for weekends and vacations
• Amenity landscapesregions with attractive
  natural features
• Example of Minnesota North Woods lake country
• Relict buildings collected to form
  historylands

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Landscapes of difference

• Elitist landscapes
• Clustering by people of similar wealth,
  education, and taste
• The French Riviera
• Building codes
• Normal activities gone

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The Boulders in Carefree, AZ
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Landscapes of difference

• Elitist landscapes
• Gentleman farms in America
• An avocation for affluent city people
• Examples in the eastern United States
• High concentration in the Kentucky Bluegrass
  Basin

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Landscapes of difference

• The American scene
• Preeminence of function over form
• Fondness for massive structures

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Landscapes of difference

• The American scene
• Americans regard cultural landscape as
  unfinished
• Collections of heterogeneous buildings
• Eye-catching structures

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Conclusion