Chapter 4: Cultural Geography

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• Chapter 4 Cultural Geography

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Cultural Geography

• Describes everything about the way people live
• Clothes
• Diet
• Artifacts a thing made by skill
• Customs patterns of behavior
• Interpersonal arrangements, family structure,
  educational methods
• Culture is not static constantly changing
• Forces of cultural change
• Evolutionism - sources of change are embedded in
  culture
• Diffusionism cultures spread and are adapted

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Theories of Cultural Evolution

• Theory of human stages
• Marcus Tarentius Varro (Roman General 116-27
  B.C.)
• Hunter-gatherers
• Pastoral nomadism
• Transhumanance regular and seasonal movements
• Settled agriculture
• Subsistence and commercial agriculture
• Historical materialism technology has increased
  humans control over the environment
• Karl Marx founder of theory
• Technology and human progressive control of the
  environment would increase abundance for all
• Cornucopian View Conflicts with Malthusianism

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Cultures and Environments

• Environmental determinism - human events can be
  entirely explained by the effects of the
  environment
• Cultural ecology - societies adapt to their
  environment
• Challenge-response theory (Toynbee) a difficult
  environment causes people to build a civilization
• Possibilism - Physical environment influences,
  but does not control, human events, choices and
  constraints are based on cultural, economic,
  political and technological factors

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Cultural Diffusion (Causes)

• Global communication, transportation, trade
• Circulation interconnectedness, use of
  materials from around the world
• Clark Wissler
• Geographical culture centers
• Places where cultures are developed
• One of the founders of cultural anthropology,
  professor at Yale
• Diffusion does not explain all distributions
  phenomenon can occur independently
  spontaneously (concept of zero conceived by
  Mayans and Hindus)

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Folk Culture

• Cultures that preserve traditions often bound
  by distinctive, religion, nationality, or
  language
• Characteristics
• Conservative, resistant to change, distinctive
  religions
• Urban folk cultures
• Immigrant groups preserving native culture
• Examples
• Diffusion of house types in the US
• Amish

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Popular Culture

• Culture of people who embrace innovation and
  conform to changing norms
• Rapid diffusion
• Mass culture
• Food, clothing, items that are mass produced
• Mass taste some loss of individuality and
  cultural identity
• Geographic variation of market penetration
• Marketing of popular culture

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Identity Behavioral Geography

• Culture groups
• Few or many characteristics in common (can share
  language or many characteristics)
• Subculture Italian Americans, Eagles Fans
• Races - concept is open to question
• Humans are a single species
• Secondary biological characteristics blood
  types (eat right for your type)
• Ethnic groups
• Ethnocentrism judging other cultures by ones
  own standards

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Behavioral Geography

• Subfield of cultural geography
• Studies our perception of the world around us and
  how our perception influences our behavior
• Walter Lippman
• World outside the way things really are
• Pictures in our head may be based on
  preconceptions
• Cognitive Behavioralism theory
• People react to the environment as they perceive
  it

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Culture Realms (Regions) entire area where a
culture prevails

• Delineation/ definition of regions
• Visual clues
• Settlement patterns
• Architecture
• Clothing
• Regionalism share
• particular characteristics

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Trade Cultural Diffusion

• Stabilizing forces
• Infrastructure peoples fixed assets in a place
  (pipelines, highways, airports, housing, etc.)
• Inertia the force that keeps things stable
• Historical Geography studies the past and how
  geographical distributions have changed
• Impact of trade
• Economic geography study of how people make
  their living, how economies develop, and what
  people trade.
• Historical Consciousness a people sense of
  their own history

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Impact of World Trade

• Self sufficiency /cultural isolation - usually
  accompany each other
• Trade cultural change
• Systems of production and change
• Felt needs things people begin to think they
  need
• Specialization of production trade leads to
  this.

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Acceleration of Diffusion

• Travel and transportation
• Friction of distance has decreased over the last
  two hundred years
• Movement of information
• Annihilation of space caused by the electronic
  highway
• Cyberspace extension of reality through global
  electronic means
• Clash of civilizations
• Shatterbelts areas where distinct cultures meet
  might experience virtually unending strife.

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Relative World Coverage in New York Times for two
months in 2003
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European Culture

• Pervasive Western model
• Consumer goods
• Education
• Technology
• Housing
• Presumption of superiority
• Acculturation of Western life

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Voyages of Contact

• World exploration and conquest
• Impact of Chinese initiative
• European seaborne empires
• Commercial Revolution
• Global diffusion
• Europe as clearinghouse of info and products
• Relocation of goods and services

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Major European Voyages of Exploration
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Europes Increased Power

• Industrial Revolution (1750-1850 in Europe)
• Increased productivity
• Steam Engine
• Exploration and conquest
• Stimulated industry
• Money economy
• Creation of stock markets
• Agricultural Revolution
• Created labor supply for industry

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Cultural Imperialism substitution of one set of
cultural traditions for another, by force or be
degrading those who fail to acculturate

• Systematic eradication of native culture
  government schools, Christian missionaries
• Imposition of Western culture
• Reference group behavior people who wish to
  belong to the dominant group abandon their
  traditions
• Self-Westernization
• Japan, China, Turkey to some degree saved them
  from western rule
• Internal colonialism westernized elite

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Westernization Today

• Dress and lifestyle as status symbols young and
  wealthy are often the most cosmopolitan
• Role of media
• Implanting Western values
• TV programs, movies, videos
• Tourism indigenous people exposed to western
  culture, often make places tourist friendly
• Education elite educated at western
  Universities

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Americas Role

• World view of America
• Military power
• Role of global peacekeeper (troops in 148
  countries, 2001)
• Sole superpower spends more money on defense
  than next ten leading countries combined
• Economic power
• About one quarter of world economy
• Popular culture
• Most recognized brands
• Challenging local traditions
• Political influence

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Vocab Chapter 4

• Custom repetitive act of the group, performed
  so that it becomes a characteristic of a group
• Habit a repetitive act that a particular
  individual performs
• Taboo restriction on behavior caused by a
  social custom
• Terroir French term referring to the
  contribution of a locations distinctive physical
  features to the way food tastes