The landscapes we create tell us who we are

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The landscapes we create tell us who we are

• Martha B. Sharma
• APHG Workshop
• NCGE Lake Tahoe, NV
• October 6-7, 2006

Gettysburg
NY Times
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III. Cultural Patterns and Processes

• Concepts of culture
• Cultural differences
• Environmental impacts of cultural attitudes and
  practices
• Cultural landscapes and cultural identities

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Cultural Landscapes

• A cultural landscape is fashioned from a
  natural landscape by a culture group. Culture is
  the agent, the natural area is the medium. The
  cultural landscape the result.
• Carl O. Sauer in The Morphology of
  Landscape (1925)

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Cultural Landscapes

• all human landscape has cultural meaning, no
  matter how ordinary it may be. ... Our human
  landscape is our unwitting autobiography,
  reflecting our tastes, our values, and even our
  fears, in tangible, visible form.
• The man-made landscape provides strong
  evidence of the kind of people we are, were, and
  will be.
• Peirce Lewis in Axioms for Reading the
  Landscape (1979)

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Cultural Landscapes

• Most objects in the landscape although they
  convey all kinds of messages do not convey
  those message in any obvious way. The landscape
  does not speak to us very clearly. one must
  know what kinds of questions to ask.
• Peirce Lewis in Axioms for
  Reading the Landscape (1979)

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Analytical Goals of Human Geography

• Use and think about maps and spatial data.
• Understand and interpret the implications of
  associations among phenomena in places.
• Recognize and interpret at different scales
  relationships among patterns and processes.
• Define regions and evaluate the regionalization
  process.
• Characterize and analyze changing
  interconnections among places.

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Religious Landscapes

• Global patterns
• Places of worship
• Places of Remembrance

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Cemeteries are a very visible part of the
religious landscape
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Grave markers provide cultural insights into
people and places.
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Taj Mahal Agra, India
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An AP Human Geography course should encourage
field observation

• Although organized field trips are not necessary
  for the course, some combination of exercises,
  visual aids, and field work should be pursued to
  provide students with a sense of how the material
  world embodies information and ideas about
  culture, society, and human-environment relations.

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Axioms for Reading the Landscape

• The man-made landscape the ordinary
  run-of-the-mill things that humans have created
  and put upon the earth provides strong evidence
  of the kind of people we are, and were, and are
  in the process of becoming.
• In trying to unravel the meaning of contemporary
  landscapes and what they have to say about us
  as Americans, history matters.
• Elements of a cultural landscape make little
  cultural sense if they are studied outside their
  geographic (i.e., locational) context.

Peirce Lewis in Axioms for Reading the Landscape
(1979)
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Activity One

• A Cultural Study of
• Crown Hill Cemetery

From http//www.iupui.edu/anthpm/seriate.html
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Grave Markers as Cultural Artifacts

• Styles of gravestones change over time
• Relative chronology can be determined based on
  change or continuity in material style
• Style is any visible attribute
• Shape, height, width, color of stone, design
  details
• Some grave markers are unique for personal reasons

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Types of Grave Markers
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Analyzing Grave Markers at Crown Hill Cemetery

• In this exercise students
• Analyze 48 real grave markers manufactured
  between 1864 and 1997 based on stylistic changes
  in design
• The Marker Data Table is located at
  http//www.iupui.edu/anthpm/markerdata.html
• Sort the markers chronologically
• Answer the questions based on photos and other
  information in the table

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Examples from Crown Hill Activity
Bedino (1995) Above Ground
Gatling (1903) Monumental
Childers (1864) Symbolic
http//www.iupui.edu/anthpm/markerdata.html
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Activity Two

• A Cultural/Demographic Study of St. Helenas
  Episcopal Church Cemetery

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Beaufort County, South Carolina
Named for Henry Somerset, Duke of Beaufort
(1684-1714)
Beaufort (1710) and St. Helenas Church (1712)
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St. Helenas Church is located in the heart of
historic Beaufort, SC
St. Helenas Church
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Parish Church of St. Helena

• Established in 1712 by an act of the Colonial
  Assembly
• Beaufort, South Carolina
• Original building erected in 1724
• Cemetery fills the church yard
• Used by the Union Army as a hospital during the
  Civil War
• Partially destroyed by hurricanes in 1896 and
  1959
• Major restoration 1998-2000

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Reading a Local Cultural Landscape

• In Activity Two, students
• Use elements of the cultural landscape images
  and data from grave markers in the cemetery of
  St. Helenas Church to examine changes over time.
• Examine selected grave markers to understand
  cultural patterns in the local community
• Manipulate the cemetery data base to produce
• Histograms
• Age at Death Pyramids
• Summarize their findings in a short paper.

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Getting Started

• To begin this field activity, you will need a map
  of the cemetery to be studied. Add grid marks, if
  they are not already on the map, to facilitate
  sector references.

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Sample Spreadsheet from the St. Helenas Database
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Data Summary from the St. Helenas Database
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5
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9
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11
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1
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Patterns in Age at Death
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Changes in Age at DeathComparing the 19th and
20th Centuries
St. Helenas 19th Century
St. Helenas 20th Century
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Create a Field Experience for Your Class

• An AP course should not be just about the Exam
• An AP course should be about learning
• Field work is not a requirement for APHG
• But field work is essential to learning to think
  geographically
• The experience of field work will demonstrate for
  students the geographic perspective
• This experience will prepare them to apply what
  they have learned to any situation
• And this will definitely help them on the Exam

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Over-arching Course Goals

• Students should
• Study patterns and processes that have shaped
  human understanding, use, and alteration of
  Earths surface
• Analyze human social organization
• Apply the methods and tools of geography

Source College Board Course Description Booklet,
p. 3.
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