Cultural Patterns and Processes

MMMMM… the McArabia

• Three falafel balls, made from ground chickpeas and fava beans, fried in canola oil and served on Iraqi pita bread with tahini and chopped salad.

Or maybe…POUTINE!

• french fries, layered with cheese curds and smothered beneath brown gravy. Cheese curds are the solid parts of sour milk.

How about authentic Hawaiian food?

• Spam is so popular in Hawaii it has been dubbed "The Hawaiian Steak," so it is no surprise that McDonald's put the meat in their Deluxe Breakfast. Eggs, rice, hashbrowns, spam and toast.

Ole! Gazpacho

Cultural geography

• The study of people’s lifestyles, their creations, and their relationships to the earth and the supernatural

Key questions• How do geographers define culture?• How do geographers look at spatial and place aspects of

culture in the form of language, religion, race, ethnicity, and gender?

• How are cultural patterns represented at different scales, from local to global?

• How do cultural traits move through space and time?• What are key aspects to the geography of language and

religion?• How does culture shape human-environment

relationships?• How is culture expressed in landscapes, and how do

different landscapes reflect different cultural identities?

Basics of Culture

• Material components of Culture Vs. Nonmaterial components of Culture

• Cultural geography– Looks at how and why culture is expressed in

different ways in different places

• Cultural Landscape-CARL SAUER– The built environment– The physical implications of human culture

Sequent occupance

• The succession of cultures leaving their mark in a shared space or territory

• Ex. Romans, Saxons, Vikings, and others who conquered England over a 3000 year period

• CULTURAL ECOLOGY– Human-environment interaction

Human-environment interactions

• Environmental determinism– Environment determines all

• Possibilism– Environment sets limits

• And CULTURAL DETERMINISM– Environment does not set limits…WE set the

restrictions on ourselves

The Jigsaw of Culture

• Cultural traits– A single attribute of a culture• Ex. Bowing to show respect

• Cultural Complex– The combination of all culture traits creates a

unique set of traits– Like a recipe– Ex. All the things Americans do makes us

American… no other culture has THAT unique combination

Cont…

• Culture systems– When complexes share traits the complexes can

merge– Ex. People in N. Germany has a different accent

but they combine with the rest of Germany to form the German cultural system

Cultural Regions and Realms

• Cultural regions– Drawn around people with similarities in their cultural

systems• Regional Identity– Emotional attachment to the group of people and

places associated with a particular culture region– Leads to…

• Perceptual Regions (vernacular regions)– Defined by peoples emotions and feelings about an

area rather than objective regions

Cultural Realm

• Merging together of culture regions

Cultural Diffusion

• The spread of people’s culture across space

• Spatial diffusions– The spread of any phenomenon across space– Ex. Disease

– Two types… expansion and relocation

Expansion Diffusion

• The cultural component spreads outward to new places while remaining strong in the home hearth– Ex. Islam spreading from Saudi Arabian hearth

Different types• Stimulus diffusion

– Idea spreads but the original idea has changed• Contagious diffusion

– Occurs when numerous places or people near the point of origin become adopters (or INFECTED)• Ex. Disease or a restaurant spreading out

• Hierarchical diffusion– Spreads from a place or person of power or high susceptibility

to another in a leveled pattern– Ex. Hip hop music starts at the cities first and spreads down to

the lower towns– Ex. Knowledge of 9/11 plot… US gov. to media to general public

Relocation diffusion

• Involves the actual movement of the original adopters from their hearth to a new place

• Ex. Movement of Russian capital from St. Petersburg to Moscow

• Ex. HIV/AIDS spread by movement

• Migrant diffusion– Innovation spreads but only lasts a brief time– Ex. The flu

Mixie Mixie

• They can be combined– Ex. The flu – Ex. HIV/AIDS

Culture

• Cultural Convergence– The process of two cultures blending and

becoming more alike• Acculturation– A weaker culture adopts a more dominant

culture’s traits– May lead to…

• Assimilation– Complete erase of the weaker culture

Transculturation

• Occurs when two cultures of just about equal power or influence meet and exchange ideas without domination

S-Curve of Diffusion

Cultural hearth

• Where innovations in a culture begin• INDEPENDENT INNOVATION– Originate without knowledge of similar

innovations– Ex. Agricultural innovation in E. Asia and

Mesopotamia

Religion

Religion

• A set of beliefs and activities that are created to help human celebrate and understand their place in the world– Can be MONOTHEISTIC or POLYTHEISTIC

• Universalizing Religions– Universal appeal

• Ethnic Religions– Attempt to appeal to only one group

Universalizing Religions

• Branches => Denominations => sects

Buddhism• World’s 1st universalizing religion• Founded in India near INDO-GANGETIC Hearth

(Indus/Ganges rivers)• Founded by Prince Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha)

who was born in 644 BCE• Diffusion: Spread throughout India then China,

Korea, Japan, Tibet, Mongolia, and SE Asia along Silk Road

• 350 million worldwide• Branches: Theraveda and Mahayana

Branches• Theravada– Monastic (monks and nuns)– 55%

• Mahayana– Find salvation through meditation and prayer

• Lamaism (in Tibet)– Combines monatiscism with local dieties and demons– The Dalai Lama is a proponent– China has tried to suppress this branch including EXILE of

the Dalai Lama• Zen – In Japan

Cultural landscape of Buddhism

• Pagoda– Derived from ancient burial mound shapes

• Bodhi tree• Many pilgrimages

Christianity

• 600 years after Buddhism• Offshoot of Judaism• Originated in Semitic Hearth (Israel)• Monotheistic• Holy book: the Bible

Cont… Diffusion

• Largest number of adherents (2 billion)• Spread out especially through the Roman

Empire• Nearly 90% in the W. Hemisphere are

Christian

Cont… Branches• Roman Catholic

– Largest (830 million)– Hierarchical

• Protestant– Broken into denominations– Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, and Lutheran– 503 million

• Eastern Orthodox– Formed during the Great Schism of 1054– 14 separate churches– Largest is Russian Orthodox– 192 million (roots in Constantinople

Cont… Cultural landscape

• Roman Catholic

• Protestant Church

• Eastern Orthodox

Islam

• 600 CE• 1.2 billion worldwide• Muhammad• Diffused Globally from Saudi Arabia• Mecca and Medina • Monotheistic• Holy Book: Koran/Quran• Two Branches: Sunni and Shiite

Cont… Branches

• Sunni– 85%

• Shiite– 15%– Believe that only descendants Muhammad should

be head of Islam– Iraq and Iran

Cultural Landscape

• The Mosque

Cont… Misc…

• 5 pillars• Pilgrimage to Mecca (holiest site)• Third holy site is Dome of the Rock in

Jerusalem

Sikkhism

• 22 million• Syncretic religion• Blend of Hindu and Islam• Mainly in Punjab Region of India• Monotheistic• Holy book: Guru Granth Sahib

Ethnic Religion• Hinduism

– Mainly in India– 900 million adherents

• Predates Buddhism• Cultural landscape features Caste System

• Judaism– Jewish diaspora– Holy book: Torah

• Shintoism• Taoism• Shaminism

– Any religion that follows a religious leader/healer/truth knower• Animism-belief that objects like trees, mountains, rivers have spirits in them

Secularism and Theocracy

• Secularism– Movement away from religion

• Theocracy– Government run by religion– Ex. Former Taliban run Afghanistan– Ex. Iran

Religion and Conflict

• Interfaith boundaries– China- Tibetan Buddhism and Atheism– Nigeria- Islam and Christianity– India- Hinduism and Sikkhism– India and Pakistan-Hinduism and Islam– Palestine- Judaism and Islam

• Intrafaith boundaries– Iraq- Sunni and Shiite– USA- Christianity– N. Ireland- Protestants and Roman Catholics

Language

Language

• Language Divergence• Language replacement• Language extinction• Reverse reconstruction

Language Hearths

Theories on hearth of Proto Indo European language

• Conquest theory• Agricultural theory

Monolingual and Multilingual

• Can be centripetal or cetrifugal• Ex. Belgium– Dutch and French

– Canada• French and English

Official and Standard Languages

• Official• Standard– Acceptable forms

Others…

• Lingua Franca– Facilitates trade

• Pidgin– Simplified version• Becomes Creole/Creolized (once it is adopted)• Ex. French domination in the Caribbean…first pidgin

French then became Creolized

Toponyms• Are Place names• Reflect cultural identity and impact the cultural

landscape• May be controversial– Ex. India wanted to change Bombay to Mumbai

(“Mumbai” relates to a Hindu god, this angered non-Hindus)

• Can give historical clues – St. Petersburg (named by Peter the Great for his patron

saint)– Can indicate the “dreams” of a place…

• Paradise, CA• Hope, AK

– Can reflect religion• “St.” in N. New York and Quebec• Santa Barbara (reflects spanish/portugese language and catholic

influence)

Ethnicity

• Relates to sets of norms that people create to define their group through actual or perceived shared culture traits (language, religion, nationality)

• Can be expressed in different ways– Territory• Albanians in Albania

Ethnic groups

• Jews are spatially divided– Forced segregation in Nazi Germany• GHETTO- region in which an ethnic minority is forced to

live by economic, legal, or gov pressures• ENCLAVE- place of minority concentration surrounded

by unwelcoming groups• BARRIO- Spanish speaking ethnic neighborhood in a

city

Race

• Refers to a classification system of humans based on skin color and other genetic/physical characteristics

• APARTHEID– Africa… particularly S. Africa– Separation of whites and blacks

– What separates ethnicity and race?• More than just race

Examples…

• Puerto Ricans… include more than just a “Hispanic race”

Social Distance

• How “distant” two ethnicities are apart from each other but not in a spatial sense

• Ethnocentrism– One group’s use of its cultural identity as the

superior standard by which to judge others, often causes discriminatory behavior

Ethnic Conflict

• Ethnic Cleansing– A process in which a racial or ethnic group attempt to

expel from a territory another racial or ethnic group• Genocide– When a racial or ethnic group tries to kill another

racial or ethnic group• Slobadan Milosevic (Serbian leader of former Yugoslavia)

led genocide campaign against ethnic Albanians living in Kosovo (a region in Serbia)

• Hitler• Sudan trying to eliminate ethnic groups in Darfur• Rwanda

Gender

• Men have more opportunities• Masculine and feminine are cultural traits• Men dominate economically, politically, and

socially– Gender gap

Gender Problems• High maternal mortality rates– LDCs 100-600x more likely to die than women in

MDCs• Female Infanticide– China– India and the DOWRY

• Dowry Death in India– Failure to pay

• Enfrancisement… right to vote• Longevity gap…women live longer

Folk and Pop culture

• Folk culture– Limited in scope– Ex. Amish

• Pop culture– Mass culture

Maladaptive Diffusion

• Adoption of a diffusing trait that is impractical for a region or culture

• Jeans in the summer

Cultural Imperialism

• The invasion of a culture into another with the intent of dominating the invaded culture politically, economically, and/or socially

• Ex. When McDonald’s arrived in one African city protesters attacked the restaurant

• Ex. Middle eastern culture resent the influx of western pop culture

Cultural Nationalism

• The rise of anti cultural imperialism forces• The fight to resist cultural convergence and

imperialism and remain distinct

Cultural Homogeneity

• Cultural sameness• Pop cultures threatens uniqueness

Pop culture and Consumption

• Many pop culture trends can lead to increase consumption and tax the natural resources and increase waste

• Ex. Buy cars instead of public transportation… leads to more gas usage and more pollution

• Ex. Plastic water bottles