KEY TOPICS IN CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY

Introduction  The field of cultural geography is wide-ranging and comprehensive. To understand the various ways in which geographers look at culture, it is useful to focus on 5 traditionally prominent areas of study and research

Cultural Landscapes  The imprint of cultures on the land creates distinct and characteristic cultural landscapes.

Examples  The Canadian Prairies with their seemingly endless fields of wheat are commonly seen as a typical Canadian landscape.  The Pyramids in their mysterious construction and immense structure are seen as strictly a Egyptian landscape 

Cultural Hearths  Foundation of a major culture  The “birthplace” of a culture– people and ideas spread out from there  5 main early cultural hearths:  Middle America (Mexico)  Nile River (Egypt)  Mesopotamia (Iraq)  Indus Valley (Pakistan)  Yellow River (China)

 Mesopotamia  Nile Valley Indus Valley  Wei-Huang Valley  Ganges Valley  Mesoamerica  West Africa  Andean America

What do these Cultural Hearths have in Common?  Water  Enough to support farming and a large population  All except Middle America located in River valleys  Mild Climate (not too hot)  Fertile land  Civilizations developed and spread from these areas

Cultural Diffusion  Spreading of new knowledge from one culture to another  When two cultures meet, cultural diffusion occurs  Reasons people move to a new area:  Forced because they are a slave  Pushed out of land by war  Move because of famine/disease  Move for better opportunities/freedom  Cultural Diffusion sped up with the invention of new technologies like telephones and the internet

Cultural Perception  One of the main areas of cross-cultural differences and an important source of cultural misunderstandings is our difference perceptions.  Different cultures perceive things differently, sometimes these differences are very subtle and sometimes perceptions can lead to totally opposite interpretations. We all have different cultural perceptions and these difference can impact our international business success.

Cultural Environments  This area deals with the role of culture in human understanding, use, and alteration of the environment.  It focuses on describing and analyzing the ways language, religion, economy, government and other cultural phenomena vary or remain constant, from one place to another and on explaining how humans function spatially.