Culture Cultural Geography – Looking at the distribution of cultural traits. d&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1 33JF2kc7BQ&feature=related&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_ mode=1

Culture What is culture? – A people’s way of life – A people’s behavior – A people’s shared understanding about self and the world – Makes actions of individuals understandable

Culture Think: a group of people stranded on an island

Culture traits LANGUAGE Art – Music – Dance – Architecture – Painting – Sculpture – Literature Religion Ethnicity Food Clothing Traditions/customs Holidays Education Government Economics/trade Transportation Communication Agriculture

Culture Region  Area where shared distinctive cultural traits exist  Inhabitants aware culture is different from others  Borders  Remember perceptual regions of emotions and feelings  Historically  Integration of environment, spirituality, and local economies  Post-industrial world - Still regions but less influence from physical environment. More reaction to consumer oriented “placeless” global economy

Regional Identity Express cultural beliefs through symbols – Monuments, flags, slogans, religious icons, house types – Promote ideas about values and identity Usually symbols of the majority, not minority Consider a decreasing influence from culture region center: – Core: Centralized zone of concentration, possess all culture traits to define region – Domain: Particular culture is dominant but less intense – Sphere: Zone of outer influence where people can be a minority in other culture region

Core, Domain, Sphere One culture’s core can lie within another culture’s sphere ex. Tibet

Cultural Regional Identity Transitions can be gradual or abrupt – Abrupt Chinese Wall and Himalaya Mtns. – Gradual Curry, soy, language, religion – Or syncretism – a blend of different beliefs or practices

Folk and Popular Culture Amish Horse & Buggy, Ohio Rad Scot with Kilt Seeking Killer Waves

The Forbidden City Beijing, China

Material vs. Nonmaterial Material culture: what a group of people make Nonmaterial culture: beliefs, practices, aesthetics and values of a group of people

Folk Culture Small Incorporates homogeneous population Typically rural Cohesive in cultural traits Preserve traits to be unique

Popular Culture Large Typically urban Changes very quickly Practiced by diverse people across the world It is material and nonmaterial culture

New Zealand

Bhutan

Toledo, Spain

French Polynesia

Chincheros Natives, Peru

Frafra People, Ghana

Vietnam

Turkish Camel Market Portuguese Fishing Boat Guatemalan Market

Folk food culture Effects on Landscape: usually limited - does have some impact Agricultural: smaller fields, terraces, grain storage Labor intensive

Thailand Folk Agriculture Peru

FOLK FOOD How did such differences develop?

Food attractions and Taboo “staple” foods identified with regions Spices reflect climate geography Taboos – foods that embody negativity Taboos to protect the environment Taboos – Religious and social values

Hog Production and Food Cultures Fig. 4-6: Annual hog production is influenced by religious taboos against pork consumption in Islam and other religions. The highest production is in China, which is largely Buddhist.

Popular food culture Effects on Landscape: usually very visible – great impact Agricultural: massive fields, ranches, farms, food storage capital intensive

Food attractions and Taboo Genetically modified foods (GMOs) Uniform ingredients Industry created Uniform presentation

FOLK ARCHITECTURE Effects on Landscape: usually of limited scale and scope. Does have some impact Dwellings: historically created from local materials: wood, brick, stone, skins Often traditionally arranged tied to physical environment.

FOLK ARCHITECTURE

Hearths & Diffusion of Popular Culture How do things become a part of popular culture? – Often begins with contagious diffusion – Ex. Dave Matthews Band – Also hierarchical - importance places or influences – Ex. Important cities, television, movies

A Mental Map of Hip Hop Fig. 4-3: This mental map places major hip hop performers near other similar performers and in the portion of the country where they performed.

Popular Culture Effects on Landscape: creates homogenous, “placeless” (Relph, 1976), landscape  Complex network of roads and highways  Commercial Structures tend towards ‘boxes’  Dwellings may be suggestive of older folk traditions Planned and Gated Communities more and more common Disconnect with landscape: indoor swimming pools, desert surfing.

Wave pool in Tokyo, Japan Are places still tied to local landscapes?

Swimming Pool West Edmonton Mall, Canada

Problems with the Globalization of Culture Impacts or destroys Folk Culture – or preserves traditions as museum pieces or tourism gimmicks.  Mexican Mariachis  Polynesian Navigators  Act out cultural assumptions Satellite Television, Baja California

Marboloro Man in Egypt

Fiji

“Progress?”

“They’re growing houses in the fields between the towns.” - John Gorka, Folk Singer