1. AIM: WHAT IS CULTURE? Intro to Culture

2. AIM: What is culture? Do Now:  Write down what culture means to you. Do you identify with a certain type of culture? If so, what kind?

3. What is Culture? the body of customary beliefs, material traits, and social forms that together constitute the distinct tradition of a group of people From the Latin cultus: to care for  To care about  Ideas, beliefs, values, customs  To care for  Earning a living; obtaining food, shelter, etc

4. Q: Which form of culture describes the Bible Belt? Which form of culture describes the Corn Belt?

5. What People Care About Language, Religion, and Ethnicity These 3 traits help you locate a culture and trace it’s distribution

6. Q: What is language? The system of signs, sounds, gestures, and symbols understood within a cultural group Variations among languages  Ex: regional variations in America  Slang/vernacular sayings “Bless your heart”

7. Q: What is religion? System of attitudes, beliefs, and practices through which people worship in a formal organized way Q: How does religion impact one’s culture?

8. Q: What is ethnicity? Ethnicity encompasses a group’s language, religion, cultural values, and physical characteristics Result of common tradition and heritage

9. Q: What’s the difference between race and ethnicity? “ While race and ethnicity share an ideology of common ancestry, they differ in several ways. First of all, race is primarily unitary. You can only have one race, while you can claim multiple ethnic affiliations. You can identify ethnically as Irish and Polish, but you have to be essentially either black or white. The fundamental difference is that race is socially imposed and hierarchical. There is an inequality built into the system. Furthermore, you have no control over your race; it's how you're perceived by others. For example, I have a friend who was born in Korea to Korean parents, but as an infant, she was adopted by an Italian family in Italy. Ethnically, she feels Italian: she eats Italian food, she speaks Italian, she knows Italian history and culture. She knows nothing about Korean history and culture. But when she comes to the United States, she's treated racially as Asian.” –Dalton Connely

10. Culture: What people take care of All people consume food, build shelter, and create art, but how they accomplish this varies

11. More Developed Countries Less Developed Countries Regions: North America, Europe, & Japan Manufacturing/Service based economy Regions: Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, & Latin America Agriculture based economy MDCs and LDCs

12. Q: What factors determine MDCs and LDCs? Per capita income Literacy rates Television rates Hospital beds per capita

13. Political Institutions and Culture Political institutions protect material artifacts and cultural values Biggest contribution: citizenship Q: How can political institutions protect material artifacts and cultural values?

14. AIM: HOW DOES THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT IMPACT CULTURE? Cultural Ecology

15. Cultural Ecology: What is it? Cultural Ecology is the study of human-environment relationships

16. Environmental Determinism Possibilism Von Humboldt and Ritter (1800s) Environment (climate) shape causes social/cultural development  Similar climates=similar cultures Environment>people Temperate climates lead to more industrious people The physical environment may limit human actions, but people can adapt/change their environment People and environment both shape culture New tech=greater adaptions 2 Theories

17. Climate: long term average weather conditions at a particular location Koppen system: divides the world into 5 regions identified by letters A-E and corresponding names A: Tropical or Humid Low Latitude Climates B:Dry climates C: Warm-Mid Climates D: Cold-Mid Climates E:Polar Climates H: Undifferented highlands

18. Physical processes: vegetation 4 main biomes: forest, savanna, grassland, and desert Forest: trees form a continuous canopy  Most of NA, Europe, and Asia as well as parts of SA, Africa, and SE Asia Savanna: trees do not form a continuous canopy; lack of shade allows grass to grow  Large parts of Africa, S Asia, SA, and Australia Grassland: land covered by grass; few trees grow (lack of precipitation)  Largest one in America (The Great Plains) Desert: minimal vegetation

20. Physical Processes: Soil More than just dirt! Also nutrients! Great variety of types H Geographers concerned with destruction  Erosion  Nutrient depletion

21. Erosion Soil washes away in the rain or blows away in the wind Prevent by limiting plowing, contour farming, planting crops that bind their roots, avoiding steep slopes

22. Nutrient Depletion Plants withdraw more nutrients than they can replace Occurs with repeated harvesting of the same crop Some farmers in MDCs plant crops with no economic return, but restore nutrients.  Q: why don’t LDCs do this?

23. Physical Processes: Landforms Geomorphology: the study of Earth’s landforms  Explains the distribution of people and human activities Q: where do you think most people prefer to live? In flat or hilly areas?

24. Case Studies