1. Culture and Connectedness Aim: What is culture and how does it spread? Do Now: Draw three pictures that reflect the culture of VHS

2. What is culture? Culture is the man-made part of the environment. An “integrated system of learned behavior patterns which are characteristic of the members of a society and which are not the result of biological inheritance…” - Hoebel Cultural trait: a single attribute of a culture such as ________ Cultural complex: A combination of cultural traits Cultural hearth: an area where cultural traits develop and from which they diffuse (spread)

3. Cultural Ecology The study of human-environment relationships Pioneered by Alexander von Humboldt and Carl Ritter –Environmental determinism: environment is primary determinant of culture –Considered racist/ethnocentric Modern geographers reject environmental determinism in favor of possibilism –Possibilism: humans are primary determinant of culture

4. N.Y.C. Environmentally Determined?

5. The modified Köppen system divides the world into five main climate regions. Environmental determinists would say those in the warmer humid regions are lazy due to their climate and therefore are not among the powerful countries in the world

6. Present day hunter in Papua, New Guinea Does this show environmental determinism or possibilism?

7. Bali, Indonesia Does this show environmental determinism or possibilism?

8. “God made Earth, but the Dutch made the Netherlands” Polder: piece of land created by draining water from an area Does this show environmental determinism or possibilism? More than half of the Netherlands lies below sea level

9. Landscape (review) How physical, human, and symbolic elements come together in a place –Theme of place Human activity changes natural landscapes into cultural landscapes –Theme of human-environment interaction Can provide visual cultural history Reflect identity

10. Does cultural landscape change over time? How many people have ever moved from one house or apartment to another? Is the house different now then when you moved in? How did your family change the way it looked?

11. Sequent Occupancy – Levittown, NY

12. Sequent occupancy: the process by which a landscape is gradually transformed by a succession of occupying populations. Example: –San people of South Africa used the hillsides and valleys of Swaziland to hunt and gather food. –The Later Bantu people used the slopes for grazing their herds of cattle and they planted corn and other foods in the valleys. –The Europeans laid out sugar plantations in the valleys and planted extensive forests for lumbering on the hillsides. Successive owners erode, obliterate, alter, embellish, add to or build over what they find.

13. Topic: Connectedness Aim: How does culture spread? Do Now: What do these pictures tell us about culture?

14. Spatial Diffusion Movement of people, ideas, things from a point of origin to another location over time –E.g., disease The origin is the hearth Cultural diffusion is the diffusion of cultural traits –A cultural trait can often be traced to a specific place or time Christianity –Other cultural traits develop simultaneously in different areas (multiple hearths) Agriculture

15. Do Now – reading check: What’s the difference between expansion diffusion and relocation diffusion?

16. Types of Cultural Diffusion Expansion Diffusion Ideas/innovations spread from hearth –Contagious Diffusion –Hierarchical Diffusion –Stimulus Diffusion Relocation Diffusion People move from hearth, bringing ideas/innovations with them

17. Expansion Diffusion The spread of a cultural trait from a hearth outwards It remains and often strengthens in the origin area –i.e. - the spread of Islam Made faster by modern technologies Three types of expansion diffusion: 1.Contagious diffusion 2.Hierarchical (cascade) diffusion 3.Stimulus diffusion

18. Contagious Diffusion Spreads to nearby places Often depends on contact, close communication, observation Ripple effect from the hearth Spreads continuously Like a virus

19. The Spread of Islam – Do you notice any irregularities?

20. Hierarchical Diffusion Not continuous; skips across space Moves from one place to other places that are similar or more receptive –Cities, college campuses Fashion trends, music styles, and slang are often spread this wayFashion trends

22. Hierarchical Effects

25. Stimulus Diffusion When the spread of an idea, practice, or other phenomenon prompts a new idea or innovation The culture trait may be rejected but the underlying idea is accepted Example: When rap spreads to other parts of the world, it changes to fit the local culture –Kyrgyz rapKyrgyz rap

26. What’s different? Hindus don’t eat beef. Also a vegetarian burger, the McAloo Tikki. Stimulus Diffusion: McDonalds

27. Relocation Diffusion Unlike expansion diffusion where the idea or innovation moves, Relocation diffusion occurs when people who have adopted the innovation or idea physically move to a new location where they then disseminate it

28. The Spread of Cricket

29. Places are connected through spatial interaction ideas information money products people

30. What is the farthest distance you are willing/able to walk? If there were no cars or other transportation, what could you get to on foot from your house at this distance? What would your life be like to live only within a circular area with this distance as the radius?

31. Spatial Interaction Distance decay –All else being equal, as the distance between two places increases, the interaction between these places decreases The First Law of geography (Tobler’s Law) –“Time-distance decay” (textbook): because how long it takes to get there also has an effect Farther from the hearth in time and/or distance = less likely to diffuse Technology lessens the impact of friction of distance (the amount of time it takes to get from one place to another), and therefore of distance decay

32. Friction of Distance: All things are related. However, all other things being equal, those things that are closest together are more related.

33. Factors that delay diffusion: –Distance decay: the farther way and the longer it takes to reach an area, the less likely it will be adopted. –Cultural barriers: may pose obstacles to cultural diffusion-taboos or religious beliefs. –Cultural lag: when a social group is economically or psychologically unresponsive to change.

34. Cultural Diffusion Illustrations Create four different illustrations that show your understanding of each type of cultural diffusion 1.Briefly describe how each type of diffusion spreads 2.Using a detailed stick figure drawing, create a real-world example to illustrate each diffusion type 3.Write a brief caption for each illustration explaining what is happening Use your notes!