1300 Chapter 7 - Cultural Geography

Culture

• The specialized behavioral patterns, understandings, and adaptations that summarize the way of life of a group of people.

Culture is a learned pattern, based on imitation, instruction, example, and rebellion.

• Not homogeneous
• Complex, interrelated web of behaviors and attitudes
• Generally non-biological (not skin or hair color, sex, etc…)

Culture Traits

• most basic units of learned behavior that comprise a culture
• Language
• Tool kit
• Games
• Technology
• Objects and other Physical artifacts
• Techniques
• Beliefs
• Attitudes

Culture Complex

• a group of interrelated Culture Traits that form one, or more, aspects of a culture.
• An integrated group of cultural traits functioning as a distinct system within a culture area.
• Cattle Ranching
• Business Culture
• Sports Culture

Culture System

• The non-biological mechanism that relates the human organism to its physical and social environments. It is a perspective that thinks of culture and its environment as a number of linked systems in which change occurs through a series of minor, linked variations in one or more of these systems.

Culture Region

• A spatially distinct area occupied by people sharing recognizable and distinctive cultural characteristics.
• A region is likely to coincide with a major physiographic subdivision in which at a given time a high degree of cultural homogeneity may be expected but not counted on.

Culture Realm

• A set of cultural regions showing related culture complexes and landscapes.

• All of these Cultural complexes, systems, regions, and realms tend to be subjective, with soft boundaries and are subject to change and/or modification depending upon the researcher and the questions being asked.

Interaction of People and Environment

Environmental Determinism

• The belief that the physical environment by itself shapes humans, their actions, and their thoughts.
• Central Geographic Paradigm up until the 1940’s
• Humans operate under a stimulus-response relationship with the environment
• Used to explain and maintain European/Western cultural and physical dominance
• Ellen Churchill Semple – central U.S. proponent of this theory (early 1900’s)
• Underlay the justifications used by the Nazi’s for their genocidal practices

Cultural Ecology

• The study of the relationship between a culture group and the environment.
• Interrelations of people and the environment
• Their perceptions of the landscape
• Their use and modification of the landscape
• focused on flows of energy and materials and how people perceive their landscape
• Tends to ignore interactions between political units and outside cultural impacts

Carl O. Sauer – (1927) "Recent Developments in Cultural Geography"

• Response to Environmental Determinism
• Called landscape morphology or culture history
• Looks at the impact of humans on the landscape across time and space
• Uses the Superorganic theory of culture
• Looks at a culture region as a unified entity
• Tends to ignore the contributions of individuals

Anthropologist Julian Steward – (1955) "Theory of Culture Change; The Methodology of Multilinear Evolution”

• “study of the adaptive processes by which the nature of society, and an unpredictable number of features of culture, are affected by the basic adjustment through which man utilizes a given environment.”
• Develops from Environmental Determinism
• Builds on and is in reaction to Carl Sauer

Possibilism

• Theory that while the environment sets certain limitations or constraints culture is determined through the relationships of people.

Marshall Sahlins (1960) Evolution and Culture

(1976) Culture and Practical Reason

• Economic systems adapt to specific environments in culturally specific ways
• Perception of cultures of their landscape and their history
• Evolution of economic and political systems
• General evolution
• the tendency of cultural and social systems to increase in complexity, organization and adaptiveness to environment
• Specific evolution
• How human culture affects and modifies general evolution

Cultural Landscape

• The natural landscape as modified by human activities and bearing the imprint of a culture group or society, a built landscape.

Frederick Jackson Turner in 1893

• "The existence of an area of free land, its continuous recession, and the advance of American settlement westward explain American development,"

Cultural Subsystems

• Sociological – social organizational
• Ideological
• Technological – determining subsystem – “the hero of the piece”
• Social Systems are determined by the Technological System
• A three-part system to understand the building blocks of culture as set forth by anthropologist Leslie White – a technological utopian.
• White saw this not as a helpful heuristic device but as the actual division of nature and the universe.

Culture was a superorganic entity that was sui generis and could only be explained in terms of itself. The primary function of culture is its ability to harness and control energy.

• Human Energy
• Domesticated Animals
• Agriculture – plant energy
• Natural Resources – Industrial revolution
• Nuclear Energy

C = ET

• Where C = degree of cultural development
• E is the measure of energy used per year per capita
• T is the efficiency of the technological factors using the energy

• Technology is an attempt to solve the problems of survival.
• This attempt ultimately means capturing enough energy and diverting it for human needs.
• Societies that capture more energy and use it more efficiently have an advantage over other societies.
• Therefore, these different societies are more advanced in an evolutionary sense.

• Robert Lowie referred to White's work as "a farrago of immature metaphysical notions" shaped by "the obsessive power of fanaticism [which] unconsciously warps one's vision."

Technological Subsystem

• the instruments and tools people use in the daily cycle of life
• Agricultural practices
• Urbanization
• Less Technologically advanced societies tend to have a larger share of their population engaged in agriculture.
• Communications
• Government
• Standards of Living
• Industrial and Post-Industrial Societies
• Disease
• History

Sociological Subsystem

• The socio-facts used to define the social organizations of a culture
• Religion
• Institutions
• Formal and Informal Education
• Industry and Market
• Land Tenure
• Etc…

Ideological Subsystem

• The ideas, beliefs, knowledge, and expression of a culture – menti-facts – what we ought to believe, what we should value, how we ought to act.

Cultural Integration

• the interlocking nature of all aspects of a culture

Culture Change

• Change is induced by innovation, spatial diffusion, and acculturation

Innovation – evolution of ideas within a culture

• Technology
• Social
• Ideology
• All societies tend to be conservative and resistant to change and innovation
• Change tends to disrupt societal equilibrium
• Creates tension between various subsystems

• Cultural Lag – the time between innovation and general adoption of a new technology or idea within a culture

Spatial Diffusion

• The process by which an innovation spreads from a point of origin into new territories.
• Migration – the movement of people along with their ideas
• Information exchange – the idea spreads across cultural boundaries
• Syncretism – the fusion of new ideas with old

Acculturation

• The process of one culture adopting the characteristics of another
• Can be a two-way process
• Can be voluntary or forced
• Amalgamation Theory – melting pot concept of immigrant integration into an adopted culture
• Assimilation – the end result of acculturation
• Competition Theory – reassertion of cultural differences by a minority to defend its position within a society

Case Study – Origin and Spread of Agriculture

Agriculture began to be practiced in several places (Cultural Hearthlands) approximately 10,000 years ago.

• The Fertile Crescent – the Levant
• Mesoamerica
• Andean South America
• Yellow and Yangtze Rivers in China
• Neolithic Revolution

No Single accepted theory for the transition to agriculture

• Population pressure
• Increased population taxes food resources and forces intensification of food gathering – grains
• In stressed environments
• Competitive Feasting
• In resource rich areas
• As a product of social complexity
• High population regions
• Oasis Theory
• Resource rich but concentrated
• Hilly Flanks or Natural Habitat Theory
• Depends merely on the presence of humans and plants
• Marginal Zone or Edge Hypothesis
• People living in highly stressed regions of marginal resources
• Forced to adapt agriculture

Results of Agriculture

• Sedentism
• Need to remain in one place to guard and harvest crops
• Population increase
• Survival of the young and old
• Decline in overall health
• Increasing marginalization of women
• Rise of Complex Societies
• Decision making efficiency
• Six people of more
• Presence of a surplus
• Rise of Personal Aggrandizers
• Private ownership of land and resources
• Urbanization
• Due to rise in population
• Ability to control others
• Through resources and ideology

Spread of Agriculture

The European Case

• Into Southeastern Europe (the Balkans) by 8,000 BCE
• Around the Mediterranean Periphery around 7,000 BCE
• Migration and acculturation
• Into Central Europe around 6,000 – 5,500 BCE
• Migration of the LBK Culture (Linearbandkeramik)
• Into Atlantic Europe around 4,500 BCE
• Syncretism – the spread of ideas
• ritual and alcohol

Cultural Diversity

• Language, Religion, Ethnicity, and Gender among other traits

Language

• An organized system of speech – a symbolic representation of the world
• Language Families
• A group of languages which have a common origin in an earlier tongue
• Indo-European – very wide spread
• Language Sub-Families
• Romance Languages
• Germanic
• Slavic

Language Spread and Change

• Dispersion of Speakers – migration
• Acquisition of Speakers – acculturation
• Language Evolution
• Through time
• Contact with other languages

Standard Language

• Accepted community norms of syntax, vocabulary, and pronunciation.
• Dialects
• Set apart by vocabulary, pronunciation, rhythm, and speed of speech
• Regional Dialects – divided by regions or nations
• Social Dialects – divided by socioeconomic class or education
• Pidgin
• An amalgam of languages
• Generally restricted to a specific function
• Commerce, Administration, Supervision
• Highly simplified grammatical structure
• Sharply reduced vocabulary
• Ability to express simple ideas and concepts only
• Creole
• A new language formed from a more simple pidgin language
• Creole of Louisiana, Swahili
• Lingua Franca
• A second language used by people with different native tongues for communication
• Latin, French, English, Mandarin, Hindi

Language and Culture

• Language reflects both the environment and technology of a culture.
• Common language fosters unity
• Language reflects gender, social, educational, and regional differences

Toponymy

• The study of place names
• The language of the land
• Can reveal past historical facts about the landscape
• Can trace past migrations and invasions

Official Language

• A language that is the “official/legal” language of a nation or state
• United States
• English is the culturally accepted “official” language in most places
• Spanish, Vietnamese, French, Gaelic, etc…

Religion

Religion

• One of the single most important unifying or dividing socio and ideological aspects of culture throughout history.
• Formalized view of an individual’s and group’s relationship with the world
• Can have a major roll in influencing the Technological subsystem
• Birth Control Devices
• Immunization and health care
• Technology itself
• Involves systems of belief and faith in the sacred and divine
• Culture may be religions
• Islam, Judaism, Hinduism
• Culture may be defined in opposition to religion
• Humanism, Marxism

• Individual Religions tend to be conservative while religious culture is dynamic
• Can be modified due to social, ideological, or technological advances

Types

• Universalizing Religions
• faiths that claim applicability and openness to all humans and generally seek to spread their beliefs through evangelism and conversion.
• Christianity, Islam, Buddhism
• Ethnic Religions
• generally strongly associated with a specific territory and cultural group – must be born or adopted into the religion
• Judaism, Hinduism (Indian), Shinto
• Tribal Religions
• a sub-form of Ethnic Religions, generally defined by their association with a small group and is defines close ties to the natural world.
• Animism (Africa), Shamanism (Native American) (Bunk really)
  

Secularism

• An indifference to or rejection of religion and religious belief

Fundamentalism

• A religious orthodoxy that is revivalist and, usually, ultraconservative

Overview of some religions

Judaism

• One of the earliest Monotheistic Religions
• Foundation of both Christianity and Islam
• Ethnic religion
• Primarily a single ethnic group – descendent of Abraham
• Complex and restrictive set of laws and beliefs – the Torah
• Origins in the Levant approximately 3,000 to 3,500 bp (1000 – 1500 BCE)
• Defined by early military successes and later defeats
• Diaspora – Babylon and later Roman
• Destruction of the Temple in 70 CE
• Pogroms and Holocaust
• Founding of modern Israel
• Quasi-Divided
• Reformed
• Conservative
• Orthodox (Ultra-Orthodox)

Christianity

• Developed from Judaism with Jesus’ teachings
• Universalizing religion
• Defined by Jewish roots and pagan heritage
• Evangelism and conversion
• Initially a religion of the underclass and dispossessed
• Not a religion of the victorious
• Adopted by the Roman Empire
• Spread into Europe, Africa, and the Middle East
• Followed European Colonialism in 17^th through 20^th Centuries
• Divided Religion
• Western Christianity and Eastern Orthodox
• Catholic and Protestant

Islam

• Developed out of Judaism, Christianity, Animism
• The Prophet Mohammed
• Universalizing religion
• Defined by roots and Arabic culture
• Origin in the 7^th Century CE
• Religion of the Victorious
• Crisis in modern, Middle Eastern Islam – Loss of the Caliphate
• Divided Religion
• Sunnis
• Majority
• Accept the Four Caliphs (not necessarily related to Mohammed)
• Ruled the Middle East until WWI – Ottoman Empire
• The Mahdi has not yet come
• Shiites
• Only Fourth Caliph legitimate (family of Mohammed)
• 12^th Imam disappeared in 931 and will return (the Mahdi)
• Safavid Empire of Persia/Iran

Hinduism

• Oldest major religion
• At least 4000 years old
• Ethnic Religion
• Centered on Northern India (Indus River Valley)
• Found mainly in India and South Asia
• Centered around a Caste social structure
• Individual and Social Dharma (law and duty)
• Highly hierarchical
• No central figure or icon

Buddhism

• Developed out of Hinduism
• Founded by the Buddha – Siddhartha Gautama
• Universalizing Religion
• Very philosophical
• Explanations for evil and human suffering.
• Missionaries
• Open to all people and castes
• Origins around the 6^th Century BCE
• Spread throughout South Asia and China
• Later spread into North America and Europe
• Decline in India
• Islam and Hinduism

Syncretism

• Combinations of different forms and practices (mainly religions and philosophical)
• China
• Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism
• A Salad Bar Approach (Big Trouble in Little China)
• Japan
• Animism, Shamanism, and Buddhism formed Shinto

Geography of Religion

Settlement Patterns

Judaism

• Settlement patterns centered on the synagogue.
• Based on Religions belief
• May only walk on the Sabbath.
• Live within walking distance of the synagogue.
• Formation of Jewish Ghettos in Europe pre WWII
• Continues to this day
• Temple
• One Temple – in Jerusalem
• Destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE
• Only place where sacrifice is done
• Restrictive access
• Synagogue
• Much smaller
• Based on a village or neighborhood place of worship
• For everyday interaction with the sacred
• More egalitarian/open

Christianity

• Focus around the community
• Centered around Cathedrals and Churches
• Interior geography of worship spaces – symbolic space
  

Islam

• Centered on Mecca
• Focus on the Mosque
• Similar to Jewish Temple architecture
• Restricted Access

Ethnicity

• Ancestry of a particular people who have common cultural traits and heritage
• Vague and nebulous term
• Based on nationality, religion, language, customs, race, etc…
• Ethnicity is generally applied to the minority groups within a country

Ethnocentrism

• Belief of the superiority of one’s own ethnic group

Devolution

• The process whereby regions and peoples within a state demand and gain political strength and autonomy at the expense of the central government.
• Yugoslavia
• 1980 – Death of General Tito
• 1991 – Slovenia and Croatia decide to secede
• Serbian Nationalism - Slobodan Miloshevic
• 1992 – Bosnia Herzegovina secedes
• Civil War and Ethnic Cleansing
• Intervention by NATO forces in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo

Gender

• Socially created distinctions between femininity and masculinity
• Differences determined by economic state, technological advancement, religion, and custom
• Hunter-Gatherers – generally egalitarian
• Agriculture – shift toward male dominance and decrease in societal power of women
• Industrial Revolution – beginning of re-empowerment of women