The landscapes we create tell us who we are … Martha B. Sharma APHG Workshop NCGE – Lake Tahoe, NV October 6-7, 2006 NY Times Gettysburg

III. Cultural Patterns and Processes  Concepts of culture  Cultural differences  Environmental impacts of cultural attitudes and practices  Cultural landscapes and cultural identities

Cultural Landscapes  “A cultural landscape is fashioned from a natural landscape by a culture group. Culture is the agent, the natural area is the medium. The cultural landscape the result.” Carl O. Sauer in The Morphology of Landscape (1925)

Cultural Landscapes  “… all human landscape has cultural meaning, no matter how ordinary it may be.... Our human landscape is our unwitting autobiography, reflecting our tastes, our values, and even our fears, in tangible, visible form. ”  “ The man-made landscape … provides strong evidence of the kind of people we are, were, and will be. ” Peirce Lewis in Axioms for Reading the Landscape (1979)

Cultural Landscapes  “ Most objects in the landscape – although they convey all kinds of ‘messages’ – do not convey those message in any obvious way. The landscape does not speak to us very clearly. … one must know what kinds of questions to ask. ” Peirce Lewis in Axioms for Reading the Landscape (1979)

Analytical Goals of Human Geography  Use and think about maps and spatial data.  Understand and interpret the implications of associations among phenomena in places.  Recognize and interpret at different scales relationships among patterns and processes.  Define regions and evaluate the regionalization process.  Characterize and analyze changing interconnections among places.

Religious Landscapes Global patterns Places of worship Places of Remembrance

Cemeteries are a very visible part of the religious landscape

Grave markers provide cultural insights into people and places.

Taj Mahal – Agra, India

An AP Human Geography course should encourage field observation Although organized field trips are not necessary for the course, some combination of exercises, visual aids, and field work should be pursued to provide students with a sense of how the material world embodies information and ideas about culture, society, and human-environment relations.

Axioms for Reading the Landscape I.The man-made landscape – the ordinary run-of- the-mill things that humans have created and put upon the earth – provides strong evidence of the kind of people we are, and were, and are in the process of becoming. IV.In trying to unravel the meaning of contemporary landscapes and what they have to “say” about us as Americans, history matters. V.Elements of a cultural landscape make little cultural sense if they are studied outside their geographic (i.e., locational) context. Peirce Lewis in Axioms for Reading the Landscape (1979)

Activity One A Cultural Study of Crown Hill Cemetery From:

Grave Markers as Cultural Artifacts  Styles of gravestones change over time  Relative chronology can be determined based on change or continuity in material style  Style is any visible attribute  Shape, height, width, color of stone, design details  Some grave markers are unique for personal reasons

Types of Grave Markers

Analyzing Grave Markers at Crown Hill Cemetery In this exercise students:  Analyze 48 real grave markers manufactured between 1864 and 1997 based on stylistic changes in design  The “Marker Data Table” is located at  Sort the markers chronologically  Answer the questions based on photos and other information in the table

Examples from Crown Hill Activity Childers (1864) “Symbolic” Bedino (1995) “Above Ground” Gatling (1903) “Monumental”

Activity Two A Cultural/Demographic Study of St. Helena’s Episcopal Church Cemetery

Beaufort County, South Carolina Beaufort (1710) and St. Helena’s Church (1712) Named for Henry Somerset, Duke of Beaufort ( )

St. Helena’s Church St. Helena’s Church is located in the heart of historic Beaufort, SC

Parish Church of St. Helena Established in 1712 by an act of the Colonial Assembly  Beaufort, South Carolina  Original building erected in 1724  Cemetery fills the church yard  Used by the Union Army as a hospital during the Civil War  Partially destroyed by hurricanes in 1896 and 1959  Major restoration

Reading a Local Cultural Landscape In Activity Two, students …  Use elements of the cultural landscape: images and data from grave markers in the cemetery of St. Helena’s Church to examine changes over time.  Examine selected grave markers to understand cultural patterns in the local community  Manipulate the cemetery data base to produce  Histograms  “Age at Death” Pyramids  Summarize their findings in a short paper.

Getting Started  To begin this field activity, you will need a map of the cemetery to be studied. Add grid marks, if they are not already on the map, to facilitate sector references.

Sample Spreadsheet from the St. Helena’s Database

Data Summary from the St. Helena’s Database

Patterns in Age at Death

Changes in Age at Death Comparing the 19 th and 20 th Centuries St. Helena’s: 19 th CenturySt. Helena’s: 20 th Century

Create a Field Experience for Your Class  An AP course should not be just about the Exam  An AP course should be about learning  Field work is not a requirement for APHG  But field work is essential to learning to think geographically  The experience of field work will demonstrate for students the geographic perspective  This experience will prepare them to apply what they have learned to any situation  And this will definitely help them on the Exam

Over-arching Course Goals Students should …  Study patterns and processes that have shaped human understanding, use, and alteration of Earth’s surface  Analyze human social organization  Apply the methods and tools of geography Source: College Board Course Description Booklet, p. 3.