1. Culture
Culture is a complex concept. Culture is a particular way of life, such as a set of skilled activities, values, and meanings surrounding a particular type of practice. Culture is a shared set of meanings that is lived through the material and symbolic practices of everyday life. Culture could be values, beliefs, ideas, and practices

2. Concepts of Culture Cultural geography Definition: Cultural Landscape
Study of people’s lifestyles, their creations, and their relationships to the Earth
Looks at why and how culture is expressed in different ways and different places
Involves:
Material components of culture
Tangible artifacts
Clothing, architecture
Non-material components of culture
Thoughts/ ideas
Religion, laws
Cultural Landscape
“built landscape”
Physical imprint a culture makes on the environment
Buildings, artwork, music
Carl Sauer
20th century geographer
Culture leaves “imprint”
Cultural Ecology
Study of human-environment interaction and its results
Sequent Occupancy
Theory that a place can be occupied by different groups of people, and each group leaves its imprint on the place from which the next group learns

3. Cultural Ecology England France Called Historical Geography H.C. Darby
An isogloss is a geographical boundary that indicates the outer limit of one particular linguistic feature, such as a word’s pronunciation, spelling, or meaning. Unlike language borders, isoglosses indicate linguistic differences that can occur both within and between language regions
England
Called Historical Geography
Defined as “geography in the past”
H.C. Darby
Implemented his historical approach to cultural geo and landscape by developing a geography based on the Domesday Book.
Used data to reconstruct the political, social, and economic forces that shaped past landscapes
France
Called “genre de vie”
Def: a functionally organized way of life that is seen to be characteristic of a particular cultural group
Centered on livelihood practices of groups that were seen to shape physical, social, and psychological bonds.
Vidal de la Blanche
Emphasized need to study small, homogeneous areas to uncover relationship between people and their surroundings
Cultural Ecology

4. Natural vs. Cultural landscape

5. Human-Environment Interaction
Environmental Determinism
Theory that human behavior is controlled (or determined) by physical environment
Ex: ideal climates cause more productive citizens
Egypt vs. Siberia
Possibilism
Counterargument to environment determinism
Argues the natural environment places limits on the set of choices available to a people
People, not the environment, propel human development
Cultural Determinism
Theory that the environment places no restrictions on humans whatsoever
Only restrictions are the ones humans create themselves
Political Ecology
Attempts to answer why human cultures interact with environments the way they do
Government of a region affects the environment in that region which affects choices available to people
Ex: zoning laws

6. Layers of a Culture Culture Traits Culture Complex Culture Systems
Def:
A single attribute of a culture
Ex: bowing to show respect
Not always unique to one group
Culture Complex
Combination of all culture traits creates a unique set of traits
No two cultures in the world have the same culture complexes
Culture Systems
When many culture complexes share particular traits, those traits can merge into culture systems
Ex: Germany
Culture Regions
Def:
Region that includes places and peoples with similarities in their culture systems
People in culture region often share a sense of common culture and regional identity
Boundaries defined by perceptions and opinions
Ex: The South
Culture Realms
Formed through the fusing together of culture regions that share enough in common to be merged together
ex:
Anglo-American realm
Latin American realm
Sino- Japanese realm

7. Culture regions: Religion

9. Cultural Diffusion Cultural/Spatial Diffusion Cultural diffusion:
People’s material and non- material creations spread across time and space, moving to new places and being carries through generations.
Cultural diffusion:
Spread of people’s cultural across space
Spatial diffusion:
Spread of any phenomenon (such as a disease) across space
Two categories of diffusion:
Expansion
relocation

11. Cultural Diffusion Expansion Diffusion Relocation Diffusion
Def:
Cultural component spreads outward to new places while remaining strong in the hearth
Forms of Expansion Diffusion
Stimulus
Idea diffuses from hearth but original idea is changed
Iced tea vs Sweet tea
Hierarchical
Idea spreads from a place or person of power
Hip-hop moving from large cities to other larger cities to smaller cities to suburbs/ rural areas
Contagious
Numerous places or people near the point of origin become adopters
Ex: Tuberculosis
Relocation Diffusion
Def:
Involves actual movement of the original adapters from their hearth to a new place
People do the “moving” not the innovation
Migrant diffusion
Innovation spreads and lasts only a brief time in the newly adopted place
Ex: Band Concert
Mix of Patterns
Many diffusing phenomenon spread through mix of patterns
Ex: HIV/ AIDS

13. Culture Hearths Definition:
Areas where innovations in culture began, such as where agriculture, government, and urbanization originated
Sources of human civilization
Ancient culture hearths believed to have developed in places with the capacity for innovation
Near sources of water/ arable land
Not all innovations required interaction
Independent innovation
Ancient Hearth
Direction of Diffusion of Civilization from Ancient Hearth
Andean America
Eastward t/out S. America
Mesoamerica
Eastern/Western N. America
West Africa
T/out Africa
Nile River Valley
T/out Africa and S.W. Asia
Mesopotamia
T/out S.W. Asia, Europe, Central and East Asia, W. Africa
Indus River Valley
T/out S.W., Central, East Asia
Ganges River Valley
T/out South, SE, and SW Asia
Huang River Valley
T/out East and SE Asia

14. Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock and officially "Uluru / Ayers Rock", is a large sandstone rock formation in the southern part of central Australia. Ayers Rock is a sacred place to the Aṉangu. The Aṉangu traditional religion view the local natural formations of Ayers Rock as embodying, rather than symbolizing, spiritual beings The world was once a featureless place. None of the places we know existed until creator beings, in the forms of people, plants and animals, traveled widely across the land. Then, in a process of creation and destruction, they formed the landscape as we know it today. Aṉangu land is still inhabited by the spirits of dozens of these ancestral creator beings which are referred to as Tjukuritja or Waparitja

16. Torsten Hagerstrand
Theorized that innovations of all kinds tend to diffuse from their hearths in stages
1st stage:
Gain acceptance in place of origin
Early adopters
“innovators”
2nd stage
Begin to spread rapidly outward from region
Majority adopters
3rd stage
Slowing and reaching maximum dispersal and saturation
Late adopters
“Laggards”
Research led to seeing that diffusion followed an S-curve pattern
Example: Cell phone diffusion

18. Cultural Convergence and Divergence
Definition:
Occurs when two cultures adopt each other’s traits and become more alike
Cultural Divergence
Occurs when two cultures become increasingly different
Often one group moves away from the territory of other
Acculturation
Occurs when two cultures come into contact with one another and the “weaker” of the two adopts traits from the more dominant culture
Assimilation
Sometimes acculturation leads to assimilation
When the original traits of the weaker culture are completely replaced by more dominant culture
Transculturation
When two cultures of just about equal power meet and exchange ideas

19. Sauer’s Cultural Landscape
This figure summarizes the ways the natural and cultural landscapes are transformed.

20. How are hearths of popular culture traits established?
Typically begins with an idea/good and contagious diffusion.
Companies can create/manufacture popular culture. (ie. MTV)
Individuals can create/manufacture popular culture. (ie. Tony Hawk)

21. Origin of the world’s major religions >
Cultural Systems
A cultural system is a collection of interacting components that shape a group’s collective identity, and includes traits, territorial affiliation, and shared history.
Geography and Religion
Geography and Language
Culture and Society
Origin of the world’s major religions >

22. Placelessness: the loss of uniqueness in a cultural landscape – one place looks like the next.

23. Because of the historical geography of the United States’ migration and settlement patterns, which generally began along the Atlantic seaboard and radiated westward over time, cultural diffusions have likewise tended to flow from east to west over much of the country’s history

24. Language and National Identity
Standard Language
a language that is published, widely distributed, and purposefully taught.
Government usually plays a big role in standardizing a language.

25. Mutual Intelligibility
Means two people can understand each other when speaking.
Problems:
Cannot measure mutual intelligibility
Many “languages” fail the test of mutual intelligibility
Standard languages and governments impact what is a “language” and what is a “dialect”