1. Topic: Cultural Geography
Aim: In what ways can we examine cultural elements of geography?
Do Now: How would you define culture? Is there such a thing as ‘American Culture”? If so, define it…

2. Culture is… Learned, not biological
Transmitted within a society to next generations by imitation, tradition, instruction and example
Provides a “general framework” as each individual learns & adheres to roles and general rules and conventions

3. Material and Nonmaterial Culture:
The things a group of people construct, such as art, houses, clothing, sports, dance, and food.
Nonmaterial Culture
The beliefs, practices, aesthetics, and values of a group of people. Examples-religion, language, traditions & customs
Little Sweden, USA (Lindsborg, Kansas): Is the Swedish Dala horse part of
material or nonmaterial culture?
Little Sweden, USA (Lindsborg, Kansas): Is the Swedish Dala horse part of material or nonmaterial culture? 3

4. What is culture? Material objects (artifacts)
Interpersonal relations (sociofacts)
Ideas and beliefs (mentifacts)
Each element has a spatial distribution

5. Cultural Systems:
What we eat, when we eat and how we eat is an example of cultural differences
Some Asian cultures eat with the right hand, East Asian cultures use chopsticks, Western cultures use knife, fork and a spoon.
Certain foods are considered delicacies by some cultures, unclean and unfit for consumption by others. E.g. shrimp, snails, worms, insects, etc.
Voice-tone and level are very culturally specific.
Body gestures-Japanese bowing, ‘slurping’ of food, Western shaking hands, tipping of the hat, etc.
Various marriage customs-intermarriage is accepted in some societies, but not others 5

6. Cultural Landscape:
The imprint of people on the land-how humans use, alter and manipulate the landscape to express their identity.
Examples:
Architecture of buildings
Methods of tilling the soil
Means of transportation
Clothing and adornment
Sights, sounds and smells of a place
U of C Berkley Professor Carl Sauer is responsible for the concept of cultural landscape.
Derwent Whittlesey proposed the concept of sequent occupance 6

7. “The cultural landscape is fashioned from a natural landscape by a cultural group. Culture is the agent, the natural area the medium, the cultural landscape is the result. Under the influence of a given culture, itself changing through time, the landscape undergoes development, passing through phases, and probably reaching ultimately the end of its cycle of development. With the introduction of a different-that-is alien culture, a rejuvenation of the cultural landscape sets in, or a new landscape is superimposed on remnants of an older one.” ---Carl Sauer, 1925 7

8. Custom – frequent repetition of an act until it becomes characteristic of a group of people..
Taboo – a restriction on behavior imposed by social custom.
Habit – repetitive act performed by an individual.

9. Left-an Apache girl nears the end of her Sunrise Ceremony which is a coming of age ceremony for young girls reaching puberty. The sacred pollen on her face invests her with healing powers. A good example of a cultural trait.
Left-an Apache girl nears the end of her Sunrise Ceremony which is a coming of age ceremony for young girls reaching puberty. The sacred pollen on her face invests her with healing powers. A good example of a cultural trait.
Right-festival in Tarabuco, Bolivia. The revelers wear wool hats that mimic the steel helmets that were worn by the Spanish conquistadors of the 16th century.
Right-festival in Tarabuco, Bolivia. The revelers wear wool hats that mimic the steel helmets that were worn by the Spanish conquistadors of the 16th century 9

10. Cultural Complex:
Individual cultural traits which are functionally interrelated. Such complexes are universal
For the Masai (left) keeping cattle was a cultural trait. Related traits included measurement of personal wealth by number of cattle owned, a diet containing milk and the blood of the cattle, and disdain for labor unrelated to herding. All these together form a cultural complex
Examples in the U.S.???
The Masai of Kenya

11. Cultural Realm:
A set of cultural regions showing related cultural complexes and landscapes, having assumed fundamental uniformity in its cultural characteristics and showing significant differences from surrounding realms

12. Environmental influence
Old: environmental determinism
Physical environment shapes everything
Prone to racist conclusions
New: possibilism
People are the driving force
But environment shapes cultural activity

13. Architecture Building materials based on environment
Wood in forested areas
Brick in hot, dry places
Grass or sod on prairies
Skins for nomads

14. Nebraska
Syria
Dominican Republic
Newfoundland

15. Architecture House shape may depend on environment
Interior courtyards for privacy
Open plan for letting in air
Tall, narrow to maximize land
Steep roofs in snowy areas

16. China
Amsterdam
Massachusetts

17. Architecture House form and orientation as sociofacts
Front porches, front stoops
Sacred direction, sacred wall
Sleeping orientation

18. Guyana
Brooklyn

19. Poland
Korea
Yemen

20. Clothing: Based on climate Warm or cold Wet or dry
May reflect occupation/status
Also reflect values, traditions

21. Netherlands
Samoa
Morocco
Guatemala
China

22. Food: Strong part of group identity
Demonstrates innovation, diffusion, acculturation, and assimilation
Can be part of place identity
Back and forth between culture and place
Preferences may depend on environment
Staple foods: rice, sorghum, maize, wheat
Salted meats, fish
Fresh vegetables
Or genetics (lactose intolerance)

23. American foodways: Colonial foods (Thanksgiving)
Foods diffused back to New World
Potatoes to Ireland
Tomatoes to Italy
Chocolate to Spain
Peanut and sweet potato to Africa
Mixing of foods (creole) Acculturation (or not)
Southern cooking retains strong regional identity
African slaves cooked on plantations
Less urban influence
Anti-North attitudes discouraged

24. American foodways More immigrants mean more foods
Similar diffusion pattern to place names
Anti-immigrant attitudes through dieticians
Chili power bad for stomach
Common pot unsanitary
Pickles unhealthy
Sushi during World War II

25. Tomato
Vinegar
Mustard

26. Food and place identity:
Historical connections
Deliberate marketing
Tourism and place “consumption”
Pineapples and Hawaii
Lobster and Maine
Wine appellations and terroir

27. Pineapples and Hawaii:
Originally South American
Plantations since 1800s
Dole’s national ad campaign in 1907: Hawaiian pineapple
Cheaper to grow in Thailand, Philippines
Hawaii focuses on fresh fruit for tourists

28. Lobsters and Maine: Originally food for poor, or fertilizer
Wealthy New Englanders in 1860s
Summering in Maine
Imitating the locals
Only for wealthy vacationers
Now negative symbol for locals

29. Wine geography: Production based on environmental factors
Temperate climate (hot summer, wet winter)
Hillsides allow drainage, sunlight
Coarse, well-drained soil
And social factors that determine consumption

31. Wine geography: Terroir: how environment shapes wine flavor
Soil, sunlight, slope, rainfall, etc.
Varies at the vineyard scale
Appellation: place-of-origin label
Champagne, Bordeaux, Burgundy, etc.
Parmigiana Romano, Stilton, Camembert

32. Food Preferences & Taboos:
Certain foods are consumed based on their perceived benefits or detriments (whether true or false)
Abipone Indians eat jaguars and bulls to gain bravery and strength
Some Mediterranean cultures eat the mandrake plant, thought to enhance sexual prowess
Any restriction on consumption habits due to perceived negative effects is called a food taboo

33. Food Taboo’s
Ainus in Japan don’t eat otters who are thought of as forgetful animals
Europeans traditionally blamed the potato for social ills due to the way it was grown
In Papua, New Guinea, couples cannot eat together before marriage, however premarital sex is considered socially acceptable

34. Food Taboos & Religion:
Religion plays an active role in food taboos.
Kosher Law, Halal Meat, Prohibition of cow meat for Hindus, Prohibition of pork for Muslims
Some of the rationales have a basis in sanitation and environment, however they cannot be explained solely this way. Social values also play an important role

35. Deep fried giant water bugs are a snack in Thailand
Food Taboos in U.S.
Avoid eating insects, despite nutritional value
Canned mushrooms and tomato paste contain insects (though not commonly acknowledged)
Deep fried giant water bugs are a snack in Thailand

36. Raise your hand if this is appetizing to you!

37. Do Asians Eat Weird Things?

38. Associated with becoming a better lover
Food Attractions:
Mandrake
Associated with becoming a better lover

39. Other food taboos:
Before becoming pregnant, Mbum Kpau women of Chad do not eat chicken or goat; during pregnancy do not keep meat from antelopes with twisted horns
In the Trobriand Islands (near Papua New Guinea) couples are prohibited from eating meals together before marriage, but premarital sexual relations are accepted

40. Food Taboo Against Pork:
Jews and Muslims
Hebrews: needed pigs for farming
Muslims: pigs unsuited for dry lands of Arabian Peninsula (would compete with humans for food without providing other benefits e.g. milk, wool, pulling plow)

42. Food Taboo Against Cows:
Sacred for Hindus
Environmental reason: cows are needed to pull plows
Can only plow when monsoon rains arrive and need a large supply of oxen
Religious sanctions keep a large cow supply

43. No Reservations - Quebec