1. The Human Mosaic A Cultural Approach to Human Geography 12th Edition
Mona Domosh
Roderick p. Neumann
Patricia L. Price
Terry G. jordan-Bychkov
C W.H. Freeman & CO.

2. Chapter 1
Human geography:
A cultural approach

3. Geography:
The study of spatial patterns and of differences and similarities from one place to another in environment and culture.

4. What is geography? The study of spatial variation
How – and why – things differ from place to place on the surface of the earth
The study of how observable spatial patterns evolved through time

5. What is Culture?
Culture
The specialized behavioral patterns, understandings, adaptations, and social systems that summarize a group of people’s learned way of life. (whew!)
Buildings (architecture, materials)
Farming Patterns (subsistence vs. corporate)
Language
Ways of earning a living

6. Culture
(1) A total way of life held in common by a group of people, including such learned features as:
Speech
Ideology
Behavior
Livelihood
Technology
Government

7. Culture HUMAN Geography:
(2) The local, customary way of doing things—a way of life; an ever-changing process in which a group is actively engaged; a dynamic mix of symbols, beliefs, speech, and practices.
HUMAN Geography:
The study of the relationships between people and the places and spaces in which they live.

8. What is Culture? (cont.) Imitation Instruction Example
Culture is transmitted by:
Imitation
Instruction
Example
Culture is NOT biological, it is LEARNED
The visible and invisible evidence of culture are all parts of spatial diversity

9. Structure of Culture Ideological
Any Culture can be viewed in three subsystems:
Ideological
Mentifacts – “ideas, beliefs, knowledge”
Technological
Artifacts – “stuff”
Sociological
Sociofacts – “expected/accepted behavior”

10. Spatial variation: predominant religion

11. Why spatial variation exists: earthquakes

12. What is geography?
Geography is a spatial science
Spatial behavior of people
Spatial relationships between places
Spatial processes that create or maintain those behaviors and relationships

13. How to Understand Human Geography: Space and Place
Term used to connote the objective, quantitative, theoretical, model-based, economics-oriented type of geography that seeks to understand spatial systems and networks through the application of social science.
Or…
A scientific approach to cultural geography

14. How to Understand Human Geography: Space and Place
Term used to connote the subjective, idiographic, humanistic, culturally oriented type of geography that seeks to understand the unique character of individual regions and places, rejecting the principles of science as flawed and unknowingly biased.
Or…
An approach that focuses on each individual situation

15. Example of Model Building: The Latin American City (Fig 1.3)

16. Themes in Human Geography
Region
Mobility
Globalization
Nature-Culture
Cultural Landscape

17. Region Formal Functional Vernacular
A grouping of like places or the functional union of places to form a spatial unit.
Formal
Functional
Vernacular

18. Regions Formal, or uniform, regions
Areas of essential uniformity in one or a limited combination of physical or cultural features
The characterizing features are most clearly defined at the core (node)
The characterizing features lessen in dominance toward its periphery

19. Wheat-farming formal regions (Figure 1.2)
Formal Regions Inhabited by people who share one or more cultural traits.
Wheat-farming formal regions
(Figure 1.2)

20. Regions Functional, or nodal, region
A spatial system defined by the interactions and connections that give it a dynamic, organizational basis
Also follows core/periphery patterns
Example: Deerwood has both Brainerd and Aitkin papers
Example: Minnesota

21. Denver, Colorado (Figure 1.5)
Functional Region Functions as a unit politically, socially, or economically.
Denver, Colorado
(Figure 1.5)

22. East v. West/North v. South in Germany (Fig. 1.6)

23. Vernacular Region A region perceived to exist by its inhabitants.
“THE VALLEY”
(san fernando, northwest l.A.)
(Figure 1.7)

24. Regions Vernacular, or perceptual, regions
Less rigorously structured than the formal and functional regions
Reflect feelings and images rather than objective data
Little Italy, Chinatown, gang ‘turf’
Boundaries depend on the perception of the individual

25. Vernacular Region Twins’ Territory Brainerd Lakes Region
cab.blog.gustavus.edu
brainerddispatch.com

26. 3-10 Palestinian Student’s View of the World Figure 3.20
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
Palestinian Student’s View of the World
Figure 3.20
3-10

27. Mobility Mobility: Diffusion:
The relative ability of people, ideas, or things to move freely through space.
Diffusion:
The movement of people, ideas, or things from one location outward toward other locations.

28. Mobility through diffusion
Relocation diffusion
Expansion diffusion
Hierarchical diffusion
Contagious diffusion
Stimulus diffusion

29. Diffusion of HIV in Ohio (Fig. 1.9)

30. Barriers to Diffusion
Time-Distance Decay
Absorbing
Permeable

31. Diffusion or Circulation?
Implies an ongoing set of movements of people, ideas, or things that have no particular center or periphery.
Migrations

32. Globalization
Binding together of all the lands and peoples of the world into an integrated system driven by capitalistic free markets
Cultural diffusion is rapid
Independent states are weakened
Cultural homogenization is encouraged

33. Human Development Index (Fig 1.11)

34. Nature-Culture
REFERS TO THE COMPLEX RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PEOPLE AND THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

35. Schools of Thought in Nature-Culture
Environmental Determinism:
Cultures are shaped directly or indirectly by the physical environment.
Possibilism:
Humans, not the physical environment, are the primary active force; any environment offers a number of different possibilities for cultures to develop; choices among these possibilities are guided by cultural heritage.

36. Schools of Thought in Nature-Culture
Environmental perception:
Culture depends more on what people perceive the environment to be than on the actual character of the environment; perception is colored by culture.
Humans as modifiers of the earth:
Humans mold nature.

37. L: Chongqing (Chungking) and R: San Francisco (Figure 1.13)

38. Post-Katrina New Orleans (Figure 1.14) Environmental Perception

39. Cultural Landscape Roads Cities Houses Parks Commercial buildings
All the built forms that cultural groups create in inhabiting the Earth (visible imprint)
Roads
Cities
Houses
Parks
Commercial buildings

40. Cultural Landscape cont.
Reflects a culture’s:
Needs
Values
Attitudes towards the Earth
Contains valuable evidence about the origin, spread, and development of cultures

41. Cultural Landscapes cont.
Ecological events
Not all early societies lived in harmony with their environment!!!!
Hollywood misconceptions
Real examples of ecological disasters
Pleistocene overkill
Roman granary of North Africa
Easter Island
Modern issues

42. Modern Issues In the past people have misused the land Dust Bowl
Over-farming
Deforestation

43. Some Cultural Landscapes Yunnan Province, China (Fig. 1.16)

44. Yokohama, Japan (Figure 1.19)

45. Cultural Landscape cont.
Symbolic Landscape
Landscape that expresses the values, beliefs, and meanings of a particular culture

46. Chinatown, San Francisco (Fig. 1.17)

47. Prague (Figure 1.20)

48. Cultural Landscape cont.
3 principles of CL:
Settlement forms
Land-division patterns
Architectural styles

49. Settlement forms
Spatial arrangement of buildings, roads, towns, and other features
Nucleation – a dense settlement form
Dispersed – people are more spread out

50. Settlement Forms
Grid layout vs. Organic

51. Westmoreland, Imperial Valley, California (Fig. 1.22)

52. Land-division patterns
Reveal the way a culture has divided the land for economic, social, and political uses
Towns in the U.S.
Residential areas
Industrial areas
Government areas

53. Land-division patterns

54. Architecture Exterior materials Decoration Layout
Is there a purpose to the the design?
Examining architecture of a culture reveals a lot about the people

55. American Ranch House (Figure 1.21)

56. Canadian Log House (Figure 1.23)