Cultural Geography
Fundamentals of the Human Mosaic
Terry Jordan,
Chapter 1
(Move to next slide before class)
Textbook
• The bookstore has the text.
• It should be on the shelves soon.
• Roberts had books on the shelves last week.
Homework 1 Prompt:• Paper 1 Prompt, Indigenous Culture: • Select your native indigenous culture from a list. (If you wish to
use one not on the list, please see me first.)1) Identify and use web sites developed by this culture, not made by another entity.
2) How does your indigenous group describe their religious or philosophical relationship with the land?
3) How did they use the environment to thrive in the past?
4) What do they say about their homeland and territorial claims? 5) What are their views on biodiversity conservation, resource extraction, and/or bio-prospecting?
6) Compare their answers to the last 4 questions with your previous beliefs and assumptions about indigenous groups.
7) What roles do maps play on the web sites?
8) What other indigenous or popular cultures have competing land claims?
9) What major issues does the site highlight, and how do these issues relate to globalization?
(10) You must have a good introduction, a good conclusion, and good grammar.
Amerindian Tribes
• If you do not have a favorite tribe, see http://www.greatdreams.com/native.htm for a list of American First Nations
List: part 1Abenaki Comanche Koasati Nomlaki Serrano Wintu
Accohannock Costanoan Koshare Nooksack Shasta Woodland
Achomawi Coushatta Ktunaxa Nootka Shawnee Wyandot
Acoma Cowichan Kutenai Occaneechi Shinnecock Yagua
Adenas Cowlitz Kuiu Oglala Shoalwater Yakama
Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas Creek Kumeyaay Ohlone Shoshone Yavapai
Alleghans Crees Kwakiutl Ojibwe Shuswap Yokuts
Aleut Crow Lakota Okanogan Siksika Yosemite
Algonkin Dakota Lenni-Lenape Omaha Siletz Yuki
Amonsoquath Deh Cho Listuguj Oneida Sioux Yuma
Cherokee Delaware Luisenos Onondaga Sisseton Wahpeton Yunsai
Apache Dene Lumbee Osage Six Nations Tup'ik
Arikara, Mandan, Hidatsa Diegueno Lummi Ottawa S'Klallam Yurok
Anishinabe Dineh Mahican Otoe & Missouria Snohomish Zuni
Anasazi Edisto Maidu Mechoopda Pai Yuman Skokomish
Apalachee Eeyou Makah Paiute Snoqualmie Source:
Aquidneck Erie Mandans Pala Spokane http://www.greatdreams.com/nativeb.htm
Arapaho Esketmc Mascoutan Papago Stillaguamish
Arawak Eskimo Mattabetic Passamaquoddy Suquamish
List: part 2Arikara Esselen Mattaponi Patuxet
Aroostook Assateague Flathead Maya Patwin
Assiniboine Fond du lac Meherrin Pawnee
Athabaskan Gabrielino Menominee Pee Dee
Atsina Goshute Metoac Pembina Band
Aztecs Gros Ventre Miami Pennicook
Bella Coola Gwichin Miami Chippewa Penobscot
Beothuk Haida Miccosoukee Peoria
Blackfeet Haliwa-Siponi MicMac Pequot
Blackfoot Havasupai Middle Woodland Pima-Maricopa
Bodega Miwok Hawaii Mingo Iroquois Piman
Source:
http://www.greatdreams.com/nativeb.htm
List: part 3Brothertown Hidatsa Minnesota Pitt River Tongva
Caddo Ho-ChunkMississippi
Bands Plateau Tuchone
Cahuilla Hohokam Missouri Tribes Pocomoke Tulalip
California Hopi Miwok Pomo Tumucuan
Calusa Hodenosaunee Modoc Ponca Tunica-Biloxi
Carrier Sekani Houma Mohawk Portage Band Umatilla
Catawba Hualapai Mohegan Potawatomi Unami
Cayuga Hupa Mohican Powhatan Ute
Cayuse Huron Mojave Pueblo Vanyume
Chehalis Illinois Monacan Puyallup Yakwal
Cherokee Incas Mono Quapaw Yana
Source:
http://www.greatdreams.com/nativeb.htm
List: part 4 Keetoowah Navajo Saponi Washoe
Ciboney Kickapoo Nez Perce Saskatchewan Wea
Clatsop Kiowa Nipissing Sauk/Fox Wichita
Cocopah Kiowah Nipmuc Secwepemc Willams
Coeur d'Lane Keres Nisga'a Seminole Winnebago
Coharie Klallam Nisqually Seneca Wiinnemucca
Source:
http://www.greatdreams.com/nativeb.htm
SJSU Support Centers• Disabled Student Program and Services (DSP) • Educational Opportunity Program and Services (EOPS)• Learning and Resource Center (LARC)• Peer Mentor Center (Clark Hall)• Writing Center (Clark Hall)• Computer Help Desk (Clark Hall)• Computer access: Library, Clark Hall Student Union, MLK Library etc.• Library• Science lab (Clark Hall)• Health Services • Counselling Services • Transfer Center• Assessment• Athletic Counselling• Housing• International Students• Security / Parking• Bookstore• Cashiers / Admissions / Enrolment
Geography: Growth and Development• Hippocrates: philosopher, ‘father of Geography’• Explorers: What is where?• Scientists: How does it work?• Conquerors: What can I get by taking it?• Emperors: How can I get more out of it?• Planners: How can we make it work for society?• Environmentalists: How can we preserve it, and keep
ourselves from destroying it? • Generally: How can I improve the quality of my life?
• At different times and in different places, Geography and its applications developed differently over time, focusing on different problems using different paradigms striving to attain different purposes.
Cultural Geography
Fundamentals of the Human Mosaic
Terry Jordan,
Chapter 1
(Move to next slide before class)
Geography
• Description of the Earth – (Inquiry: who, what, where, when, why, and how)
• Discovery: Who and what is where? • Understanding: Why are the patterns there?• Consequence: What do these patterns affect?• Interdependence: How is this all related?• Relevance: When, where, & why does it matter?• Diagnostic: Why did these things happen there?• Prognostic: How can we do a better job?
Historical description of the Earth
• Geographers study the earth, and attempt to describe and explain its patterns of physical and human activity.
http://www.thesavvytraveller.com/agraphics/tools/fibrelok/old_world_map.jpg
Cultural Geography
• The study of spatial variations among cultural groups and the spatial functioning of society.
• Geographers study cultures and how they work from a spatial perspective. – So… what is culture?
Culture: (chapter heading)
• Learned Collective Human Behavior – What we have commonly learn and do– Behavior is based on beliefs of how things work.– Behavior produces material goods and byproducts.– This is weighted towards actions, without recognizing
underlying beliefs, of products or byproducts.• Anthropologists and sociologists study activities.• Archaeologists look at the artifacts that remain.• Psychologists study how and what we think and learn.• Geographers study the variation and pattern of beliefs, activities,
artifacts, and byproducts to develop a wide variety of spatial understanding, including knowledge of space and place, of site and situation.
Culture: book definitions
1. Learned Collective Human Behavior (partial)2. A total way of live held in common by a group of
people, including such learned features as speech, ideology, behavior, livelihood, technology, and government (list, incomplete set)
3. The local customary way of doing things – a way of life (illuminates one part)
4. An ever-changing process in which a group is effectively engaged (focus on change, needs more)
5. A dynamic mix of symbols, beliefs, speech, and practices (individual or group? What about things?)
(If you use all five definitions, you fully define culture.)
Culture: Anthropology clarify
• An Anthropological Definition: – sociofacts, mentifacts and artifacts representative of a
cadre.
• Simplified– Culture: Actions, beliefs, and things
representative of a group– This includes material and non-material culture,
thought and action, and is complete but simple.• Definition reflects teaching goals:
– My goal: Be brief. Be clear. Be complete.– There are many ways to say the same thing.– (Just be complete and clear.)
• (The simpler definition is expanded upon by the more expansive book definitions. All have utility.)
Spatial Variation and Pattern
• Variation: causes– Every place is related to every other place. Closer
places are more related [Tobler’s Law]
• Pattern: – If you can find a pattern, the structure is often
more learnable.– If you understand the causes of the pattern, it
often becomes more predictable.– Discover, locate, map, understand, correlate,
causation(s), use(s), consequence(s), response(s)
Physical Environment• Culture is built upon physical foundations
• (We cannot yet build castles in the sky)• (Even if we could, weather would still matter.)
– Landforms: land use transportation, modification• Ex: San Francisco
– Geologic Strata: extract• Anthropocene era?
– Soils: degrade, use, overuse, change• Midwest, Central Valley CA
– Climate and Weather: adapt to it, change it? • (How?!!)
– Organisms: transport, support, modify, or destroy• Humans as agents of change
Physical Environment: Interaction
• example– Landforms modify air masses precipitation– Precipitation weathers and transports soils. – Soils affect and are affected by plant growth.– This affects animal species, including humans.– We are dependent upon our environment for our air,
water, food, living space, in essence our very existence.
Landforms:• Access• Barrier• Utility
http://virtualastronaut.jsc.nasa.gov/textonly/act10/images/topomap.jpg
http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/seg/topo/img/ca.jpg
Climate Zones
• Where and when do you want to live, work, and play?• What other activities are controlled or modified by climate?
http://www.learn.londonmet.ac.uk/packages/clear/thermal/climate/diversity/images/koppen_map.jpg
World Vegetation
• Resources, perspectives, activities, constraints, plants, animals
http://www.maps.com/ref_map.aspx?pid=12881
World Soils
• Crucial to our food supply…
Cultural Variation:
• Cultures use the environment differently based on their local values and preferences.
• Book: Wheat cultivation
• California: cattle, grape cultivation, and cities– Where?– Why?– Local land use changes…
• Cattle to grapes• Cattle to agriculture• Agriculture to housing
CA Vineyardgrowth(Focus on the pattern only.)
• http://www.bentleycartographic.com/files/gimgs/9_wine.jpg
CA Urban growth
• Review map interpretation and query: What does it mean? How accurate?
• Image: http://www.spur.org/documents/article110107_images/map003.gif
Cultural Themes (in all chapters)
• Cultural Region
• Cultural Diffusion
• Cultural Ecology
• Cultural Interaction
• Cultural Landscape– All 5 themes are used in every chapter.– Each theme is used to provide cultural insight.– In reality, these themes are highly interrelated.
Example: One Cultural Theme Relationship• Cultural Regions change as attributes spread.• Cultural Diffusion then changes environmental impacts.• Cultural Ecology feedbacks then modify the implementations
of this diffusion.• Cultural Interaction occurs as changes in each part of the
culture affect other parts, often producing visible change.• Cultural Landscapes then change as old and new cultural
attributes are re-distributed, gained, or lost in the local environment. This change of cultural distributions affects how we perceive them.
• (repeat)
Cultural Region(The first of 5 themes)
• Definition: A geographical unit based on characteristics and functions of a culture
– Types:
• Formal
• Functional
• Vernacular
Formal Cultural Region
• Definition– Areas that fit within a definition are a formal region.– Book: relatively homogeneous with respect to one trait– (Me) Change: homogeneous predominant
• Border zones:– Transition between two or more formal regions– (Depending on the definition, formal zones may overlap.)– Border zones are often fluid, changing over time.
• Core-periphery– At the core of a region, the characteristic dominates.– At the periphery, the characteristic influence weakens.
Formal Region Example: World Languages
• http://www.theodora.com/maps/world/world_language_map_transparent.gif
Functional Cultural Region
• Definition: Organized to function politically, socially, or economically as one unit.
• Usually have a node and a service area.• Within a functional region, a relationship
works.– There is also a core-periphery relationship in
many functional regions.• In the core, the function is more strongly or frequently
used• In the periphery, use is reduced.
– Particularly in social and economic functional regions– One cause: distance decay effect
Functional Regions
• Outside the region, the function is not as good…
• e.g. It doesn’t work
• or isn’t used as much.
http://www.fcc.gov/ftp/Bureaus/MB/Databases/fm_tv_service_areas/maps/FM73207.gif
Functional Region: San Jose
• http://www.sanjoseca.gov/planning/zonemap/images/frontpage.gif
Functional Cultural Region (sub-types)
• Within a functional region, a relationship works.– Economic
• Service area of a business, airport
– Social• Service area of a church, recreation center, school
– Political• Nation, city, voting district, school district,
– Service• water & power grids, phone networks, police, firemen
– Test prep: You should be able to define terms, recognize them when presented, AND provide examples of them.
Vernacular Cultural Region• Definition: perceived to exist by its inhabitants
Vernacular Regions: One Study
• http://www.csiss.org/learning_resources/content/g5/materials/G5_Image_Library/de_Blij_figures/IMAGE_06.JPG
Cultural Diffusion (The second of 5 themes)
• Definition: The spread of elements of culture from the point of origin over an area.– Cultures change over time.– Innovations and discoveries are made.– Cultural attributes then spread over time.
• If you can tell how they spread, you can anticipate future diffusion more accurately.
– Spread of what we commonly do / believe / have• (spread cultural aspects)
Cultural Diffusion: Initial Change
• (Before diffusion, something must change.)
• Independent Invention– Different people independently came up with
the same overall concept, activity, idea, or thing.
– Examples: • Calculus• Blowguns• Propagation using plant parts• Seed propagation
Cultural Diffusion: Delays
• Time Distance Decay– As distance increases and time passes, the
amount of cultural interaction reduces.
• Absorbing and Permeable Barriers– Barriers either slow down or stop diffusion.– Absorbing barriers stop a specific change
• Impermeable barriers: strong cultural or religious taboos
– Permeable barriers slow change down.• Permeable barriers: mountains, swamps, jungles
Distance Decay: How far do/would you go to buy:
• A coke or coffee?• Your groceries?• A computer?• Your car?• A life-saving drug that you Really Need?(This relates to the costs and benefits of traveling.)
– Time– Resources– Perceived importance– Combining destinations.
Distance Decay• Interaction falls off
(decays) as distance increases.
• This varies based on the activity.
–http://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch7en/meth7en/img/retaildistancedecay.gif
Time Distance Decay
• Definition: the decrease in acceptance of a cultural innovation with increasing time and distance from its origin.
• Two contributions: Distance and Time– Distance decay: The decrease in cultural interaction with
distance• Example: you go to closer places more often.
– Time decay: After initial growth, there is a decay in time of the attribute as competing cultural attributes compete.
• Example: fads come and go.
– Combined: Some fads never reach the periphery, and others have little effect. (Some consider this a good thing.)
Cultural Diffusion Types
• Relocation diffusion
• Expansion diffusion– Hierarchical– Contagious– Stimulus
• Query student examples.
Relocation Diffusion
• Definition: Spread of any innovation or cultural attribute through migration
• Migration: permanent move from one location to another.
– You take much of your culture with you.
Right side image: loading a car with (too much?) stuff, http://www.treehugger.com/moving-Left car.jpgCenter: moving household and house: http://blog.gibbs-smith.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/tiny-house_wide.jpg Left side Image: Overloaded car with happy commuter, http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlDC/original/moving.jpg
Expansion Diffusion
• Definition: Spread of any innovation or cultural attribute in which more people in more areas adopt the attribute
• Three sub-types– Hierarchical Diffusion– Contagious Diffusion– Stimulus Diffusion
Hierarchical Diffusion
• Definition: a type of expansion diffusion in which innovations spread from one important person to another or from one urban center to another, temporarily bypassing other persons or rural areas.– The spread is a network of transmission. – Preference goes to those first served by the
network.– Examples: phone tree, e-mail, fashion
designs, distribution networks,
Hierarchical diffusion
• http://www.lewishistoricalsociety.com/wiki/article_image.php?id=93
Contagious Diffusion
• Definition: A type of expansion diffusion in which cultural innovation spreads by person-to-person contact, moving wavelike through an area and population without regard to social status
• Examples: – Contagious diseases, – news and TV shows
• (in countries where everyone has access)
Contagious Diffusion: Bubonic Plague
• http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/Bubonic_plague_map_2.png
Stimulus Diffusion
• Definition: A type of expansion diffusion in which a specific trait fails to spread, but the underlying idea or concept is accepted
• Great idea, but the form must change.
• Examples:– Plaid: Great idea, but not wearing kilts.– Herding reindeer: great idea, but cows would die.
Stimulus Diffusion: Plaid
Tartan Great Kilt: http://images-mediawiki-sites.thefullwiki.org/01/4/1/9/37617651957186956.jpgPlaid_Fashion:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BpsBGr1Dt_8/SRxPrCWUXVI/AAAAAAAAA18/FXaZ1PF42xQ/s400/plaid-fashion-trends.jpg
Cultural Diffusion: Globalization
• Globalization: the binding together of all the lands and peoples of the world into an integrated system driven by capitalistic free markets, in which cultural diffusion is rapid, independent states are weakened, and cultural homogenization is encouraged.
• (This definition is limited by its political origins.)• Any cultural attribute can become global (globalize)
through the network of trade and communications.– Some of these cultural attributes can globalize and
increase state stability, therefore sovereignty. (vaccines)– However, homogenization remains an issue. Valuable
cultural attributes and variety can be lost. (ex: seeds)
Historic Globalization
• Silk Road: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Y9-xi5n9m3E/TSCiNGItEjI/AAAAAAAAHs0/2lHulQljzyg/s1600/Silk_route.jpg
Discovery:
• http://jspivey.wikispaces.com/file/view/1492.discovery-CWA156.jpg/71867295/1492.discovery-CWA156.jpg
Historic Globalization: British India
• British India: http://studymore.org.uk/india.jpg
Global Air Routes
• http://upgrd.com/images/upload/image/UA%20route%20map.jpg
Cultural Diffusion: Uneven Development
• The economic pattern of globalization contributes to uneven development, in which the core benefits by exploiting peripheral resources.
• Globalization favors the core, which benefits more.– Thus, development is uneven.
• Many factors contribute to uneven development. – Exchange rates: raw materials, goods, services, – Cultural change, – Central place effects– Diffusion– Distance decay
Cultural Ecology (The third of 5 themes)
• Ecology: the study of biological systems– The whole system, not one component– The interaction of its components
• Cultural ecology studies the interaction of cultures and the ecosystems they exist within.
Ecosystem
• Life support system
http://ecosystems.noaa.gov/images/what_eco_map_lg.gif
Cultural Ecology
• Cultural Adaptation– Cultures often adapt
differently to similar environments, based on cultural norms.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_t5N15gGxjZM/TMl_F45KH5I/AAAAAAAAAFI/4emso71mUnA/s1600/IMG_6090.jpghttp://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lft1tv6teK1qcerqgo1_500.jpg
Cultural Ecology• Environmental Determinism
– Belief that environment determines cultural attributes.
• Environmental constraints determine how certain aspects of culture must develop.
• Example: Can’t grow crops in the desert using rainfall.
http://images.yourdictionary.com/images/main/A4zone.jpg
Cultural Ecology: Possibilism
• Definition: belief that culture can adapt in multiple ways to the same or similar environments– Difficult (desert crops)– No high yields– Amerindian success– Different methods
• Dry land (various)• Irrigation (various)• Combined
http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/004/Y0501E/y0501e21.jpg
Cultural Ecology
• Environmental Perception– Different responses are often a result of different
environmental perceptions and knowledge bases.• Different skills, viewpoints, observations
• Natural Hazards– Risk evaluation and response to natural hazards
vary considerably.• “Wasn’t so bad last time…”• “Hurricanes are dangerous, but you can leave & return.”• (What about earthquakes? Are you worried?)
Cultural Ecology
• Humans as modifiers of the Earth– Land
• Mines, farms, factories, cities, transportation
– Water• Poisons, sedimentation, redistribution
– Air• Pollution, global climate change, aerosols, particulates
Cultural Interaction (The fourth of 5 themes)
• The relationships between various elements within a culture– Each part does not act independently.– Within cultures, the parts interact.– Between cultures, the parts interact.
• Religion, economic systems, ethnicity, food production, acquisition, consumption, work, play, attire, sleep, housing, business, manufacturing,… every aspect and every culture
Cultural Interaction
• Social Science perspectives:– Space, models of space– Space: strong quantitative connotation.
• There is an objective right answer.
Cultural Interaction• Humanist perspectives:
– Place– Topophilia (love of place)– Subjectivity:
• society is viewed from different perspectives.
– Relevance:• People base their actions on their sense of place and on spatial
preference. This affects migration, and expenditure of money, time and resources for the benefit of a place.
• (This is a set of positive and/or negative feedback loops.)– Beautiful places vs. the Rust Belt and slums
» Individual or Corporate destination: » San Jose vs. Research Triangle vs Hyderabad vs. …
• Migration, vacation travel, land use change, economics, etc`.
Cultural Landscape (The fifth of 5 themes)
• Landscapes that express the values, beliefs, and meanings of a particular culture.
Cultural Landscape: Symbolic Landscapes
• Major structures and sites– Structures extant or not
http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/masonicmuseum/images/statue_of_liberty_3.jpghttp://1000mileproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/the-world-trade-center.jpg
Cultural Landscape Patterns
• Three Major Aspects of Cultural Landscape– Settlement Forms– Land Division Patterns– Architectural Styles
Cultural Landscape: Settlement Forms• Nucleation
– Defense– More interdependent, trade
• Dispersed– Economics– More independent farmsteads
http://gis.worcestershire.gov.uk/website/lca/HTMLfiles/LDU/LT%20Drawings/Principal%20Village%20Farmlands%20final.jpg
Cultural Landscape:Land Division
• Land Division Patterns– Township & Range grid
• Imperial Valley: – Long Lot pattern
• near Espanola, NM– www.earth.google.com– Query: Other types?
Cultural Landscape
• Architectural Styles– form– function
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/San_Jose_Basilica.jpghttp://www.sjbetsuin.com/pmwiki/uploads/WhoWeAre/temple1.jpg
Form andFunction
These Processes Interact.• Cultural attributes change over time.
– They diffuse over time.– They interact, changing each other.– This diffusion is modified by and modifies ecosystems– Attribute change, diffusion and ecosystem relationships
changes local conditions and patterns.– This leaves a cultural mark on the landscape, upon which
we may then invest meaning and value.
http://mcmanuslab.ucsf.edu/sites/default/files/imagepicker/m/mmcmanus/san-francisco.jpghttp://www.studentsoftheworld.info/sites/country/img/5676_TerraceRiceFields10_f.jpghttp://dahlonegavineyards.com/threesisters/images/threesisters_3586.jpg
Which perspective should I use?• It depends.
– What do you like? (This is often not the best choice.)– What do you have the tools to accomplish? (better…)– What do you need to know, and how can you achieve this? (best)
Look at the big picture.Be multi-disciplinary. (Geography is.)
(The text encourages this.)
Recap: SJSU Support Centers• Disabled Student Program and Services (DSP) • Educational Opportunity Program and Services (EOPS)• Learning and Resource Center (LARC)• Peer Mentor Center (Clark Hall)• Writing Center (Clark Hall)• Computer Help Desk (Clark Hall)• Computer access: Library, Clark Hall Student Union, MLK Library etc.• Library• Science lab (Clark Hall)• Health Services • Counselling Services • Transfer Center• Assessment• Athletic Counselling• Housing• International Students• Security / Parking
• Bookstore• Cashiers / Admissions / Enrolment
Wrap-Up
• Questions?
• Google Earth