PRECIOUS O.

ONGOCO Department of Geography College of Social Sciences and Philosophy University of the Philippines Diliman

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY

CULTURE
A shared set of meanings that are lived through the material and symbolic practices of everyday life Has no standard definition Gritzner (1966:9) A Culture is a human society bound together by a common complex of culture traits, each trait being anything which to the culturally-bound group has either material form and applicable function, or an expressed value

 Wagner (1975) The fact is that culture has to be seen as carried in specific, located, purposeful, rule-following and rulemaking groups of people communicating and interacting with one another Jordan,Domosh and Rowntree (1997) Culture is learned collective human behaviour, as opposed to instinctive, or inborn, behaviour. These traits form a way of life held in common by a group of people

CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY
Study of the ways in which space, place, and landscape shape culture at the same time that culture shapes space, place, and landscape

CULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS
Characteristics that can link or divide a region i.e. Language, Religion, Race Cultural Nationalism is an effort to protect regional and national cultures from the homogenizing impacts of globalization

TOPICS UNDER CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY

CULTURAL LANDSCAPE
coined by Prof. Carl Sauer which is meant to be the form superimposed on the physical landscape by the activities of man
i.e. any photograph may reveal the cultural environment of the area

A characteristic and tangible outcome of the complex interactions between a human group and a natural environment Culture is the agent, the natural area is the medium, the cultural landscape is the result

CULTURE HEARTHS
the geographic origins or sources of innovations, ideas or ideologies
Source Areas:

Judaism/Christianity began in Israel-Jordan area Hindu has no central figure and is a complex multifaceted faith originated in Indus region (Pakistan) Buddhism emerged from Prince Siddharta in northeast India

CULTURAL DIFFUSION
From their sources, cultural innovations and ideas spread to other areas Important concepts:

Acculturation the process by which a minority or politically weaker cultural group gradually experiences cultural change to accord more closely with the character of a majority or dominant cultural group. Does not involve a process of complete cultural change.
Assimilation the loss by a cultural group of all their previous cultural traits through the acceptance of the traits of some other dominant group with which they are in contact. Involves a loss of identity.

CULTURAL DIFFUSION: LANGUAGE

Language is one of the cornerstones of national identity, of cultural unity, of community cohesion Dialects are regional variants of standard language. Classification: Language Family a collection of individual languages believed to be related in their pre-historical origin Language Branch a collection of languages that possess a definite common origin but have split into individual languages Language Group a collection of several individual language that are part of a language branch, share a common origin, and have similar grammar and vocabulary

FAMILY

BRANCH
ROMANCE ROMANCE ROMANCE ROMANCE ROMANCE GERMANIC GERMANIC GERMANIC GERMANIC SLAVIC SLAVIC SLAVIC SLAVIC CELTIC THRACO-ILLYRIAN HELLENIC BALTIC FINNIC UGRIAN BASQUE

GROUP
LATIN ITALIAN SPANISH FRENCH ROMANIAN ENGLISH GERMAN SWEDISH ICELANDIC RUSSIAN CZECH POLISH SERBO-CROATIAN ERSE ALBANIAN GREEK LITHUANIAN FINNISH HUNGARIAN BASQUE

THREE
TRES TRE TRES TROIS TREI THREE DREI TRE THRIR TRI TRI TRZY TRI TRI TRE TREIS TRYS KOLME HAROM IRU

MOTHER
MATER MADRE MADRE MERE MAMA MOTHER MUTTER MODER MODIR MAT MATKA MATKA MATI MATHAIR MOTRE METER MOTYNA AITI ANYA AMA

INDO EUROPEAN INDO EUROPEAN INDO EUROPEAN INDO EUROPEAN INDO EUROPEAN INDO EUROPEAN INDO EUROPEAN INDO EUROPEAN INDO EUROPEAN INDO EUROPEAN INDO EUROPEAN INDO EUROPEAN INDO EUROPEAN INDO EUROPEAN INDO EUROPEAN INDO EUROPEAN INDO EUROPEAN URALIC URALIC BASQUE

CULTURAL DIFFUSION: RELIGION

Religion is a belief system and a set of practices that recognize the existence of a power higher than humans Religious missionizing- propagandizing and persuasionand the conversion of non-Christian souls were key elements Religious missionizing and conversion flowed from the core to the periphery In the current postcolonial period, however, the opposite is becoming true One other impact of globalization on religious change occurs by conversion through the electronic media

 Expansion Diffusion develops in a core or source area and remains strong there while also spreading outward Relocation Diffusion takes place through populations that are stable and fixed. It is the innovation, the idea, or the disease that does the moving

 Hinduism started in Indus valley

Cultural Diffusion: through relocation diffusion; Indians were transported to east and South Africa, the Caribbean

Christianity it is most widespread and largest of the global religions

Cultural Diffusion: both Expansion and relocation diffusion

Islam Iran(Shiite), Iraq(Sunni).

Cultural Diffusion: Expansion Diffusion

CULTURAL REGION
The area within which a particular cultural system prevails
Cultural system a collection of interacting elements that taken together shape a groups collective identity
A cultural system includes traits, territorial affiliation, and shared history, as well as other more complex elements such as language

Culture Region an entire cultural system constitute culture region

 Formal Culture Region - an area inhabited by people who have one or more cultural traits in common, such as language, religion, or system of livelihood. Functional Culture Region - an area that has been organized to function politically, socially, or economically as one unit. Examples are a city, an independent state, a precinct, a church diocese or parish, a trade area or a farm.

CULTURAL ECOLOGY
The study of the relationship between a cultural group and its natural environment Important Concept:
Environmental Determinism Cultural Adaptation the use of complex strategies by human groups to live successfully as part of a natural system

CULTURAL PERCEPTION AND ETHNICITY

Geographical race people having features in common and extending over a geographically definable area Ethnicity a socially created system of rules about who belong and who does not belong to a particular group based upon actual or perceived commonality Larger cultures divide into trait-based ethnic groups, minorities whose self-perception helps perpetuate their strength and identity
i.e. Chinatown

GEOGRAPHY OF GENDER
Gender is a category reflecting the social differences between men and women rather than the anatomical differences that are related to sex It is a type of inequality
Class Vulnerability
i.e. In India, since long back, women were considered as an oppressed section of the society and they were neglected for centuries. During the national struggle for independence, Gandhi gave a call of emancipation of women.

SEXUAL GEOGRAPHIES
Sexuality is the set of practices and identities that a given culture considers related to each other and to those things it considers sexual acts and desires.
Prostitution (White prostitute, Black prostitute, Pimp) Homosexuality
Pink spending
Gay Capitals: Amsterdam, Netherlands, San Francisco, USA, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Political action Queer Tactics (AIDS political activism)