Topic:%20Cultural%20Geography

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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

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A Homemade Culture???

• As we read the following passage from Human
  Geography Landscapes of Human Activity (Fellman,
  Getis, Getis, 10th ed.) listen carefully and
  describe the authors thesis about so-called
  American Culture.

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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

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Material and Nonmaterial Culture

• Material 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?
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What is culture?

• Material objects (artifacts)
• Interpersonal relations (sociofacts)
• Ideas and beliefs (mentifacts)
• Each element has a spatial distribution

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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

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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

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• 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

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• 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.

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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
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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
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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

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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

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Architecture

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

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Nebraska
Syria
Dominican Republic
Newfoundland
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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

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China
Amsterdam
Massachusetts
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Architecture

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

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Guyana
Brooklyn
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Poland
Korea
Yemen
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Clothing

• Based on climate
• Warm or cold
• Wet or dry
• May reflect occupation/status
• Also reflect values, traditions

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Netherlands
Samoa
Morocco
China
Guatemala
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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)

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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

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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

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Tomato
Vinegar
Mustard
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Food and place identity

• Historical connections
• Deliberate marketing
• Tourism and place consumption
• Pineapples and Hawaii
• Lobster and Maine
• Wine appellations and terroir

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Pineapples and Hawaii

• Originally South American
• Plantations since 1800s
• Doles national ad campaign in 1907 Hawaiian
  pineapple
• Cheaper to grow in Thailand, Philippines
• Hawaii focuses on fresh fruit for tourists

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Food Taboos

• Ainus in Japan dont 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

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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

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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
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Raise your hand if this is appetizing to you!
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Do Asians Eat Weird Things?
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Food Attractions
Associated with becoming a better lover
Mandrake
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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

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Food Taboo Against Pork

• Jews and Muslims
• Jews 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)

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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

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No Reservations - Quebec