Cultural Geography

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Cultural Geography
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Cultural Geography

• Describes everything about the way people live
• Clothes
• Diet
• Articles of use - artifacts
• Customs patterns of behavior
• Interpersonal arrangements, family structure,
  educational methods
• Culture is not static
• Forces of cultural change
• Evolution
• Diffusion

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Theories of Cultural Evolution

• Theory of human stages
• Hunter-gatherers
• Pastoral nomadism
• Transhumanance
• Settled agriculture
• Subsistence and commercial agriculture
• Historical materialism
• Technology and human progressive control of the
  environment
• Conflicts with Malthusianism

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Cultures and Environments

• Environmental determinism
• Human events explained by environment
• Cultural ecology
• Societies adapt to their environment
• Challenge-response theory
• Possibilism
• Physical environment influences, but does not
  control, human events

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Cultural Diffusion

• Global communication, transportation, trade
• Modern world - lack of isolation
• Circulation
• Geographical culture centers
• Places where cultures are developed
• Cultural Hearths
• Age area principle
• Diffusion does not explain all distributions

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Folk Culture

• Cultures that preserve traditions
• Characteristics
• Conservative, resistant to change, distinctive
  religions
• Urban folk cultures
• Immigrant groups
• Examples
• Diffusion of house types in the US
• Amish

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Popular Culture

• Culture of people who embrace innovation and
  conform to changing norms
• Rapid diffusion
• Mass culture
• Food, clothing, items that are mass produced
• Mass taste loss of individuality
• Geographic variation of market penetration
• Marketing of popular culture

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Identity Behavioral Geography

• Culture groups
• Few or many characteristics
• Subculture
• Races
• Single species
• Secondary biological characteristics
• Ethnic groups
• Ethnocentrism

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Culture Realms (Regions)

• Delineation/ definition of regions
• Visual clues
• Settlement patterns
• Architecture
• Clothing
• Regionalism

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Trade Cultural Diffusion

• Stabilizing forces
• Infrastructure
• Inertia
• Impact of trade
• Economic geography
• Cultural isolation
• Yielding to interaction

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Impact of World Trade

• Self sufficiency /cultural isolation
• Trade cultural change
• Systems of production and change
• Felt needs
• Specialization of production

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Acceleration of Diffusion

• Travel and transportation
• Friction of distance
• Movement of information
• Annihilation of space
• Electronic highway
• Clash of civilizations
• Shatterbelts

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European Culture

• Pervasive Western model
• Consumer goods
• Education
• Technology
• Housing
• Presumption of superiority
• Acculturation of Western life

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Voyages of Contact

• World exploration and conquest
• Impact of Chinese initiative
• European seaborne empires
• Commercial Revolution
• Global diffusion
• Europe as clearinghouse of info and products
• Relocation of goods and services

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Europes Increased Power

• Industrial Revolution
• Increased productivity
• Exploration and conquest
• Stimulated industry
• Money economy
• Creation of stock markets
• Agricultural Revolution
• Created labor supply for industry

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Cultural Imperialism

• Systematic eradication of native culture
• Imposition of Western culture
• Reference group behavior
• Self-Westernization
• Japan, China, Turkey
• Internal colonialism

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Westernization Today

• Dress and lifestyle as status symbols
• Role of media
• Implanting Western values
• TV programs, movies, videos
• Tourism
• Education

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Americas Role

• World view of America
• Military power
• Role of global peacekeeper
• Sole superpower
• Economic power
• One quarter of world economy
• Popular culture
• Most recognized brands
• Challenging local traditions
• Political influence