Components of CultureCulture region:

Area within which a culture system prevails

Culture trait:A single attribute of a culture

Culture complex:-combo of culture traits

Singing about cultural traits to improve development:http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/mozambique704/

Japanese Culture Traits

Ecuadorian cultural traits

Cuy: Guinea Pig, a delicacyDress, bartering pigs for goods in the local market

©Valerie Morgan Mervine

Money is a culture trait:It is a nationalistic source of pride

Food as a cultural trait: Peter Menzelhttp://www.menzelphoto.com/

The Material Worldhttp://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/worldbalance/material.html

Food from around the world: Peter MenzellWeb cast and a week’s worth of food for a family in Kuwait

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5005952

Menzelhttp://www.menzelphoto.com/

Components of Culture

• Culture system:– Culture complexes grouped

together because they have culture traits in common

• Geographic regions:– Term preferred by many

geographers instead of culture region

• Culture realm:– Most highly generalized

regionalization of culture and geography

Culture System

The Cultural Landscape• A distinctive cultural environment• Composite of artificial features

– Carl Sauer’s definition includes all identifiably human-induced changes in the natural landscape

• Sequent occupance– Cultural imprints of successive societies on a place, contributing to the cultural landscape

Sequent Occupance: Inca, other indigenous groups, (33) then Spanish.

Presidential palace built on top of Inca stones used for foundation. Old City, Quito

Spanish had Catholic cathedrals built, indigenous groups put in sign of sun, etc. important symbols to them. Cuenca, Ecuador

Cultural Landscape: Landscape of the deadSacred space: Cemetery in Ecuador

©Valerie Morgan Mervine

Cultural Landscape• Ancient statues at Jarkhot, Nepal

Norway and Nepal Landscapes

Canadian Cultural Landscapes

Cultural Hearths

• Sources of civilization• First large clusters of

human population• Progress in farming

techniques• Exploitation of local

resources• Complex society = less

subsistence time• New ideas, innovations,

and ideologies spread

Cultural Diffusion

• The spreading of culture

• Independent invention

• Expansion diffusion

• Relocation diffusion

Relocation Diffusion• Acculturation: less

technologically-advanced culture is modified by contact with a technologically-superior culture

• Transculturation: cultural “borrowing” when different cultures of (about) equal complexity and technology come into close contact

• Assimilation: adoption of cultural elements so complete that the two cultures become one

Transculturation: Cultural borrowing, Baseball diffuseshttp://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/rough/2007/07/ghana_baseball.html

Relocation Diffusion but also transculturation!

• Girl Scouts are very popular in Japan too!

Can you findthe Americangirl?

©Valerie Morgan Mervine

Resources• De Blij, Harm, J. (2007). Human Geography People, Place and Culture.

Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Inc. • Domosh, Mona, Neumann, Roderic, Price, Patricia, & Jordan-Bychkov,

2010. The Human Mosaic, A Cultural Approach to Human Geography. New York: W.H. Freeman and Company.

• Fellman, Jerome, D., Getis, Arthur, & Getis, Judith, 2008. Human Geography, Landscapes of Human Activities. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

• Pulsipher, Lydia Mihelic and Alex M. and Pulsipher, 2008. World Regional Geography, Global Patterns, Local Lives. W.H. Freeman and Company New York.

• Rubenstein, James M. (2008). An introduction to human geography The cultural landscape. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.