9: Components of Culture Part 1 Flashcards
provides the context and means by which we create our identities.
It tells us who we are, where we belong, and how we relate to others.
It also influences the way we think, the way we look at the Earth, and how we interact with the environment
Culture
key elements of culture
religion and language
a filter that affects and distorts our perspectives and conditions the ways we think and act
influences how we interact with the environment and how we alter the landscape
Culture
“local, customary way of doing things”.
complex of collective beliefs, habits, thoughts, behaviors, customs, skills, and artifacts
a categorization of individual humans into collectives according to multiple criteria
Yi-Fu Tuan, culture
“a process in which people are actively engaged”
individual members can and do change a culture
ways of life constantly change.
Kay Anderson and Fay Gale, culture
set of meanings that is lived through the material and symbolic practices of everyday life.
include values, beliefs, practices and ideas about sexuality, ethnicity and other important identities or other strong associations
culture
two broad categorizations of culture
Material culture
Nonmaterial culture
All objects or “things” made and used by a cultural group
e.g. tools, utensils, food,
buildings, art, clothing
Material culture
Oral or written tradition passed down from generation to generation
e.g.
tales, customs and traditions, beliefs, superstitions
Nonmaterial culture
Traditional practices of small groups (rural people)
ex.
Folk culture
ex. Roma/Romani / Gypsies
highly nomadic lifestyle, which was a matter of survival
cunning, mysterious outsiders who tell fortunes and steal before moving on to the next town
rich oral tradition, seen in music and dance
Roma/Romani or Gypsies
Practices and meaning systems
produced by large groups
heterogeneous norms and tastes
change frequently, often in response to commercial
products and trends
Popular culture
ex. Hip hop and K-Pop (hallyu)
study of the variations among cultural traits and the spatial functioning of society
- cultural phenomena vary or remain constant from
one place to another - how humans function spatially and identify with places
Cultural Geography
cultural geographer
prof who founded the Berkeley School of Cultural Geography
material expressions of culture in the landscape
cultural landscape is a “humanized” version of the natural landscape i.e. human activities resulted in alterations of the physical environment.
the interaction of both
cultural and natural processes brings about the uniqueness of a landscape.
Carl Sauer
characteristic and tangible outcome of the complex interactions between a human group and
its natural landscape
cultural
landscape
_____ is the medium, ____ is
the agent of change, and the _____ is the result.
physical landscape
culture
cultural landscape
Physical and climatic factors modify the ____
natural landscape
Cultural factors produce ____, such
as population distributions and patterns of housing
cultural forms
French geographer who proposed the concept of genre de vie
emphasized the need to observe small
homogeneous areas
Paul Vidal de la Blache
refers to a functionally organized way of
life that was seen to be characteristic of a particular
group
the environment does
not dictate what people would become, but offers constraints and opportunities
centered on livelihood practices that shape physical, social, and cultural bonds
genre de vie
Components of Culture
cultural traits
cultural complex
cultural region
cultural system
smallest distinctive component of culture
units of learned
behavior or routine practices, language spoken to the tools used or to the games played.
cultural traits
ex. fasting, abstinence, rites of passage, use of chopsticks
combination of traits characteristic of a particular cultural
group
cultural complex
ex. Jewish tradition
area where
certain cultural practices, beliefs, or values are practiced by the majority of inhabitants
cultural region
ex. Utah - Mormons
interaction of cultural traits and cultural complexes shared by a group within a cultural
region
includes traits, territorial affiliations, and shared history as well as more complex elements such as language
internal variation
cultural system
ex. Christianity
one of the key elements of culture
rallying point that unites members and set them apart
from other cultural groups
Religion
set of beliefs and practices through which people seek mental and physical harmony with powers of
the universe.
Religion
two broad categories of religion
Proselytic religion
Ethnic religion
Also called universalizing religion because it actively seeks new members and aims to convert all.
open membership
distributed widely
based on an individual founder
Proselytic religion
ex.
Christianity, Islam, Buddhism
Has a strong territorial and cultural group identification
- focused on
the place and landscape of origin and membership are by birth or adoption of a complex lifestyle and cultural identity not just by a simple declaration of faith. - highly clustered
Ethnic religion
ex.
Judaism, Hinduism, Shintoism
____sometimes grow out of ethnic religions
Christianity
Proselytic religions
belief in some power beyond
humans to which humans can appeal for help
close ties to nature
tribal religion
e.g. animism and shamanism
Religious Imprints on the Landscape
Religious structures
Religious traditions
Religious observances
places of worship and other sacred sites that dominate or usually separated
from the rest of the structures in an area
Religious structures
Hindu ritual bathing in the Ganges, where many Hindu worshippers gather
during major holidays
Religious traditions
church attendance, spatial movement, and behavior of believers
Religious observances
e.g.
feast of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo, gathering of crowds in Central
Avenue every Thursday or St. Peter Parish in Commonwealth every Sunday
which
religions are strongest in different places?
why is this so?
global scale, Distribution of Major Religions
“how
do religious groups and religions spread across space?”, “how do they change through time?”
local scale, Distribution of Major Religions
monotheistic (belief in one God) religion and the parent religion of Christianity
ethnic religion
14 million
adherents throughout the world and about half reside in North America.
Judaism
Judaism’s imprints in the cultural landscape
▪ communal burial
▪ spread of citron in the Mediterranean
▪ grape vines
▪ synagogues
Major Religions
Judaism Christianity Islam Hinduism Buddhism
- proselytic religion
- world’s largest religion in
terms of area and number of adherents - Jerusalem and
spread slowly at first - Christian
preachers and missionaries. - universal religion of salvation and hope,
it spread quickly among the underclasses - attributed to imperial sponsorship,
specifically by the Roman Empire, then through colonization by
European countries.
Christianity
Christianity’s imprints in the cultural landscape
▪ Churches - center of life for small neighborhoods and
entire towns
▪ central cathedrals served simultaneously as a
glorification of God, a symbol of piety, and the focus of religious and
secular life
▪ Reserved areas (large parcels of lands) for the dead
- proselytic religion
- “submission to God”.
- Mohammed in Medina
- aided by force and political control
- emergence at the hub of major trade routes, including caravan
trails - spread through
Europe may be attributed to the immigration of dispossessed Muslims from MENA
Islam
- oldest religion in the world
- combination of diverse worships with no standard system of
beliefs - caste system
Hinduism
a strict
hierarchical subdivision of the society
- used by invaders to
separate themselves from those they have defeated.
it was reinforced by the British colonizers to maintain control and power over the larger Indian population.
caste system
Islam’s imprints in the cultural landscape
▪ the mosque which is the focal point of Islamic life
▪ congregation of Muslims during communal worship
▪ pilgrimage in Mecca
Hinduism’s imprints in the cultural landscape
▪ the temples, shrines, and other sites of worship
▪ garbed or marked holy men and ascetics
▪ bathing in the Ganges during major holidays
a reform movement based
- It largely attracted the lower classes, the caste system, because it rejected power and wealth.
Buddhism
Buddhism’s imprint in the cultural landscape
▪ Buddha images in stylized human form
▪ the three main types of buildings and monuments:
a commemorative shrine
stupa
a temple that enshrines an image or relic of Buddha
pagoda
the main temple of worship
monastery
the three main types of buildings and monuments in Buddhism
stupa
pagoda
monastery
known for their simple living and reluctance to adopt
modern technology
prohibited contact with the outside world but have since relaxed the strict
codes
originate in Switzerland as a conservative
reformist group within the Mennonite Anabaptist movement,
Jakob Amman
persecuted in Europe and were forced to move across the Atlantic
They eventually settled in North America
Pennsylvania, where land was relatively
cheaper and more available.
the Amish/Amish Mennonite Church
