Unit 3 - Cultural Patterns and Processes PDF

UNIT 3: Cultural Patterns and Processes Chapter 6 Concepts of Culture and Diffusion Chapter 7 Language and Culture Chapter 8 Religious and Ethnic Landscapes Unit Overview While some human attributes, such as hair color, are hea...

UNIT 3: Cultural Patterns and Processes Chapter 6 Concepts of Culture and Diffusion Chapter 7 Language and Culture Chapter 8 Religious and Ethnic Landscapes Unit Overview While some human attributes, such as hair color, are heavily influenced by biological inheritance, most are not. In general, how people think and act is shaped, formally and informally, by what they learn from other people. All of the practices, technologies, attitudes, and behaviors that people learn from others are part of their culture. Behaviors People Share Areas where many people share an element of culture-such as speaking a particular language-form cultural regions. Geographers use maps, from small to large scale-to show the boundaries of these regions. When people of different cultures meet, they sometimes have conflicts, but they always adjust to each other. For example, if they speak different languages, one group might learn the other's language. Or people might blend the two languages to create a new one. Improvements in transportation and communication have increased the interaction of cultures throughout history. Culture spreads as people move from one place to another and as people interact and learn from each other. In 1500, the region where most people spoke English was a small area on the northwest comer of Europe. Today, English is the dominant language in countries scattered around the world and widely spoken in many others. Variations in Culture Geographers uses maps to show regions, and they use various types of charts and diagrams to show relationships among the elements of culture. For example, a tree diagram can show hbw several languages, including French and Spanish, are branches that diverge from a common ancestor, Latin. Enduring Understandings ID. Cultural Patterns and Processes A. Concepts of culture frame the shared behaviors of a society. B. Culture varies by place and region. Source: Col/egeBoard AP". Human Geography Course Description. 1015. 90 HUMAN GEOGRAPHY: PREPARING FOR THE ADVANCED PLACEMEN-re EXAM  Concepts of Culture and Diffusion The Buffalo was part of us, his flesh and blood being absorbed by us until it became our own flesh and blood. Our clothing, our tipis, everything we needed for life came from the buffalo's body. It was hard to say where the animals ended and the human began. - John (Fire) Lame Deer, Lame Deer; Seeker of Visions, 1972 Essential Question: How do folk and popular cultures differ in the ways they help form a society's overall culture? To the Lakota, and other indigenous people on North America's Great Plains, the bison was an essential part of their culture. The bison provided meat for nutrition, a hide for clothing and shelter, bones for tools, and fat for soap. The bison was also central to their religious beliefs. So, when European settlers bunted the bison nearly to extinction, Lakota culture suffered. Culture is central to a society and to its continued existence. Geographers thus study culture as a way to understand similarities and differences among societies across the world, and in some cases, to help preserve these societies. Analyzing Culture All of a group's learned behaviors, actions, beliefs, and objects are a part of culture. It is a visible force seen in a group's actions, possessions, and influence on the landscape. For example, in a large city you can see people working in offices, factories, and stores, and living in high-rise apartments or suburban homes. You might observe them attending movies, concerts, or sports events. Culture is also an invisible force guiding people through shared belief systems, customs, and traditions. All these elements, visible and invisible, make up the cultural traits that are the building blocks of a culture. A single cultural artifact, such as an automobile, may represent many different values, beliefs, and traditions. These interrelated traits make up a cultural complex. CONCEPTS OF CULTURE AND DIFFUSION 91  CULTURAL COMPLEX OF THE AUTOMOBILE The automobile provides much more than just transportation, as it reflects many values that are central to American cultu re. One generation passes its culture to the next in many ways. Children learn in three basic ways: by imitation, as when a child learns a language by repeating sounds by informal instruction, as when a parent reminds a child to say "please" by formal instruction, as when a school teaches students history Origins of Cultures The area in which a unique culture or a specific trait develops is a culture hearth, also known as a cultural hearth. Classical Greece was a culture hearth for democracy more than 2,000 years ago. New York City was a culture hearth for rap music in the 1970s. Geographers study how cultures develop in hearths and diffuse to other places. Geographers also study taboos, behaviors heavily discouraged by a culture. Many cultures have taboos against eating certain foods, such as pork or insects. What is taboo changes over time. In the United States, marriages between Protestants and Catholics were once taboo, but they are not widely opposed now. Folk Cultures The beliefs and practices of small, homogenous groups of people, often living in rural areas that are relatively isolated and slow to change, are known as folk cultures. Like all cultures, they demonstrate the diverse ways that people have adapted to a physical environment. For example, people learned to make shelters out of available resources, whether it was snow or mud bricks or wood. However, people used similar resources such as wood differently. In 92 HUMAN GEOGRAPHY: PREPARING FOR THE ADVANCED PLACEMENT