Geog 254 Society and Environment Cultural Geography PDF

GEOG 254 Society and Environment 04 Cultural Geography Influence across space relocation: a physical entity moves across space diffusion: a characteristic spreads across space from one place to another friction of distance: space creates a barrier that has to be...

GEOG 254 Society and Environment 04 Cultural Geography Influence across space relocation: a physical entity moves across space diffusion: a characteristic spreads across space from one place to another friction of distance: space creates a barrier that has to be overcome (cost, time) distance decay: contact and influence between two places diminish with larger distances (trailing-off effect)  Regional patterns: Key terms Distance decay The declining intensity of an activity with increasing distance from its point of origin. →more internal exchange flow than international exchange flow (lat.) inter = between (lat.) intra = within Examples for interregional and intraregional migration? …for international and intranational migration? Newton’s first law of migration: Gravity Model A model to predict spatial interaction, where size (population) is directly related to interaction and distance is inversely related to interaction. Tobler's First Law of Geography Everything is related to everything, but near things are more related than distant things. Core - Periphery Regions and Systems formal region uniform/homogeneous region functional region nodal region vernacular region perceptual region mini-system system/society with single cultural base and reciprocal social economy global empire mini-systems absorbed into common political system while retaining some cultural differences  Influence of European Medieval Church on Western Thinking & Society Human-nature worldview: – Humans are separate and superior to nature – Nature only has value as it is useful to humans Catholic Church: The Practice of the Sale of Indulgences An indulgence is a remission of the punishment of sin. Idea: Absolution granted by a priest, PLUS real-world punishment such as good works, charitable acts, prayer, pilgrimage. Around the 11th century, they became corrupted into a moneymaking enterprise: the bigger the sin, the more money paid to save oneself from purgatory.  THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT “The Enlightenment is man’s [sic] leaving his self- caused immaturity. Immaturity is the incapacity to use one’s intelligence without the guidance of another. Such immaturity is self-caused if it is not caused by lack of intelligence, but by lack of determination and courage to use one’s intelligence without being guided by another. Sapere Aude! Have the courage to use your own intelligence! is therefore the motto of the enlightenment.” (Immanuel Kant, 1784: 2)  European Church Roots I: Human disconnect from nature Judeo-Christian (as one of several religions with related views) notion of humans as the image of a transcendent supernatural God who is radically separate from nature → radically separates humans themselves from nature “God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him” (Genesis 1: 27)  European Church Roots II: Human Superiority – Dominion thesis – humans should control nature and use it how they wish – Humans have stewardship over nature, and must care for the environment “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over fish of the sea, and over fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” (Genesis 1: 28)  THE BERKELEY SCHOOL ~1960s: CULTURE AS A SUPER-ORGANISM Cultures are......................... guided by their own internal laws and workings and beyond the control of any particular individual or social group; people are passive bearers of culture, not creators of culture homogeneous groupings; everyone belonging to a culture shares a common world view, has a similar set of beliefs and conforms to a singular set of traits causal agents in their own right, working to make the world alongside social, political, and economic processes. Source, Wikimedia Commons CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY Carl O Sauer’s (‘Berkeley School’) famous maxim: “culture is the agent, nature is the medium, the cultural landscape is the result.” Image by lolorun from Pixabay Huntington 1993: Clash of Civilisations Influential Journal Article: Samuel P. Huntington 1993. The Clash of Civilizations? Foreign Affairs Vol. 72, No. 3 (Summer, 1993), pp. 22-49 (28 pages) Published By: Council on Foreign Relations Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Clash_of_Civilizations_map.png  Influence of European Medieval Church on Western Thinking & Society Human-nature worldview: – Humans are separate and superior to nature – Nature only has value as it is useful to humans Family structures – shift from kinship system to small nucleus families Societal hierarchies – power & money flows moralized and regulated Land ownership – power & resource access elites  WEIRD societies Western Educated Industrialized Rich Democratic WEIRD characteristics in comparison to others around the world (Henrich, UBC 2021) Highly individualistic (vs. conformist values) Self-obsessed (vs. focus on group/kinship) Guilt-ridden Analytical (simplify through abstract categories) Lynn White (1967): Science Article Modern critique - Historical roots of the environmental crisis Historian Lynn White (1967): Judeo-Christian beliefs have encouraged environmental overexploitation: – assumption of human superiority, depicting all of nature as created for the use of humans; – anthropocentric perspective that humans are the only things that matter on Earth. Consequently, they may utilize and consume everything else to their advantage without any injustice. “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over fish of the sea, and over fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” (Genesis 1: 27–8) What made Western industrialized systems the least sustainable societies Industrialization: – Lower mortality → population grows – New technologies → per capita energy use grows – New lifestyles → per capita consumption and waste grows Continuum of other societies: – Cosmovisions: diverse indigenous, traditional, world religions – Livelihood systems: individual subsistence to highly diversified labour – Geographic distribution: dispersed pastoral, rural, high-density urban populations