Chennai and CUK :-)

Cultural Geography.

v What is Culture?

An overall way of life practiced by a group of people that includes

-language, religion, ethnicity, aspects of popular culture.

Cultural Geography- Study of how cultures vary in the world as well as how other cultures diffuse into other cultures.

v  Themes in cultural geography:

1.      Cultural Complex:

Definition:

Combination of numerous cultural traits that comprise a cultural group of people.

Or ‘a culture complex is a closely related set of culture traits’.

·         Some links are historical:

o   Germanic language ßà Protestant religion

o   Romance language ßà Catholic religion

·         Some links are causal

o   urban culture à tolerance of lifestyle diversity

2.      Cultural Region:

Definition: Area in which a particular cultural system prevails.

Types:

1. Formal Region:

§  Area where one or more traits can be found (region where people employ leg-lengthening surgery)

§  Area where one or more traits are dominant (Anglophone region of North America)

2. Functional Region:

§  Area tied together by a coordinating system (law, monetary system, roads, etc.)

§  They have nodes or central points from which functions are coordinated and directed.

3. Vernacular Region:

§  Area that ordinary people (non-geographers) recognize as a region (e.g. New England)

3.      Cultural Geographies of Language:

Ø  Definition of Language:

The means of communicating ideas or feelings via a conventionalized system of signs, gestures, marks, or articulate vocal sounds.

Ø  Dialects:

Definition:

Different pronunciations for the same words spoken in different places or regions. Most languages have these.

4.      Cultural Diffusion:

§  “An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come.”  By Victor Hugo, 'Histoire d'un crime,' 1852.

Definition:

An increase in the spatial extent of a particular culture trait or culture complex either through movement of people through space (migration) or through the adoption of a culture trait by other groups.

On the other hand, It is a:

·         Spatial spread of learned ideas, innovations, and attitudes.

·         Each cultural element originates in one or more places and then spreads.

·         Some spread widely; others remain confined to an area of origin.

Four Types:

·         Stimulus diffusion: a type of expansion or diffusion in which a specific trait fails to spread, but underlying idea or concept is accepted.  

·         Relocation diffusion: an idea or innovation that migrates into new areas, leaving behind its origin or source of the cultural trait.

·         Hierarchical diffusion: an idea or innovation that spreads by moving from larger to smaller places, often with little regard to the distance between places, and often influenced by social elites.

·         Contagious diffusion: an idea or innovation based on person-to-person contact within a given population.

v  Sense of Place: Every place is unique.

5. Cultural Traits

Specific aspects of a culture:

Examples:

– What is eaten?

– What is drunk?

– What is socially acceptable?

v Cultural Relativism:

Cultural relativism is the view that all beliefs, customs, and ethics are relative to the individual within his own social context. In other words, “right” and “wrong” are culture-specific; what is considered moral in one society may be considered immoral in another, and, since no universal standard of morality exists, no one has the right to judge another society’s customs.

Cultural relativism is widely accepted in modern anthropology. Cultural relativists believe that all cultures are worthy in their own right and are of equal value. Diversity of cultures, even those with conflicting moral beliefs, is not to be considered in terms of right and wrong or good and bad. Today’s anthropologist considers all cultures to be equally legitimate expressions of human existence, to be studied from a purely neutral perspective.

Cultural relativism sees nothing inherently wrong (and nothing inherently good) with any cultural expression. So, the ancient Mayan practices of self-mutilation and human sacrifice are neither good nor bad; they are simply cultural distinctive, akin to the American custom of shooting fireworks on the Fourth of July. Human sacrifice and fireworks—both are simply different products of separate socialization.

In January 2002, when President Bush referred to terrorist nations as an “axis of evil,” the cultural relativists were mortified. That any society would call another society “evil” is anathema to the relativist. The current movement to “understand” radical Islam—rather than to fight it—is a sign that relativism is making gains. The cultural relativist believes Westerners should not impose their ideas on the Islamic world, including the idea that the suicide bombing of civilians is evil. Islamic belief in the necessity of jihad is just as valid as any belief in Western civilization, the relativists assert, and America is as much to blame for the attacks of 9/11 as are the terrorists.

v  Ethnic Group:

An ethnic group (or ethnicity) is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture (often including a shared religion) and an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy (practice of marrying with specific group)

Ethnogenesis:   Members of an ethnic group are conscious of belonging to an ethnic group; moreover ethnic identity is further marked by the recognition from others of a group's distinctiveness. Processes that result in the emergence of such identification are called ethnogenesis.

History of Ethnicity:

The terms ethnicity and ethnic group are derived from the Greek word ethnos, normally translated as "nation".  The terms refer currently to people thought to have common ancestry who share a distinctive culture. Herodotus is the first who stated the main characteristics of ethnicity in the 5th century BCE, with his famous account of what defines Greek identity, where he lists kinship (Greek: -homaimon, "of the same blood"), language (Greek:  homoglōsson, "speaking the same language"), cults and customs (Greek: - homotropon, "of the same habits or life").

The modern meaning emerged in the mid 19th century and expresses the notion of "a people" or "a nation". The term ethnicity is of 20th century coinage, attested from the 1950s. The term nationality depending on context may either be used synonymously with ethnicity, or synonymously with citizenship (in a sovereign state).

Outline of Human Racial Classification:

1. SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA GROUP

  a) Capoid or Khoisanid Subspecies of southern Africa

        i. Khoid (Hottentot) race

        ii. Sanid (Bushmen) race

 b) Congoid Subspecies of sub-Saharan Africa

        i. Central Congoid race (Geographic center and origin in the Congo river basin)

        ii. Palaecongoid subrace (the Congo river basin: Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Congo,                                     and Angola)

        iii. Sudanid subrace (western Africa: Niger, Mali, Senegal, and Guinea)

        iv. Nilotid subrace (southern Sudan; the ancient Nubians were of this subrace

        v. Kafrid or Bantid subrace (east and South Africa: Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, and Natal)

c) Bambutid race (African Pygmies)

d)  Aethiopid race (Ethiopia, Somalia; hybridized with Caucasoids)

Outline of Human Racial Classification:

        2. OUT-OF-AFRICA" GROUP

           a) Australoid Subspecies

                i. Veddoid race (remnant Australoid population in central and southern India)

               ii. Negritos (remnants in Malaysia and the Philippines)

               iii. Melanesian race (New Guinea, Papua, Solomon Islands)

               iv. Australian-Tasmanian race (Australian Aborigines)

            b) Mongoloid Subspecies

                a. Northern Mongoloid racial group

           i. Northeast Asian race (various subraces in northern China, Manchuria, Korea and                                          Japan)

             ii. Ainuid race (remnants of aboriginal population in northern Japan)

                        iii. Tungid race (Mongolia and Siberia, Eskimos)

                        iv. Amerindian race (American Indians; various subraces)

                 b. Southern Mongoloid racial group

                        i. Southeast Asian race (various subraces in southern China, Indochina, Thailand,                                                 Myanmar [Burma], Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, the last four partly                                            hybridized with Australoids)

                        ii. Micronesian-Polynesian race (predominantly Southern Mongoloid partly hybridized                                        with Australoids)

        3. Caucasoid or Europid Subspecies:

                        i. Dravidic race (India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka [Ceylon]; ancient stabilized Indic-                                                Veddoid [Australoid] blend)

                        ii. Turanid race (partially hybridized with Mongoloids; predominant element in                                                      Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan; common in Hungary and Turkey)

                        iii. Indic or Nordindid race (Pakistan and northern India)

                        iv. Irano-Afghan race (predominant in Iran and Afghanistan, primary element in Iraq,                                          common [25%] in Turkey)

                        v. Armenid race (predominant element in Armenia and Azerbaijan, common in Syria,                                         Lebanon and northern Iraq, primary element among the Ashkenazic Jews)

                        vi. Mediterranid racial group

                        vii. Ladogan race (named after Lake Ladoga; indigenous to Russia; includes Lappish                                                subrace of arctic Europe)

                        viii. Dinaric race (predominant in western Balkans [Dinaric Mountains] and northern                                                Italy, important in the Czech Republic, eastern and southern Switzerland, western                                          Austria and eastern Ukraine. Its distribution in Europe, and that of its derived                                            Dinaricized Mediterranean type, may be associated with the expansion of the                                          Neolithic Anatolian farmers beginning circa 6,500 B.C.)

                        ix. Alpine race (predominant element in Luxembourg, primary in Bavaria and the Czech                                              Republic [Bohemia], important in France, Hungary, eastern and southern                                                             Switzerland)

                        x. Nordish or Northern European racial group (various subraces in the British Isles,                                               Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Belgium; predominant element in Germany,                                             Switzerland, Poland, Finland and the Baltic States; majority in Austria and Russia;                                                    important in France, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary; outlined in detail                                            in The Nordish Race)

v Tribes of Africa:

1. AFAR: are an ethnic group in the Horn of Africa, mainly in the Afar Region of Ethiopia as well as northern Djibouti and at a smaller scale in the southern point of Eritrea. They are sometimes called Danakil, a name used specifically to refer to northern Afars, while southern Afars can be called Adel similar to the former Adal Sultanate.

2. ANLO-EWE: The Ewe people are an African ethnic group of about 6 million people, inhabiting the southeastern part of Ghana from the Eastern shore of the Volta River to the border of Ghana and Togo known as the Volta Region; meanwhile, a majority of Ewe are also located in the entire southern half of Togo. They are a patrilineal society governed by a hierarchal, centralized authority. Their language is a dialect of the Ewe language, itself part of the Gbe language cluster. The Ewe religion is centered around a supreme god Mawu and several intermediate divinities.

3. AMHARA: are an ethnic group (but see below) inhabiting the central highlands of Ethiopia. Numbering about 19.8 million people, they comprise 26% of the country's population, according to the 2007 national census. They speak Amharic, the working language of the federal authorities of Ethiopia, and traditionally dominated the country's political and economic life.

4. ASHANTI: Ashanti, or Asante, are an Akan people who live predominantly in Ghana and Ivory Coast. They speak Twi, an Akan dialect. Prior to European colonization, the Ashanti people developed a large and influential empire in West Africa. The Ashanti later developed the powerful Ashanti Confederacy or Asanteman and became the dominant presence in the region.

5. BAKONGO aka KONGO: The Bakongo or the Kongo people (meaning "hunter"), also sometimes referred to as Congolese, is a Bantu ethnic group which lives along the Atlantic coast of Africa from Pointe-Noire (Congo Brazzaville) to Luanda, Angola. In Kikongo their ethnonym is usually given as Besikongo, singular Mwisikongo, though Bakongo is linguistically possible and gaining popularity. In the late 20th century they numbered about 10,220,000.

6. THE BAMBARA: are a Mandé people living in west Africa, primarily in Mali but also in Guinea, Burkina Faso and Senegal They are considered to be amongst the largest Mandé ethnic groups, and are the dominant Mandé group in Mali, with 80% of the population speaking the Bambara language, regardless of ethnicity.

7. BERBER: Location: Scattered across Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya. Mainly in Morocco and Algeria. There are smaller numbers in Mali, Niger, and Mauritania.

Language: The Berber have 300 very similar dialects. Some tribes have their own separate, distinctive dialect. Written language is not generally taught and is uncommon to be used.

Religion: customarily Muslim

Population: 3 million

Characteristics: Much of Berber art is in the form of leather, jewelry, or finely woven carpets. Most Berbers are very strict followers of Islam. They have been known to make wood carvings or pottery.

8. BOBO:  Location: The Bobo tribe has lived (and some still do) in the western Burkina Faso and Mali for a few centuries.

 History: Some people estimate that the Bobo tribe has lived in western Burkina Faso and Mali since 800 A.D.  Also, people think that the tribe moved into this area from the north. Most of the history of the Bobo tribe is through oral traditions. It is believed that the Bobo tribe was the first gold-mining specialists in the region by the late 18th century.

9. BUSHMEN: Location: The Bushmens are located at southern Africa, where they have lived for at least 20,000 years.

 Language: Nama language.

Religion: The modern Bushmen of the Kalahari believe in two gods: one who leaves in the east and one who lives in the west.

Population: 90,000 +

Housing: Bushmens sometimes live in rock caves but most groups mostly live in wind-breaks or huts.

History of the tribe: The Bushmen are the oldest inhabitants of southern Africa.

10. DOGON: LOCATION: The Dogon are an ethnic group located mainly in the administrative districts of Bandiagara and Doutntza in Mali, West Africa.

POPULATION: The Dogon Population of about 300,000 is most heavily concentrated along a 125 mile stretch of escarpment called the Cliffs of Bandiagara.

HISTORY: The history of the Dogon Tribe is informed by oral traditions, claim that the Dogon originated from the west bank to the Niger River.  They emigrated west to northern Burkino Faso, where local histories describe them as the northern Mossi Kingdom of Yatenga, when it was invaded by Mossi Calvary.  The Dogon ended up in the Bandiagara cliffs region.  Those Dogon who didn’t not flee were incorporated into society. 

11. FANG: The Fang Tribe is widely known for their art work such as wooden figures of the deceased men.

LOCATION: The Fang Tribe live in hot, humid equatorial rainforests of Gabon.  They have been reported to have moved from the northeast and settled in Africa to farm. They are scattered in the southern part of Gabon, the Equatorial Guinea, and in Cameroon.

Population: 800,000 The Fang Tribe makes up 80% of Gabon's population.

12. CHEWA: The Chewa are a people of Central and Southern Africa.

Ø  The Chewa are closely related to people in surrounding regions such as the Tumbuka and Nsenga.

Ø  They are historically also related to the Bemba, with whom they share a similar origin in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. As with the Nsenga and Tumbuka, a considerable part of Chewa territory came under the influence of the Ngoni, who were of Zulu or Natal/Transvaal origin. An alternative name, often used interchangeably with Chewa, is Nyanja. Their language is called Chichewa.

Ø  Internationally, the Chewa are mainly known for their masks and their secret societies, called Nyau, as well as their agricultural techniques.

13. FON: IN TOGO

14. BEMBA: The location of this tribe is in the northeastern part of Zambia, near Tanzania and The Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Ø  This tribe speaks Bemba (official), and English.

Ø  The Bemba tribe's religions include Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and other indigenous beliefs.

Ø  The population of this tribe is estimated to be about 3.1 million people, which is 1/3 the population of Zambia.

Ø  They established a centralized form of government with a senior chief named Chitimukulu or "The Great Tree".  This same form of government still goes on today in the Bemba tribe, with the Chitimukulu being a powerful, inherited position.  Historical research suggests that the Bemba kingdom was established in the late eighteenth century.

v Religious Realms:

Religion can be defined as a set of beliefs and practices through which people seek mental and physical harmony with the powers of the universe, through which they attempt to influence and accommodate the awesome forces of nature, life, and death

Ø  People are less willing to tolerate or accommodate differences in religious matters than any other aspect of culture

1. Proselytic religions

ü  Actively seek new members

ü  Their goal is the conversion of all humankind

2. Ethnic religions

ü  Identified with some particular ethnic or tribal group

ü  Does not seek converts

Proselytic religions sometimes grow out of ethnic religions—Christianity from Judaism.

·         Religious culture regions:

1. Christianity:

§     A proselytic faith

§     World’s largest in both area and number of adherents—about 1.9 billion

§     Long fragmented into separate churches

§     Greatest division is between Western and Eastern Christianity

Eastern Christianity:

Eastern Church dominated the Greek world from Constantinople (Istanbul)

ü    Coptic Church—originally the nationalistic religion of the Egyptians, and today is the dominant church of the highland people of Ethiopia

ü    Maronites — Semitic descendants of seventh-century heretics who retreated to a mountain refuge in Lebanon

ü    Nestorians — live in the mountains of Kurdistan and India’s Kerala State

ü    Eastern Orthodoxy — originally centered in Greek-speaking areas

§     Converted many Slavic groups

§     Later split in a variety of national churches—Russian, Greek, Ukrainian, and Serbian.

Western Christianity:

Western Christianity initially identified with Rome and Latin-speaking areas

ü  Most notable split was the Protestant breakaway of the 1400s and 1500s

ü  Tended to divide into a rich array of sects

ü  Denominational map of the United States and Canada reflects fragmented nature and complex pattern of religious culture regions

2. Islam:

§        Monotheistic, proselytic faith claims 1.1 billion followers

§        Located mostly in the desert belt of Asia and northern Africa, extends as far east as                Indonesia and the Philippines

§        Biblical figures, such as Moses, Abraham, and Jesus are venerated in Islam

§        Most important prophet and founder is Muhammad —lived about 14 centuries ago

§        The Koran — Muslim holy book, contains a code of morals and ethics, and promises an          afterlife for the faithful.

ØThe Five Pillars of Islam

 Adherents are expected to pray five times daily at established times

ü  Give alms to the poor

ü  Fast from dawn to sunset in the holy ninth month

ü  Make at least one pilgrimage to the sacred city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia

ü  Profess belief in Allah, the one god

Ø Two major sects prevail

a. Shiite Muslims: 11 percent of Islamic total in diverse subgroups.

üForm the majority in Iran and Iraq

üMajor fundamentalist revival now occurring under Iranian leadership to throw off Western influences, and restore the purity of the faith

üPolitical tension with the potential for severe disruption is spreading

üStrongest among Indo-European groups

b. Sunni Muslims — represent Islamic orthodoxy forming the large majority.

 Strength is greatest in the Arabic-speaking lands

ü  Non-Arabic Indonesia now contains world’s largest concentration

ü  Large clusters occur in western China, Indo-European Bangladesh, and Pakistan

3. Judaism:

§  Monotheistic faith

§  Parent of Christianity, and closely related to Islam

§  Certain Hebrew prophets and leaders are recognized by Christians and Muslims

§  Does not actively seek converts and has remained an ethnic religion

§  Has split into a variety of subgroups, partly as a result of forced dispersal

§  Forced from Israel in Roman times and lost contact with other colonies

§  Jews who resided in Mediterranean lands were called the Sephardim

§  Those residing in central and Eastern Europe were known as the Ashkenozim

§  Large-scale migration of Ashkenazic from Europe to America during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

§  During Nazi years, perhaps a third of the entire Jewish population of the world was systematically murdered, mainly Ashkenazim

§  Europe ceased to be primary homeland and many survivors fled overseas to Israel and America

§  Has about 14 million adherents throughout the world

§  Nearly 7 million live in North America

4. Hinduism:

§  Closely tied to India and its ancient culture

§  Claims about 750 million adherents

§  Polytheistic religion involving the worship of a myriad of deities

§  Linked to the caste system — rigid segregation of people according to ancestry and occupation

§  Believe in ahimsa — veneration of all forms of life

§  Belief in reincarnation

§  No set standard of beliefs prevails, and the faith takes many local forms

§  Includes very diverse peoples

                1. The faith straddles a major ethnic/linguistic divide

                2. Includes both Indo-Europeans and Dravidians

§  Once a proselytic religion, is today a regional, biethnic faith

§  Suggestive of its former missionary activity is an outlier on the distant Indonesian island of Bali

§  Hinduism has splintered into diverse religious, some regarded as separate religions

                      1.  Jainism — ancient outgrowth, claiming perhaps 5 million adherents

n  Traces its roots back over twenty-five centuries

n  Reject Hindu scriptures, rituals, and priesthood

n  Share Hindu belief in ahimsa and reincarnation

n  Adhere to a stern asceticism

                      2. Sikhism — arose in the 1500s, in an attempt to unify Hinduism and Islam

n  Centered in the Punjab state of northwestern India

n  Has about 19 million followers

n  Sikhs practice monotheism and have their own holy book, the Adi Granth

5. Buddhism:

§  Derived from Hinduism began 25 centuries ago

§  Reform movement grounded in the teaching of Prince Siddhartha — the Buddha

§  He promoted the four “noble truths”

o   Life is full of suffering

o   Desire is the cause of this suffering

o   Cessation of suffering comes with the quelling of desire

o   An “eight-fold path” of proper personal conduct and meditation permits the individual to overcome desire

o   Nirvana — reached when one has achieved a state of escape and peace, which is attained by very few

§  Today the most widespread religion in Asia

§  Dominates a culture region from Sri Lanka to Japan and from Mongolia to Vietnam

§  Proselytic religion

1.       Formed composite faiths as it fused with ethnic faiths especially in China and Japan

2.       Fused with Confucianism, Taoism, and Shintoism

3.       Southern Buddhism dominant in Sri Lanka and mainland Southeast Asia retains greatest similarity to original form

4.       Special variation known as Lamaism prevails in Tibet and Mongolia

§  Difficult to determine number of adherents because of tendency to merge with native religions — estimates range from 334 million to over 500 million people

§  In China, has enmeshed with local faiths to become part of an ethnic religion

§  Outside China, remains one of the great proselytic religions in the world

6. Animism:§  Difficult to determine number of adherents because of tendency to merge with native religions — estimates range from 334 million to over 500 million people

§  In China, has enmeshed with local faiths to become part of an ethnic religion

§  Outside China, remains one of the great proselytic religions in the world

§  Retained tribal ethnic religion of people around the world

§  Today, adherents number at least 100 million

§  Animists believe certain inanimate objects possess spirits or souls

1.       Spirits live in rocks, rivers, mountain peaks, and heavenly bodies

2.       Each tribe has its own characteristic form of animism

§  A Shaman — tribal religious figure usually serves as the intermediary between people and the spirits

§  To some animists, objects do not actually possess spirits, but are valued because they have a potency to serve as a link between people and the omnipresent god

§  Animism can be a very complex belief system

§  Sub-Saharan Africa is the greatest surviving stronghold of animism

1.       Along the north edge Islam is rapidly winning converts

2.       Christian missionaries are very active throughout the area

§  Animism in the Western Hemisphere

o   Umbanda — kept alive by descendants of African slaves in Brazil has 30 million followers

o   Santeria — is found mainly in Cuba

o   Survives beneath a facade of nominal Roman Catholicism in Cuba

7. Secularism:

§  In much of Europe religion has declined

§  Today, number of nonreligious and atheistic persons worldwide is about 1 billion

§  Typically displays vivid regionalization on a variety of scales

§  Areas of religious vitality lie alongside secularized districts in a disorderly jumble

§  Causes of retreat from religion

1.       A government’s active hostility toward a particular faith or religion

2.       Failure of religions oriented toward the need of rural folk to adapt to the urban scene

v Dwelling Place:

Place to live or reside

Human beings adapt their dwelling to fit the environment, find suitable material to protect them from the weather. Houses exist in almost every locale, from the warm climate of Côte d'Ivoire in West Africa to the cold temperature & frozen soils of Siberia & Greenland.

There are lots of different types of houses, used by different people at different times in their lives, houses come in all shapes and sizes. They vary within cities and towns, as well as in the countryside:

1. Detached houses: Are the most typical type of house in Britain. “Detached” means that the house does not share walls with any other house. They often have larger gardens. 

2. Semi-detached houses: Are houses which are built next to each other. This means that they share walls. These houses are very common in the outskirts of cities. Their gardens are usually long and narrow.

3. Terraced houses: Are houses which are built in a row, they are very common in cities. Older terraced houses often have a cellar or basement. Their gardens are usually small.

4. Flats: There are more blocks of flats in big cities, such as London and Birmingham, but in smaller cities like Worcester (which is the same size as Palencia), there are only two blocks of flats! Students and young couples tend to live in flats until they have enough money to rent a house.

5. Bungalow: Is a type of house, with varying meanings across the world. Common features to many (but not all) of these definitions include being detached, low-rise, and the use of verandahs. The term originated in India, deriving from the Gujarati baṅgalo, meaning "Bengali" and used elliptically for a "house in the Bengal style".

6. Caravans: Travel trailer, the American name for a small trailer in which people can live and travel, known in Europe and Australia as a caravan. Around one million British people go on holiday in a caravan. They attach it to their cars and drive to other parts of the country, or even abroad. 

7. Manson: Or manor is a very large dwelling house. A traditional European mansion was defined as a house which contained a ballroom and tens of bedrooms. Today, however, there is no formal definition beyond being a large and well-appointed house.