Concepts of Culture. Culture complex: a discrete combination of traits

Transcription

1 Material Culture - visible objects that a group possesses (clothing, tools) Objects which are left behind by a culture, help us to learn information about them. Concepts of Culture Culture is at the heart of human geography. Culture refers not only to the music, literature, and arts of a society, but also to all the other features of its way of life: prevailing modes of dress routine living habits food preferences the architecture of houses and public buildings layouts of fields and farms the systems of education government law (MATERIAL AND NONMATERIAL CULTURE) Culture trait: a single attribute of a culture (not necessarily confined to a single culture) Culture complex: a discrete combination of traits Culture region: the area within which a particular culture system prevails is marked by all the attributes of culture Culture realm: an assemblage of culture regions Cultural landscape: (defined by Carl Sauer) the forms superimposed on the physical landscape by the activities of man

2 People transform their living space by building structures on it, creating lines of communication, tilling the land, channeling the water, etc The cultural landscape also has an intangible quality, an atmosphere that includes the smells, sights, sounds, pace of life. Cultural change No culture has been characterized by a permanently fixed set of material objects, systems of organization, or even ideologies (some may be long enduring in a stable, isolated society). Change within cultures is induced by innovation, diffusion, and acculturation. culture is dynamic Culture hearths areas where success and progress prevailed a center of innovation and invention from which key culture traits and elements moved to exert an influence on surrounding areas Cultural diffusion process by which an idea or innovation is transmitted from one individual or group to another across space Two process are involved: movement of people spread of information/ideas/innovations Relocation diffusion involves the actual movement of individuals who have already adopted the idea or innovation

3 they carry it to a new, perhaps distant locale, where they proceed to disseminate it ex. spread of Christianity to European colonies ex. spread of AIDS Migrant diffusion when an innovation originates somewhere and enjoys strong, but brief adoption there By the time it reaches distant places, it has already lost strength at the place where it started (no stable core area) (ex. Buddhism) Expansion diffusion spread of an innovation or idea there are 3 types: Contagious diffusion nearly all adjacent individuals are affected works like a virus ex. spread of Islam Hierarchical diffusion an idea or innovation spreads by trickling down from larger to smaller adoption units urban hierarchy- allows for the diffusion over widespread areas lessening the influence of geographic distance the main channel of diffusion is some segment of those who are susceptible to what is being diffused diffusion proceeds from top to bottom (or reverse) (ex. spread of fax machines) Stimulus diffusion an idea or innovation is not readily adopted by a receiving population, but it does have some impact

4 ex. industrial revolution stimulated mechanization of local handicraft manufacturing ex. Apple didn t do as well in computers as IBM, but they had the idea of the icon v. a string of words the icons are now in IBM operating systems Factors which work against diffusion: Distance Physical geography (mountains, oceans may pose interrupting obstacles ) Time Cultural barriers (taboos, prohibitions) Government control Acculturation process by which a culture is substantially changed through interaction with another culture, not a one-way street dominant culture will impose many attributes on weaker ones, but may also adopt some aspects of the latter s culture ex. Spanish/Aztec exchange, Westernization of Japan Related term: transculturation a genuine exchange in which both cultures function as sources and adopters related term: cultural imperialism- the dominance of one culture over another Syncretism & Hybridity fusion of old and new

5 syncretism is the result of the mixture of elements from different cultural sources that are combined in novel ways to create something new hybridity is a product of cultural mixing especially new transcultural forms that emerge between indigenous and colonial cultures in the contact zone brought on by colonization examples: alteration of imported cuisines to make them more palatable, or alteration of religious ritual Cultural convergence describes the sharing of technologies, organizational structures, even cultural traits and artifacts that is so evident among widely separated societies in a modern world united by instantaneous communication and efficient transportation Cultural Extinction obliteration of an entire culture by war, disease, acculturation, or a combination of the three.