Unit 3 Cultural patterns and Processes

Cultural Traits

Cultural traits

Culture:comprised of the shared practices, attitudes, behaviors and technology that are transmitted by society.

Architecture: Shrines are typical of Japanese culture.

Clothing: A lot of Muslim women wear Hijabs to honor the values of their religion.

Food Preferences: To Hindus cows are sacred, so beef cannot be consumed as food.

Cultural Relativism: The judgement of another culture based on its unique characteristics.

Ethnocentrism: The judgment of another culture based on its preconceived opinion or ideas of that culture.

Elements of Cultural Landscapes & Description

Cultural Landscapes

Indigenous Communities: Some ares are getting more autonomy while other areas are being pushed off their lands.

Sequent occupance: The marks people leave throughout time on a place.

Ethnic Communities: A cultural landscape within a community of people outside their area of origin.

Physical Features: Vegetation, soil, climate.

Gendered Spaces: Public/private spaces accomodating gender roles.

Agricultural/Industrial Practices: Factories, crop fields, development level.

Land use patterns: What the land is used for.

Elements of Cultural Landscapes (2)

Religious And Linguistic Characteristics: places of worship, religious symbols, religious clothing, cultural items.

Traditional Architecture: A building style of different cultures, religions, places.

Postmodern Architecture: A building style that values diversity in design.

Cultural Landscape (2)

Cultural Patterns 3.3

Cultural Patterns

Sense Of Place: Personal attachments people have to a specific geographic location.

Placemaking: Creating a place where people want to work, live, & play in.

Global Cultural Landscape: Cultural groups interactions with their environment.

Centripetal Forces: One common language, one common ethnicity, one common religion.

Centrifugal Forces: Multiple languages, multiple religions, multiple ethnicities.

Dialects: variation of a language.

Types of Diffusion

Diffusion: The spread of an epidemic, innovation, or idea throughout space and time.

Absorbing barriers: An obstacle which completely stops an idea from diffusion.

Permeable barriers: Obstacle which slows down diffusion without stopping.

Independent Invention: Idea created without diffusion.

Expansion Diffusion: when innovations spread to new places while staying strong in their original locations.

Hierarchical Diffusion: when a cultural trend is spread from one segment of society to another in a pattern.From highest to lowest rank.

Reverse Hierarchical: Spreads from lowest to highest rank.

Relocation Diffusion: When people move, or relocate, they spread ideas along with them.

Stimulus Diffusion: cultural adaptation is created as a result of the introduction of a cultural trait from another place.

Contagious Diffusion: the process of an idea being spread rapidly throughout the population.

Causes:

Imperialism: One state's excercise of direct or indirect control over the affairs of another political society.

Colonialism: Form of imperilaism in which a state take possession of a foreign territory, occupies it and governs it.

Trade: To give in exchange for another commodity.

Historical Causes of Diffusion

Effects:

Rise of the British empire across different countries in the world influenced the spread of the English language.

Through trade, many new ideas and innovations from one culture diffused into another culture such as food and clothing.

Diffusion of religion also happened all over the world.

Historical Effects of Diffusion

The Columbian Exchange: Type of spatial diffusion and was the widespread transfer of plants, animals, culture, human populations, technology, diseases, and ideas between the Americas, West Africa, and the Old World (Europe) in the 15th and 16th centuries.

Lingua Franca: A language used by people who don't speak the same language to communicate for trade or business.

Interactions between and among cultural traits and larger global forces can lead to new forms of cultural expression.

Colonialism,Imperialism, and trade helped to shape patterns and practices of culture.

More Diffusion

Causes:

ContemporaryCauses of Diffusion

Social media/Internet- Allows information to quickly spread and distant communication.

Transportation advancements- With modern transportation, people can easily move and bring their traits with them to spread.

Politics- Policies/laws can spread throughout a country or the world.

Supranationalism- Supranational organizations such as the EU allow for ideas within it to spread to the organization's members and others.

Economics- Increasing amounts of multinational corporations.

Multinational Corporations- Companies that have ties to multiple countries (facilities/offices)

Effects:

Contemporary Effects of Diffusion

Time-Space Convergence- Communication and transportation advancements lessen the effects of distance.

Globalization- Greater interconnectedness among the world's people, places, and institutions.

Urbanization- New technology/transportation allows cities to expand.

Cultural Convergence- Cultures become more alike as their interactions increase.

Increasing use of english language- english has easily and rapidly diffused across the globe, becoming the lingua franca.

Loss of indigenous languages- Things diffuse that get in the way of their lifestyle causing assimilation.

Placelessness- Loss of unique aspects of a place

Cultural Divergence- A group/society separates usually due to being unsimilar or distance.

Patterns of Language

Language: System of communication through the use of speech and symbols.

Dialect: Variation of a language based on differences in pronunciation, speech pace, word choice, and spelling.

Language Family: Group of related languages that share an ancestral language

Indo-European: Largest language family with the widest distribution. Originated in Asia and Europe.

Sino-Tibetan: Originated in Asia

Niger-Congo: Originated in Africa

Afro-Asiatic: Originated in Africa and Asia

Diffusion of Language

Hearth: Place of origin for a specific idea or thought.

Indo-European. Hearth- Flat grassland area of Modern Russia or Ukraine knows as Kurgan or Anatolia, the asian section of Turkey. Diffusion- Many Indo-european languages such as the english language diffused through colonization.

Sino-Tibetan. Hearth- North China. Diffusion- Believed that the earliest Sino-Tibetan languages diffused with the culture of yangshao along the yellow river.

Austronesian. Hearth- Tawian. Diffusion- Spread of most Austronesian languages is mostly dedicated to relocation diffusion.

Niger-Congo. Hearth- Believed to be where the Niger and Benue rivers meet. Diffusion- As the Benue congo group migrated from the hearth across Africa languages within the Niger Congo family naturally spread with it. Leading it to be one of the more dominant language families in Africa. Contagious and relocation diffusion.

Christianity:

Universalizing

2.3 billion followers

Largest world religion

Americas-800 million followers

Europe-565 million followers

Christianity

Hinduism:

Ethnic religion

1.15 billion

Located in India, United States, United Kingdom

India- 90% of all followers

Hinduism

Judaism:

Judaism

Ethnic religion, but due to Jewish diaspora found many places

13 million followers

Israel-6 million Jews

U.S-5.5 million Jews

Buddhism:

Universalizing Religion

495 million followers

Southeast Asia

Thailand- 95% Buddhist

Cambodia- 90% Buddhist

Buddhism

Islam:

Islam

Universalizing

1/5 of world population

North Africa, Middle East, and South Asia

Indonesia- 200 million followers

Pakistan- 170 million followers

Fastest growing religion

Sikhism:

Universalizing

23 million followers

Northern India- 90% of all Sikhs

Canada- 500,000 followers

Often considered a syncretic faith by those outside the religion due to shared elements with Hinduism and Islam

Sikhism

Diffusion of Religion

Universalizing religions- Faith seek to transmit their beliefs through missionary work and seeking out converts (followers) Spreads through relocation diffusion and expansion diffusion.

Ethnic religions- Religion that is identified with a particular ethnic or tribal group and that does not seek new converts. Spreads through only relocation diffusion.

Christianity. Universalizing religion. Hearth- The West Bank and Israel. Diffusion- Relocation, contagious, and hierarchical.

Islam. Universalizing. Hearth- Saudi Arabia (Mecca and Medina) Diffusion- Relocation, contagious, and hierarchical.

Buddhism. Universalizing. Hearth- Northeastern India. Diffusion- Relocation, and contagious.

Sikhism. Universalizing. Hearth- Punjab region of Northwestern India. Diffusion- Relocation.

Hinduism. Ethnic. Hearth- South Asia. Diffusion- Relocation.

Judaism.Ethnic. Hearth-Israel and Palestine. Diffusion- Relocation

Acculturation

Acculturation

When people within one culture adopt elements of another while still retaining their own distinct/unique culture.

*Usually a minority culture adopts traits of a majority culture, and some aspects of the original culture may be lost over time,

Assimilation

When the interaction of two cultures causes one culture to adopt almost all the traits from another without retaining their own distinct culture (can be voluntary or forced)

*Usually a minority culture will lose all the elements of their own culture and adopt the elements of the majority culture.

Assimilation

Syncretism:

When two or more cultures blend together to form a new culture with new values, customs, ideas , practices, etc.

Syncretism

Multiculturalism:

When diverse cultures coexist within the same area. They can share some traits of the cultures around them but retain their original traits

Multiculturalism