KEY TOPICS IN CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY

Introduction

The field of cultural geography is wide-ranging and comprehensive. To understand the various ways in which geographers look at culture, it is useful to focus on 5 traditionally prominent areas of study and research

Cultural Landscapes

The imprint of cultures on the land creates distinct and characteristic cultural landscapes.

Examples

The Canadian Prairies with their seemingly endless fields of wheat are commonly seen as a typical Canadian landscape.

The Pyramids in their mysterious construction and immense structure are seen as strictly a Egyptian landscape

Cultural Hearths

Foundation of a major culture The “birthplace” of a culture– people and

ideas spread out from there 5 main early cultural hearths:

Middle America (Mexico) Nile River (Egypt) Mesopotamia (Iraq) Indus Valley (Pakistan) Yellow River (China)

Mesopotamia Nile Valley

Indus Valley Wei-Huang

Valley Ganges Valley Mesoamerica West Africa Andean

America

What do these Cultural Hearths have in Common?

Water Enough to support farming and a large

population All except Middle America located in

River valleys Mild Climate (not too hot) Fertile land Civilizations developed and spread

from these areas

Cultural Diffusion

Spreading of new knowledge from one culture to another

When two cultures meet, cultural diffusion occurs Reasons people move to a new area:

Forced because they are a slave Pushed out of land by war Move because of famine/disease Move for better opportunities/freedom

Cultural Diffusion sped up with the invention of new technologies like telephones and the internet

Cultural Perception

One of the main areas of cross-cultural differences and an important source of cultural misunderstandings is our difference perceptions.

Different cultures perceive things differently, sometimes these differences are very subtle and sometimes perceptions can lead to totally opposite interpretations. We all have different cultural perceptions and these difference can impact our international business success.

Cultural Environments

This area deals with the role of culture in human understanding, use, and alteration of the environment.

 It focuses on describing and analyzing the ways language, religion, economy, government and other cultural phenomena vary or remain constant, from one place to another and on explaining how humans function spatially.