This chapter discusses cultural geography and how culture shapes and is shaped by space, place and landscape. It examines fundamental aspects of culture like language and religion, which demonstrate both globalizing and localizing trends. Cultural geographers also study other forms of cultural identity and how they relate to resisting dominant cultural patterns. The chapter explores the globalization of culture as well as local attempts to resist globalization through asserting distinct cultural identities.

1. Human Geography: Places and
Regions in Global Context, 5e
Chapter 5: Cultural Geographies
Paul L. Knox & Sallie A. Marston
PowerPoint Author: Keith M. Bell

2. Overview
Cultural geography is the topic of Chapter Five. This broad field focuses on how
space, place, and landscape shape culture, and on how culture shapes space,
place, and landscape. Globalizing trends and the distinctiveness of cultures are
both aspects of this field of study.
Language and religion are two fundamental aspects of culture. Both language and
religion demonstrate globalizing and localizing characteristics. For example, English
has become a global language while, at the same time, speakers of many other
languages are asserting their linguistic identity. Likewise, Islamism is an influential
force in some countries as it attempts to resist globalizing trends.
Cultural geographers today also realize that other forms of cultural identity—such
as sexuality, gender, and ethnicity—are also means of asserting identity and of
resisting the influence of majority or dominant cultural patterns. In sum, this chapter
explores the globalization (or worldwide standardization) of culture and various local
and societal attempts to resist this globalization.

3. Chapter Objectives
• The objectives of this chapter are to:
– Examine the cultural systems of religion and language
as they are related to geography
– Provide a foundation in the understanding of cultural
nationalism
– Survey culture and identity by examining our sexual
geographies, ethnicity and the use of space, race and
place, and gender
– Explore the relationship between culture and the
physical environment
– Investigate the relationship between globalization and
cultural change

4. Chapter Outline
• Culture as a Geographical Process • Islamic Cultural Nationalism (p.
(p. 174) 197)
– Cultural geography and culture defined – Islam, Islamism, and resistance to
• Building Cultural Complexes (p. globalization
179) • Culture and Identity (p. 203)
– Carl Sauer and the cultural landscape – Sexual geographies
– H.C. Darby and historical geography – Ethnicity and the use of space
– Paul Vidal de la Blache and genre de – Race and place
vie – Gender, class, and vulnerability
– Cultural traits, regions, and complexes • Globalization and Cultural Change
• Cultural Systems (p. 182) (p. 208)
– Religion, hearth regions and diffusion, – How has globalization changed
changing religious practices culture?
– Language, hearth regions and – Is culture becoming global?
diffusion, minority languages • Conclusion (p. 211)
– Culture and society; ideas of kinship

5. Geography Matters
• 5.1 Geography Matters—The Culture of Hip-Hop (p.
176)
– Hip-hop’s origins and diffusion
• 5.2 Geography Matters—Changing Religious
Practices in Latin America and the Caribbean (p.
194)
– Religious syncretism in the Americas
• 5.3 Geography Matters—Language and Ethnicity in
Africa (p. 201)
– Links between language and ethnic identity in Africa
• 5.4 Window on the World—Separatism in Québec
(p. 204)
– Reasons for French-Canadian cultural nationalism in Canada

6. Cultural Geographies
Though culture is a central, complex
concept in geography, it may be thought
of as a way of life involving a particular
set of skills, values, and meanings.
Geographers focus on how place and
space shape culture, and how culture
shapes place and space. Culture is
dynamic.
Culture has been profoundly impacted by
globalization.
Cultural geography seeks to understand
the role played by politics and economy in
establishing and perpetuating cultures,
cultural landscapes, and global patterns of
cultural traits and complexes.
Cultural geography includes analysis of
gender, class, sexuality, race, ethnicity,
and life-cycle stages.
Globalization does not necessarily mean
that the world is becoming more
homogenous. The local is in some ways
even more important.

7. Expressions of Culture
Ta mako (tribal tattoos) are signs of identification, rank, genealogy, tribal
history, eligibility to marry, beauty, and ferocity in the Maori culture of New
Zealand.

8. Culture as a Geographical Process
• Geographers seek to understand the manifestations and impacts of
culture on geography and geography on culture.
• Geographers are interested not only in how place and space shape
culture but also the reverse—how culture shapes place and space.
• Definitions of culture:
– Culture is a particular way of life, such as a set of skilled activities, values,
and meaning surrounding a particular type of economic practice.
– Culture is a set of classical standards and aesthetic excellence: opera,
ballet, or literature.
– The term culture describes the range of activities that characterize a
particular group, such as working-class culture, corporate culture, or teen
culture.
• For our purposes: Culture is a shared set of meanings that is lived
through the material and symbolic practices of everyday life.

9. Death Practice
Roadside memorials are artistic expressions that mark the place where the
soul has left the body in a fatal accident. Have you seen these where you live?

10. The Geography of Hip-Hop
East Coast vs. West Coast vs. South Coast

11. Folk Culture vs. Popular Culture
• Folk culture is seen by specialists
as the traditional practices of
small groups, especially rural
people with a simple lifestyle,
such as the Amish or the Roma.
• Popular culture is viewed by
some cultural geographers as the
practices and meaning systems
produced by large groups of
people whose norms and tastes
are often heterogeneous and
change frequently, often in
response to commercial products.

12. Building Cultural Complexes
This Masai village is enclosed by thorny vegetation gathered from the surrounding
area. Inside the barrier are dwellings, as well as pens for all-important livestock.

13. Sauer’s “Morphology of Landscape”
• Material expression of
culture manifest themselves
in the landscape.
• Cultural landscape is a
characteristic and tangible
outcome of the complex
interactions between a
human group and its natural
environment.
• A cultural landscape is a
“humanized” version of a
natural environment (i.e.,
landscape management).

14. Market Gardens in Corsica
Genre de vie referred to a functionally organized way of life that was seen to
be characteristic of a particular culture group. Farming is a way of life—a
genre de vie—that we can read from the landscape where extensive cultivated
fields and isolated farmhouses constitute key elements.

15. Domesday Book
H. C. Darby most successfully
implemented his historical
geography approach to cultural
geography and landscape by
developing a geography based on
the Domesday Book (or
Doomsday Book).
William the Conqueror ordered
this book compiled so that he
could know the value of all that he
conquered.
For geographers like Darby, such
data (e.g., homes, people, wealth,
customs) were invaluable for
reconstructing the political,
economic, and social forces that
shaped past landscapes.

16. Iroquois Longhouse
A cultural trait is a single aspect of the complex of routine practices that
constitute a particular cultural group (e.g., distinctive styles of dress, dietary
habits, and styles of architecture). Longhouses were communal, housing up to
20 families at once.

17. Rites of Passage
The coming-of-age ceremony for girls turning twenty years old in
South Korea is held every May 15 in Seoul. Koreans who turn 60
are also ritually celebrated on hwan-gap.

18. U.S. Religious Distribution, 2000
At such a scale, this map does not reflect the nuance of faith diversity
across America. However, it does illustrate the concept of cultural
regions based on religion (e.g., the “Bible Belt” in the Deep South or the
Mormon hearthland).

19. Cultural Systems
• Geography and Religion
– Religion is a belief system and a set of practices that recognizes the
existence of a higher power.
– Diaspora is a spatial dispersion of a previously homogeneous group.
• Geography and Language
– Language is a way of communicating ideas or feelings by means of a
conventionalized system.
– Cultural hearths are the geographic origins or sources of innovations,
ideas, or ideologies.
• Culture and Society
– Kinship is a relationship based on blood, marriage, or adoption, but
also includes a shared notion of relationship among members of the
group.

20. World Distribution of Major Religions
Not evident on the map are the local variations in practices, as well as the many
smaller religions that are practiced worldwide (e.g., Sikhism or Santería).

21. Origin Areas and Diffusion of Four
Major Religions
The world’s major religions originated in a
fairly small region of the world.
Judaism and Christianity began in present-day
Israel and Jordan.
Islam emerged from western Arabia.
Buddhism originated in India, and Hinduism in
the Indus region of Pakistan (from Vedic rites
and rituals).
Religious beliefs are organized and codified,
often based on the teachings and writings of
one or more of its founders.

22. Geography and
Language
• Language classification includes
families, branches, and groups.
• A language family is a collection of
individual languages believed to be
related in their pre-historical origin.
• A language branch is a collection of
languages that possess a definite
common origin but have split into
individual languages.
• A language group is a collection of
several individual languages that is
part of a language branch, shares a
common origin in the recent past, and
has relatively similar grammar and
vocabulary.

23. Spread of Buddhism
Commercial routes, like the Silk Road, were important vectors
for the spread of the religion across Asia.

24. Spread of Christianity in Europe
• Christianity diffused
through Europe largely
because of missionary
efforts.
• Monks and monasteries
were especially important as
hubs of diffusion in the
larger network.
• The shaded areas indicate
places where Christian
converts dominated by A.D.
300.

25. Pre-Columbian Religions in North America
European contact with the
New World was, from the
beginning, accompanied by
Christian missionizing
efforts.
Proselytizing efforts were
directed at changing the
belief systems of the
aboriginal peoples and
converting them to the “the
one, true religion.”
Religion, especially for the
Spanish colonizing agents,
was particularly important
in integrating Native
Americans into the feudal
system.

26. Changing Religious Practices
Tibetan monks protest in Megachurch, Illinois, United
Nepal States

27. Muslim World
What is the difference between Islam and Islamism? What is the difference
between fundamentalism and jihad? What are the five pillars of Islam?

28. Muslim Women
Afghanistan Turkey
In fundamentalist, theocratic states (e.g., Afghanistan under the Taliban), women
must observe rules of modesty. In Turkey, where there is a secular democratic
government, women may have more liberal attitudes of decorum. How do
Westerners view the burqua and conservative Islamic culture?

29. Language Map of India
India’s linguistic landscape is
complex, with hundreds of
distinct languages in use.
This map provides an
illustration of the intricate
geography of language on the
subcontinent.

30. African Countries with Extinct and
Threatened Languages
It is not absolutely certain how many
languages are currently being spoken
worldwide.
Estimates range between 4,200 and 5,600.
While some languages are being created
through the fusion of an indigenous language
with a colonial language, indigenous languages
are mostly dying out.
Although only Africa is shown in this map,
indigenous languages are dying out throughout
the Americas and Asia as well.

31. World Film Production, 2001

32. Globalizing Film Industry: Nollywood
Nollywood video films are popular the world over and rival Hollywood
and Bollywood in numbers produced. The films follow different
production techniques and invoke different kinds of stories, ultimately
resulting in a different aesthetic.

33. Sexual Geographies
Sexuality is a set of practices and identities that a given culture considers
related to each other and to those things it considers sexual acts and
desires. This gay pride (LGBT) parade in São Paulo, Brazil, attracted
almost 2 million people.

34. End of Chapter 5

35. Discussion Topics and Lecture
Themes
• Have the class describe and discuss
some of the natural and cultural
landscapes in the local community. How
have these landscapes shaped each
other?
– The natural environment and cultural
practices shape each other. The university
campus may be a good example to
consider.

36. Discussion Topics and Lecture
Themes
• How would you characterize the cultural
traits of your community or region? What
things are “hot” and “not hot” in the
community or region? Are any of these
traits distinctive to the area, or do they
reflect national or global tastes?
– The best source for this discussion is
Michael J. Weiss’s Latitudes and Attitudes
(Boston: Little, Brown, 1994), which provides
data for all regions of the United States.

37. Discussion Topics and Lecture
Themes
• Discuss how language shapes thought. For
example, how is the same concept literally
expressed in different languages?
– For example, in English, one says “I am hungry,”
which suggests a state that a person is in. In
German and Spanish, one says “I have hunger,”
which suggests that hunger is some thing that one
can have or not have. In the Diné (Navajo)
language, one says “hunger is killing me,” which
suggests that hunger is a malevolent external force.
In Amharic, one says “it hungers me,” which again
suggests an unknown force. Differences in
language may be reflected in cultural practices.

38. Discussion Topics and Lecture
Themes
• Discuss how languages have been used
as the bases of identity, and,
consequently, as instruments of
resistance to globalization. Is speaking
English a part of globalization?
– You might consider examples such as
French in Canada or Spanish in the United
States. A great deal of material on language
as resistance can be found on the Internet.

39. Discussion Topics and Lecture
Themes
• Discuss how religions have been used
as the bases of identity, and,
consequently, as instruments of
resistance to globalization.
– You might consider the example of Islam
and Islamism, as well as related movements
—see pages 197–203 in the textbook for
more information on Islamism. Other
religions and religious movements would
also provide good examples.

40. Discussion Topics and Lecture
Themes
• Discuss how measures of identity—such as
gender, sexuality, and ethnicity—are used as
instruments of resistance to culturally dominant
groups. How do gender-, sexuality-, and
ethnicity-based groups use space as an
element in this resistance? Does the local
community have any evidence of such identity-
based social spaces?
– Depending on the community, there may be
enclaves, ghettoes, or colonies of ethnic groups and
gay or lesbian groups. See pages 203–206 in the
textbook for further information.

41. Discussion Topics and Lecture
Themes
• An interesting topic for lecture or discussion is
the development of syncretic religions, which
combine elements of two or more religions.
– Good examples are found in the Caribbean region,
in which African, European, and indigenous cultures
mixed. Most Caribbean islands have their own
syncretic religion, notably Voodoo in Haiti, and
Lucumí or Santería on Spanish-speaking islands
such as Cuba and Puerto Rico. Have the students
research one of these religions. You can then trace
different elements of these religions back to African,
European, and indigenous roots.

42. Discussion Topics and Lecture
Themes
• What are the advantages and disadvantages
of globalization and the standardization of
culture? Ask the students if they would prefer
to live in a community in which everyone were
the same (no differences in language, religion,
sexuality, and so forth) or one in which such
differences exist. What are the costs and
benefits of each?
– Answers to these questions are largely a matter of
opinion. Having the students read pages 208–211 in
the textbook might better prepare them for a
discussion of this topic.

43. Discussion Topics and Lecture
Themes
• What is the hearth region of the English language?
How did the language diffuse globally? How is this
diffusion reflected in the language itself?
– England could be considered the hearth region of English,
though the language derives from the migrations of Germanic
tribes as well with an admixture of French after the Norman
conquest. English diffused globally through exploration and
colonization. English outside England has adapted to local
circumstances and has borrowed words both from local
languages and from immigrant groups, making American and
Australian English different from that of England and from
each other, for example. You might want to consult the works
of David Crystal, in particular his book English as a Global
Language (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997) for
more information.

44. Discussion Topics and Lecture
Themes
• Use Figure 5.A to illustrate the diffusion of rap
music in the United States. This figure clearly
indicates the geographic concepts of a hearth
region and spatial diffusion. You might also
use examples of recorded music to illustrate
changes and differences in regional styles.
– Playing music in class with a portable player will
give the students a chance to experience regional
differences in musical styles. If you are not fond of
rap music, you can substitute a different musical
genre to illustrate the same points.
Country/Western, bluegrass, jazz, blues, and
rhythm and blues work particularly well.

46. Discussion Topics and
Lecture Themes
• Compare Figure 5.E with a
political map of Africa. How
do political boundaries relate
to linguistic boundaries?
What are the consequences
of the lack of overlap?
– Linguistic boundaries and
political ones do not
generally match because
colonialism largely ignored
African political and cultural
boundaries. Consequently,
linguistic groups are often
divided between two or more
countries or have become
minority languages within a
country, often leading to
political tensions.

47. Discussion Topics and Lecture
Themes
• Discuss the importance of the works of
the geographers Carl Sauer, H.C. Darby,
and Paul Vidal de la Blache on 20th-
century geography.
– Information about these geographers can be
found on pages 179–182 of the textbook.
They each helped lead geography away
from the environmental determinism that
dominated much of early 20th-century
geography.