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culture
The body of customary beliefs,
social forms, and material artifacts
that together constitute the
distinct tradition of a group of
people. Culture gives unique
identity to the people of a region.
cultural geography
the study of the spatial
distributions of cultures and
cultural traits
cultural landscape
The visible imprint of a culture on
the natural landscape. Culture is
the agent, the natural area is the
medium, the cultural landscape is
the result.
expansion diffusion
The spread of an innovation
throughout a population. Includes
contagious and hierarchical (but
NOT relocation) diffusion.
contagious diffusion
The rapid, widespread diffusion of
a characteristic throughout a
population by contact of adjacent
areas and individuals.
relocation diffusion
The spread of an innovation by the
bodily movement of people from
one place to another (migration!).
artifact
Any physical object made and used
by and representative of a given
culture. Artifacts are the basic
building blocks of material culture.
sociofact
the way in which a culture
organizes itself
or
the social structures (institutions)
of a culture that dictate social
behavior
mentifacts
the ideas, values, and beliefs of a
culture
acculturation
The adoption of just enough the
behavior patterns of the
surrounding dominant culture so as
to be able to function economically
and socially.
architectural form
The look of a culture’s housing. In
folk cultures this follows available
materials; in popular culture it
follows current fashion.
assimilation
The process by which a small
population loses its culture to and
becomes indistinguishable from a
larger dominant culture.
built environment
The physical part of the cultural
landscape that provides the setting
for human activity. (e.g. homes,
bridges, roads, neighborhoods,
etc.)
Core/Domain/Sphere
Core: The zone of greatest concentration or
homogeneity of the culture traits that characterize a
region.
Domain: The area outside of the core of a culture
region in which the culture is still dominant but less
intense.
Sphere: The zone of outer influence for a culture
region.
commodification
The process by which a cultural
trait that was not previously
regarded as something to be
bought or sold becomes something
to be bought or sold.
cultural adaptation
the process whereby new people
adapt to a previously existing
culture (includes: culture shock,
acculturation, assimilation)
cultural appropriation
The process by which cultures adopt customs
from other cultures for their own benefit.
(General term which includes both
assimilation and acculturation.)
Globalization has greatly accelerated cultural
appropriation.
cultural convergence
The process whereby cultures
today are becoming more alike as
they increasingly share technology
and organizational structures in a
modern globalized world.
cultural ecology
The study of how humans adapt to
changes in the natural
environment.
culture traits
The smallest building blocks of
culture (e.g. artifacts, beliefs,
attitudes, customs, gestures,
techniques... These are individual
artifacts, sociofacts, or mentifacts.)
culture complex
A functionally related group of
cultural traits. (e.g. nationalism,
democracy, Hinduism, Swahili, a
business behavior, slash and burn
agriculture, soccer)
culture region
An area defined by similar culture
traits and cultural landscapes. (e.g.
Central Coast, American
Southwest, Cajun Region, Mormon
Zone, Bantu Region, Middle East)
culture realm
Global scale culture regions (e.g.
Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa)
Culture realms may be defined
variously by some combination of
religion, language, diet, customs, or
economic development.
vernacular region
(aka perceptual region)
a region a person believes to exist
based on his idea of its defining
characteristics.
culture hearth
Location where a specific culture or
cultural trait first arises.
environmental determinism
The idea that cultural traits are
determined by environmental
conditions. Its most extreme form
is now entirely discredited.
folk culture
A culture traditionally practiced by
a small, homogeneous, rural group
living in relative isolation
popular culture
The culture traits found in large,
heterogeneous, typically urban
society that shares habits despite
differences in other characteristics
globalization
The expansion of economic,
political, and cultural processes to
the point that they become global
in scale and impact
glocalization
The process by which local people
mediate and alter regional,
national, and global influences as
they diffuse to their region.
(modern form of cultural
appropriation)
local culture
a group of people in a particular
place who share experiences,
customs, and traits, and who work
to preserve those traits and
customs in order to claim
uniqueness and to distinguish
themselves from others
maladaptive diffusion
diffusion with negative side effects,
often because image takes
precedence over practicality. (aka
“what works well in one culture
doesn't work in another”).
material culture
the visible things that people
construct in a culture
nonmaterial culture
the beliefs, values, practices,
systems, and aesthetics (what a
culture finds beautiful) of a culture
neolocalism
The attempt to rediscover, promote and
preserve the unique cultural identity and
heritage of a community.
Neolocalism is often a reaction against
globalization’s tendency to create uniform
landscapes and placelessness.
placelessness
the loss of uniqueness in a cultural
landscape so that one place looks
like every other
uniform landscape
the spatial expression of a popular
custom in one location being
similar to another
possibilism
the idea that human decision
making, not the environment, is
the crucial factor in cultural
development
reterritorialization
when people within a place start to
produce an aspect of popular
culture themselves, doing so in the
context of their local culture
sequent occupance
the phenomenon by which
successive societies leave their
cultural imprints on a place each
contributing in turn to the
cumulative cultural landscape of
that place
syncretism
the fusion of two distinctive
cultural traits into a unique hybrid
taboo
the restriction on behavior
imposed by social custom
habit
the repetitive act of an individual
person not necessarily adopted by
the group. A habit is not a custom
until it is adopted by a group
custom
the repetitive act of a group
hierarchical diffusion
the spread of an innovation from
places or persons of power (elites,
big cities) to other places of power,
jumping over intervening areas.