Unit III.  Cultural Patterns and Processes

The main focus of this unit is on cultural patterns and processes that create recognized cultural identities. Students consider the physical environment to determine the effects of geographical location and available resources on cultural practices. Visuals representing artifacts, mentifacts and sociofacts all shed light on cultural landscapes and how they change over time. Practice in analyzing images of different places at different times for evidence of their ethnicity, language, religion, gender roles and attitudes, and other cultural attributes builds students’ understanding of cultural patterns and processes.

This unit also considers from a temporal and spatial perspective how culture spreads, through traditional forces such as colonialism and imperialism and through contemporary influences such as social media. Rather than emphasize the details of cultural practices associated with specific languages and religions, this unit instead focuses on the distribution of cultural practices and on the causes and effects of their diffusion. For example, students might study the distribution of Chinese versus English languages or the diffusion patterns of religions such as Hinduism and Islam, at local, national, or global scales.

An understanding of the diffusion of cultural practices provides a foundation for the study of political patterns and processes in the next unit.

Unit III Questions

1. Explain the concept of culture.
2. What are some examples of cultural traits?
3. How could a geographer use maps and spatial perspective to analyze and assess culture groups?
4. How does globalization affect culture?
5. How can communication technologies accelerate the loss of indigenous languages?
6. How does religion shape the cultural landscape?
7. How can language shape the cultural landscape?
8. How can ethnicity contribute to a sense of place?
9. What is the purpose of a language tree?
10. What type of map could be used to represent language patterns and distributions?
11. What factors influence the distribution of religion?
12. How does ethnicity affect the use of space?
13. How does gender affect the use of space?
14. Explain and give an example of contagious diffusion.
15. Explain and give an example of hierarchical diffusion.
16. Explain and give an example of stimulus diffusion.
17. How can culture and cultural traits move through relocation?
18. What is meant by the term “cultural hearth”?
19. What is a lingua franca?
20. How did colonialism help shape patterns and practices of culture?
21. How did trade help to shape patterns and practices of culture?
22. What is acculturation?
23. What is assimilation?
24. What is multiculturalism?
25. What is an ethnic religion? What are some examples?
26. How are ethnic religions spread?
27. What is a universalizing religion? What are some examples?
28. How are universalizing religions spread?
29. Briefly describe Hinduism.
30. Describe the geographic pattern of Hinduism.
31. Briefly describe Judaism.
32. Describe the geographic pattern of Judaism.
33. Briefly describe Christianity.
34. Describe the geographic pattern of Catholicism.
35. Describe the geographic pattern of Lutheranism.
36. Describe the geographic pattern of Baptists.
37. Describe the geographic pattern of Mormonism.
38. Briefly describe Islam.
39. Describe the geographic pattern of Sunni Islam.
40. Describe the geographic pattern of Shia Islam.
41. Briefly describe Buddhism.
42. Describe the geographic pattern of Buddhism.
43. How is culture expressed in landscapes?
44. How do land and resource use represent cultural identity?
45. What is the difference between folk culture and popular culture?
46. What are similarities between folk culture and popular culture?
47. What are the origins of folk cultures?
48. What are the origins of popular culture?