Definition, Evolution and approaches of cultural geography.

Rajkumar porel, M.sc geography. BGC (WBSU)

1. BY:- Rajkumar Porel . (M.SC GEOGRAPHY) Cultural geography:

2. 1.1 Cultural geography: Definition, Evolution and Apporaches; its nature and content

3. : CONCEPT OF CULTUALGEOGRAPHY : Cultural geography is one of the two major branches of geography (versus  physical geography ) and is often called human geography. Cultural geography is the study of the many cultural aspects found through out the world and how they relate to the spaces and places where they originate and then travel as people continually move across various areas. What Is Cultural Geography? Some of the main cultural phenomena studied in cultural geography include language, religion, different economic and governmental structures, art, music, and other cultural aspects that explain how and/or why people function as they do in the areas in which they live.  Globalization  is also becoming increasingly important to this field as it is allowing these specific aspects of culture to easily travel across the globe. Cultural landscapes are also important because they link culture to the physical environments in which people live. This is vital because it can either limit or nurture the development of various aspects of culture. For instance, people living in a rural area are often more culturally tied to the natural environment around them than those living in a large metropolitan area. This is generally the focus of the "Man-Land Tradition" in the  Four Traditions  of geography and studies human impact on nature, the impact of nature on humans, and people’s perception of the environment. Cultural geography developed out of the  University of California, Berkeley  and was led by  Carl Sauer . He used landscapes as the defining unit of geographic study and said that cultures develop because of the landscape but also help to develop the landscape as well. In addition, his work and the cultural geography of today is highly qualitative rather than quantitative — a main tenant of physical geography.

4. Today, cultural geography is still practiced and more specialized fields within it such as feminist geography, children's geography, tourism studies,  urban geography , the geography of sexuality and space, and  political geography  have developed to further aid in the study of cultural practices and human activities as they relate spatially to the world. A SHORT DEFINITION FOR CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY:- The study of the relationship between  culture  and  place . In broad terms, cultural geography examines the cultural values, practices, discursive and material expressions and artefacts of people, the cultural diversity and plurality of society, and how cultures are distributed over space , how places and identities are produced, how people make sense of places and build senses of place, and how people produce and communicate knowledge and meaning. Cultural geography has long been a core component of the discipline of geography, though how it has been conceived, its conceptual tools, and the approach to empirical research has changed quite markedly over time . Cultural Components:- The Cultural Components mostly include the religion, language, architecture, cuisine, technology, music, dance, sports, medicine, dress, gender roles, law, education, government, agriculture, economy, sports, grooming values, work, ethic, etiquette, courtship, recreation and gestures, to mention a few. Because of the innumerable cultural differences that characterize people and land all over the world, there was a need to focus on this subfield of geography. Hence, the subject devoted to the study of culture was appropriately named as cultural geography. Cultural geography is the study of relationships between humans and location.

5. Evolution of culture is directly related to Human evolution (Homo Sapiens) Man,’s culture began with the man’s capacity to use and to create or produce tools and techniques Australopithecus Africanus - 5 Million Years ago used stone tools Use of Fire – 2-3 Million years ago Tools made of bones - one million years ago( Age of Neanderthal Man) Evolution of culture Cro- Magnon - 25000 years ago ( A developed Culture than the previous members) Their contribution to Culture Cave Paintings, Jewels made of sea shells statues of women that emphasized pregnancy, weapons made of bones, horn, or ivory.

6. Stages of human evolution

7. What is Meant by Culture ?....... “Culture is a unique possession of man. It is one of the distinguishing traits of human society. Culture does not exist at sub-human level. Only man is born and brought up in a Cultural environment” “Culture is the unique quality of man that separates him from the lower animals”

8. The Meaning of Culture…… Some Definitions “ Culture is the major way in which human beings adapt to their environments.” –Cultural Geography- Serena Nanda ”Cumulative creation of man” -B. Malinowski ” The forms Superimposed on the physical landscape by the activities of man” - Carl O Sauer ” Culture is something adopted , used, believed, practised or possessed by more than one person. It depends upon group life, for its existance.” -Robert Bierstedt Characteristics of Culture ….. Culture is learnt Culture is social Culture is shared Culture is transmissive 6. Culture is consistent and integrated 7. Culture is dynamic and adaptive 8. Culture is gratifying 9. Culture varies from society to society 10. Culture is super organic ideational 5. Culture is continuous and cumulative Culture Contents….. Material culture - Man made tools Infra-structure Non-Material Culture – ways of acting feelings Thinking Sub Culture- ” A sub- Culture is generally taken to mean a section of a national culture” Duncan Mitchell