Cultural Geography
Ptolemy’s First World Map, circa A.D. 150
Michael Reed
Office: Natural Sciences (NS) 209
Phone: 310-660-6016 Email: mreed@elcamino.edu
Web Page: http://www.elcamino.edu/Faculty/mreed/index.htm
• B.A. History, Brown University, 1992
• Geography Coursework, Cabrillo College,
1995
• M.A. Geography, SDSU, 1999
• Associate Professor of Geography, Glendale
CC, 2000-2005
• Instructor of Geography, El Camino CC,
2005-present.
• 27 jobs at last count, including tour guide,
gondolier, waiter, newspaper reporter, N.Y.C.
fashion executive, McDonald’s kitchen crew,
stereo salesman, shoe salesman,
receptionist, and many others.
My Teaching Philosophy
I try to teach this class the same as I would anywhere else. Community
colleges should not be second rate.
You are responsible for your own education, particularly now that you are in
college. I am a guide, a helper, if you will. College is what you make of it.
I consider my responsibilities to include fairness, honesty, and compassion.
Most of all, I think it is my job to earnestly attempt to make geography
interesting and fun, without making it frivolous.
I promise this: if you take this class seriously, you will learn a great deal
about the world.
What is Geography?
Geography is a representation of the whole known
world together with the phenomena which are
contained therein.
Ptolemy, Geographia 2nd Century A.D.
Geography is the science of place. Its vision is grand, its
view panoramic. It sweeps the surface of the Earth,
charting the physical, organic and cultural terrain, their
areal differentiation, and their ecological dynamics with
humankind. Its foremost tool is the map.
Leonard Krishtalka, Carnegie Museum of Natural
History, 20th Century A.D.
Organized knowledge of the earth as the world of
people.
Dave Balogh
What is Geography?
Geography is the study of what is where and
why it’s there.
Mike Reed
Five “Key Themes” of
Geography
1. Location – specific location, where?
2. Place – unique properties of a place
3. Movement – diffusion, communications
4. Region – an area’s uniform
characteristics
5. Human-Earth Relationships –
human interaction with an environment
Okay, but what exactly is it?
Well, it’s a way of thinking about intellectual problems, both natural and
societal, which emphasizes the importance of spatial relationships between
culture and the environment. Take any social or environmental question or
problem and ask yourself whether there is a spatial aspect to its answer.
Chances are that space and place play a role in the explanation of that
issue.
Mike Reed, Making It Up As I Go
For example:
Why are so many plant and animal species becoming extinct at the end of
the twentieth century?
Why do there always seem to be been so many wars in Africa?
How did human beings come to be in North America if they evolved in
Africa? Why are the largest animals still alive in Africa but not in Europe or
North America, even though people came later to those regions?
Why is corn such an important part of a traditional Mexican diet?
Why are some beers known as India Pale Ales?
Divisions of Geography
Physical Geography
Rocks and Minerals
Landforms
Soils
Animals
Plants
Water
Atmosphere
Rivers and Other Water Bodies
Environment
Climate and Weather
Human Geography
Population
Settlements
Economic Activities
Transportation
Recreational Activities
Religion
Political Systems
Social Traditions
Human Migration
Agricultural Systems
Geography is a bridge between the natural and social sciences.
Geography is a holistic or synthesizing science.
The Geography of Breakfast
Take a minute to write down all of the
food and drink you ate before coming
to class today.
Breakfast Foods
Food
Place of Origin
Current Production
coffee
Ethiopia
Tropics
oranges
South Asia, India
US, Mediterranean
pork
China, South Asia
Worldwide
wheat
Near East
US, Russia, Argentina
tea
China
Asia
oats
Near East
Temperate Climates
pepper
South America
S. America, Worldwide
COFFEE
Top Ten Coffee Growing Countries (Yellow)
First domesticated in Ethiopia, coffee has come to be a major export crop for
colonial countries and continues to provide much of the export income in
these less developed countries. In Uganda, 70-80% of export revenue is
generated by coffee. Many issues are raised by the continuation of such
colonial economics.
Fieldwork: Geographers as
Modern Explorers and Observers
China, 2004
Costa Rica
Navajo Guide, Monument Valley, 1997
Shanghai, China
2004
Rarotonga, Cook Islands, 2002
Cinque Terra, Italia, 2001
Mt. San Jacinto State Park, Idylwild, CA, 2001
Baja, 1996
Honolua Bay, Maui, Hawaiian Islands, 2003
Physical Geography Student, Zion National Park, Utah, 2002
Rocky Mountain National
Park, 2003
Milford Sound, New Zealand 2002
Joshua Tree, 2004
Taos, New Mexico, 2003
Sugar Cane Field, Maui, Hawaiian Islands,
2003
Cadiz Dunes, Mojave Desert, 2002
Franz Joseph Glacier, New Zealand, 2002
Introduction to Cultural
Geography
Definition of Cultural
Geography
 History of the Discipline
 Fundamental Concepts

What is CULTURE?
What are its elements?
•Language
•Religion
•Food
•Clothing
•Art
•Music
•Rituals and Customs
How is it transferred?
•Parents to Children
•Schooling
•Television, Films, Radio, and Internet
What is CULTURE?
Culture is learned behavior that is passed on
by imitation, instruction, and example.
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Culture is almost entirely relative. Proper
behavior shifts from culture to culture.
U.S. current problems: 1) little shared culture;
2) no one is teaching culture.

For example: sex education - Home? School?
Note: experiencing another culture is useful
for gaining perspective on your own.
Harshest punishment in history?:
banishment in “primitive” cultures.
Geographic Importance of
Culture
Geographers study culture because it leaves
dramatic imprints on the earth, both physical
and cultural.
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Language: a crystal ball into culture.
Religion: strongest determinant of ethics.
Nationalism and Borders
Material Culture: tools, clothes, toys, etc.
Architecture: Suburban garages vs. earlier porches
Religion: affects societal choices; creates sacred
space
The Cultural Landscape
The result of the natural environment and
all of the changes to it as a result of a
particular culture. In other words, it is
cultures imprint on the land. (Carl
Sauer)
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Environmental Determinism: environment
is primary determinant of culture.
Possibilism: humans are primary
determinant of culture, within limits set by
the environment.
N.Y.C.
Environmentally Determined?
What about Bali,
Indonesia?
Key Concepts: Space
Latitude and Longitude - a reference system
designed to provide “absolute” location (as
opposed to relative locations). A system used
to designate space.

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Parallels of Latitude
Meridians of Longitude
The Geographic Grid
Latitude - angular measurement of distance north
or south of the Equator.
Range: 0 - 90
degrees N or S
1o latitude =
approx. 69 miles
(25,000 mi. /360o).
The Geographic Grid
Longitude - the angular measurement of distance
east or west of the Prime Meridian.
Maximum value
reached at
International Date
Line - 180o
Range: 0o 180o E or W
Key Concepts:
Tobler’s 1st Law of Geography
All things are related. However, all other
things being equal, those things that
are closest together are more related.
Related Concepts:

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Distance Decay / Friction of Distance
Spatial Interaction
Movement
Key Concepts
REGION – an area defined by shared
characteristic
 3 Types of Culture Regions

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Formal - all members share a characteristic
Functional - defined by a node of activity and
distance decay from center
Vernacular - perception of cultural identity
Overlapping Formal and
Functional Regions
Vernacular Regions
Diffusion
The spread of people, customs, phenomenon, objects, or ideas.
Four Types:
•Relocation
• Hierarchical
• Contagious
• Stimulus
Use these terms to explain
the spread of:
•Diseases
•Popular Music
•Democratic Revolutions
•Religious Practices
Sense of Place
Every place is unique. Imagine where you
lived as a child. Where is home?
Why and how do places take on meaning
for human individuals?
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Sensory
Architecture
Symbolic
Why is each place unique?
Key works: Place and Placelessness Relph, 1978
Topophilia - Tuan, Yi-Fu
Sense of Place
Groveland, CA
Bourbon Street
What kinds of
cultural values are
reflected in each of
these American
houses?
Gated community?
Where are we? What values are reflected
in each? What relation to physical
environment?
Timber House, Switzerland
Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey
Yurt on Mongolian Steppe
Suburban Home, Chicago
Human-Environment Interaction
(Cultural Ecology)
Successful cultures are those that adapt
well to their environments. (Chaco
Canyon, North Africa, Fertile Crescent,
Easter Island)
Chaco Canyon, New Mexico
Easter Island, Polynesia
Key Concepts:
Core-Periphery
Core
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Periphery
U.S., Europe, Japan,
Australia
Wealthy
Powerful
Controls Media and
Finance
Technologically
advanced
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Less Developed
Poor
Dependent upon
Core countries for:
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Education
Technology
Media
Military Equipment
Key Concepts:
Core-Periphery
Geography and Politics
Ties to Military
Role in Colonization
Role in Imperialism
Role in Cold War
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Ethnocentrism
Masculinism

Foreign - 4) Situated in an abnormal or
improper place. 5) Not natural: alien.
The American Heritage Dictionary
Globalization
The increasing
interconnectedness
of different parts of
the world through
common processes
of economic,
political, and cultural
change. Economic
globalization is
happening fastest.
Panama, 1997
End of
Slides