We have all had those moments where we stop everything we are doing and find ourselves trying to grasp the bigger picture of life. Which came first the chicken or the egg? What makes humans more superior than any other species on this earth or at least believe we are? Why are humans at the top of the food chain? What really is the definition of nature? How does it affect our culture? Humans live everyday out in nature, using resources to live and letting nature influence our culture. So why do we believe we are more superior than nature? What makes culture more important than nature? Is religion the answer or just science? Cultural geographer analyses focus on the idea that nature and culture is equal to each other, not one being superior to …show more content…
Since, physical geographers focusing mainly on nature and the environment and human geographers focusing mainly on culture and human society, cultural geographers try to consider both aspects. Cultural geographers recognize that nature and culture are equal and interact with each other (Norton & Walton-Roberts, 2006, p. 110). Cultural geographers have always been interested in human activity and how humans have interacted with nature, it is the basis of cultural geography. New ecology highlights environmental complexity and acknowledging the role of various factors which contributes to the way the relationship between organisms and their environment are viewed in cultural geography (Zimmerer, 1994, p. 114). New ecology suggests that nature and culture contrast each other rather than have no effect on each other (Norton & Walton-Roberts, 2006, p. 111). Ecological concepts have influenced geographers with ideas in the past, however the new ecology relates easier to the way cultural geographers view certain concepts since they now include human activity in their field. According to Zimmerer (1994) The new ideas of ecology gave cultural geographers the push they needed in their …show more content…
pp.33) “Humans are both natural and cultural beings” and nature can play a role in an area’s culture. Nature affects the way culture is in certain regions. The climate may influence, traditions and resources and determine the way we live our life (Shugurova, 2017). In the case of sub-Saharan Africa, the physical environment and climate posted a threat to the culture as the climate created unsuitable for agriculture activity (Shugurova, 2017). This affects their economy and contributes to the lack of wealth in the country. Nature creates the resource needed to determine whether a country may be wealthy or poor, which can determine the type of culture in that area. In this case nature influenced
Blij has clearly put this book into historical significance by mentioning the idea of geography and how it plays a role in societies all over the world. However, the five themes of culture regions, cultural diffusion, cultural interaction, cultural ecology, and cultural landscapes are all clearly defined within a specific context to a particular nation. Through reading this intriguing piece of literature I received the underlying notion that Blij firmly believes that landscapes of the world realm are not going to change. De Blij worldview of regions, diffusion, interaction, ecology, and landscapes has allowed him to simultaneously link issues together from the United States all the way to Southeast Asia.
In his well known piece, Guns, Germs and Steel, Jared Diamond proposes that the differences between populations of different continents is not due to differences in the people, but of the environment. There are, of course innumerable differences to be found among the environments that each continent has to offer, however, Diamond stresses only a few. They include: wild plants and animals native to the area- which affect a society’s surplus thus allowing the society to move beyond their basic need- a group 's ability to travel and/or migrate both intercontinental and to other continents- this would allow for trade and access to other goods, and exposure to alternate philosophies and illness- and the size of the continent and population allowing for more potential inventors, competing societies, and groups to exchange with (Diamond, 1999). Diamond’s theory lends to the concept of how our environment shapes us. It’s the nurture of Nature vs Nurture on the large scale. There are countless things that we cannot control about ourselves, where
Many geographers have attempted creating a unified theory explaining why cultures advance much more readily than others. Very few have actually reached mainstream society and even fewer seem reasonable. However, Jared Diamond shines where most do not. His book, Guns, Germs, and Steel, proposes an idea that has long been established called environmental determinism. Most view environmental determinism as a racist theory attributing a peoples’ intelligence only to their oppressive climates and geographical barriers. Diamond instead has created a theory that applies environmental determinism to only a peoples’ technology—not the people themselves. This has given researchers valuable tools that allow them to explain why some nations have become the superpowers they are today. If applied to the modern United States, Jared Diamond and his new theory would attribute the country’s dominate status to blankity blankity blank.
Bulliet et al. The Earth and Its Peoples: A Global History. 3rd. II. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005. 685.
Culture is the embodiment of human traits that go beyond societal norms while nature is the traits humans were born with. In the seven theses essay “Monster Culture,” Cohen explains the aspects of culture in society and the human condition by portraying them as monsters from different cultural eras and places. The monster is multidimensional, different, and constantly evolving. In the perspective of nature, the monster is the enemy. It threatens the very concept of what nature, tradition, and normal is. However, who is to say what is natural and what is not? Is something different yet that has existed as long as the victim a threat? Pollan’s article “Why Natural Doesn’t Mean Anything Anymore” suggests that nature is no longer applicable to
Fellmann, Getis, and Getis. Human Geography, Sixth Edition, Updated Edition. McGraw Hill. New York, 2001.
Geography and the environment play a monumental role in the establishment and success of a nearly every civilization. For example, rivers bring water and allow for agricultural development, while mountains or deserts provide for protection and create a barrier. Many things, such as the aforementioned deserts and mountains, can offer both positive and negative influences on the society in question. The climate and amount of rainfall is directly related to the success or failure of crop growing, and thus related to the amount of time spent on simply surviving. Civilizations that are able to spend less time on subsistence farming are able to redirect that energy towards the establishment of arts, culture, religion, and science. Where a civilization is located will always play a crucial role in the success – or failure – of the society.
In the mid 1970's and early 1980's, the field of clinical psychology underwent a revolution with the emergence of family therapy. Therapists initially understood disorders as being the result of a linear chain of causality. For instance, one theory of schizophrenia held that the disorder resulted from exposure to a certain pattern of behavior on the part of the patient's mother. Mothers of schizophrenics were often found to be particularly cold, unresponsive, dominant, and conflict-inducing towards their children. Researchers argued that such "schizophrenogenic" behavior was the direct cause of the disorder. Successful treatment, then, required the patient and mother to examine their relationship and seek out better, more positive methods of interaction.
Cultural landscape being the translation of the innateness of man’s respect towards nature is also thus a dynamic or ever changing phenomenon. One of the best examples of cultural landscape could be the growth and evolution of settlements over time. Settlements manifest the same on a macro level. Considering the settlements in the Goan lands of India ,though the morphology of settlements is broadly influenced by any governing factors like socio-cultural influences, cultural changes, technological innovations, the beginning of any human civilization is marked by the evaluation of the geographical parameters(2). The watersheds/ geographical features and character of the site, shape the occupation of the people and their livelihood. Groups of people whose life revolves around their occupation, tend to stay around the agricultural precincts thus growing along the boundaries over the years. This hands a certain character to the settlement which is more physically determinist. Geography of the place acts as the determinant of the form and structure of the settlement. However there are places where the culture takes over the physical characters of the settlements. The Greek settlements
Geography is the foundation to how civilizations and societies develop. Based on location, geography determines the amount of water available, temperature, available resources, and a variety of essentials. To form a civilization, the geography gives insight to whether a community can sustain, and how people need to adapt to continue growing. Ancient civilizations had to take many factors into account, and learn to adapt to the environment to become as advanced as they were. General geographical features which have an essential role in shaping societies include rivers, seas, and the flora of what the natural environment provides.
Robert Weller 's book Discovering Nature: Globalization and Environmental Culture in China and Taiwan, introduced readers to new worlds on environmental study, through an anthropological viewpoint. Instead of a providing the reader with a purely historic or environmentalist viewpoint like many of the texts that we have read so far this semester, Weller 's viewpoint offers the readers insight into a more "people-centered" outlook. Weller divides his texts into seven chapters, although I believe that chapter one stood as more of an introduction rather than solo chapter, due to its nature and outlying of other chapters. Weller focuses part of his text on the ideas of "nature tourism" and the variant natures of globalization, and I will explore
Knox, P., Marston, S., Imort, M., & Nash, A. (2010). Human Geography: Places and Regions in Global Context (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, USA: Pearson Education.
This was an era where sociology was emerging. Hirsch using Sauer’s work argued that human interaction with the natural landscape created a ‘cultural landscape’. Hirsch uses Gow ‘s (1994) chapter on Amazonian Peru to demonstrate how a cultural landscape develops. The Piro people of Peru use rotational crops to feed their people and share their food among the tribe. When they look at the land it represents kinship structures and social ties. The notion of space and place are entwined in meaning by emphasising the reality but also looking to the potentiality of the place thus creating a ‘space’.
23. Bunkse E., Geography and the Art of Life, The johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2004.p. 94.
Culture. As a society, we’re surrounded by it every day, whether we are aware of it or not. It affects what we do each day and how it lives our lives as everyone, everywhere has their own culture, their own set of beliefs and traditions that shape them, their actions, and the environment around them. Because of cultures large role in the lives of people, culture also has a large role in human geography. But there are lot of questions surrounding culture, like what exactly is culture, why are their differences in culture and what arises from those differences, and how exactly does culture interact with society to shape someone’s worldview? It is in this essay I will be answering these questions.