Geography

• Borrowing from other cultures is common around the world, even if we are not aware of it
• Culture


  The total of knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors shared by and passed on by the members of a specific group
• Culture


  • It acts as a blueprint for how a group of people should behave if they want to fit in with the group
  • It ties us to one group and separates us from other groups
  • It helps us to solve the problems that all humans face
• Factors involved in culture

  • Food and shelter
  • Religion
  • Relationships to family and others
  • Language
  • Education
  • Security/protection
  • Political and social organization
  • Creative expression
• Society


  A group that shares a geographic region, a sense of identity, and a culture
• Ethnic group


  A specific group that shares a language, customs, and a common heritage, and has an identity as a separate group of people within the region where they live
• Divisions of a society

  • Individual
  • Family
  • Clan
  • Tribe
• How an individual learns a society's culture

  1. As a member of different divisions of a society, an individual learns its culture

  2. The individuals within the family share daily practices

  3. The families within the clan share language and religion

  4. The clans within the tribe share a world view
• Innovation


  Taking existing technology and resources and creating something new to meet a need
• Innovation examples


  • Baskets woven from reeds
  • Clay pots
• Diffusion


  The spread of ideas, inventions, or patterns of behavior when people from different societies, or their ideas and inventions, come into contact with one another
• Cultural hearth


  A site of innovation from which basic ideas, materials, and technology diffuse to many cultures
• Acculturation


  When a society changes because it accepts or adopts an innovation
• Exposure to an innovation does not guarantee that a society will accept that innovation
• If change is forced on a group, it may have negative consequences, but if the individuals or a group accept the change, it may lead to a better life for everyone
• Language


  One of the most important aspects of culture because it allows the people within a culture to communicate with each other
• Language and identity


  Language helps establish a cultural identity, builds a group identity and a sense of unity among those who speak the language
• Language can also divide people if more than one language is spoken in an area, but one language seems to be favored
• Language families


  Languages are categorized by placing them with other similar languages in language families
• Dialect


  A version of a language that reflects changes in speech patterns related to class, region, or other cultural changes
• Language diffusion


  Language can be diffused through trade routes or migration
• Examples of language diffusion


  • Swahili developing as a trade language
  • Blended languages like Louisiana Creole developing
• Colonists from Europe brought the English, Spanish, French, and Dutch languages to North and South America, Africa, Australia, and parts of Asia
• Spanglish


  A blended language that develops when Spanish-speaking people move to the United States, taking some English words and "Spanish-izing" them, and vice versa
• Code switching


  The switching back and forth between languages that is common with many foreign language speakers
• Code switching


  Switching back and forth between languages, common with many foreign language speakers
• Language families

  • Romanian
  • Breton
  • Proto-IndoEuropean
  • Anatolian
  • Armenian
  • Celto-Italo-Tocharian
  • Tocharian
  • Balto-Slavic
  • Baltic
  • South Slavic
  • Slavic
  • East Slavic
  • Balto-Slavo-Germanic
  • Celtic
  • Italic
  • Northern German
  • Germanic
  • Western
  • Latin
  • Indo-Iranian
  • Sanskrit
  • Hittite
  • Lydian
  • Lycian
  • Luvain
  • Palaic
  • Spanish
  • Bulgarian
  • Polish
  • Old Prussian
  • Latvian
  • Lithuanian
  • Czech
  • Slovak
  • Great Russian
  • Ukrainian
  • Belarusian
  • French
  • Italian
  • Greek
  • Brittonic
  • Goidelic
  • Irish
  • Cornish
  • Welsh
  • Manx
  • Danish
  • Faroese
  • Swedish
  • Icelandic
  • West Slavic
  • Slovene
  • Serbo-Croatian
  • Macedonian
  • Portuguese
  • Aryano-Greco-Armenic
  • Hindi
  • Marathi
  • Gujarati
  • Urdu
  • Punjabi
  • Sinhalese
  • Bengali
  • English
  • Flemish
  • Dutch
  • Afrikaans
  • Yiddish
  • Persian
  • Pashto
  • Baluchi
  • Low German
  • High German
  • Norwegian
  • Scottish
• The Indo-European language family has spread to every continent
• The language families spoken in the United States are Afro-Asiatic, Altaic, Austro-Asiatic, Austronesian, Dravidian, Indo-European, Japanese/Korean, Kam-Tai, Niger-Congo, Nilo-Saharan, Sino-Tibetan, and Uralic
• Religion


  Belief in a supernatural power or powers that are regarded as the creators and maintainers of the universe
• Types of religion


  • Monotheistic (belief in one god)
  • Polytheistic (belief in many gods)
  • Animistic or traditional (belief in divine forces in nature)
• Diffusion


  The spread of religions across the world
• Converts


  People who give up their former beliefs for a new religion
• Some religions like Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism actively seek to convert people, while others like Judaism and Hinduism do not
• Isolated pockets of animist religions are found in Japan, Central Africa, Oceania, and among Native Americans of both North and South America
• Major religions


  • Judaism
  • Christianity
  • Islam
  • Hinduism
  • Buddhism
• Judaism


  The oldest monotheistic religion, concentrated in Israel, with followers in Israel, the US, Canada, South America, and Europe
• Christianity


  Monotheistic religion based on the teachings of Jesus Christ, the largest religion with 2 billion followers on every continent, with 3 major groups: Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern Orthodox
• Islam


  Monotheistic religion based on the teachings of Prophet Muhammad, with followers in Southwest Asia, Africa, Central, South, and Southeast Asia, and parts of the Balkans in Europe, with two major divisions: Sunni and Shiíte
• Hinduism


  One of the world's oldest religions, concentrated in India but with followers elsewhere, usually considered polytheistic, with a caste system that shapes many aspects of Hindus' lives and culture