Barrier Effects

After my last blog demonstrated the ways that culture diffuses, I now want to consider the role of ‘barrier effects’ on the spread of culture.

“When a cultural item diffuses, it typically does not keep spreading forever and ever; instead it tends to spread outwards from its place of origin, encounter one or more barrier effects – things that inhibit cultural diffusion – and stop spreading” (Heatwole, 2006).

Cultural barrier effects can either be physical or social in terms of their characteristic.

Physical Barriers

Physical barriers are natural or environmental factors that inhibit the spread of culture. Examples include: oceans, deserts, mountain ranges, dense forests etc. To encourage students to understand the effect physical barriers may have on a culture I would introduce them to the task that follows. I would provide them with a map that details environmental factors such as terrain type and key physical features such as mountains, rainforest, desert etc. On the map I would then pin point several cultural origins and encourage the students to note (using colour coding) how far the various cultures might diffuse and why, taking into consideration any physical barriers that might interrupt it. 

Social Barriers

On the other hand social barriers are those characteristics that differentiate human groups and often limit interaction between them, again inhibiting the spread of culture. Examples include: language, religion, history of conflict between communities etc. A good case study to introduce students to would be to discuss how Islam often acts as a social barrier in many Middle Eastern countries, and how it can discourage the adoption of certain styles of western dress and music etc.

 

Traditionally it is the social and physical barriers discussed above that have tended to isolate cultural regions for the most part. However, these barriers are becoming increasingly overwhelmed by modern means of communication and therefore giving way to processes such as globalisation, westernisation and homogenisation that are overall leading to a global decline in cultural diversity. In light of this, my blog will go on to consider each of these processes in turn and look at their relationship with global culture.

Finally, a quick task to get students to consider how interlinked the world is becoming would be to encourage them to bring in a couple of items in from home (food, decorative items, music etc). In groups the students must then put their items on to the table and look at where they were manufactured. They should then plot this information on an empty map, using an Atlas to help them where necessary. A more detailed explanation of this task can be found on the National Geographic website at: http://education.nationalgeographic.com/archive/xpeditions/lessons/10/g68/culture.html?ar_a=1

Heatwole. C.A., (2006) Culture:Ageographical Perspective. Found at: http://www.p12.nysed.gov/ciai/socst/grade3/geograph.html#geo and cult

More information on cultural barriers can be found at: http://www.ehow.com/info_7888574_cultural-barriers.html

Cultural Diffusion

Cultural diffusion concerns the spread of culture and the many factors that account for it such as:

Migration

This is the process that sees people taking values and morals from one place to another. Cultural diffusion in the past was often associated with people moving, however in modern day the migration of businesses often introduces new ideas and reform into an already existing culture.

Adoption of cultural traits via trade and commerce

Cultures often adopt traits that they might see in a neighbouring region or even on the television. Take for instance in agriculture, one farmer might observe another technique or method and adopt it and pass the idea on to someone else.

Communication

Cultural traits in urban, built up areas often trickle down to surrounding settlements over time, this is notable with the process of modernisation where rural areas demand the same quality of life and amenities as those people living in the cities.

Website below for Cultural Diffusion basics:

http://education.nationalgeographic.com/archive/xpeditions/lessons/10/g68/culture.html?ar_a=1

To teach the concept of ‘cultural diffusion’ I would like to introduce students to a culture and take on a creative approach to show how the culture has changed and been influenced over time. For the student’s case study I would use the country of Australia. I would start off by looking at how the island was once the exclusive domain of an aboriginal cultural community. I would introduce to students a compilation of artwork and sources expressing their traditional way of life (bush craft, how they found food e tc). 

 I would then want the students to produce some Aboriginal inspired artwork of their own and possibly produce a brochure encouraging people to visit one of the remaining tribes, expressing what a tourist might expect to encounter there.  Finally, to show students how the process of cultural diffusion has imprinted Australia with a distinctly European culture I would find a tourist video clip or TV programme and ask them to note down the European influences they notice. These could then be collated in a class table at the end.

Website below for Australian culture diffusion: http://www.janesoceania.com/australia_aboriginal_art_culture_landscape/index1.htm

Questioning the already known...

So far my research into cultural geography has led me to almost see the world as being broken up into diverse pockets of culture. However, it does not take a genius to question this vision, especially when we are starting to see MacDonald’s pop up on the corner of most high streets across the world. So what is going on?

I think the following explanation from the website link below sums it up extremely well:

“When students are presented with a map, such as the one below, they might well logically think that within the so-called ‘Hindu Region’ all the people that live there are of Hindu religion. Yet they would be wrong! The region is also home to millions of Muslims, Buddhists and Christians. Therefore the region contains a cultural diversity within it, and so the title that we give an area simply identifies just the one dominant characteristic”.

Although I feel that I was aware of the above knowledge previously, I had never considered it in the way that the author above demonstrates. It really got me thinking how many people might still have this black and white image of the world by not analysing deep enough. I think as a result that I would be keen to do this type of activity with students, especially as a starter activity. To engage them I would write a really striking statement on the board as they enter the classroom, such as:

“Only English speaking people live in Britain”

Below it I would then present the following map which supposedly backs up the statement:

I would then want them to mind map why they think this is a true or false statement to make, and follow the activity up by having a class discussion surrounding their feedback and personal thoughts. This will hopefully help students to understand how generalist statements people make towards a cultural region do not always present the whole picture, and subsequently lead onto the next class topic that analyses why cultural regions are so diverse.

http://www.p12.nysed.gov/ciai/socst/grade3/geograph.html#geo and cult

Comparing Cultural Identities

In my last blog post I had worked towards a topic that would get students to consider their own cultural identity by collecting class data and analysing their findings. Now to cement this knowledge in place and add global perspective I would want to compare their lifestyle and culture to someone else’s in the world...

I would start this comparison at a broad geographical scale getting the students to mind map what comes in to mind when they think of the culture of Britain and then say America. I would consider differentiating this task by providing some students with a list of words that they could choose to group under either the heading Britain or America, or potentially even providing them with images that they could group.  To consolidate the students understanding of the two cultural regions I would encourage them to write a couple of comparison sentences using a range of connectives from a word mat such as in Figure One:

Figure One The word mat below is one of many useful ones I found online at: http://www.sln.org.uk/geography/spellingmat.htm

Following the above I then wanted to look at comparing cultures at a more localised scale. At first I wasn't sure how I could do this most effectively, but the video link that follows really inspired me:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/teaching-cultural-identity

It suggested showing the students some compelling and engaging footage of life in a different region so I began to route around the internet to find something that did just that. It was a teaching resources website provided by Caerphilly Council that struck me the most (http://your.caerphilly.gov.uk/sustainable/content/teacher-resources-secondary-school-resources-identity-culture). It had a really powerful resource on what life was like as a refugee in Darfur, Western Sudan. The website gave a really good background of what was happening in that region during 2003 and an insightful interview of daily life as a child there (Figure Two). I believe that the resource provided a clear and concise comparison of culture in that region of the world to ours in Britain, and formed a platform for several classroom activities that would allow students to put themselves into someone else’s “cultural shoes” e.g. by writing a diary from the perspective of a refugee in Darfur or by the class hot-seating other students who would act as though they are from that region.

 Figure Two shows part of the interview of a child in Dafur, Western Sudan (Available at: http://www.oxfam.org.uk/~/media/Files/Education/Resources/Darfur/darfur_intro_stories_oxfam_taking_action.ashx )

Do none of you go to school?

‘Yes! We all go to school! But the schools are closed at the moment. When school’s open we go from 8 until 2.’

Do you like school?

‘Yes…because we like to learn and we want to get an education.’

What do you want to be when you grow up?

“I would like to be a teacher” (girl)…”a doctor” (boy)…”an engineer” (girl)…”a captain”…”a pilot” (boy)…”a nurse” (girl)…”a teacher” (girl)…”a doctor” (boy)…”a doctor” (girl)…”a teacher” (boy)…”a driver” (boy)…”a doctor”… “a teacher” (boy)…”an engineer “(boy)

What do you think life is like in the UK?

‘Life there is very different because there is peace. Not like here, where there is a lot of conflict and fighting, and we are very scared. They’re really wealthy and they have a high income, and have good living conditions there, unlike here.’ 

Cultural Identity

Now I have looked at what cultural geography is all about and understood its relevance in the classroom, I think it is time to get stuck into some topic areas and look at how I might begin to teach these. I’m going to start with the basics – talking about what defines our own cultural identities...

On our earth today there are literally thousands of cultural regions each with their own ‘cultural identity’ (common cultural elements). The reason such a large number of regions exists is that there are simply so many ways that our earth’s 6.3 billion people can be considered as culturally “different”. For example, language could be used to identify cultural regions; whilst some communities speak English, others speak Arabic, Spanish or another one of the thousands of languages (Figure One). Similarly, groups of people could also be identified according to their religion and how they choose to practise it (Figure Two). There are simply so many factors that can group various communities of people together and just a few more of these include: gender roles, dance, music, education, work ethics, etiquette, architecture and more (Heatwole, 2006).

Figure One  A map to show how language can be used to group areas of people (ibid.)

Figure Two A map to show several culture regions across the world. (ibid)

Once students can use resources such as the above to define the factors that work towards producing a regions cultural identity, I think it is important to get them to consider what their own cultural identities comprise of. To do this I would encourage the students to undertake a class survey compromising of questions derived from the types of themes illustrated in Figure Three. After the completion of this task I think it would then be appropriate for students to actively group themselves in different areas of the room according to some of the factors discussed such as what type of house they live in, whether they live in a rural or urban environment, what religion or ethnicity they feel they are etc. In this way pupils can actively begin to appreciate how different everyone is and consider how we all have our own varying factors that make up our individual cultural identities.  It can then open up group discussion activities such as discussing which factors shape their own cultural identities more prominently - where they live or what gender they are etc.

Figure Three Factors that can be used to determine an individual’s cultural identity. (wikispaces –Teaching Identity, 2013)

Heatwole. C.A., (2006) Culture:Ageographical Perspective. Found at: http://www.p12.nysed.gov/ciai/socst/grade3/geograph.html#geo and cult

Wikispaces – Teaching Identity, 2013. Found at: http://teachingidentity.wikispaces.com/6.+Cultural+identity