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:
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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.
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