Cultural Geography
- Culturally, the world presents immense diversity, with different cultural groups—both small and large—occupying distinct parts of the earth’s surface, thereby creating spatially differentiated cultural landscapes across regions.
- These cultural groups have left distinct and observable imprints on their respective areas in terms of settlement patterns, architecture, language use, religious practices, and socio-economic behaviour, which become key subjects of analysis in human geography.
- Human geography is concerned not only with the description of these diverse cultures as they appear on the earth’s surface, but also with tracing their:
- Origins and evolution
- Processes of formation
- Persistence over time
- Spatial spread and diffusion
- The study of culture is integrative in nature and builds upon earlier understanding of:
- Population distribution and racial elements
- Religion and belief systems
- Languages and linguistic regions
- In this context, the study of cultural geography includes:
- Meaning and types of culture
- Distinction between culture and civilization
- Concept and delineation of cultural regions
- Identification of major cultural regions of the world
- Impact of globalisation on cultural patterns
- Further, the discipline also examines:
- The origin, formation, and persistence of cultural regions
- The problems associated with delimitation of cultural regions, as cultural boundaries are often fluid, overlapping, and dynamic rather than rigid
Culture: Meaning and Types
- It is difficult to provide a single precise definition of culture, as anthropologists and sociologists have interpreted it in multiple ways, such as:
- “The total way of life of people”
- “A learned and shared behaviour”
- “People’s design for living”
- Thus, culture encompasses all learned behaviours, values, beliefs, norms, and material creations that are shared by members of a society and transmitted across generations.
Types of Culture
- Culture is broadly divided into two major categories, which are not mutually exclusive but are interdependent and overlapping:
- Non-Material Culture:
- Non-material culture refers to intangible aspects of human life, primarily related to learned behaviour and mental constructs.
- It includes:
- Human thoughts, beliefs, values, attitudes, and emotions
- Social norms, traditions, and institutional structures
- Important conceptual aspects:
- Behaviour of an individual becomes part of culture only when it is shared by a majority of society members
- Culture evolves through continuous processes of learning and social interaction
- Non-material culture is further divided into: (i) Mentifacts
- These include attitudinal elements and value systems, such as:
- Language
- Religion
- Beliefs and ideologies
- These refer to social norms and institutional arrangements, such as:
- Family structure
- Marriage systems
- Social organization and group behaviour
- These include attitudinal elements and value systems, such as:
- Material Culture:
- Material culture comprises tangible and physical elements created by humans, collectively referred to as artifacts.
- Artifact literally means human-made objects, and includes everything produced by humans since their origin on earth.
- These include:
- Tools and technologies
- Agricultural practices and implements
- Housing and settlement structures
- Clothing and craft traditions
- Industrial and technological systems
- Key characteristics of material culture:
- It is visible, concrete, and measurable
- It reflects the technological and economic level of a society
- Non-Material Culture:
Culture and Geographical Environment
- Human geography studies both material and non-material culture from a spatial perspective, focusing on how they interact with geographical conditions.
- Culture is intimately linked with the geographical environment, as human societies continuously adapt to their surroundings.
- Examples of environmental influence on culture include:
- Food habits shaped by climatic conditions
- Clothing patterns varying between desert, mountain, and coastal regions
- House types adapted to rainfall, temperature, and terrain
- Cultural evolution occurs through:
- Adaptation to the environment
- Establishing harmony with nature
- Sometimes asserting dominance or control over the environment
- Thus, different human groups and communities develop distinct cultural systems in response to their geographical settings, leading to regional cultural diversity.
Diffusion of Culture
- Human geography also examines the diffusion of cultural traits across space and time, which is a key process in cultural evolution.
- Cultural elements typically:
- Originate in a specific region (hearth area)
- Spread to other regions through migration, trade, communication, and interaction
- Examples of cultural diffusion include:
- Religions such as Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam, which originated in specific regions and later spread globally
- Bhojpuri language and culture, originating in Bihar, now found in countries like:
- Mauritius
- Fiji
- Suriname
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Diffusion is also observed in:
- Agricultural practices
- Fashion trends
- Industrial and technological innovations
- The study of diffusion of innovations is therefore a central theme in cultural geography, helping explain spatial patterns of cultural change and continuity.
Aspects of Culture
- A well-known anthropologist, Edward B. Tylor, while analysing primitive societies, defined culture as: “that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, customs, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.”
- This definition continues to be widely accepted, as it captures both the material and non-material dimensions of culture in an integrated manner.
- Based on this definition, culture can be understood through three major aspects, which together explain its comprehensive nature:
1. Material or Physical Aspects
- These refer to all concrete and tangible creations of human beings, which are visible expressions of culture in space.
- They include:
- Tools and instruments
- Methods of house building and settlement forms
- Clothing, footwear, and technological devices
- Techniques of production and livelihood
- These are commonly termed as ‘cultural objects’, representing the material manifestations of human creativity and adaptation.
- Importantly, this aspect includes everything created by humans from primitive times to the present, reflecting the evolution of technology and economic systems.
2. Hidden Aspects (Symbolic and Communicative Dimensions)
- These include the intangible means of communication and symbolic expressions that individuals learn as members of society.
- Key components include:
- Language, dialects, and scripts
- Alphabets and communication systems
- Myths, folklore, and belief systems
- Religious symbols such as:
- Swastika
- Cross
- Crescent
- Natural symbols like sun, moon, trees, and rocks
- These symbols carry deep cultural meanings, often representing collective identity, belief, and worldview.
- Culture, therefore, can be interpreted not only through visible elements but also through the hidden meanings embedded in symbols and practices.
3. Acquired Aspects
- These refer to the learned behaviours, habits, and capabilities that individuals acquire as members of society.
- They include:
- Norms and social values
- Knowledge systems and education
- Art, morality, and belief systems
- Legal frameworks and institutional practices
- This aspect highlights that culture is not inherited biologically but acquired socially through interaction and learning, making it dynamic and evolving.
Culture and Civilization
- While culture and civilization are closely related, the origin and meaning of civilization as a concept remain highly debated.
- Historically, during the colonial period, European societies often viewed other societies as:
- Non-civilized
- Uncivilized
- Barbaric
- However, modern understanding rejects this hierarchical view and emphasises that: There is no inherent qualitative difference between so-called “civilised” and “non-civilised” cultures, except that some may exhibit greater complexity in cultural organisation.
- Meaning of Civilization
- The term civilization is derived from the Latin word civis, meaning citizen, indicating an organized and structured social life.
- According to R.M. MacIver and Charles H. Page (1961): Civilisation refers to “the whole mechanism and organisation which man has devised to control the conditions of his life.”
- It includes:
- Systems of social organisation
- Techniques and technologies
- Material instruments used to shape human life
- Generally, civilization is understood as a higher or more complex stage of cultural development, characterized by:
- Advanced economy
- Organized polity
- Structured social systems
- Characteristics of Civilization (V. Gordon Childe)
- Primary Characteristics
- Development of city settlements (urbanisation)
- Emergence of labour specialisation
- Concentration of surplus production
- Formation of class structure
- Establishment of state organisation
- Secondary Characteristics
- Construction of monumental public works
- Development of long-distance trade networks
- Standardisation in art and architecture
- Emergence of writing systems
- Advancement in arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy
- Primary Characteristics
Difference between Culture and Civilization
- The distinction between culture and civilization is not absolute and remains subjective, yet certain analytical differences can be identified:
- The most fundamental distinction:
- Culture relates to human control over nature and expression of values
- Civilization refers to techniques and systems that regulate human behaviour and organise society
- Additional distinctions (as suggested by MacIver and Page):
- Civilization has a precise standard of measurement, whereas culture does not have fixed measurable criteria
- Civilization is generally seen as progressive and continuously advancing, whereas culture may not always follow a linear path of advancement
Hierarchy of Culture
- The physical environment of the earth plays a crucial role in shaping culture, as human responses to environmental conditions lead to the formation of distinct cultural traits and cultural complexes across space.
- A cultural trait refers to the smallest unit of culture, representing a single behaviour or practice—for example, the method of sowing seeds or a specific food habit.
- However, culture is not merely a collection of isolated traits. Instead:
- It is a complex, integrated whole, where various traits are interrelated and function together.
- These integrated traits form a cultural complex, which represents a broader activity such as agriculture, involving multiple coordinated practices.
- Thus, a cultural complex can be understood as:
- A group of related cultural traits
- Functioning together in a structured and interdependent manner
- Reflecting a higher level of cultural organisation
Interrelationship of Cultural Elements
- It is not possible to understand one aspect of culture in isolation without examining its connections with other cultural elements.
- Cultural components are interdependent and spatially interconnected, meaning that changes in one aspect often influence others.
- For example:
- Religious beliefs can influence:
- Dietary practices (e.g., prohibition of pork or alcohol)
- Dress patterns
- Housing styles and settlement morphology
- Religious beliefs can influence:
- Thus, culture must be studied as an integrated system, rather than fragmented elements.
Spatial Expression of Culture
- The distribution of cultural traits and complexes across the earth’s surface results in distinct regional patterns, which can be observed at multiple geographical scales.
- These spatial expressions are conceptualised as:
- Cultural region
- Cultural area
- Cultural realm
- Cultural hearth
1. Cultural Region
- A cultural region is a geographical area inhabited by people sharing common cultural traits.
- It can be understood in three ways:
- Formal cultural region → Based on measurable and uniform cultural characteristics (e.g., language, religion)
- Functional cultural region → Defined by functional interactions such as economic or political organisation
- Vernacular cultural region → Based on people’s perception and sense of identity (e.g., “North India”, “South India”)
- Thus, cultural regions represent spatial units of cultural homogeneity or perceived unity.
2. Cultural Area
- A cultural area is a composite and broader form of formal cultural region, defined on the basis of the totality of cultural traits.
- Key features include:
- It represents entire cultural systems, not just individual traits
- It contains sub-cultural regions within it
- It has a core or nucleus, where the culture originally developed
- Due to its complexity:
- Boundaries of cultural areas are often less precise and more subjective
- Delimitation may depend on geographical interpretation and field understanding rather than strict statistical criteria
- Examples of cultural areas in India include: 👉 Awadh, Bundelkhand, Braj, Bhojpuri, Maithili and Magadhi regions
3. Cultural Realm
- A cultural realm refers to a large macro-region, where a number of cultural complexes are shared by the majority of the population.
- It signifies:
- A broad zone of cultural unity
- Common patterns in composition, arrangement, and integration of cultural traits
- Distinctiveness from other cultural realms
- Cultural realms are thus:
- Large-scale cultural regions
- Defined by dominant cultural characteristics, such as major religions or linguistic families
4. Cultural Hearth
- A cultural hearth is the origin area of a culture, where a particular cultural system first developed and became well established.
- Characteristics of cultural hearths:
- They serve as centres of cultural innovation and diffusion
- Cultural traits spread from these hearths to surrounding and distant regions
- They act as repositories of traditions and ways of life, shaping long-term cultural patterns
- Historically important primary cultural hearths include:
- Mesopotamia (Tigris–Euphrates region, Iraq)
- Nile Valley (Egypt)
- Indus Valley (South Asia)
- Hwang Ho (Yellow River) Valley (China)
- Examples of secondary cultural hearths include:
- Mayan civilization (Central America)
- Aztec civilization (Mexico)
- Inca civilization (Andean region of South America)
- Bantu cultural region (West Africa)
Conceptual Flow
- The hierarchy of culture can be visualised as a nested structure: Cultural Trait → Cultural Complex → Cultural Region → Cultural Area → Cultural Realm → Cultural Hearth
- This hierarchy helps geographers understand:
- Micro-level cultural practices (traits)
- Their integration into larger systems (complexes)
- And their spatial manifestation across regions (regions, areas, realms)