Members of a society share traditions of food, technology, trade and exchange, social relationships, political organization, and ways of thinking, behaving, and believing. These are all aspects of “culture.” Important subjects in cultural geography include fundamental adaptations to the environment to provide subsistence (food) and technologies, and the development and distribution of language and religion. Humans have been remarkably successful as a result of the diversity of our cultural systems, which enables productive human life in nearly every kind of environment, from the arctic ice and tundra, through arid deserts, to humid tropical rainforests and rugged highlands. Today, cultural diversity is recognized as an important human resource, but it is increasingly endangered as some societies extend their influence – sometimes violently – into even the most remote locations.
The most relevant elements of Geography for Life in this topic are Places and Regions (Standards 4 and 6), Human Systems (Standard 10), Environment and Society (Standard 14), and The Uses of Geography (Standards 17 and 18).
Goals for the topic include: 1) know that culture is our primary way of adapting to the world and that it facilitates the human-environment interaction; 2) understand and use the concept of culture system; 3) appreciate the tremendous diversity of human adaptations to different environments; and 4) experience traditions of peoples across the world who have very different adaptations and ways of life, from food foraging and pastoralism to sedentary horticulture.
I may use portions of several great films in this topic, such as:
People of the Wind. Dir. Anthony Howarth. Image Entertainment. 1976.
The Shaman’s Apprentice. Dir.