The World of Cultural Diversity

1. Defining culture and identifying its value

2. How and why does culture vary spatially?

3. The impact of globalisation on cultural diversity

4. Cultural attitudes to the environment

CONTENTS

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6GEO4 Unit 4 The World of Cultural Diversity

1. Defining culture and identifying its value

• Culture means a set

of values, traditions and beliefs that are shared by a group of people

• People from the same culture are likely to share a set of ‘norms’ or ways of behaving

• These norms may seem different, strange, amusing or even alien to people from other cultures.

The meaning of ‘culture’

• The word culture has Latin roots, meaning to cultivate (cultura)

• In the past, ‘culture’ was often used in the sense of improvement and progress.

• The word can also be used to mean ‘high art’ such as ballet, opera or sculpture (implying that there is ‘low art’).

• In geography the word is used to refer to groups of people who share similar values

• These groups often have interesting and distinct geographies.

The Guggenheim art gallery in New York. A visit here might define you as ‘cultured’. The gallery itself displays works from many different cultures

around the world

Cultural landscapes• Much of culture is in the

mind i.e. beliefs• Cultural beliefs also

produce symbols which posses meaning, as well as objects (artefacts)

• Entire landscapes are the product of cultures – both urban and rural.

• People from a culture can ‘read’ symbols, objects and landscapes in ways in which others cannot.

Contrasting cultural landscapes

A traditional rural landscape in the UK. It has evolved over 1000s of years, and is now protected as a

National Park.

An modern urban technoscape of skyscrapers and money in New York;

almost a machine for conducting business.

An ethnoscape. Is this Asia or New York? Immigrant groups have

produced a hybrid urban landscape mixing Asia and North America (plus

many tourists)

An iconic natural landscape (The Grand Canyon), with meaning to

both modern and native Americans.

Vulnerable cultures and landscapes

• A range of threats, some subtle others more immediate, affect cultures and their landscapes

• Tourism has been blamed for gradually undermining cultures

• Technological change, especially in farming, has radically altered traditional rural landscapes

• Conflict and warfare frequently destroy cultural sites and may even deliberately seek to destroy cultures

Tourism Socio-economic change

Political pressures

Cultural dilution and westernisation; loss on own language

Loss of traditional farming skills as machines take over

Forced ‘conversion’ of indigenous peoples to colonists way of life

Loss of traditional skills, crafts and traditions

‘Industrialisation’ of the landscape for modern farming methods

Destruction of key cultural monuments are part of colonisation

Putting on ‘shows’ for visitors dilutes traditional music and dance

Rural urban migration to towns undermines the demographic stability of rural areas

Imposition of ‘alien’ language and education e.g. in Tibet

Landscape damage (erosion, damage to heritage sites) and landuse changes (new hotels, villas, roads).

Invasion of areas by counter-urbanisers leading to social changes

Genocide of one cultural or ethnic group as part of conquest

Valuing culture and cultures

Wupatki Pueblo in Arizona To the Hopi Indians, Wupatki Pueblo is a spiritual place, still home to the spirits of their ancestors.To the tourist, the Peublo is an interesting self-guided tour around an historic site.To scientists and archaeologists the Peublo’s remains are a window on the past.

• This example shows how different players have different concepts of value in relation to a cultural site.

• At a broader scale, cultural diversity is valued by some but not by others.

• Cultural mixing and diversity might be perceived as a threat to ones own culture, or an opportunity to learn from and experience other cultures.

2. How and why does culture vary spatially? • Some countries and regions

are culturally homogenous, such as Japan (see pie chart)

• Others are much more mixed

• Physical isolation may help explain this, but policies and traditions are important

• Culturally mixed places often have a history of trade (Netherlands, Singapore) and contact with other groups.

• Migration explains Canada’s cultural mixing; many European countries (Netherlands) have received people from former colonies in recent decades.

The Irish diaspora• People of Irish descent are spread worldwide.

• Mass emigration to escape poverty and conflict began in the 19th Century

• By some definitions there are over 80 million people with Irish ancestry outside Ireland (population 7 million in 2009).

• Most of the world’s major cities have an ‘Irish Pub’ including Bangkok, Shanghai and Rio.

Cities: cultural mixing pots

• The most culturally diverse places tend to be cities

• Cities have numerous pull factors which attract migrants such as variety of jobs, low cost housing and good transport links.

• Migrants are most likely to meet people from their own culture in big cities

• Often they form cultural enclaves (or ghettoes) with a concentration of a particular ethnic, religious or national group.

• Cities may be very diverse, but often different cultural groups live and work in distinct locations within cities

Ellis Island was the arrival point for 1000s of migrants to the USA.

http://www.londonprofiler.org/ For some interesting maps ofmulticultural London.

Attitudes to diversity

• Diversity, and other cultures, are not universally valued• Often cultures different to one’s own are viewed as a threat, especially

when linked to immigration and the arrival of ‘new’ people.

Positive aspects of diversity Negative aspects of diversity The host society gains access to new types of food, art and entertainment

Immigration of other cultures may increase population and pressure on services

Immigrant cultural groups are often young, which may boost population and entrepreneurship

Cultural enclaves may be viewed with suspicion, as they seem separate and unknown

Global links may increase, which may increase trade and exchange

New cultures might be seen as eroding or changing traditional cultural values

The host society is viewed as tolerant and open to new ideas and change

Certain cultures become linked to cultural stereotypes e.g. Islamic extremism, even when there is no evidence to support this

Greater understanding of a range of cultures reduces tension and the potential for conflict

There may be real barriers to mutual understanding such as language and ways of behaving

Attitudes to diversity • Globally, the UN has adopted

the Universal Declaration of Cultural Diversity

• UNESCO World Heritage Sites recognise the importance of cultural landscapes

• In the UK, cultural diversity is part of the National Curriculum

• The rights of cultures are not respected everywhere however

• In Tibet, Tibetan’s claim their culture is subject to Chinese ‘colonisation’

• Even today, many conflicts have a cultural side, with people of difficult religions, traditions and ethnicities at war.

• This peaceful Buddha in Viharamahadevi Park, Colombo, Sri Lanka is in sharp contrast to the civil war which raged there between the Hindu Tamils and the majority Buddist Sinhalese between 1976 and 2009

Cultural groups • There are often complex relationships

between cultural groups• Some cultural groups remain

deliberately separate from wider society e.g. the Amish in the USA

• Other groups gradually merge and mingle with the dominant culture; this may produce hybrid cultures

• Cultural groups who are recent migrants may, initially, make tentative links with the host society as they strive to overcome language and other barriers

• Counter-cultures emerge due to dissatisfaction with the dominant culture e.g. Punk culture in the 70s

• In some cases the dominant culture may force another culture to conform by assimilation, sometimes forced (cultural imperialism).

3. Impact of globalisation on cultural diversity

• Globalisation is the process creating increasing connectedness and ‘shrinking’ the world through trade, travel and communication.

• Some people identify a trend towards ‘cultural globalisation’ i.e. an increasingly homogenous global culture.

• Concern has been expressed over the rise of a ‘global’ culture at the expense of local cultures, but there are differing views: Taking over the world, 24 hours a day?

Hyperglobalisers Transformationalists

Sceptics

Globalisation is unstoppable, nations and

cultures are much less powerful than it is, and

cannot resist it.

Globalisation is a powerful, but changing, force which creates multiculturalism rather than destroying

cultures.

Globalisation is over-rated; regional identify more important than global.

Cultural imperialism?

• Is the spread of global trade, its brands (Nike, Coke, Disney, Ford) and western culture simply a side-effect of globalisation or is it more sinister?

• Anti-globalisation movements often portray the spread of ‘western’ culture as a deliberate attempt to impose this culture on the rest of the world.

• It is important to consider to what extent cultural imperialism exists and is a threat.

Westernisation McDonaldisation

Cocacolonisation Cultural imperialism

Americanisation

Disneyfication Cultural hegemony

The global media

• Global media corporations occupy a uniquely powerful position

• They can spread their message globally, instantly, to millions of people.

• Only in the last 60 years have the technologies shown (right) become commonplace.

• There are concerns that the global media is dominated by ‘western’ companies:Disney

(USA)

News Corporation (USA)

Viacom

(USA)

Time Warner(USA)

Bertelsmann

(Germany)

$47 billion revenue

2008

$32 billion revenue

2009

$14 billion revenue

2008

$47 billion revenue

2008

$16 billion revenue 2009

ABCESPNDisney ResortsPixar

HarperCollinsThe SunThe TimesFoxBSkyB

ParamountMTVNickelodeonComedy Central

AOLWarner BrosCNNCartoon Network

RTL GroupRandom HouseGruner+Jahr

Globalised cultures

• Cultural globalisation might be expected to affect a range of different aspect of local cultures such as:

• Diet – a higher fat, higher protein, higher sugar i.e. a more ‘western’ die

• Language – erosion of highly localised languages in favour of national or even global ones i.e. English (see map)

• Religion and community – traditions being replaced by globalised media as a source of news, information and entertainment

• Costume – traditional forms replaced by ‘jeans, trainers and t-shirt’

Cultural hybridisation

• On a more positive note, there is evidence that cultural globalisation is not ‘one way traffic’

• Bollywood films, made in Mumbai (Bombay), have transferred into ‘western’ cultural consciousness.

• Even McDonalds, one of the princes of corporate global capitalism, adapts its products to local markets (often referred to as ‘glocalisation’).

• Asian and Chinese immigrants do not loose their identity, they blend it with their new surroundings to produce new hybrid cultures.

Chinatown in San Francisco, a hybrid culture

Changing cultural landscapes• There are question marks over how far cultural change will

damage traditional ways of life and landscapes:

• In Dubai, traditional buildings have been swept away in favour of westernised, modern alternatives.

• Religion remains relatively untouched, but for how long?

4. Cultural attitudes to the environment

Culture and society:

Most people live:

Attitudes to environment:

Pre-industrial

On the land, as farmers and hunter gatherers

Resource use for personal consumption close relationship with living things; natural world ascribed a religious significance.

Industrial In cities, working in factories and offices

Resources used to make profits; exploitative relationship with environment ; may be viewed as a pollution sink.

Post-industrial

In cities, but counter-urbanisation increase rural population

Wealth and leisure time, and a tertiary economy, lead to increased conservation to aid use of environment for pleasure, leisure and recreation.

• Concern for the natural environment, and the landscapes it contains, varies around the world

• Traditional cultures – hunter gatherers, farmers – tend to have a close and sometimes reverential relationship to the environment

• Modernisation and industrialisation tend to ‘divorce’ cultures from direct contact with the environment

Exploiting or protecting?• There is a complex relationship between human exploitation and

conservation, and the question of whether humans are acting sustainability can be difficult to answer.

In Pompeii, tourists are in awe of the ancient Roman ruins, but may be contributing to their long-term degradation

Quarrying is a scar on thelandscape of Majorca, but stone could be viewed as much more ecologically sound than concrete.

In Kielder Forest, felled trees are replanted and therefore sustainable,but most trees in this man-made forestare not native to the UK and the foresthas low biodiversity.

Yosemite is a protected National Park, but it is open to visitors – Some 3.5 million visit every year.

What do we mean by ‘sustainable’?

• People’s understanding of sustainability varies.

• Originally the term was linked closely to the idea of development (see quote)

• Today the term tends to be more linked with the idea of ‘environmental sustainability’ – often focussing on the green agenda.

• Different players may have quite different understandings of ‘sustainability’.

Our consumer culture

• Many environmentalists and scientists argue that ‘western’ levels of consumption cannot be sustained.

• Modern humans see themselves as ‘at the top of the food chain’ due to their ability to exploit the environment for products and pleasure.

• This ‘humans first’ or anthropocentric view of the planet is what has led to global environmental problems such as global warming, deforestation, soil degradation and water shortages.

Squaring the circle

• There is a conflict between the desire to develop and the desire to respect and protect cultures, their landscapes and the wider environment.

• Can this be resolved?• Beginning in the 1970s the

Green Movement (initially a counter-culture, but now ‘mainstream’) formulated an alternative model (see diagram) for politics and economics

• Green movement ideas have gradually been adopted worldwide, but many green politicians argue much more needs to be done.