These are notes from the second lecture in the “Understanding Cultural and Human Geography” course.
Notes
- Three key tools for understanding the effect of geography on culture are: places, regions and adaptations.
- Places are local areas in which people’s activities occur day-to-day.
- Regions are larger geographic areas made up of places with some sort of common feature.
- Adaptations are solutions that people living in an area implement to address challenges posed by the geography.
- Places and regions aren’t exactly defined, but we have intuitive ideas of what they are. Their boundaries can be physical or social.
- The lecturer addressed the question of whether geography determines cultural development, rather than just influencing it. The evidence is complicated, and there are lots of counterexamples. Also, our view of “cultural development” will be influenced by the time and place that we are in.
- Cultures can shape the geography, and these changes can then influence how the culture develops.
Reflections
This lecture presents the relationship between geography and culture as a complex system rather than deterministic – this seems obvious, but it can be easy to fall into simpler ways of thinking.
Related
My notes on the first lecture: On “Understanding Cultural and Human Geography 1”
My notes on the next lecture: On “Understanding Cultural and Human Geography 3”
A world-building idea inspired by this lecture: world-building idea: visitors alter the realm and the realm alters visitors
Category: Notes and Reflections