Cultural Geography

It is interesting the assumptions we make purely based on a name.  

Many people judge others just based on their name and don't even get to know them before they make assumptions about them. Allan has been treated completely differently because of his name and people are always rather surprised when they meet him because of how ethnic his name sounds. Our culture today expects certain things just based on names or how your voice sounds or what you wear.

This article is related to cultural patterns and processes by the effect of language and culture on our names, which cause others to judge us, sometimes wrongly or rather unfairly.

This is a really interesting point at how we automatically stereotype people into certain ethnicities based off their names. It shows how people put up boundaries in their mind that if something is this, then something else must be true as well.

This article explains Jeremy Lin's rise and fall to success. He started as a young basketball player with huge ambitions. He is half Chinese and Taiwanese, and a minority in the basketball world. His career hit off and he became the star player, signing contracts to play in major basketball teams.

His success and fame was soon over with hate spreading on social media and his performance on the field decreasing. This shows how popular culture, like social media and the internet can have a huge impact on the successful and famous people of today. 

Haha, I remember my first time watching SABADO GIGANTE!!!!!

This article shows how one culture can adopt another, but also change it to better suit their needs or wants.

Afghani woman wears a suit with exaggerated female anatomy in the streets of Kabul to make a statement against sexual harassment in Afghanistan - and only proves through being groped and having stones thrown at her that Afghanistan has a major problem in their views of women in society.

Unit 3 Reflection: This article really highlights the stand that women are making in order to fight for their rights and the view that other people have on them. Especially in a male dominated region such as Afghanistan, women standing up for themselves is a lot less common due to their fears of violent persecution. 

CULTURAL UNIT

Kubra Khademi, 27, is a young Afghan artist living in Kabul (the capital of Afghanistan) roamed the streets of Kabul wearing a suit of armor in order to protest against sexual harassment. A personal experience moved her to stand up in protest, but her actions were not accepted as she thought they might be. Many men were pushing and harassing her, throwing stones as well, causing her to flee her protest. She began to receive death threats for her actions, and is now in hiding. This is UNACCEPTABLE!! Women should be treated equally and fairly, and they have every right in the world to stand up in protest against sexual harassment. This article ties into cultural differences in attitudes towards gender in Afghanistan. 

folk culture vs. popular culture - Often, practices of folk culture can turn into popular culture and lose it's meaning. The example here begins with Nimoy's Star Trek character, Spock's, hand signal for waving hello. When Nimoy was younger he had seen the Vulcan culture do this hand signal for blessing others in a ceremony of something he wasn't sure of, but knew was very powerful and important. So, this is where Spock's hand signal idea originated. Because of this popular movie, over media, this spread worldwide, turning into everyone practicing this alien greeting. But, no one knew where it came from or even cared to find out that the hand gesture had very sentimental meaning to this folk culture. 

This is fascinating. Where some people of the United States view the confederacy as an embarrassing group of Americans in our history, other have embraced their history in culture instead of shouting it down and/or pretending they are not connected to it. Similar to the exiled fugitive Nazis in the post War period in Argentina. Men and women who did not want to live in a world where Germany was not master of all, they defected and came to south America where vestiges of that piece of their history can still be seen. This really is pretty cool

Unlike in the United States, a nation made up of many different communities, France seems to want to achieve the goal of being one nation made of one community. Through this, cultural and religious assimilation are common-and forced-for Muslims and Jews in the country, and religion is expected to be a private matter. This clearly shows the difference in societal views on religion and its place in the lives of the people of a country

It's interesting how two western civilizations view religions. America is very religiously based, and acts through their beliefs. In France, religion is not viewed negatively, but isn't quite as important as it is in America. The different views on religion are not necessarily extreme, but still pose as a difference between the two regions. 

Cultural conflicts, and law and policy to protect culture-

This article explains the differences between the United States and France, and how they both have very different views on culture. It also explains how in France Charlie Hebdo attacks have increased, thus increasing the demand for culture and religion.

This article explains how simple it is for us in the United States culture and ethnic wise, while in other countries, it is something that is not wanted to be messed with.

unit 3

Summary: As Jerusalem runs out of space along the outskirts of the city, they must find more places to bury there dead as it is a religious tradition for Christians and Jews to be buried, so urban planning must be adjusted for catacombs in order to bury the dead.

Insight: This article is relevant to units 3 and 7 because it shows how religious traits can effect a city plan or model.

Religion- bury dead

Popular and Folk Culture-

This article explains how folk culture can spread into pop culture, such as Chinese cuisine near the U.S Mexican Border.

This article creates a sense of folk culture and popular culture because it shows how a Chinese cuisine was diffused into America, becoming popular cultural food, and blending with other closer cultures.

Because the government of Iran is not the people of Iran.  Just like the people hear in the US, we people are not like our government . The people of Iran love the people here I  the US. Most Iranians are simple people living simple lives

This article is really neat, for it goes to show how the Irish culture has affected people across the world in Mexico. Since there were quite a few Irishmen who fought with Mexico against the US, a part of their culture was kept in Mexico and now St. Patrick's Day is celebrated with a special twist in Mexico (Honoring those who fought with Mexico).

This clear example of barriers to culture and other things, shows that not all problems are because of the police, but the lack of engagement in certain communities. 

Sophiatown was known for their diverse culture and upbeat lifestyle. All of a sudden however, the South African government came to the city and cleared everyone from it except the whites. The whites had been complaining about their city, and the police reacted. The blacks and non whites were forced to move to Meadowlands with no street lights, identical houses, and no grocery store. The adjustment was tough on the black community, and many bread winners of families passed away due to stress. Nelson Mandela and the ANC attempted to fight back and protest the situation, but they knew a massacre would've occurred. The town now is back to normal, but it will never be the same.

This apartheid story is very interesting and shows how the non whites had to suffer in South Africa during this awful time. The struggles they went through on a daily basis were unforgettable. It is neat to read stories about it and gain better understanding for what they went through and how much society has changed over time. This topic fits right in with the cultural differences tab of the syllabus.

Unit 3:

This article applies language families to all the languages spoken in the world. All languages share similar origins, therefore they share words, phrases, and organization patterns. By reading this list, you may even notice some words you use without knowing anything about the language or the origin of it.