Unit 3—Cultural Patterns and Processes (www.collegeboard.com/ap)

A.   Concepts of culture

1.    Traits and complexes

2.    Diffusion

3.    Acculturation

4.    Cultural Regions and Realms

B.    Cultural differences

1.    Language

2.    Religion

3.    Ethnicity

4.    Gender

5.    Popular and folk culture

C.   Environmental impact of cultural attitudes and practices

D.   Cultural landscapes and cultural identity

1.    Values and preferences

2.    Symbolic landscapes and sense of place

 

 

Study Questions (AP Student Companion):

1.    Define culture.  Provide some examples explaining the process of cultural diffusion.

2.    Why is the mosaic of language and religion of interest and value to the cultural geographer?

3.    What are the major components that make up the definition of language?

4.    What is standard language?

5.    Study the map of Europe (Figure 8.3, p.116) and explain how it is a diffusion model.

6.    What are some of the theories of language diffusion?  What analysis has Colin Renfrew, the British scholar, brought to the interpretation of the search for the source for a “superfamily” of languages?

7.    What is toponomy?  What does it reveal about the culture of a place?

8.    Why are place names categorized?

9.    Define religion.  What are some ways religions manifest themselves within a culture?

10. Where are the source areas of the world’s major belief systems?  Explain how they are diffused.

11. Provide examples to explain the differences between global and regional religions.

12. What is secularization?  Why is it a topic of inquiry for human geographers?

13. Describe some of the cultural dimensions of some key gender issues that have geographic implications.

14. Describe how a cultural landscape can also be a symbolic landscape.  Explain how such landscapes relate to popular and folk culture.

15. Provide some examples illustrating how culture and environment interact.  Assess some positive and negative aspects of that interaction. 

 

 

Vocabulary (AP Student Companion)

1.    acculturation (36, 425-429)

2.    animism (159)

3.    conquest and agricultural theories (126-28)

4.    contagious diffusion (25)

5.    cultural diffusion (20, 21-23)

6.    cultural environments (20)

7.    cultural landscape (20, 21-23)

8.    cultural perception (20, 27-31)

9.    culture (R-17)

10. culture heaths (20, 23-24)

11. culture realms (19)

12. culture regions (19)

13. culture traits (17, 19)

14. folk culture (429)

15. gender gap (440-441)

16. multilingualism (137-143)

17. popular culture (429)

18. racism (423-424)

19. standard language (112)

 
Activities

·      Lecture/Discussion of Text, Chapters 8-13

·      Discussion of study questions

·      “Cactus, Cowboys, and Coyotes: The Southwest Culture Region”, Human Geography

in Action, Chapter 2

·      “Tracking the Aids Epidemic: Diffusion Through Space and Time”, Human

Geography in Action, Chapter 3                

·      “The Global Linguistic Mosaic”,  AP Student Companion,  Activity 3

·      “The Geography of Religion”,  AP Student Companion,  Activity 4

·      Read and discuss “The Legacy of Names”, by Greg Breining published in the

Minnesota Conservation Volunteer in January-February 2001

 

Assessment

·      Multiple Choice Test #3

·      Free Response Question #3

·      Classroom Activities Assignments