18.+Culture



=Defining Culture= 'Culture.' We frequently use this word under all sorts of circumstances and yet seldom do we ever define it. As simple as it seems, culture is a very important concept in terms of human understanding. Given the realities of globalization, and its attendant challenges, understanding the components of culture and what it truly means has become very important in order to comprehend, describe and ultimately, to interact with our fellow man. As the map above describes, there are cultural zones on the planet. However, these zones are the grossest of terms by which we can describe human cultures. Within each and everyone of those zones above, there are a myriad of sub-cultures which are far more important and demarcated than the ones above. Of course, people might look the same, but their respective culture might be markedly different from the one to which we might assign them using the map above.



The focus of this activity is for you to understand that 'culture' can be a very complex notion once we start to define it within the context of the individual. As with many topics in human geography, start with what you know (or are at least familiar).
 * Activity 1 Groups to Which You Belong**


 * 1) __Write down all the groups, organizations, people you hang out with, hobbies you share, clubs (school and out of school), places you hang out in, etc.__
 * 2) Locate two other people in the class that share membership to one of the groups on your list.
 * 3) Together, answer the following questions, and then present your findings to your classmates:
 * Name of the group? Or, how does it identify itself, i.e. People from Bundang (//"Bundangers"//)
 * What is the purpose of the group?
 * What are the rules of the group?
 * What are its beliefs?
 * Is membership voluntary or involuntary?

Now that you have described a cultural group, **compare and contrast** that group with any other cultural group that you can find, and that //interests// you. For example, it can be a people from a tribe in Afghanistan, i.e. Pashtuns, or it can be a Japanese street-gang, i.e. //bosozoku// (see the picture above), whatever group you pick you must complete the following:
 * Show three similarities and/or differences between your own cultural group and the one which you selected in each of the following categories:
 * Sociofacts
 * Mentifacts
 * Artifacts
 * Websites to get your research **started**:
 * [|World Cultures]
 * [|Freeweb World Cultures]
 * [|Yahoo Directory to World Cultures]
 * [|Geography World Links to Sites]
 * [|Wikipedia List of Sub-Cultures]
 * Create a chart from which you can complete the above task.
 * Finally, answer this question: //What is culture?//