This Document Contains Chapters 4 to 6 Folk and Popular Culture 4 Learning Outcomes After reading, studying, and discussing the chapter, students should be able to: Learning Outcome 4.1.1: Introduce concepts of folk and popular culture. Learning Outcome 4.1.2: Compare processes of origin, diffusion, and distribution of folk and popular culture. Learning Outcome 4.1.3: Compare patterns of regions and connections between folk and popular culture. Learning Outcome 4.1.4: Compare differences in geographic dimensions of folk and popular music. Learning Outcome 4.1.5: Describe the transformation of sports from folk to popular culture. Learning Outcome 4.2.1: Introduce environmental and cultural features of material culture. Learning Outcome 4.2.2: Compare reasons for distribution of clothing styles in folk and popular culture. Learning Outcome 4.2.3: Understand reasons for folk food preferences and taboos. Learning Outcome 4.2.4: Describe regional variations in popular food preferences. Learning Outcome 4.2.5: Understand factors that influence patterns of folk housing. Learning Outcome 4.3.1: Compare the diffusion of TV and the Internet. Learning Outcome 4.3.2: Compare the distribution of the social media with that of TV and the Internet. Learning Outcome 4.3.3: Understand threats to freedom of use of electronic media. Learning Outcome 4.4.1: Summarize challenges for folk culture from diffusion of popular culture. Learning Outcome 4.4.2: Summarize two principle ways that popular culture can adversely affect the environment. Chapter Outline Key Issue 1: Where Are Folk and Popular Leisure Activities Distributed? Culture is defined as a collection of social customs; customs are repetitive acts of groups. Repetitive acts of individuals are called habits. Chapter 4 focuses on two facets of material culture: (1) culture deriving from the necessities of daily life such as food, clothing and shelter, and (2) leisure activities such as the arts and recreation. Culture is defined as the body of material characteristics, customary beliefs, and social forms that together embody the distinct tradition of a group of people. These three components of culture capture the interest of geographers; in Chapter 4, the visible elements that a group possesses and leaves behind for the future are discussed. Following the examination of migration in Chapter 3, links can be made to the discussion of culture in this Chapter; two locations have similar cultural beliefs, objects, and institutions because people bring along their culture when they migrate. Differences become apparent when two groups have limited interaction. To analyze the relationship between culture and the behavior of people, geographers differentiate between habit and custom. Habit is a performative act that a particular individual repeats, such as wearing jeans to class every day. A custom is a repetitive act of a group, performed to the extent that it becomes characteristic of the group, such as many students typically wearing jeans to class. Introducing Folk and Popular Culture Geographers have identified two major categories of culture: folk and popular culture. Folk culture and popular culture differ in their patterns of origins, diffusion, and distribution. Folk culture is practiced by small homogenous groups living in isolated rural areas. Popular culture is found in large heterogeneous societies that share certain customs despite differences in other personal characteristics. Landscapes heavily influenced by folk culture change relatively little over time, while popular culture’s foundation rests on rapid simultaneous global connections through communications systems, transportation networks, and other modern technology. Rapid diffusion promotes persistent changes in popular culture. Scalar differences are observed in folk and popular culture, as well – globally, popular culture is becoming more dominant (at least for those with the income to have access to it), while many folk cultures are locally based. This global phenomenon threatens the existence of unique folk cultures, potentially reducing local diversity the world over. Popular culture may also pose negative environmental effects, with “built environments” being unsustainable. Origin, Diffusion, and Distribution of Folk and Popular Culture The distribution of folk and popular culture can be explained by two basic factors: the process of origin and the pattern of distribution. Origin Customs originate from hearths. Folk customs are often anonymous while popular customs originate in more developed countries as part of the market for recreational (leisure) and disposable income to purchase these material goods. Diffusion Popular culture diffuses (usually hierarchically) through rapid electronic communications and transportation networks. Folk culture diffuses through relocation diffusion (migration). Distribution Popular culture is distributed widely across many countries, with little regard for physical factors. The primary barrier to access is lack of income to purchase the materials of popular culture. Folk cultures often (though not always) incorporate elements of the local environment. Groups with relatively little contact with others develop unique folk cultures. Himalayan religious art is used as an example of how isolated religious groups depict the same environment much differently in their art. Geographic Differences Between Folk and Popular Culture Geographers recognize that cultural features display distinctive regional distributions. Culture regions are often vernacular – people perceive these regions to exist as a component of their cultural identity. Culture regions may also manifest as formal or functional. The region encompassing a folk culture is generally much smaller than one encompassing a popular culture, due to connections (or lack thereof). Limited connections, possibly due to physical barriers, may engender different folk cultures in a relatively small geographic area. Origin and Diffusion of Folk and Popular Music Music researcher Daniel Levitan argues that every culture in human history has had some tradition of music. Music can be looked to as an example of the differences in the origin, diffusion, and distribution of folk and popular culture. Folk Music The purpose of folk music is to tell stories or to disseminate information. Folk music typically originates from an anonymous hearth and is transmitted among populations orally. As people migrate, folk music travels with them as part of the diffusion of folk culture. Popular Music Popular music is deliberately written to be sold and performed. While some forms of popular music contain references to local places or events, the purpose of the music is still to appeal to a variety of people across Earth. As with other elements of popular culture, popular musicians have more connections with performers of similar styles, regardless of where in the world they happen to live, than they do with performers of different styles who happen to live in the same community. In the past musicians clustered in particular communities according to their shared interest in specific styles. Because of the globalization of popular music, musicians are less tied to the culture of a particular place. Now musicians cluster in communities where other musicians reside regardless of the style of music they play. Musicians are also clustered in large metropolitan areas so they can be near sources of employment. Origin and Diffusion of Folk and Popular Sports Many sports originated as isolated folk customs and were spread like other folk culture, through the relocation diffusion (migration). The contemporary diffusion of organized sports, however, displays the traits of popular culture. Folk Culture: Origin of Soccer Soccer is an example of a popular folk custom that was popularized and then globalized. The hearth of soccer is believed to be in England in the eleventh century. Following the Danish invasion of England between 1018 and 1042, workers excavating a building site discovered a Danish soldier’s head, which they began to kick. “Kick the Dane’s head” evolved into boys using an inflated cow bladder in the place of the head, and games were played between two villages. The victorious side was the one to kick the ball into the center of the rival village. Popular Culture: Diffusion of Soccer In the 1800s, soccer transformed from a folk custom to a popular culture. Several English soccer clubs formed an association to standardize the rules and to organize professional leagues. Spectators started to pay to see first-class events. Soccer then diffused to other parts of Europe. Soccer later diffused to other parts of the world by new communication systems such as the radio and TV. Today, the global popularity of soccer is exemplified in the World Cup, held every four years. Olympic Sports Other sports are similar to soccer as elements of popular culture, though the distribution of each sport is different. If a sport becomes popular enough worldwide, it becomes part of the Olympics. For a sport to be to be included in the Olympics it must be widely played in at least 75 countries (50 countries for women sports) and on four continents. Surviving Folk Sports Most other sports have diffused much less than soccer. Cricket, Wushu, baseball, and lacrosse are examples of sports that never became very popular globally. Key Issue 2: Where Are Folk and Popular Material Culture Distributed? Elements of Material Culture Folk culture is more apt to be influenced by environmental conditions, but popular culture is not insulated from these environmental influences. Geographers have noted that folk and popular culture can come into conflict with one another. Wine Geography The spatial distribution of wine production is indicative of the importance of both environmental and cultural elements. Grapes needed for making decent wine grow better in some places compared to others. Wine Production: Environmental Factors The distinctive character of a wine stems from a vineyard’s terrior – the unique combination of soil, climate, and other traits at the place where the grapes are grown. Wine Production: Cultural Factors Cultural values underpin the historical and contemporary production of wine. The distribution of wine production shows that the diffusion of popular customs depends less on the distinctive environment of a location than on the presence of beliefs, institutions, and material characteristics conducive to accepting those customs. Conflicting Folk and Popular Cultural Values Conflicts may emerge between folk and popular culture. For example, wearing folk clothing in countries dominated by popular culture can be controversial, and vice versa. Particularly difficult has been the coexistence of the loose-fitting combination body covering, head covering, and veil traditionally worn by women in Southwest Asia and North Africa in contrast to the open-necked blouses, tight-fitting slack, and revealing skirts commonly seen in casual Western-style popular women’s clothing. Folk and Popular Clothing People living in folk cultures have traditionally worn clothing in part in response to characteristic agricultural practices and climatic conditions. In popular culture, clothing choices generally reflect occupations rather than particular environments. Folk Clothing Preferences People wear distinctive folk clothing for a variety of environmental and cultural reasons. Women who live in countries in Southwest Asia and Northern Europe are discouraged from wearing popular casual Western-style clothing because of religious reasons. On the other hand, some European countries prohibit women from wearing traditional clothing from Southwest Asia and North Africa because the leaders in government believe that those clothes make women seem like second class citizens. Rapid Diffusion of Popular Clothing Styles Popular clothing habits have little regard for the climate or topography of an area. Because of the sufficient incomes, the social desirability of dressing for a particular job or social class, and rapid communications, popular clothing styles can change several times per year across the more developed world. Jeans are an example of how Western popular culture has diffused to other countries. Jeans retain local diversity because different regions of the world prefer a particular style of jeans. Folk Food Customs According to the nineteenth-century cultural geographer Vidal de la Blache, food supply is one of the most enduring connections that tie people to a particular environment. Food preferences are strongly influenced by cultural traditions, and shared food preferences may help to establish social, religious, and ethnic customs. Food and the Environment The local climate presents a major influence on what can and cannot be grown. The contribution of a location’s distinctive physical features to the way food tastes is known as terroir. Folk cultures have had to adapt their food preferences to conditions in their local environment and this has created distinctive local cuisines around the world. Folk cultures will also eat certain foods that are believed to enhance qualities that are considered desirable by their society. Food Taboos The development of food taboos are thought to be partly environmental and partly cultural. Taboos are restrictions on behavior imposed by religious law or social custom. These taboos may help to protect endangered animals or to conserve scarce natural resources. Many religions have food taboos because they protected the environment of the religion’s hearth. Social values can also influence what people eat because people in similar climates and with similar levels of income consume different foods. Popular Food Preferences Popular food preferences are impacted more by cultural values than by environmental features. Despite this, some regional differences are apparent between and within countries, and environmental factors remain significant in specific items. Regional Differences: Global Scale The example of soft drink sales can be instructive in examining differences in global preferences. While Coca-Cola accounts for more than half of the world’s soft drink sales, Pepsi is another prominent brand, making up one-fourth of the soft drink market. Pepsi is preferred in Québec, where marketing practices tied the soft drink to French Canadian identity. Political influences may play a role in preference, as seen in the Soviet Union and the Arab countries in Southwest Asia and North Africa. Regional Differences: U.S. Snack and Fast Food Regional differences in food preferences of developed countries may be associated with cultural or environmental factors, while others are more abstract in their origin. Americans may choose particular beverages or snacks in part on the basis of preferences of what is produced, grown, or imported locally. Many regional variations cannot be easily explained by cultural or environmental factors, as can be seen by the differences in the distribution and concentration of McDonalds across the United States. Folk and Popular Housing The house, as theorized by French geographer Jean Brunhes, is a product of both cultural and natural conditions. American cultural geographer Fred Kniffen considered the house to be a good reflection of cultural heritage, current fashion, functional needs, and the impact of environment. Folk Housing Singular environmental and cultural factors play a role in the provision of housing in folk cultures. Environmental Influences Folk housing styles are another example of the influence of the physical environment, with housing design reflecting both cultural norms and environmental influences from the type of building material used to the shape of the house to more efficiently heat, cool, or shed water. Even in areas that share similar climates and available building materials, folk housing can vary because of minor differences in environmental features. Cultural Influences Some folk housing distinctive design may also derive primarily from religious values and other customary beliefs. Houses in some folk cultures may have sacred walls or corners. Compass direction may play a big role in how the house was built and how the interior of the house is arranged. U.S. Folk Housing Older houses in the United States from the east coast toward the Mississippi River display a local folk-culture tradition. The distribution of U.S. folk housing styles reflected whatever style was prevailing at the place on the East Coast from which the people migrated from. Housing built in the 1940s and beyond is indicative of how popular customs differ more in time than in place. Key Issue 3: Why Is Access to Folk and Popular Culture Unequal? Diffusion of TV and Internet The world’s most popular and important electronic media format is television (TV). While the Internet has grown in popularity and importance in recent years, TV remains the foremost electronic media format. Distribution and Diffusion of TV Popular culture is diffused faster and further than ever with the invention and diffusion of forms of electronic communication like television. Television allows images and messages about popular culture, such as professional sports, to spread instantaneously across the globe. Watching TV is now the most popular leisure activity in the world, with the average human watching 3 hours daily and the average American watching 5 hours daily The technology by which television is delivered is changing throughout the world, with ownership rates in developing countries climbing rapidly since the beginning of the twenty-first century. Diffusion of the Internet service has diffused at a rapid pace throughout the world. The diffusion of the Internet has occurred much more quickly than TV. It is likely to diffuse even further in the years ahead at a rapid rate. Diffusion of Social Media People in the United States have dominated the use of social media during the early years. Social networking websites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube still enjoy their greatest popularity in the United States, but are quickly diffusing to other countries. The possibility of other social media platforms gaining popularity outside the United States also exists. Diffusion of Facebook Since the founding of Facebook by Harvard University students in 2004, it has diffused rapidly. Mirroring the early dominance of Internet in the United States, Facebook users in the United States outnumbered those in other countries during its early years. As of 2014, the United States and India claim more than 100 million Facebook users each, with developing countries such as Brazil, Mexico, and Indonesia behind. Facebook is not as popular in China and Russia, due to competing social media platforms and restrictions on Internet usage. Diffusion of Twitter The United States was the source of one-third of all Tweets in 2014, with another one-third originating in India, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, Brazil, and Canada. The rising presence of social media in developing countries such as India and Brazil may be a preview of future trends, in which electronic communications advances diffuse rapidly not only in developed countries, but the world over. External Threat: Developed Countries Control the Media Since media outlets are largely Western (especially television programming), their content may present values or beliefs in conflict with those of a particular place receiving those broadcasts. Government may perceive this Western control as a threat to their national systems and attempt to restrict the programming available to the populace. Internet Threat: Social Media In some places around the globe residents have sought out Western programming otherwise not available through the use of satellite dishes. Governments around the world are also trying to limit the Internet content in their countries. Social media has started to play an even more significant role in breaking the monopoly of government control over the diffusion of information. Challenges in Accessing Electronic Media Not every country enjoys the same open access to information and modern electronic communications (e.g. the Internet and cell phones) as the citizens of the United States do. Based on a Freedom on the Net survey of the level of Internet and digital media freedom in 65 countries, 19 countries were categorized as “free,” 31 were classified as “partly free,” and 15 were “not free.” Three categories of restrictions on the free use of the Internet are recognized by Freedom on the Net: banned technology, blocked content, and violated user rights. Banned Technology Governments can prevent electronic technology deemed unwanted by regulating the underlying technology platforms that are supported by the infrastructure in the country. Some governments do not permit the sale of certain models of phones, tablets, and computers. Devices that are permitted must be configured to exclude certain functionality. Some travelers between free countries, such as from the United States to Western Europe, discover that their devices fail to operate due to incompatible cellular infrastructure. China is an example of a country that aggressively monitors and restricts foreign applications, as evidenced by the relatively small fraction of Facebook and Twitter users living there. Blocked Content Some websites and web content is censored or prevented altogether from being displayed on devices in a particular country. The leaders of some developing countries view American dominance of TV programming as a new method of cultural and economic imperialism. Social norms present in this programming may not match those of developing countries; many satellite and cable providers in these developing countries block programming containing such content. Three types of Internet content are routinely censored in select countries: Political content that expresses views in opposition to those of the current administration or that is related to human rights, freedom of expression, minority rights, and religious movements. Social content related to sexuality, gambling, and illegal drugs and alcohol, as well as other topics that may be socially sensitive or perceived as offensive. Security content related to armed conflicts, border disputes, separatist movements, and militant groups. Violated User Rights Some citizens of countries that are not “free” digitally have devised ways of circumventing government restrictions on ownership of hardware, use of software, and viewing of online content. These governments have codified physical attacks and imprisonment to intimidate their citizens into ceasing these departures. Freedom on the Net has noted that women and the LGBTQQIAAP community have been targeted in a number of countries for their online activities. Iran, Syria, and China have been identified by Freedom on the Net as the worst-offending countries in using the oppressive actions. Key Issue 4: Why Do Folk and Popular Culture Face Sustainability Challenges? Sustainability Challenges for Folk Culture Growing connections with popular culture can make it difficult for folk culture to maintain centuries-old practices and customs. A folk culture group often undergoes a process of assimilation, which is a process of giving up cultural traditions, such as food and clothing preferences, and adopting social customs of the dominant culture of a place. Instead of assimilation, a folk group often undergoes acculturation, which is a process of adjustment to the dominant culture of a place, while retaining features of a folk culture, or syncretism (the creation of a new cultural feature through combining elements of two groups). Preserving Cultural Identity: The Amish The Amish are an example of a group in the United States that shuns any mechanical or electrical power. The globalization of popular culture represents to many people in folk cultural societies a loss of traditional values. Many fear the loss of folk culture, especially because of the rising demand for possessions of a popular culture. For folk culture, increased connection with popular culture can make it difficult to maintain centuries-old practices. Folk societies are trying hard to maintain their unique culture in an age of globalization. Challenging Cultural Values: Dowries in India The global diffusion of popular culture has challenged the subservience of women that is embedded in some folk cultures. This has been both a good thing and a bad thing for women in developing countries. The family of the bride in India is sometimes expected to provide the groom with a dowry. Some women in India have actually been killed because their family did not pay a large enough dowry to the groom. Although anti-dowry laws were enacted by the government of India in 1961, they are largely ignored and women still face the consequences of the harsh reality of this custom. Sustainability Challenges for Popular Culture Popular culture can greatly modify or control the environment, with little regard for local environmental conditions, such as climate and soil. The diffusion of some popular customs can negatively impact environmental quality in two ways: landscape pollution and depletion of natural resources. Landscape Pollution For many popular customs, the environment is altered to enhance participation in a leisure activity or to promote the sale of a product. Although some built environments are designed to look “natural,” they are actually deliberately created by people in the pursuit of popular social customs. Uniform Landscapes The spatial expression of a popular custom in one location will be similar to another. To build a uniform landscape, hills may be flattened and valleys filled in. Promoters of popular culture actually want a uniform appearance to generate “product [or brand] recognition” and greater consumption. Gas stations, supermarkets, and fast food restaurants all exhibit characteristics of a uniform landscape. Physical expression of uniformity in popular culture has diffused from North America to other countries, further establishing uniformity in the global landscape. Resource Depletion Popular customs may also involve the overuse and depletion of scarce natural resources. The increased demand for meat is leading to a decrease in the total amount of grain available. Pollution often times results from popular cultural practices. Recycling consumer products is helping to alleviate all the unwanted by-products that usually end up in landfills or burned in incinerators. Golf courses require large expanses of open, carefully managed grass. Some golf courses are designed partially in response to local physical conditions. Many courses have little regard for local conditions and usually dramatically alter the natural landscape of an area. Golf course remake the environment by creating of flattening hills, cutting grass, carting in or digging up sand for traps, and draining or expanding bodies of water to create hazards. Ice Breakers Pop Culture Trivia An exercise in pop culture trivia will remind college students of how much they do know. Organize a series of questions for the class on popular culture topics ranging from TV shows to Top 40 or “alternative” music, to sports, to Hollywood celebrities. Now ask a series of questions on a folk-culture-based topic. You might have a favorite to pick from, such as bluegrass music or a lesser-known sport like Jai-Alai. It won’t take long for the students to tire of these meaningless (to them) trivia questions. Now a discussion can be started on the nature of one trivia contest versus the other. Why do so many students know so much about the first category of culture, and so little about the other examples from folk culture? The discussion will serve as an introduction to the differences between folk and popular culture. Challenges to Comprehension Norms and “Normal” Younger students may not have previously encountered any discussion of cultural relativism or the construction of social norms. The text introduces this idea with a discussion of habits, customs, and taboos but does not explicitly address the challenge of understanding other material cultures from their own perspective. Consider introducing a common North American custom in an unfamiliar context. For example, “A drug crop is grown in fields, where it is harvested and put into 100-pound bags. These bags are sold by the farmer for anywhere between $70 and $100. The product is then brought into another country, often using middlemen, where it is processed, refined, and sometimes mixed with other substances before being sold on the street. The final market value of the original bag can now be as high as seven to ten thousand dollars. What are we talking about?” Some students will guess “cocaine”, many more “marijuana,” but few or none will guess the real subject of this word problem: coffee! Ask your students how they reacted to the idea of the drug as an “illegal” or “abnormal” one versus a “normal” one; then discuss whether we bring these prejudices to bear on other material cultures. Uniform Landscapes The Chamber of Commerce in your hometown wants to hire you to create a new town seal. Is there a symbol or symbols that reflect the unique identity of your town? Is the cultural and/or physical landscape of your town distinctive enough to create a real sense of place? Will you end up having to turn down the job because your hometown is the definition of “Anytown U.S.A.”? Assignments Review/Reflection Questions Describe a distinctive food preference that your family has and trace its origins to a folk hearth. If you don’t have one, use an example that you’ve heard or seen (not from the book). List some of your food taboos and give an explanation for each. How many have to do with cultural traditions you’ve inherited, and how many have to do with cultural views you’ve adopted as an adult? Social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube is changing the way that popular and folk cultures are diffused. Give and support an argument for how the Internet might aid the preservation, or even expansion, of some folk cultural elements. Describe one activity of popular culture that you engage in and evaluate its impact on the environment. What might a folk cultural alternative to your activity be? Describe a personal habit, a custom that you follow that is not generically “popular culture,” and a culture that you follow. Be sure to define and explain each one, and then try to explain where each one originated. Do you consider your culture to be part of the “dominant” culture at this school? If “yes,” explain how you observe other cultures and why you make these observations. If “no,” explain how the dominant culture influences your own culture. Cultural Observation Assignment For this assignment, you’ll observe the cultural landscape of one part of our community. You can choose a location that represents popular culture (e.g., a mall, the campus bookstore, a coffee shop, a park, a street intersection) or folk culture (e.g., a folk art festival, a street market, a musical performance). You’ll need to use all five of your senses to study a particular/event and report on your observation. Objectives First, prepare a plan of your objectives. Where will you be going? What are you planning to observe? How will you record your observations? Write this plan down to give your investigation a more direct focus. Observations Go to the location you’ve selected for your observation and spend some time there. Your report should include detailed observations of the site and situation characteristics of your location, so take careful notes. Find a good place to make your observations and stay for at least one hour. Take notes on what you’ve decided to observe. You may also change your mind about what is most important to observe. Attach your observation notes to the end of your assignment. Results Present the results of your observations. Depending on what and how you choose to observe some elements of culture, you might arrange your results in a table, or you might summarize your observations in several paragraphs. Discussion Now write about 500 words discussing what you observed. Make sure to relate your observations to key concepts in Chapter 4 and earlier chapters. Your final paper should have following section: Objective, Results, Discussion, and your observation notes attached after your bibliography. For additional review and test prep materials, have your students visit Mastering Geography™ to access a variety of resources, including interactive maps, videos, Google Earth activities, RSS feeds, flashcards, web links, and self-study quizzes. Languages 5 Learning Outcomes After reading, studying, and discussing the chapter, students should be able to: Learning Outcome 5.1.1: Understand how languages are classified. Learning Outcome 5.1.2: Identify the world’s largest language families. Learning Outcome 5.1.3: Identify the distribution of Indo-European and Sino-Tibetan, the two largest families. Learning Outcome 5.1.4: Identify the distribution of the largest language families other than Indo European and Sino-Tibetan. Learning Outcome 5.2.1: Identify the origin, diffusion, and current distribution of Indo-European branches. Learning Outcome 5.2.2: Identify processes of origin and diffusion of a language branch and a family. Learning Outcome 5.2.3: Understand processes underlying current distribution of English. Learning Outcome 5.2.4: Understand the concept of lingua franca. Learning Outcome 5.2.5: Understand the official status of English and other languages. Learning Outcome 5.3.1: Understand the ways that dialects vary. Learning Outcome 5.3.2: Understand the distribution of principal U.S. dialects. Learning Outcome 5.3.3: Understand challenges in distinguishing between some languages and dialects. Learning Outcome 5.3.4: Understand how some countries embrace more than one language. Learning Outcome 5.4.1: Understand the classification of languages by severity of threat to their survival. Learning Outcome 5.4.2: Understand how some lesser-used languages are being protected. Learning Outcome 5.4.3: Understand geographic factors resulting in isolated and extinct languages. Learning Outcome 5.4.4: Understand processes of creation of new languages. Chapter Outline Key Issue 1: Where Are Languages Distributed? Language is a system of communication through speech, a collection of sounds that a group of people understands to have the same meaning. Language is an important element of culture that people value. Beginning an analysis of the geographic elements of cultural values with language is useful because it is the medium through which other cultural values, such as religion and ethnicity, are communicated. Introducing Languages Most people in the United States only know how to speak English. Only 8 percent of college students and 18 percent of high school students take foreign language courses in the United States, whereas in Europe, 75 percent of elementary school students and 94 percent of high school students learn English in addition to their native languages. Language and Migration Language and migration are geographic areas of interest that share many connections. For instance, the contemporary distribution of languages across Earth can be attributed to the past migrations of peoples. An example in the world can be seen in Madagascar, where the native language is a part of the same language family as languages spoken in Indonesia and the Philippines. According to researchers, migrants traveled to Madagascar from Indonesia about 2,000 years ago. The common language between the two populations diverged as contact was lost, and the Malagasy language developed into a distinct language over the course of many generations. Geographers analyze the similarities among languages to explain the diffusion and interaction of people around the world. Classifying Languages Earth’s cultural diversity is readily apparent through the collection of languages spread across its continents. According to Ethnologue, one of the most authoritative sources of languages (see: ethnnologue.com), there are an estimated 7,102 languages, including 90 spoken by at least 10 million people, 304 spoken by between 1 and 10 million people, and 6,708 spoken by fewer than 1 million people. The distribution of some languages is easy for geographers to determine, while others (especially in Africa and Asia) can be difficult (or perhaps even impossible). Ethnologue categorizes languages into five classes: institutional, developing, vigorous, in trouble, and dying. Of the world’s 7,102 languages, 578 are institutional, 1,598 are developing, 2,479 are vigorous, 1,531 are in trouble, and 916 are dying. An institutional language is a language used in education, work, mass media, and government. The official language of a country is a designated institutional language, used by the government for laws, reports, and public objects such as road signs, money, and stamps. Many countries have more than one official language and may require all public documents to be in all languages. A literary tradition is a component of a(n) (institutional) language, meaning that a written system exists alongside the spoken system. While thousands of literary traditions existing in the world help geographers study the total number and distribution of languages in the world, languages with no written system present problems for researchers trying to examine them. A developing language is spoken daily by people of all ages in a population. While the spoken system of a developing language may be relatively widespread, a literary tradition may not be as widely distributed. A vigorous language is spoken daily by people of all ages in a population, but has no literary tradition at all. As their names imply, languages in trouble and dying are considered by Ethnologue to be in various phases of disappearing from use. Organizing Language Families Languages can be organized into families, branches, and groups. A language family is a collection of languages related through a common ancestral language that existed long before recorded history. A language branch exists within a family, comprising a collection of languages that are related through a common ancestral language that existed several thousand years ago. The connections between languages in a branch can be seen in archaeological evidence. A language group is a collection of languages within a branch that share a common origin in the relatively recent past and exhibit many similarities in grammar and vocabulary. Language Families Figure 5-3 is illustrative of the divisions and relationships that exist between language families, branches, groups, and individual languages. Each language family is displayed as an individual tree at ground level, as differences between families predate recorded history. Some linguists have speculated that current conceptualizations of language families descend from larger superfamilies, circa tens of thousands of years ago. Quentin Atkinson, a New Zealander biologist, posits that all languages originate in Africa, attributing this to the complexity and diversity of languages present in Africa today. According to Ethnologue, there are 142 language families. Indo-European and Sino-Tibetan are the two language families used by the most people today, by about 1 billion people. Additionally, 7 language families are used by between 100 million and 500 million people, and 5 language families are used by between 9 and 100 million people. Two Largest Language Families Figure 5-6 displays language families with at least 9 million native speakers across the globe. The two language families with the most speakers are Indo-European and Sino Tibetan, spoken by about 1 billion people. Indo-European Indo-European is the most extensively used language family, evidenced by its predominant usage in Europe, South Asia, and North and Latin America. Four branches of Indo-European are widely used (Indo-Iranian, Germanic, Romance, and Balto-Slavic), while four other branches are spoken by relatively fewer people (Albanian, Armenian, Celtic, and Greek). Sino-Tibetan Sino-Tibetan is the second-largest language family in the world as it includes Mandarin (known by the Chinese as Putonghua, or “common speech”), the world’s single most-spoken language. The languages of China generally are a part of the Sinitic branch of the Sino-Tibetan family. Although other Sinitic branch languages are spoken by at least 20 million each in China, the People’s Republic of China government has imposed Mandarin across the country as its official language. Other Large Language Families 12 other language families and their distribution are discussed in the following sections. Southeast Asia Language Families The three largest language families present in Southeast Asia are Austronesian, Austro-Asiatic, and Tai-Kadai Austronesian Approximately 6 percent of the world’s population speaks languages of the Austronesian family, with most speakers concentrated in Indonesia. As Indonesia is composed of several thousand different islands, many distinct languages and dialects can be found across the country – according to Ethnologue, 706 living languages are spoken in Indonesia. The most spoken first language in Indonesia is Javanese, spoken by 84 percent of the population (mostly on the island of Java). Austro-Asiatic The Austro-Asiatic language family is used by approximately 2 percent of the world’s population, with Vietnamese being the most widely used language in the family. Written Vietnamese features a roman alphabet, a vestige of Roman Catholic missionaries work in the country in the seventeenth century. Tai-Kadai The Tai-Kadai family was once categorized as a branch of Sino-Tibertan. The primary languages of this family are spoken in Thailand and adjacent areas of China. Some scholars believe that populations speaking Tai-Kadai languages may have migrated from the Philippines. East Asia Language Families Japanese and Korean are the two most commonly used language families in Asia, excluding those in China. Japanese Written in part with Chinese characters, Japanese also uses two systems of phonetic symbols, used either in place of Chinese characters or alongside them. While the original form of writing Japanese was influenced by the Chinese writing system, the two languages are structurally distinct. Korean The Korean written system, known as hankul, is distinct from Japanese and Sino-Tibetan languages in that each letter represents a sound, as in Western languages. A majority of Korean vocabulary originated from Chinese words. Other Asian Language Families In South Asia, the Dravidian language family is predominately used. The Altaic and Uralic language families were originally conceived to be one language family; however, recent studies have determined that they have disparate geographic beginnings. Dravidian languages are spoken primarily in southern India. Telugu and Tamil are the two most commonly used Dravidian languages. Dravidian is less studied than other widely used language families, and was present in South Asia prior to the arrival of speakers of Indo-European. Altaic The Altaic languages are theorized to have emerged from the steppe areas bordering the Qilian Shan and Altai mountains between Tibet and China. Turkish is the most commonly used Altaic language. After the Soviet Union took control of Central Asia in the mid-twentieth century, the use of Altaic languages was suppressed. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, the countries of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan adopted Altaic languages as their national tongues. Uralic The Uralic languages originated from a common language spoken by people in the Ural Mountains region of Russia. Dating back some 7,000 years, Estonians, Finns, and Hungarians all use the Uralic language family. African Language Families There is a dispute among language scholars regarding the categorization of African languages into families – as a matter of fact, scholars cannot even concede on the exact number of languages used in Africa (Ethnologue describes 2,146 languages in Africa, with only 699 having a literary tradition). Africa is home to the world’s third- and fourth-largest language families: Afro-Asiatic in North Africa and Niger-Congo in sub-Saharan Africa. Afro-Asiatic Arabic is the primary Afro-Asiatic family language, with 206 million people speaking it as an official language across two dozen countries in Southwest Asia and North Africa. In addition to Arabic, most people use a second language that is distinct from official Arabic. Ethnologue describes 34 individual Arabic languages apart from the official Arabic. Many of the 1 billion Muslims across the world speak some Arabic, as Islam’s holiest book, the Quran (Koran) was written in the seventh century in the language. Hebrew is also a member of the Afro-Asiatic language family, being the original language of Judaism’s Bible and Christianity’s Old Testament. Niger-Congo More than 95 percent of sub-Saharan Africans use a language from the Niger-Congo family. Yoruba, Igbo, and Swahili are the three most commonly spoken Niger-Congo languages. Nigeria is home to the Yoruba and Igbo languages, while Swahili is the first language of 15 million people and the second language of 25 million people across Africa. Although it is spoken by a great number of people, Swahili is the official language of only one country: Tanzania. While local languages dominate individual villages, Swahili is used by people to communicate with outsiders. Swahili developed through interactions between African groups and Arab traders, so its vocabulary has a pronounced Arabic influence. Swahili is one of the few African languages with a thorough literary tradition. Nilo-Saharan 43 Million people spread across north-central Africa speak languages of the Nilo-Saharan family. This family is instructive in the debate scholars have had regarding the classification of Nilo-Saharan languages – despite relatively few people speaking these languages, there are six branches, along with many groups and subgroups. America’s Other Language Family: Quechuan is the most widely used language family in the Western Hemisphere aside from Indo-European. Its speakers are mostly concentrated in the Andes Mountains of western South America. According to Ethnologue, 9 million people use a Quechuan language, comprising 44 distinct tongues. Quechuan Cusco is the sole Quechuan language with over 1 million speakers. Spanish is generally a first language for speakers of Quechuan languages. Aymara is another indigenous language of the Andes, with approximately 3 million speakers located in Bolivia. Key Issue 2: Where Did English and Related Languages Originate and Diffuse? Roughly one-half of the world population use a language of the Indo-European family, with the roots of the family tracing back before recorded history. Distribution of Indo-European Branches Eight branches make up the Indo-European language family, with four being extensively spoken, and four others comprising fewer speakers. Germanic Branch English is part of the West Germanic group of the Germanic branch of the Indo European language family. Other West Germanic group languages include Dutch, Flemish, Frisian, Afrikaans, and German. The other important Germanic group is North Germanic. The North Germanic group includes four languages spoken in Scandinavia—Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, and Icelandic. Romance Branch The Romance branch is composed of descendants of Latin and stretches from Portugal along the Mediterranean to Slovenia and a pocket in Romania and Moldova. Many Romance languages have multiple dialects, some of which may be variously considered languages in their own right. The four most widely used Romance languages are Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Italian. Romanian is separated from other Romance languages by Slavic-speaking countries. Indo-Iranian Branch The Indo-Iranian branch is the Indo-European language family with the most speakers. The Indo-Iranian branch includes the Indic group which is the main language group in densely populated India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. These languages include Persian (also called Farsi) in Iran, Pashto in eastern Afghanistan and Western Pakistan, and Kurdish. The most commonly used language in the Indic group is Hindi. The Iranian group (Iran and southwest Asia) is separate from the Indic group. Balto-Slavic Branch Slavic was once a single language, but differences developed when a group of Slavs migrated from Asia to Eastern Europe. The Slavs were isolated from each other and the languages changed over time. The Balto-Slavic branch is further divided into East Slavic and Baltic language groups and these groups include the Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian languages. These languages are used in former Soviet countries, with Russian being the most widely spoken. The Balto-Slavic branch also is divided into the West and South Slavic language groups that cover an area in Eastern Europe from Poland to Macedonia. The West and South Slavic group includes Polish, Czech, Slovak, Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian languages. Origin and Diffusion of Indo-European The geographic processes of origin and diffusion have played a role in the extant distribution of languages across the world. While these roots can be traced throughout history, language families predate any recording of their development and spread, allowing scholars to only speculate about their beginnings. The origin and distribution of the Romance language branch and the Indo-European language family illustrate these circumstances. Origin and Diffusion of Romance Languages The Romance languages developed from Latin. The Romans helped diffuse Latin from the Atlantic Ocean on the west to the Black Sea on the east and encompassed all lands bordering the Mediterranean Sea. Most people in the provinces controlled by Rome learned Vulgar Latin, which was a form of Latin used in daily conversation instead of the strict dialect that was used for official documents. After the Roman Empire collapsed, communication among the former provinces declined that distinct languages began to evolve. Origin and Diffusion of Indo-European Since all members of Indo-European language families are related, they must come from a common origin. Linguists generally accept that all the Indo-European languages descended from a single ancestral language, but disagree on where the language originated and the process by which it diffused. Two hypotheses of the language family’s origin are the Nomadic Warrior Theory, and the Sedentary Farmer Theory. Nomadic Warrior Theory According to archaeologist Marija Gimbutas, the first Proto-Indo-European speakers were the Kurgan people of central Asia, specifically the area near the border between present day Russia and Kazakhstan. The Kurgan people were among the first to domesticate horses and use chariots, leading them to migrate in search of grasslands for their animals. The Kurgans traveled westward through Europe, eastward to Siberia, and south eastward to Iran and South Asia, conquering much of Europe and South Asia between 3500 and 2500 B.C. Sedentary Farmer Theory In a theory posited by archaeologist Colin Renfrew, the Indo-European language family’s roots stretch back even further than the dominance of the Kurgans, with its first speakers living in the eastern part of present-day Turkey circa 6700 B.C. Following this theory, Indo-European language diffused into Europe and South Asia in concert with agricultural practices rather than by military conquest. Origin and Diffusion of English When the Celts landed on the shores of the British Isles around 2000 B.C., they brought with them the Celtic languages. Tribes from mainland Europe invaded the Celtic people around A.D. 450, driving them to remote northern and western parts of Britain, including Cornwall and the highlands of Scotland and Wales. Germanic Invasion Three primary tribes invaded the British Isles: the Angles, Jutes, and Saxons. The Jutes invaded from northern Denmark, the Angles from southern Denmark, and the Saxons from northwestern Germany. The languages spoken by these three tribes have each played a role in the evolution of Modern English. In fact, the name England stems from “Angle’s Land,” with Angles being spelled Engles in Old English. Before recorded history, all Germanic peoples spoke a common language, allowing differences that developed between Germanic languages to be used in studying their evolution. Other peoples and languages played a role in the development of English over history, such as the Vikings coming from Norway to northeastern England in the ninth century, Norman Invasion In 1066, England was conquered by the Normans from present-day Normandy in France. This invasion was key in the divergence of today’s English from the current German language. From the time the Normans invaded until the mid-fourteenth century, French was the official language of England. However, while the entitled class (such as the royal family and nobility) spoke French, the majority of people (who had little education) continued to speak English. After the Statute of Pleading was enacted by Parliament in 1362, English once again became the official language of England. Modern English is influenced by both its Germanic and French descent. Diffusion of English The colonial legacy of England over the course of four centuries had an enduring impact on the contemporary distribution of English speakers around the world. England’s conquests brought its language to North America, Ireland, South Asia, the South Pacific, and southern Africa. While English was the official language of countries colonized by England, generally only the rulers installed by the crown and a select group of elite local residents could speak it. The United States’ colonized territories also played a role in English’s diffusion in the twentieth century, most notably in the Philippines, where it is still an official language today. Combining English with Other Languages New languages are being born through the combination of English and other languages. Three examples are most apparent: Franglais, Spanglish, and Denglish. Franglais is mixture of French and English; Spanglish combines Spanish and English; Denglish is an amalgamation of German and English. Global Importance of English In the era of globalization, a common language is essential for the global connections that have developed to not only remain, but also grow. English is the most important language of international communication. However, with the omnipresence of English, populations that don’t use English as a first language must be wary of the potential trade offs in placing their native languages in a secondary role. Lingua Franca A language used for international communication are known as Lingua Franca. To aid trade, speakers of two different languages use a lingua franca by mixing elements of the two languages into a simple common one. Meaning “language of the Franks,” the lingua franca was originally applied by Arab traders during the Middle Ages to the language they used to communicate with Europeans, whom they called Franks. The increasing importance of English as a lingua franca can be seen by the percentage of students learning English as a second language in school – more than 90 percent of students in the European Union learn English in either middle or high school. In some places, pidgin languages are used for communication with speakers of other languages. A pidgin language borrows words and grammar rules from a lingua franca, and combines them with some elements of other languages. A pidgin language has no native speakers – it is always spoken in addition to one’s native language. English on the Internet The Internet has acted as a solidifying force for ensuring English’s digital dominance. More than one-half of all Internet content is in English, meaning that some knowledge of the language is crucial for engagement with others online. The U.S.-based Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has played a role in the abiding dominance of English on the Internet – this organization manages the assignment of domain names and the suffixes following the dot, such as “com” and “edu.” Since 2009, however, domain names in characters other than Latin, such as Arabic and Chinese, may be used, potentially eroding the ubiquity of English online. Chinese: The Next Lingua Franca? The large number of people who speak Chinese languages affects the probable rise of Chinese in social media. In addition to the sheer amount of people who will come to speak Chinese languages, the way the languages are written broadens their appeal. Chinese languages are written with logograms, which are symbols that represent words or meaningful parts of words. Considering this, Chinese would be an ideal language for Twitter, where messages are limited to 140 characters in English. Official Languages Some countries designate one or more languages as official. The official language is employed by the government to enact legislation and conduct other public business. In some countries, the official language is the only one primarily used in public schools. Europe is home to a large number of official languages, with the E.U. recognizing 24 official and working languages. In 58 countries, English is an official language, more than any other language. More than 2 billion people live in a country that has designated English as an official language, whether they can speak it or not. Although English is primarily spoken in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, it does not hold official status in these countries. Key Issue 3: Why Do Individual Languages Vary among Places? A dialect is a regional variation of a language distinguished by distinctive vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation. Generally, speakers of one dialect can understand speakers of another dialect. A subdialect is a subdivision of a dialect. Two subdialects of the same dialect have relatively few differences, primarily in pronunciation and vocabulary. These dialects and subdialects are of keen interest to geographers, as they generally reflect distinctive features of the environments in which groups live. English Dialects Due to its widespread diffusion around the world, English has an especially large number of dialects and subdialects. American and British English The colonists from England who settled along the Atlantic Coast in the seventeenth century established English as the dominant language of North America. Isolation from one another allowed British and U.S. English to develop differences in three key ways – vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation. Vocabulary New objects and experiences allowed for a unique vocabulary to develop in U.S. English. The new landforms witnessed by settlers, such as large forests and mountains, were given names. Native Americans lent many words to U.S. English, such as raccoon, moccasin, and canoe. As technological advances occurred on both sides of the Atlantic, they were given different names – an elevator in the U.S. is referred to as a lift in England. Spelling Differences in spelling between British and U.S. English can largely be attributed to Noah Webster, who with his first comprehensive American dictionary, set out to establish a unique national identity with his work (by dropping the u from many words, and substituting an s for c in many words). Pronunciation Many words with unaccented syllables are pronounced more clearly in the United States as compared to in England. For example, “necessary” is four syllables long in U.S. English, while it contains only three in British English. Dialects in the United Kingdom Dialects are also present within individual countries – in both the United States and England, distinct northern and southern dialects exist. In a language with multiple dialects, one dialect may be designated as the standard language, which is a dialect that is well established and widely agreed upon as the most acceptable for government, business, education, and mass communication. Received Pronunciation (RP) is the standard language in England, and is commonly used by elected officials, broadcasters, and actors. Three main dialects are spoken today in England – Northern, Midland, and Southern. The boundaries between these dialects are continually shifting, being influenced by migration patterns. U.S. Dialects The distribution of dialects is examined through the use of particular words. Every word that is not used nationally has some geographic extent within the country and therefore has boundaries. Such a word-usage boundary is known as an isogloss. An isogloss can be constructed for each word. Distribution of U.S. Dialects The four major dialects of the United States are reflected in individual regions: North, Midland, South, and West. The three eastern dialect regions can also be divided into several subdialects. The current distribution of U.S. dialects can be traced to differences in the origin of the English colonists along the East Coast. The early colonies were home to three dialects: North, South, and Midland. The diffusion of particular English dialects across the United States is a result of the westward expansion of colonists from the three East Coast dialect regions. The American West was settled primarily by people from the Midland dialect region; therefore, people from the North and South dialect region sound remarkably different to people there. While mass media has propelled some regionally distinctive words to national prominence, many words, such as the word(s) people use for soft drink, continue to very regionally, African American English The forced migration of Africans to the United States during the eighteenth century to be slaves in southern colonies engendered the development of a dialect heavily influenced by this event. This dialect was created partially to communicate in a code that could not be understood by their white masters. Black dialect words such as jazz and gumbo have since diffused into the standard English language. After many African Americans migrated to the large cities of the Northeast in the twentieth century, they were segregated in both neighborhoods and schools, thus preserving this dialect, known as African American Vernacular English (AAVE), or Ebonics. Some in the African American community see this as a boon to preserving their cultural heritage, while others see it as an obstacle to success in the United States. Appalachian English Appalachian English, spoken in areas such as rural West Virginia, is a distinct American English dialect. It shares qualities with Ebonics, such as using the double negative, and also adding “a” in front of verbs ending in “ing” (e.g. a-walking). The same advantages and disadvantages are seen in Appalachian English as those in Ebonics. Some speakers of Appalachian English and Ebonics are ”bidialectic,” in that they can speak both their regional dialect and the “standard” English dialect. Creole Languages A creole, or creolized language, is a language that results from the combination of a colonizer’s language with the language of the indigenous people being oppressed. A creole language initiates when the colonized population adopts the languages of the oppressors, but makes some changes, such as simplifying the grammar and adding words from their native language, and are often considered separate languages from either descendant language. Examples include French Creole in Haiti and Papiamento in Netherlands Antilles. Dialect or Language? Global-local tensions can often be seen in the characterization of dialects and distinct languages. Geographic concepts such as migrations, increased interaction (connections), and other globalization processes can be used to analyze the relationship between standard languages and dialects. In most cases of this scenario, the standard language strengthens while regional dialects are suppressed. In some instances, the drive for cultural identity has resulted in the development of distinct languages that were once characterized as dialects. Dialects Become Languages The Romance branch of the Indo-European language family is illustrative of the difficulty in distinguishing languages from dialects. Catalán-Valencian-Balear Catalán was once considered a dialect of Spanish, but is now recognized as a separate Romance language by linguists. Catalán is the official language of the country of Andorra, and the highly autonomous Catalonia province in Spain. In eastern Spain, it is spoken by approximately 5 million people. Linguists have also identified distinct dialects of Catalán, such as Balear, spoken in the Balearic Islands of Majorca and Ibiza. Most linguists consider Valencian a dialect of Catalán, while many others consider it a language unto itself. Galician Whether Galician, which is spoken in northwestern Spain and northeastern Portugal, is a dialect of Portuguese or a separate language remains a point of debate among speakers of Galician. Some, such as the Academy of Galician Language, view it as a separate language, while others, such as the Galician Association of the Language, see it as a dialect of Portuguese. Moldovan is generally recognized as a dialect of Romanian. However, it is written in Cyrillic letters, a legacy of Moldova being a part of the Soviet Union, while written Romanian uses the Roman alphabet. Italy’s Languages Many regional dialects of Italian, such as Lombard and Napoletano-Calebrese, are now recognized by Ethnologue as sufficiently different to be recognized as separate languages. Occitan Occitan is a language spoken in southern France and neighboring countries, derived from the name of the French region of Aquitaine. The French government has set up bilingual elementary and high schools called calendretas, teaching both French and Occitan. Standardizing Languages In efforts to bolster a unified cultural identity, many governments have long promoted the designation of a single dialect as the official or standard language. In France, the Francien French dialect became the standard form of French as Francien was spoken in the Île-de-France region, where Paris, the largest city of the country, is located. Speakers of Spanish and Portuguese have formed councils representing versions of the languages spoken the world over and devised clear rules on grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation to maintain linguistic and cultural unity. Multilingual Places Multiple languages coexist in some countries, with varying levels of success. Some countries are relatively segregated concerning the geographic distribution of language, while others see speakers of multiple languages intermingle. This coexistence is peaceful in some countries, while others see cultural divisions among groups due to language differences. Switzerland: Institutionalized Diversity Belgium and Switzerland are countries where language differences are readily apparent, as the boundary between Romance and Germanic languages run through both. Switzerland has seen more success in promoting coexistence among multiple languages compared to Belgium. The government of Switzerland recognizes four official languages (German, French, Italy, and Romansh), and delegates power to the local level, helping to preserve this linguistic harmony. Canada: Bilingual Autonomy Canada recognizes two official languages, French and English. French speakers are most concentrated in the province of Québec, where they were politically disenfranchised for decades under minority rule by English speakers. Tensions between English and French speaking Québécois have eased in recent years, as neighborhoods in the Québec city of Montréal have become more linguistically blended. Nigeria: Spatial Compromise Divisions in Nigeria can be drawn against linguistic, cultural, and religious boundaries. While Ethnologue recognizes 529 distinct languages in the country, only three are used by more than 10 percent of the country: Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba. The northern portion of Nigeria is home to a majority of Muslims, while Christians make up most of the population in the south. In the wake of a civil war from 1967-1970 (stemming from the alleged discrimination of the southern Igbo by the northern Yoruba), the capital city was moved to the central city of Abuja, where no one culture or language is predominant. Belgium: Barely Speaking Belgium is divided roughly in half by language – Southern Belgians speak French, while northern Belgians speak Flemish, a dialect of Dutch. Economic divisions are also evident in Belgium, with the northern region of Flanders being more economically prosperous than the disadvantaged southern region of Wallonia. These cultural, linguistic, and economic differences have led both regions to create autonomous governments, with residents of Flanders even advocating for full independence. Key Issue 4: Why Do Local Languages Survive? The distribution of a language is often an indicator of the fate of a cultural group – the more diffuse a language, the stronger the cultural identity associated with it is. While the dominance of English as a lingua franca has solidified its presence as the foremost globalizing language in the world, local diversity in language is now being both protected and preserved. Endangered Languages 2,447 of the world’s 7,102 living languages are threatened with extinction, per Ethnologue. These languages persevere against globalizing forces through concerted community efforts. The South Pacific, Latin America, and North America are the world’s regions with the largest share of dying languages, due to the dominance of English, Spanish, and Portuguese in these areas. Endangered Languages in the South Pacific Although the colonial legacy of English has set the language’s dominant position, languages that existed prior to the arrival of Europeans still remain. Australia promotes the usage of English as a force for cultural unity, while New Zealand views linguistic diversity as an important element of cultural diversity. Australia Although Aboriginal Australian peoples make up only 1 percent of the country’s population, 211 indigenous languages have survived colonialism. Despite this linguistic diversity, fewer than 10,000 people speak a non-English native tongue. Restrictions against immigration under a “White Australia” policy played a major role in promoting English as a primary language. New Zealand 14 percent of New Zealand’s population is of Maori descent, with the Maori tracing their history to a migration by Polynesian people to the island nation over 1,000 year ago. Through recognizing Maori as an official language and establishing the Maori Language Commission, the government of New Zealand has enacted policies to preserve and protect the Maori language. Despite this seemingly attitude of inclusion, New Zealand actually has historically had more stringent immigration policies than neighboring Australia. Endangered Languages in North America According to Ethnologue, the United States has 61 languages in trouble and 142 languages classified as dying. These languages were largely spoken by Native Americans, whose older speakers are dying without teaching their language to their children. However, some languages are being “reawakened,” with increased education and cultural pursuits being undertaken (see: the Myaamia language). Preserving Languages Some languages, such as languages belonging to the Celtic branch of the Indo-European family, are being preserved and protected. While these Celtic languages were widely spoken in present-day Germany, France, northern Italy, and the British Isles 2,000 years ago, today speakers exist in limited numbers in remote parts of Scotland, Wales, and Ireland and on the Brittany peninsula of France. Brythonic Celtic The Celtic language branch is categorized into Goidelic and Brythonic groups. Speakers of Brythonic are concentrated in Wales, Cornwall, and the Brittany peninsula in France. Welsh remained the primary language in the country until the nineteenth century, when many English speakers migrated there to work in coal mines and factories. As of 2014, 23 percent of the country speaks Welsh, while another 150,000 speakers live in England. The Welsh Language Society (Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg) has been a driving force in preserving and protecting the language, seeing that it is compulsorily taught in all schools and ensuring governmental and public use. Cornish Cornish is the Celtic language that originated in the county of Cornwall in southwestern England. Although the last native speaker of Cornish died in 1777, a revival has seen 577 people alive today claiming to be fluent. Classes are taught in schools for both children and adults seeking to learn the language. Breton Spoken in the Brittany peninsula of France, the number of people fluent in the language has declined from 1 million in 1950 to approximately 200,000 today, with three quarters of the speakers being over the age of 65. In addition to facing this generational problem, the French government has mandated French as the principal language of instruction in public schools. Goidelic Celtic Irish Gaelic and Scottish Gaelic are the two remaining Goidelic languages. Irish Irish is spoken by 94,000 people on a daily basis, with an additional 1.3 saying that they can speak it and use it occasionally. Usage of Irish is primarily limited to the remote areas of Ireland. After being banned by English colonizers in the fourteenth century, cultural pride in the language has helped preserve and protect it. In 2005, for instance, street signed in portions of western Ireland were banned, and many Irish musicians are now recording in Gaelic. Scottish Gaelic 59,000 people, or 1 percent of the population, in Scotland speak Scottish Gaelic. The enduring cultural heritage of Scots can be seen in Robert Burns’ poem Auld Lang Syne (popular for New Year’s Eve celebrations). Isolated and Extinct Languages The level of interaction among groups of people can be measured by the similarities and differences between their languages. Physical isolation has acted as a preserving and fatal force for some languages. Isolated Languages An isolated language is a language that is unrelated to any other and thus not categorized in any language family. Limited interaction with other groups of people breeds a language that may be classified as isolated. Basque is an example of a vigorous isolated language, in that children in Basque society learn Basque as their first language. Basque is a remnant of languages that existed prior to the arrival of speakers of Indo-European languages, a heritage owed in part to their isolated location in the Pyrenees Mountains of Spain and France. An Unchanging Language While Icelandic is not considered an isolated language due to its inclusion in the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, its geographic isolation has made it so that relatively few changes to the language have occurred over the past 1,000 years. Extinct Languages An extinct language is a language that was once used by people in daily activities but is no longer in use. Since 1950, Ethnologue estimates that 367 languages have become extinct, at an annual rate of 6. Languages that face extinction are largely supplanted by languages diffused by globalization. Introducing the Chapter This chapter begins the text’s discussion of culture as something people value, or care about, as opposed to material things that people take care of. Language issues are part of many debates over immigration, national identity, and separatist movements around the world. Start a discussion with the seemingly obvious observation that culture is difficult to communicate, and thus diffuse, across a language barrier. Icebreakers American Monolingualism The chapter introduces the concept of language diversity with a discussion of how few languages most Americans speak or understand. Another way to introduce this is with the following joke: Q: What do you call a person who speaks multiple languages? A: A polyglot. Q: What do you call a person who speaks two languages? A: Bilingual. Q: What do you call a person who speaks only one language? A: American. Follow this attempt at humor with a question on why so few Americans know more than one language. Answers will vary from the global prominence of English to the misconception that “English is easy.” Dialects Ask the students if they think they speak a particular U.S. dialect. Then go to this website: alphadictionary.com/articles/yankeetest.html You can do this in class. Just have them put their answers down on a piece of paper and go over the answers when they are done. Your students will enjoy this. Challenges to Comprehension “English Is Easy” Students who speak English and have since birth have the impression that English is an easy or “natural” language to learn while other languages are not. Try having a conversation with the class on why so few Americans speak other languages other than English. A few students may volunteer that English is simple, but students with knowledge of other languages will be able to correct them. Some may also offer that it is not necessary to speak any other languages, which can prompt a discussion on globalization and the value of understanding other languages. Assignments Review/Reflection Questions Why do so few Americans speak another language other than English? Answer the question from a personal perspective and a national perspective. How do you think Americans who travel abroad but don’t speak other languages are perceived by residents of the places they visit? Compare this to the way recent immigrants to the United States are perceived by English-only speakers in the United States. Can a direct comparison be made? What is the difference between these situations? Debate continues over whether English should be the official language of the United States and whether schools should teach in languages other than English. Give an argument for school being taught only in English, and one supporting teaching with other languages in our schools. Which argument do you support, and why? Cite any references you use. Give several inoffensive examples of words you use that your parents wouldn’t understand. What does this reveal about the nature of languages? Apply the book’s comparison of language in multilingual states to this country. Which approach do you believe would work better, and why? Given current immigration tends, will this be a concern? Toponym Analysis Toponyms reveal a lot about the culture, history, and physical geography of your state. Find a detailed map of your state. It needs to have both political features (cities and counties) and physical features (rivers, mountains, and lakes) labeled. First, identify what non-English language or languages are prominently used in your state’s place names. Are Native American words commonly used in your state’s place names? Identify any place names that are transplanted from elsewhere (e.g., New London, Connecticut, or Rome, New York). What do these place names reveal about the cultural history of your state? Next, identify any historical people used in your state’s place names (Columbus, Ohio, or Lincoln, Nebraska)? Some of the names of the people used in the place names of your state may be very important to the history of the local area, but unknown nationally. Places may also be named for the kings and dukes of the resident’s home country. Lastly, identify any descriptions of physical features used in your state’s political place names (e.g., Grand Rapids, Michigan, or Long Beach, California)? Do these names accurately represent the physical landscape of the area? Are there any place names in your state that represent the native flora and fauna (e.g., Southern Pines, North Carolina, or Wolf Point, Montana)? Summarize your findings in a few paragraphs. What other questions does your analysis raise? Religions 6 Learning Outcomes After reading, studying, and discussing the chapter, students should be able to: Learning Outcome 6.1.1: Identify the world’s major religions. Learning Outcome 6.1.2: Describe the distribution of major religions. Learning Outcome 6.1.3: Describe regional variations in the distribution of Christian branches. Learning Outcome 6.1.4: Describe the distribution of the major branches of Islam and Buddhism. Learning Outcome 6.1.5: Describe the distribution of Hinduism and other ethnic religions. Learning Outcome 6.1.6: Describe the distribution of religions other than the most numerous ones. Learning Outcome 6.2.1: Describe the origins of Christianity and Islam. Learning Outcome 6.2.2: Describe the origin of Buddhism and the reason the origin of Hinduism is unknown. Learning Outcome 6.2.3: Describe the process of diffusion of universalizing religions. Learning Outcome 6.2.4: Understand distinctive migration patterns of Christian groups in modern times. Learning Outcome 6.2.5: Understand distinctive migration patterns of Muslims and Jews. Learning Outcome 6.3.1: Describe places of worship in various religions. Learning Outcome 6.3.2: Describe examples of religious settlements and of religious toponyms. Learning Outcome 6.3.3: Compare the administrative organization of hierarchical and locally autonomous religions. Learning Outcome 6.3.4: Explain why places are sacred in universalizing religions. Learning Outcome 6.3.5: Analyze the importance of the physical geography in ethnic religions. Learning Outcome 6.3.6: Understand the roles of holidays and calendars in various religions. Learning Outcome 6.4.1: Understand reasons for geographic conflicts between religious and secular cultural groups. Learning Outcome 6.4.2: Understand the role of a fundamentalist group such as the Taliban. Learning Outcome 6.4.3: Understand reasons for conflict in the Middle East. Learning Outcome 6.4.4: Explain the importance of Jerusalem to Jews and Muslims. Chapter Outline Key Issue 1: Where Are the World’s Religions Distributed? Religion is a way for a group of people to build cultural identity, much like language. Migration is the primary action through which religion is spread, although it is qualitatively different compared to the diffusion of language through migration. While many migrants learn the language of their new home or destination, they typically retain their religious beliefs. It is also possible for people to speak multiple languages, while most religions require exclusive adherence. Introducing Religions An exact census on the count of religious membership is not taken in many major countries – for instance, the government of the United States does not ask its citizens which religion they practice. This relatively vague idea of how many people practice a certain religion can invite controversy to many layers of debate regarding religion – for example, adherents may feel that the number of adherents to their religion has been underestimated and therefore accorded less prominence than deserved in world and regional data. The international statistics used in this chapter are collected by Adherents.com, the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies, the Pew Research Center, and World Religion Database – all organizations unaffiliated with a particular religion. These measure also rely on self-identification. The world’s religions can be categorized as follows: Four largest religions. 77 percent of the world’s population follow one of four religions: Christianity (2.2 billion people), Islam (1.6 billion people), Hinduism (1 billion people), and Buddhism (500 million people). Folk religions. 6 percent of the world’s population adhere to “folk religions,” although this count is hard to estimate. Chinese traditional, primal-indigenous, and African traditional religions are all prominent folk religions. Other religions. 1 percent of the world’s population practice a number of other religions. In this group, Juche, Judaism, Sikhism, and Spiritism are the four claiming the most adherents, counting between 14 and 23 million in their ranks. Bahá’í, Cao Dai, Jainism, Shinto, Tenrikyo, and Zoroastrianism are religions with between 1 and 10 million adherents. The remaining 16 percent of the world’s population consider themselves unaffiliated with any religion. Some folks in this group espouse atheism, which is belief that God does not exist, or agnosticism, which is belief that the existence of God can’t be empirically proven. Classifying Religions A universalizing religion appeals to people in a broad range of locations. The three universalizing religions with the largest number of adherents are Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism. Ethnic religions tend to be most appealing to a particular group of people in a particular place. The largest ethnic religion by far is Hinduism, with folk religions also being classified as ethnic. These two categories differ in their origin, diffusion, and distribution patterns. Global Distribution of Religions In most countries, the religion with the largest share of adherents is either Islam or Christianity. Christianity is the most widely practiced religion in the Western Hemisphere and in most countries of Europe and sub-Saharan Africa. In Southwest Asia, Central Asia, and North Africa, Islam is predominantly practiced. Buddhism and Hinduism is also widely practiced in Asian countries. China, the most populous country in the world, is home to the most unaffiliated people. Judaism is most heavily concentrated in Israel. Regional Diversity of Religions The four regions with relatively more religious diversity are East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. In East Asia, more than one-half of the people are unaffiliated with any religion. Most of the other one-half are divided about equally between Buddhism and folk religions. In South Asia, approximately two-thirds of the population practices Hinduism, while the remaining one-third adheres to Islam. At the national scale, divisions are more stark: India is 80 percent Hindu, while more than 90 percent of people in Bangladesh and Pakistan adhere to Islam. In Southeast Asia, divisions are relatively more equally-split: 40 percent are Muslims, 23 percent Buddhists, and 21 percent Christians. 87 percent of Indonesia is Muslim, while more than 90 percent of Cambodians and Thai are Buddhist. The Philippines are more than 90 percent Christian. In sub-Saharan Africa, two-thirds of the people are Christian, while one-third are Muslim. Distribution of Christians Universalizing religions can be divided into branches, denominations, and congregations. A congregation is a local assembly of people brought together for common religious worship. A denomination is a division of a branch that unites a number of local congregations into a single legal and administrative body. A branch is a large, fundamental division within a religion. Distribution of Branches of Christianity Christianity has three major branches: Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox – however, these three major branches do not encompass all people who adhere to Christianity. Roman Catholics make up 50 percent of the world’s Christians, while Orthodox comprise 12 percent. The remaining 38 percent are split between Protestant and others, although sources cannot come to a consensus on the magnitude of each. Distribution of Branches in Europe In Europe, 47 percent of Christians are Roman Catholics, 18 percent are Protestants, and 35 percent are Orthodox. Roman Catholicism is extensively practiced in Southwestern and Eastern Europe, while Protestantism and Orthodoxy are practiced widely in Northwestern and Eastern/Southeastern Europe, respectively. Stark geographic divisions can be seen by examining the distribution of branches of Christianity within individual countries, as well – in Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, Protestantism is predominant in the northern regions of these countries, while Roman Catholicism is concentrated in southern reaches. Distribution of Branches in the Western Hemisphere Christianity is the most widely practiced religion in the Western Hemisphere by a large margin. 86 percent of the population of the Western Hemisphere adheres to Christianity. A distinct difference in the distribution between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism can be seen in Latin America and North America. In Latin America, 81 percent of the population is Roman Catholic, while 18 percent of Christians are Protestant in the region. In North America, 63 percent of Christians are Protestant, while 32 percent are Roman Catholic. The United States displays a diverse collection of Christian faiths – Roman Catholics make up 29 percent of the population, Evangelical Protestants 26 percent, Mainline Protestants 18 percent, historically black churches 7 percent, other Christians 3 percent, and other faiths 5 percent. Additionally, 2 percent of the U.S. population belongs to the Church of Latter-day Saints (Mormonism), concentrated mostly in Utah and neighboring states. Distribution of Muslims and Buddhists In Central Asia, Southwest Asia, and North Africa, Islam is the predominant religion. Buddhism is clustered primarily in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Distribution of Muslims The word Islam in Arabic means “submission to the will of God,” and it has a similar root to the Arabic word for “peace.” One who practices Islam is known as a Muslim, which in Arabic means “one who surrenders to God.” While countries in Central Asia, Southwest Asia, and North Africa are home to majority Muslim populations, there are actually greater numbers of Muslims in South and Southeast Asia (as can be seen in countries like Indonesia, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh). Islam’s Branches Islam is divided into two main branches: Sunni and Shiite (sometimes spelled Shia). 88 percent of Muslims adhere to the Sunni branch, and are the majority branch in most Muslim countries in Southwest Asia and North Africa, as well as in Southeast Asia. There are various schools of thought in Sunni Islam with corresponding geographic distributions – Hanafi, Hanbali, Maliki, and Shafi’i school are among the most widespread, named after their founders. Shiites are the largest branch in Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen. The Ithna Ashari, Ismaili, and Zaidi schools of thought are major sects of Shiite Islam. Islam in Europe and North America In recent years, North American and European Muslim populations have rapidly increased. In Europe, 5 percent of the population are Muslim. The colonial history of France in North Africa has led it to be home to the largest Muslim population in Europe, with about 4 million adherents. Immigration has contributed a great deal to Germany’s Muslim population, numbering approximately 3 million (mostly from Turkey). The Southeastern European countries of Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Serbia each are home to about 2 million Muslims. Between 1 and 5 million Muslims currently reside in North America, a dramatic rise from just a few hundred thousand that were living there in 1990. Distribution of Buddhists Buddhism, the world’s third largest universalizing religion, is clustered primarily in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Three main branches comprise greater Buddhism: Mahayana, Theravada, and Vajrayana. Mayahanists make up approximately 56 percent of Buddhists, primarily in China, Japan, and Korea. 38 percent of Buddhists are Theravadists, being primarily concentrated in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Vajrayanists (also known as Lamaists and Tantrayanists) comprise 6 percent of Buddhists, with adherents located primarily in Tibet and Mongolia. It is difficult to estimate the number of Buddhists, as only a few people (such as Monks) participate Buddhist institutions. Buddhism is also not an exclusive religion, in that people can adhere to both Buddhism and another religion. This is in contrast to Christianity or Islam, which require exclusive adherence. Distribution of Ethnic Religions The distributions of ethnic religions are generally more clustered than those of universalizing religions. While universalizing religions may diffuse from one culture to another, the adherents of ethnic religions have remained embedded in the culture where they first emerged. Distribution of Hindus Hinduism, the world’s third-largest religion, is the ethnic religion with the largest number of followers by a large margin, with 1 billion adherents. Compared to the world’s universalizing religions, adherents to Hinduism are geographically clustered in one country – India (with 97 percent residing there). 2 percent of Hindus live in Nepal, while 1 percent are in Bangladesh, and small numbers scattered elsewhere. Hinduism allows for adherents to worship a god or concept from a wide spectrum of possibilities. Despite this diversity of choice, 80 percent of Hindus worship Vishnu (known as Vaishnavism), a loving god. The second largest contingent of Hindus worship Shiva, a protective and destructive god. Chinese Traditional Ethnic Religions based in East Asia are illustrative of the difficulty of categorizing ethnic religions and calculating the number of adherents. Chinese traditional religions are syncretic, meaning they combine several traditions. In China, these syncretic religions combine Buddhism with Confucianism, Taoism, and other traditional Chinese practices. Confucianism Confucius was a philosopher and teacher from the Chinese province of Lu. His teachings emphasize the importance of the Chinese tradition of li, which can be translated roughly as “propriety” or “correct behavior.” Taoism Originating with the government administrator Lao-Zi (also spelled Lao Tzu), Taoism prioritized the mystical and magical aspects of life over the importance of public life, which is emblematic of Confucianism. Tao, which means “the way” or “the path,” cannot be comprehended by reason and knowledge because not everything is knowable. Primal-Indigenous Ethnic Religions Several hundred million people practice what Adherents.com has classified primal-indigenous religions. People who practice these religions primarily live in Southeast Asia or on South Pacific islands, particularly in Vietnam and Laos. Practitioners of primal-indigenous religions believe that God is present in all things, and that nature is spiritual. Shamanism and Paganism are included in these religions. Shamans believe that invisible forces or spirits affect the lives of the living. Paganism encompasses many different beliefs, although it is mostly associated with the practices of ancient people, such as the Greeks and Romans. African Traditional Folk Religions Roughly 27 million Africans are estimated by Pew Research Center to follow folk religions, sometimes called animism. Animists believe that inanimate objects such as plants and stones, or natural events such as thunderstorms and earthquakes, are “animated,” or imbued with discrete spirits and conscious life. In present day Africa, 51 percent of the continent’s population is Christian, while 43 percent is Muslim. In the past, folk religionists made up a much larger share of the population; in 1900, 70 percent of the continent’s population adhered to these beliefs, while as recently as 1980 one-half was still classified as practicing folk religions. Remaining folk religionists are situated in a belt that separates predominantly Muslim North Africa and predominantly Christian sub-Saharan Africa. Distribution of Other Religions In the following sections, 10 religions are outlined in order of the estimated number of adherents. Most of these religions are clustered in one or two countries, with the exception of Bahá’í. Religions with 14 to 25 Million Adherents Four religions have an estimated 14 to 25 million adherents: Sikhism, Juche, Spiritism, and Judaism. Sikhism All but 3 million of the 23 million Sikhs around the world are clustered in the Punjab region of India. Guru Nanak (1469-1538) founded Sikhism near present-day Lahore, Pakistan. God was revealed to Nanak as The One Supreme Being, or Creator, who rules the universe by divine will. The followers of Guru Nanak became known as Sikhs, Hindu for “disciples.” The Guru Granth Sa-hib (the Holy Granth of Enlightenment), compiled and edited by Guru Arjan in 1604, is the Sikh holy book. Juche Most North Koreans are categorized by Adherents.com as following Juche, which is Korean for “self-reliance.” Juche was organized by Kim Il-sung, the leader of North Korea between 1948 and 1994. Some sources classify Juche as a government ideology rather than a religion. Spiritism is the belief that the human personality continues to exist after death and can communicate with the living through the agency of a medium or psychic. Most spiritists are clustered in Brazil. Judaism About 40 percent of the world’s 14 million Jews reside in the United States and another 40 percent in Israel. The name Judaism derives from Judah, one of the patriarch Jacob’s 12 sons (Israel is another biblical name for Jacob). The Tanakh tells the ancient history of the Jewish people and the laws of the Jewish faith. Judaism is the first recorded religion to espouse monotheism, belief that there is only one God. Judaism offered a sharp contrast to polytheism, or the belief in more than one god. Christianity and Islam find some of their roots in Judaism. Religions with 1 to 10 Million Adherents Six religions have an estimated 1 to 10 million adherents: Bahá’í, Tenrikyo, Jainism, Shinto, Cao Dai, and Zoroastrianism. Bahá’í is a universalizing religion, distributed between India, other Asian countries, Africa, and the Western Hemisphere. Bahá’í was established in Shíráz, Iran, in 1844. It developed from the Bábi faith, under the leadership of Siyyid ‘Ali Muhammad, known as the Báb. Shiite Muslims reacted violently to the birth of the Bahá’í faith, executing the Báb and 20,000 of his followers in the mid-nineteenth century. Husayn ‘Ali Nuri, one of the Báb’s disciples, became known as Bahá’u’lláh and recognized by followers of Bahá’í as the prophet and messenger of God. Bahá’u’lláh believed that he was sent by God to overcome the disunity of religions and establish a universal faith through abolition of racial, class, and religious prejudices. Tenrikyo Formerly viewed as a branch of Shinto, Tenrikyo was organized as a separate religion in 1854 by a woman named Nakayama Miki (1798-1887). Adherents of Tenrikyo believe that God expressed the divine will through Nakayama’s role as the Shrine of God. Adherents.com estimates that there are 2 million adherents of Tenrikyo worldwide, with 95 percent clustered in Japan. Jainism emerged in South Asia approximately 2,500 years ago. With the rise of Buddhism and Hinduism in the region, Jainism faced a decline in importance, especially since Jains believe that nonviolence and self-control are the means to achieve liberation. 4 million Jains, comprising 95 percent of the total Jain population, reside in India. Jains are also distributed in the United States, with 25 of the 50 states accommodating Jain centers. Shinto The cultural history of Japan is firmly grounded in the country’s ethnic religion, Shinto. The Japanese government report that the country is home to roughly 100 million Shintos, or nearly four-fifths of Japan’s population. Despite this figure, only 4 million Japanese identify themselves as Shinto in response to opinion polls. Some Japanese people view Shinto as a cultural feature rather than a religion. Cao Dai Cao Dai originated in Vietnam in the 1920s. The name is attributed to adherent’s belief in God as the Supreme Being, Creator, and Ultimate Reality of the Universe. Cao Dai existed in opposition to the French colonial administration and Communists that came to rule the country throughout the twentieth century. With the recognition of Cao Dai by the Vietnamese government in 1997, the number of adherents grew to an estimated 4 million, with the vast majority living in Vietnam. Zoroastrianism was founded around 3,500 years ago by the Prophet Zoroaster (or Zarathustra). Zoroastrianism was more formally organized around 1,500 years ago in the Persian Empire and was the state religion for several ancient empires in Central Asia. The number of adherents decreased in response to the rise of Islam in the region. There are between 2 and 3 million Zoroastrians worldwide, with concentrations in India, Iran, and the United States. It is hard to estimate their numbers as Zoroastrians are said to be reserved in identifying themselves. Key Issue 2: Why Do Religions Have Distinctive Distributions? Origin of Christianity and Islam in Southwest Asia Both Christianity and Islam originated in Southwest Asia. It is characteristic of universalizing religions, such as Christianity and Islam, that their places of origin are known and rooted in the events in the life of a man. Origin of Christianity was founded upon the teachings of Jesus, who was born between 8 and 4 B.C. in Bethlehem and died crucified in Jerusalem about A.D. 30. Raised a Jew, Jesus preached the coming of the Kingdom of God. The four Gospels of the Christian Bible (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) document miraculous deed that the writers attributed to Jesus. He was referred to as Christ, from the Greek word for the Hebrew word Messiah, which means “anointed.” After being betrayed by his follower Judas Iscariot in the third year of his mission, he was executed as an agitator. On the third day after his death, his tomb was found empty – Christians believe that Jesus died to atone for human sins, that he was raised from the dead by God, and his Resurrection from the dead provides people hope for salvation. Roman Catholic Branch Roman Catholics accept the teachings of the Bible, as well as the interpretation of those teachings by the Church hierarchy, led by the Pope. The Pope is viewed by Roman Catholics as possessing a universal primacy or authority, and they believe the Church is infallible in resolving theological disputes. The seven sacraments of Baptism, the Eucharist, Penance, Confirmation, Matrimony, Holy Orders, and Anointing the Sick are seen by Roman Catholics as God conveying His grace directly to humanity. Orthodox Branch Orthodoxy encompasses the faith and practices of a collection of churches that emerged in the eastern part of the Roman Empire. In the fifth century, the Roman and Eastern churches split due to a growing rivalry between the Pope and the Patriarchy of Constantinople. In 1054, Pope Leo IX condemned the Patriarchy of Constantinople, finalizing the split between Rome and Constantinople’s churches. Orthodoxy accepts the seven sacraments but rejects Roman doctrines adopted since the eighth century. Protestant Branch Protestantism originated with the principles of the Reformation in the sixteenth century. The Reformation movement is viewed as beginning when Martin Luther nailed 95 theses on the door of the church at Wittenberg on October 31, 1517. According to Luther, Christians have primary responsibility for achieving personal salvation through direct communication with God. Grace is achieved through faith rather than through sacraments performed by the Church. Origin of Islam The foundation of Islamic belief involves performing five acts, known as five pillars of faith: Shahadah, which means that Muslims frequently recite their belief that there is no deity worthy of worship except the one God, the source of all creation, as well as their belief that Muhammad is the messenger of God. Salat, which means that five times daily, a Muslim prays, facing the city of Makkah (Mecca), as a direct link to God. Zakat, which means that a Muslim gives generously to charity as an act of purification and growth. Sawm of Ramadan, which means that a Muslim fasts during the month of Ramadan as an act of self-purification. Hajj, which means that if physically and financially able, a Muslim makes a pilgrimage to Makkah. Islam, Christianity, and Judaism all consider humanity originating with Adam and Abraham to have been one of his descendants. Jews and Christians trace their story through Abraham’s first wife, Sarah, and her son Isaac. Muslims trace their story through his second wife, Hagar, and her son Ishmael. Muslims believe Abraham took his wife Hagar and son Ishmael to Makkah. Hundreds of years later, according to Islamic belief, one of Ishmael’s descendants, Muhammad, became the Prophet of Islam. Prophet Muhammad In A.D. 570, Muhammad was born in Makkah. Muslims believe that at age 40, during a meditative retreat, Muhammad received his first revelation from God through the Angel Gabriel. Gabriel revealed God’s words to Muhammad, which was collected as Islam’s holy book, the Quran. Muhammad and his followers faced persecution, and in 622 he was commanded by God to emigrate to the city of Yathrib (present-day Madinah), in an event known as the Hijra (marking the beginning of the Muslim calendar). He returned to Makkah several years later and established Islam as the city’s religion. Shiite and Sunni Branches The two largest branches of Islam, Sunni and Shiite, harken back to the earliest days of the religion and reflect the disagreement over the line of succession in Islamic leadership. As Muhammad had no son, his father-in-law, Abu Bakr, became caliph (“successor of the prophet”). Following Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman were caliphs, expanding the reach of Islam to Egypt and Persia. Shiite Muslims believe the line of succession lies with Ali, a cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, while Sunni Muslims believe Abu Bakr as the true caliph. Origin of Buddhism and Hinduism in South Asia Buddhism has a determined origin, based on the events in the life of a man. Hinduism, however, has unknown or unclear origins, not tied to a specific historical individual. Origin of Buddhism was founded by Siddhartha Gautama, born in about 563 B.C. in Lumbinī in present-day Nepal. Gautama lived a privileged life as the son of a lord. After witnessing a decrepit old man, a disease-ridden man, and a corpse on three separate journeys and determining that he could no longer enjoy his comfortable life, Gautama set out on a fourth trip and saw a monk, who taught him about withdrawal from the world. At age 29 Gautama left his palace one night and lived in a forest for the next 6 years, experimenting with techniques of meditation. Gautama emerged as the Buddha, the “awakened or enlightened one,” and spent 45 years spreading his beliefs across India. The Four Noble Truths are core to Buddhist beliefs: All living beings must endure suffering. Suffering, which is caused by a desire to live, leads to reincarnation. The goal of all existence is to escape suffering and the endless cycle of reincarnation into Nirvana (a state of complete redemption), which is achieved through mental and moral self-purification. Nirvana is attained through an Eightfold Path: rightness of belief, resolve, speech, action, livelihood, effort, thought, and meditation. Theravada Buddhism Theravada is the older of the two largest branches of Buddhism. Theravada means “the way of the elders,” illustrating the Theravada Buddhist belief that they are more aligned with Buddha’s original approach. Theravadists believe that to be a good Buddhist, one must renounce worldly possessions and become a monk. Mahayana Buddhism Roughly 2,000 years ago, Mahayana split from Theravada Buddhism. Mahayana is translated as “the great vehicle.” Mahayanists believe that that their approach to Buddhism can help more people because it is less demanding than the all-encompassing Theravadist system. Mahayanists emphasize Buddha’s later years of teaching and helping others, while Theravadists affirm the Buddha’s approach to self-help and introspection. Vajrayana Buddhism Vajrayanas highlight the practice of rituals, known as Tantras, which have been recorded in texts. Vajrayanas believe that Buddha began to practice Tantras during his lifetime, although other Buddhists view Vajrayana as an approach to Buddhism that developed from Mahayana Buddhism several centuries later. Unknown Origin of Hinduism In contrast to the universalizing religions, Hinduism has unknown origins as the religion existed before any recorded history. The earliest Hindu religious documents are about 3,500 years old. The Aryan tribes from Central Asia invaded India about 1400 B.C. and brought their religion with them. Centuries of intermingling with the Dravidians already living in the area modified their religious beliefs. Historical Diffusion of Religions Universalizing religions have diffused from specific places of origin (or hearths) to other regions of the world, while most ethnic religions have generally remained clustered in a defined area. Islam, Christianity, and Buddhism all originated in Asia and diffused the world over from there. Diffusion of Christianity Geographers can describe the diffusion of Christianity by reconstructing patterns of communications, interaction, and migration. Relocation Diffusion of Christianity Christianity first spread from the eastern Mediterranean through relocation diffusion. Missionaries – individuals who help to transmit a universalizing religion through relocation diffusion – relayed the teachings of Jesus along the Roman Empire’s land and sea networks to people in other places. Expansion Diffusion of Christianity Two types of expansion diffusion established the dominance of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire in the fourth century: hierarchical and contagious diffusion. After the Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity and the Emperor Theodosius proclaimed it as the empire’s official religion in 380, the religion spread into Eastern Europe through the conversion of kings and other elites over the subsequent centuries. Christianity diffused to North and South America, Australia, and New Zealand through the permanent resettlement of Europeans, and subsequent conversion of indigenous populations and intermarriage. Recently, it has further diffused to Africa. Diffusion of Islam Within a century of Muhammad’s death, Muslim armies conquered areas in Africa, Asia, and Europe. Some of the territory that was conquered by Islamic armies was eventually lost and some of those areas started practicing another religion. As was the case with Christianity, Islam diffused well beyond its hearth. Indonesia, which is the world’s fourth most populous country, is predominately Muslim because Arab traders brought the religion there in the thirteenth century. Diffusion of Buddhism Buddhism diffused through missionaries also but diffused rather slowly compared to Christianity and Islam. The hearth of Buddhism is in northeastern India. The person most responsible for the diffusion of Buddhism was Emperor Asoka of the Magadhan Empire. The Magadhan Empire controlled a large area of South Asia between the sixth B.C. and the eighth century A.D. and Asoka sent missionaries to territories not controlled by the empire. Merchants diffused Buddhism to China and the Chinese were quite receptive to it. It later diffused to other countries in East Asia, though it lost its original base of support in India. Recent Migration of Christians Christians (along with other adherents of universalizing religions, such as Muslims and Jews) disproportionately migrate, whereas Buddhists, Hindus, folk religionists, and unaffiliated people are less likely to migrate. Jews especially have migrated from one country to another at some point of their lives, with migrants accounting for 25 percent of the Judaism’s adherents. In contrast, around 5 percent of all Christians and 4 percent of all Muslims have migrated, and only 1 or 2 percent of other religious groups migrating. Migration Patterns of Christians The destinations of international migrants who are Christian is not reflected in the distribution of Christians. 12 percent of the world’s Christians reside in North America, but is the destination for 34 percent of migrating Christians. 26 percent of the world’s Christians live in Europe, but is the destination for 38 percent of migrating Christians. In contrast, Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa attract relatively few Christian migrants. The largest migration flows of Christians are in and out of Russia and the United States. Canada (except Québec) and the United States have Protestant majorities because their early colonists traveled predominantly from Protestant England. Likewise, some regions of North America are predominantly Roman Catholic due to flows from Roman Catholic areas of Europe and Latin America. Mormons are concentrated in Utah due to the migration of Brigham Young and his followers to the Salt Lake Valley in the mid-nineteenth century. Migration of Muslims and Jews Compared to Christianity, the pattern of international migration of Muslims and Jews is even less reflected in the distribution of both groups around the world. Migration Patterns of Muslims Although 20 percent of the world’s Muslims reside in Southwest Asia and North Africa, 34 percent of Muslim migrants are pulled to the region. Saudi Arabia attracts the largest share of Muslim migrants, making up 10 percent of the world total. The largest number of immigrants to Saudi Arabia come from Egypt. 34 percent of Muslims who migrate internationally travel to Europe, which is the home of 3 percent of the world Muslim population. Most Muslims migrate to Russia, Germany, and France when going to Europe. The largest number of Muslim immigrants to Europe have come from Turkey to Germany and from Algeria to France. In contrast, South Asia, with 30 percent of the world’s Muslims, attracts only 6 percent of the migrants. Migration Patterns of Jews The diffusion of Judaism represents an exception to the usual concentrated distribution of ethnic religions. Judaism is practiced in many countries, not just in its place of origin. Jews were forced to migrate from the Eastern Mediterranean after A.D. 70, mostly into Eastern Europe. They lived among other nationalities but retained their religious practices. Many of the Jews were persecuted and forced to live in neighborhoods, known as ghettos, that were exclusively inhabited by Jews. The distribution of Jews changed after the mass extermination of Jews by the Nazis in World War II, when survivors migrated to Israel. Key Issue 3: Why Do Religions Organize Space in Distinctive Patterns? Places of Worship Sacred structures are physical “anchors” of religion. Some structures are designed for a group to gather, while others are designed for individual meditation. Religious Structures for Assembly Familiar names that identify places for collective religious expression include church, basilica, mosque, temple, and synagogue. Christian Churches The word church can be traced back to the Greek term meaning “lord,” “master,” and “power.” Church refers to both to a gathering of believers and the structure at which the gathering occurs. All three branches emphasize the congregation of people in a church to worship. In the past, churches dominated the landscape, often being the tallest building in a village or town, often occupying a square or other prominent location. Today, churches built or extant in large cities may not hold such a dominating presence in the landscape, however, in many smaller cities and towns they remain the tallest building. Muslim Mosques The word mosque is rooted in the Arabic for “place of worship.” Mosques are generally found in larger cities, with simpler structures present in rural villages – both serve as a place for people to gather together for worship. A mosque is designed around a central courtyard – traditionally open-air, although it may be enclosed in harsher climates. The pulpit is placed at the end of the courtyard facing Makkah. Minarets are a distinctive feature of mosques, a tower where people are summoned to worship by a man known as a muezzin. Sikh Gurdwaras Sikh places of worship are known as gurdwaras. The Harmandir Sahib, or Golden Temple, in Amritsar, India, is the most important gurdwara in the world. The holiest book in Sikhism, the Guru Granth Sahib, is kept at the Golden Temple. Jewish Synagogues The word synagogue derives from the Greek word for “assembly.” The building is often referred to by the Yiddish word shul. The origin of the synagogue is unclear – it is theorized to have emerged in the sixth century B.C., when Jews were exiled in Babylonia. Bahá’í Houses of Worship Bahá’i Houses of Worship have been built in every continent in the world to give the impression to the public that Bahá’í is a universalizing religion with adherents the world over. All Bahá’í Houses of Worship are required to be built in the shape of a nonagon (a nine-sided building). Religious Structures for Individual Meditation Rather than a place for groups to gather, some religious structures serve as a place of introspection and meditation. Buddhist Pagodas Following Buddha’s death, his clothes and parts of his body were collected by followers as relics. These relics are kept in Buddhist religious structures known as pagoda. Pagodas typically include tall, many sided towers arranged in a series of tiers, balconies, and slanting roofs. Pagodas are not intended for congregational worship; rather, individual prayer and meditation takes place at an adjacent temple, at a remote monastery, or in a home. Hindu Temples Homes are generally the location of important Hindu religious functions. A Hindu temple is a structure designed to bring individuals closer to their gods, and serves as a place for individual reflection and meditation. The size of temples is determined by local preferences and availability of resources, rather than mandated religious standards. Religious Settlements and Toponyms While churches and burial sites represent smaller-scale manifestations of religion on the landscape, entire settlements centered around a religion reflect largerscale examples of religion’s mark on the landscape. Utopian Settlements A utopian settlement is an ideal community built around a religious way of life. Buildings and economic activities are planned to integrate religious principles into all aspects of daily life. The first utopian settlement in America was Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, founded by Moravian Christians in 1741. Today, Salt Lake City remains as the most prominent utopian city, founded in 1848 and designed around a plan of the city of Zion. Many utopian communities fell by the wayside due to minimal economic prospects or the members of the community maintaining celibacy. Religious Place Names Roman Catholic immigrants regularly bestowed religious place names, or toponyms, to their settlements in the New World. These religious toponyms are especially prevalent in Québec and the U.S. Southwest. Administration of Space The method of communication and consistency of doctrine varies between universalizing religions, branches, and denominations, although some administration is present. In ethnic religions, centralized authorities generally do not exist. Hierarchical Religions Universalizing religions may have hierarchical structures where leadership at a local level reports to a higher-order regional level until a final authority, governing the entire branch, is at the top of the hierarchy. These hierarchical religions have a well-defined geographic extent, with territory organized into local administrative units. Latter-Day Saints The Mormons exercise strong organization of the landscape. The territory occupied by Mormons is managed by the president and board of the Mormon Church. Small-scale units of territory known as wards comprise about 750 people. These wards then make up stakes, a larger unit of territory with a population of roughly 5,000 people. Roman Catholic Hierarchy The Roman Catholic Church has organized much of Earth’s inhabited land into an administrative structure ultimately accountable to the Pope in Rome. Priests report to bishops, who in turn report to archbishops. Archbishops report then to the Pope. The Catholic Church divides the world into parishes (headed by a priest), which may be as small as only a few square kilometers and less than a thousand people or as large as several hundred square miles and 5,000 people. Locally Autonomous Religions Other faiths, known as autonomous religions, give authority to individual churches and only loosely coordinate their operations. Local Autonomy in Islam Islam provides a great deal of local autonomy because it does not have a formal religious hierarchy or formal territorial organization. Strong unity within the Islamic world is maintained by a relatively high degree of communication. Protestant Denominations Protestant Christian denominations vary in geographic structure from extremely autonomous to somewhat hierarchical. Episcopalian, Lutheran, and most Methodist churches resemble the Roman Catholic Church in its hierarchical structure, while Baptist and United Church of Christ congregations are extremely autonomous. Ethnic Religions Hinduism is an example of a highly autonomous religion, because worship is generally performed alone or with others in a household. Hinduism has no centralized structure of religious authority. Sacred Places in Universalizing Religions Universalizing religions are more likely to consider places holy that are associated with key events in the founder’s life, whereas ethnic religions’ holy places are tied to physical features present in their hearths, such as mountains, rivers, or rock formations. This can be observed in the holy places of Buddhism and Islam, which trace the movements of the Buddha and Muhammad. Pilgrimages, journeys to places considered sacred by religions, are a part of Buddhist and Muslim life. Buddhist Shrines Buddhism recognizes eight places as the holiest on Earth, with four of them concentrated in northeastern India and southern Nepal. The four aforementioned locations are important places in Buddha’s life, and are homes to either shrines or ruins of shrines. These locations are Lumbinī, Bōdh Gayā, Deer Park in Sarnath, and Kuśinagara. The four remaining locations are sites where miracles performed by Buddha occurred: Srāvastī, Sāmkāśya, Rajagrha, and Vaisālā. These four sites are in ruins. Holy Places in Islam The holiest places in Islam are in cities associated with the life of Muhammad. The Great Mosque, Masjid al-Haram, is located in Makkah and is the largest mosque in the world. In the Great Mosque is the al-Ka’ba, a cubelike structure thought by Muslims to have been built by Abraham and Ishmael. Inside the Ka’ba is a black stone given to Abraham by Gabriel that is considered by Muslims to signify the covenant with Ishmael and the Muslim people. Muslims, if financially and physically able, are expected to undertake a pilgrimage, or hajj, to Makkah in their lifetimes. Madinah is also a holy city in Islam, and is home to the world’s second-largest mosque. The Landscape in Ethnic Religions Ethnic religious holy places are typically based on the physical environment of the hearth region of that religion. Hinduism’s South Asian Landscape The physical geography of India is integral to Hinduism. Indian riverbanks and coastlines are likely to rank among the holiest shrines in Hinduism, according to the geographer Surinder Bhardwaj. Hindus undertake pilgrimages, known as tirthas, to these holy sites as an act of purification. Tirthas to the Ganges, the holiest river in Hinduism, are undertaken as the Ganges is believed by Hindus to have sprung forth from the hair of Shiva. Mt. Kailās, located at the source of the Ganges, is said to be the home of Shiva, and is also a tirtha destination. Cosmogony and Spirits Cosmogony refers to a religion’s conception of the relationship between humans and nature. A variety of events in the physical environment are more likely to be incorporated into the principles of an ethnic religion. Religious interpretations of this relationship vary from treating the environment as something to be respected for its spiritual nature to something to be dominated for maximum human benefit. Most universalizing religions believe that humans should modify the natural environment. Muslims and Christians believe they can serve God by cultivating land, draining wetlands, clearing forests, building new settlements, and otherwise making productive use of natural features that God created. Disposing of the Dead Religions observe different practices in the disposal of their adherents’ remains. Burial Christians, Muslims, and Jews all practice burial in dedicated cemeteries. Cemeteries are used as parks in Muslim countries, where the idea of using a cemetery as public open space faces less opposition than in Christian societies. In some countries, burying of the dead can remove arable land from being used. In China, for instance, roughly 10 percent of the land from productive agriculture is removed by burial sites. Other Methods of Disposing of Bodies Hindus favor cremation to burial. Hindus consider cremation an act of purification because it frees the body from the soul for departure to the afterworld. Other groups, such as Tibetan Buddhists, leave the body exposed for scavengers or dispose of the human remains at sea. Religious Calendars observed by universalizing and ethnic religions vary based on their defining characteristics. In ethnic religions, the physical geography of their hearths may play a role in determining holidays. In universalizing religions, major holidays reflect events in the life of the founder rather than traits of the physical landscape. The Calendar in Universalizing Religions In universalizing religions, the calendar tends to be more oriented to holidays celebrating events in the founder’s life. Islam observes a lunar calendar. In a 30-year cycle, the Islamic calendar has 19 years with 354 days and 11 years with 355 days. As a result, Muslim holidays occur on different dates in different seasons from generation to generation. Christianity Christians observe the resurrection of Jesus on Easter and his birth on Christmas. Eastern Orthodox Christians use the Julian calendar instead of the Gregorian calendar, so they actually celebrate Easter at a different day than Catholics and Protestants. Buddhism Buddhists celebrate the Buddha’s birth, enlightenment, and death. However, not all Buddhists recognize these holidays on the same days. Sikhism Sikhs observe the birthdays and dates of death of the 10 Sikh gurus. A major holiday in Sikhism is the day when the Holy Granth Sahib was installed as its holy text. Bahá’í Bahá’í employs a calendar established by the Báb and confirmed by Bahá’u’lláh, in which the year is divided into 19 months of 19 days each, with the addition of 4 extra days (with 5 in leap years). The Calendar in Judaism Judaism bases their calendar on the agricultural calendar of the religion’s homeland in present day Israel. The agricultural holidays later gained importance because they also commemorated events in the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt. The observation of the solstices is important to some ethnic religions, but Judaism uses the lunar calendar rather than the solar calendar. The Solstice The Solstice, derived from the Latin to “stand still,” holds a significant purpose in some ethnic religions. The winter solstice (December 21 or 22 in the Northern Hemisphere) is a major holiday in some pagan religions. Stonehenge is an ancient monument in southwestern England that is apparently constructed to align with the sun in the summer and winter solstices. Key Issue 4: Why Do Territorial Conflicts Arise Among Religious Groups? Challenges for Religions in South and East Asia Evolving cultural, political, and economic customs can sometimes be at odds with traditional religious values. In South Asia, Hinduism has recently come into conflict with secular ideas introduced from the West. In East Asia, Communist doctrine has challenged Buddhism and its place in society. India: Hinduism and Social Equality The caste system of the Hindu religion has been challenged by outside forces since the British colonization of India in the nineteenth century. The caste system indicated the class or distinct hereditary order into which a Hindu was born, according to religious law. When the Aryans invaded India circa 1500 B.C., they divided themselves into four castes that stratified social and economic position. These four castes are: Brahmans, the priests and top administrators. Kshatriyas, or warriors. Vaisyas, or merchants. Shudras, or agricultural workers and artisans. A fifth class of people, Dalits (untouchables), were theorized to have descended from the indigenous people who were invaded by the Aryans. Until recently, social relations between the castes were limited, and the rights of non-Brahmans, especially Dalits, were restricted. In recent years, the caste system has grown relatively relaxed. Religion and Communism Religions have conflicted with communist governments, which have either downplayed the role of religion in everyday life or worked actively against religions. The Soviet Union pursued antireligious programs because the government believed that religious doctrine was a potential threat to the success of the country. All church buildings and property were nationalized and could be used only with local government permission. Countries with majority Muslim populations that were once a part of the Soviet Union (e.g. Uzbekistan) are conflicted in maintaining previously secular laws or rewriting them to conform to Islamic tradition. Conflict between communism and religion is evident today in relations between the People’s Republic of China government and its autonomous Xizang (widely known as Tibet) province. Challenges for Religions in Central and Southwest Asia Religious disputes have become embedded in ethnic and political conflicts in Central and Southwest Asia. Central Asia: Taliban and Western Values The vast majority of Afghans are Muslims, comprising 99 percent of the population. Adversarial relations among groups with differing ideas of the role of Islam in society has fueled conflicts in the country. A resurgence of religious fundamentalism has especially stoked conflict. Religious fundamentalism is a literal interpretation and a strict and intense adherence to what fundamentalist doctrine defines as basic principles of a religion. The Taliban, a fundamentalist group in Afghanistan, took control of the country in 1996 and imposed strict laws inspired by Islamic values as interpreted by the group. For instance, “western, non-Islamic” activities such as playing music were banned. A U.S.-led coalition overthrew the Taliban in 2001, although they have regained control of parts of the country and neighboring Pakistan. Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Southwest Asia Jews, Christians, and Muslims have fought one another for control of a small strip of land in the Eastern Mediterranean (or Middle East) in a prolonged series of conflicts. These conflicts are the result of overlapping histories of the three religions. The Crusades were a series of wars fought against Muslims in the Middle East by Christians intent on reclaiming Jerusalem. The Muslim Ottoman Empire controlled Palestine/Israel for most of four centuries between 1516 and 1917. Upon the Ottoman Empire’s defeat in World War I, the United Kingdom took control of the region. The present-day conflict in Palestine/Israel has its roots in ancient history but more recently with the creation of the state of Israel by the United Nations in 1947. Geographic Perspectives in the Middle East Conflict in the Middle East currently takes place between various countries and groups of people with ambitions to control territory. Differences in religious traditions and their adoption in nationalist ideologies influence the origins of the conflicts and the barriers to peacefully resolving them. Wars Between Israel and Neighbors Following the United Nations’ 1947 partitioning of the United Kingdom’s Palestine Mandate into two independent states, four wars unfolded as a result of conflicting claims over territory in the region. The 1948-1949 Independence War, 1956 Suez Canal War, 1967 Six-Day War, and 1973 Yom Kippur War were major conflicts that took place in the mid nineteenth century, with territory such as the Old City of Jerusalem changing hands several times. In the Six-Day War, the West Bank, the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip, and the Sinai Peninsula were all captured by Israel. In the Camp David Accords, U.S. President Jimmy Carter mediated an agreement between Egypt’s President Anwar Sadat and Israel’s Prime Minister Menachem Begin where Israel returned control of the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt in exchange for Egypt’s recognition of Israel as a sovereign nation. Competing Israeli and Palestinian Perspectives Conflict today centers around the status of the West Bank of the Jordan River, the Golan Heights, and the Gaza Strip, which are all territories under Israeli control but claimed by the Palestinians. Israeli Perspectives The relatively small size of the state of Israel and its three distinct physiographic regions (the coastal plain, a series of hills, and the Jordan River valley) all play a role in Israel’s conception of its dealing with its neighbors. Following the aforementioned wars and the contested Israeli control of specific territories, the West Bank has emerged as a source of much present-day conflict. Israelis occupy areas of the West Bank, comprising 17 percent of its population. Israelis have moved to the area due to their perceived right to live in their historical homeland, and lack of affordable housing in Israel’s pre-1967 borders. Some Israelis support compromising with Palestine, while others wish to retain some control of the West Bank. Palestinian Perspectives Five groups of people consider themselves Palestinian: People living in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem territories captured by Israel in 1967. Some citizens of Israel who are Arabs. People who fled from Israel to other countries after the 1948-1949 war. People who fled from the West Bank or Gaza to other countries after the 1967 Six-Day War. Some citizens of other countries, especially Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. Until his death in 2004, Yassir Arafat lead the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in the fight against Israel. Israel permits a limited form of government for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, called the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinians are generally not satisfied with either the territory or the power they have been given thus far. Currently, the struggle for power between the Fatah and Hamas parties colors many internal conflicts. Jerusalem’s Challenging Geography Jerusalem feature sites holy to Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. Controlling Jerusalem represents a key geographic problem to peace in the region. Judaism’s Jerusalem Jerusalem is particularly holy to Jews as the location of the Temple, their center of worship in ancient times. The First Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C., and the Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70. The Western Wall of the Second Temple remains today. Following the capture of the Old City of Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War, the Western Wall became a site for daily prayers by observant Jews. Walls have been constructed along the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the suburbs of Jerusalem to deter Palestinian suicide bombers from entering Jerusalem and the rest of Israel. The West Bank wall is particularly controversial as it places on Israel’s side around 10 percent of the land, home to between 10,000 and 50,000 Palestinians. Islam’s Jerusalem The holiest Muslim structure in Jerusalem is the Dome of the Rock, built in A.D. 691. Muslims believe that the large rock beneath the structure’s dome is the place from which Muhammad ascended to heaven, as well as the altar on which Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac (according to Jews and Christians) or his son Ishmael (according to Muslims). The al-Aqsa Mosque was built on the site of the ruins of the Jewish Second Temple. However, because the holy Muslim structures literally sit on top of the holy Jewish structures, the two sets of holy structures cannot be logically divided by a line on a map. Introducing the Chapter Many instructors find themselves particularly challenged with this chapter, as emotions run high and the classroom has become more politicized with movements for an “academic bill of rights.” Students also can be uncomfortable with issues of faith and observance and/or intolerant of other points of view. This discomfort can serve as a point of conversation in introducing the chapter. Point out that the geographic study of religion is not interested in whether a particular religion is “right” or “wrong,” but rather that geographers are interested in how religious belief affects the use of space and impacts on the landscape. Students should have no difficulty realizing the geographic nature of studying religious competition for space, since conflicts based on religions with overlapping claims have been some of the most enduring. This being said, the brave-of-heart instructor (perhaps with tenure) should not shy away from a discussion of the role of religion in demarcating political space in the United States, as Christian fundamentalism has played a pivotal role in the politics of early twenty-first century America. Icebreakers Class Survey With a large (and diverse) enough class, you might perform an anonymous survey of faith. Ask students what faith they consider themselves to be a member of, how often they practice their faith at a formal service or gathering, and whether they participate in any religious activities outside of a formal service. A statistical portrait of the class could serve as an introduction to the topic of religious diversity and the North American standard of separation of church and state. Caution: Be careful to not single out minority religions if the class is overwhelmingly of one faith. Challenges to Comprehension Counting Believers Even though they have already seen countless world maps generalizing all sorts of population data, students frequently wonder aloud in this chapter, “How do they know what percentage of each religion there is?” This discusses an excellent opportunity to discuss random sampling and estimates. True Believers Overcoming dominant worldviews and prejudices is a major obstacle to a better understanding of our world. However, in the case of religion, some individuals will be unwilling to compromise their beliefs to understand the relative position of other beliefs. This is generally not a problem in terms of memorizing distributions of religions and the like; but you may find some who are unable to think critically beyond an “us” versus “them” mentality. Assignments Review/Reflection Questions How are the differences between universalizing and ethnic religions similar to the differences between folk and popular culture? List several similarities. Describe some major differences between language and religion. Describe how language and religion are similar. Explain why religious conflicts occur. Is it only that religious ideologies disagree, or is geography involved? How do you think religious conflicts can be resolved? Sacred Sites Sacred sites to adherents of a religion can be natural of human created sites that have special meaning for the followers. Some sacred spaces, such as structures or pilgrimage sites, are formal spaces. Others sites such as the apparition of the Virgin Mary on a building or a roadside memorial, are less formal. Sacred spaces can also be part of the natural landscape, for example, Mt. Fuji in Japan or Uluru in Australia. Choose any religion and select a sacred site to research. Read the chapter for ideas and examples of sacred sites. Here are some additional resources for selecting a sacred site if you’re not sure what to research. Places of Peace and Power www.sacredsites.com/ Sacred Destinations www.sacred-destinations.com Sacred Sites International Foundation www.sacred-sites.org/preservation/index2.html Once you have selected your site, research the following: How did it become a sacred site? Why is it a sacred site? What is its religious significance? Why is it important to the religion? Are there any requirements for visiting the site? Is there controversy surrounding the site? Why or why not? How does the site affect the economy of the local area? Does it benefit the community? Turn in a two page paper describing your research or findings. Also include anything else interesting you learned about the religious site you selected. Instructor Manual for The Cultural Landscape: An Introduction to Human Geography James M. Rubenstein 9780321831583, 9780321956712, 9780321831576, 9780132435734
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