Geography is a study of space, place and landscape. Its all about seeking and looking for how people changed the environment in which they live on.
These two words make up this brief summary of cultural geography.
Carl Sauer a theorist quoted this “A cultural landscape as a natural landscape that had been modified by a cultural group.” (Fleming K, 1984, pg.112)
“This quote conveys” that particular areas around the world have been reformed and changed in some way by memorable things that has happened or by certain culture groups.
A university scholar in Pondicherry University, Professor Balasubramanian described cultural geography as the means to “examine cultural values, practices, discursive and material expressions and artefacts of people, the cultural diversity and plurality of society.”(Balasubramanian A., 2018, pg.2)
Put briefly each landscape/place, has their own identity produced from a kind of culture group, and each landscape have their own meaning to how they were formed.
Short case study/analysis-
Does living in a particular place effect the way you live?
For this case study I will be mainly focusing on the Yoruba ethnic group based in the western part of Nigeria, apart from the Yoruba there are two other major ethnic groups within the country. Nigeria is made up of three major ethnic groups, the Igbo’s in the east who are mainly Christian, the Hausas in the north who are mainly Muslim and the Yoruba group in the west which have a mixture of Muslims and Christians. They are all culturally different; from their traditional rulers to religions. Each group have traditional rulers known as either kings(Oba’s), Muslim religious leaders or elders; that traditionally rule Kingdoms, towns and villages.
These are some things culturally that identify the Yoruba ethnic group for what it is. The group are well known for their love of colourful native attires. Clothes worn by men and woman show their status in society and their personality.
They’re attires represent symbolism, tribalism and history that represent style and colour. There are different outfits for various occasions e.g., festivals, weddings and funerals.
Women have their own style of clothing, most wear clothing called ‘aso oke’.
The staple foods of the Yoruba people that they produce are crops like cassava, yams, rice, plantain, corn and beans among other foods.
The reason why these foods are able to be produced around the western part of Nigeria, are because of the climate and terrain which suits the production of these crops, hence the staple diet in the area.
The Yoruba are also known for working with a wide range of material which are used to create artefact. They have used and made bronze, copper, stone, ivory and wood carvings. Some of these historic carvings have been stored and placed in museums in the UK and around the world. All these carvings represented their culture and traditional spiritual beliefs before Christianity and the Muslim faiths.
To conclude I believe the industrious and religious ways effect ethnic groups, Climate change and its environment can also be life changing for individuals living there, as that can cause people in particular areas to dress differently to be able to cope, with the environmental challenges that the climate bears.
As a whole all of facts mentioned about this particular group culturally identify Yoruba culture.
Bibliography:
Fleming, K., 1984. Cultural Landscape: A theoretical perspective. [online] Scahome.org. Available at: <https://www.scahome.org/publications/proceedings/Proceedings.11Fleming.pdf> [Accessed 9 February 2021].
Balasubramanian, A., 2018. (PDF) Basics of Cultural Geography. [online] ResearchGate. Available at: <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325781826_Basics_of_Cultural_Geography> [Accessed 9 February 2021].
