AP Human Geography Midterm
What is a culture hearth? What new traits of culture characterized the early hearths? Identify and locate some of the major culture hearths that emerged at the close of the Neolithic period.
A cultural hearth is an area where cultural traits develop and from which cultural traits diffuse. Often a cultural trait, for example the religion of Islam, can be traced to a single place and time. Muhammad founded Islam in the 500s in and around the cities of Mecca and Medina on the Arabian Peninsula. Other culture traits, such as agriculture, can be traced to several hearths thousands of years apart. When such a trait develops in more than one hearth without being influenced by its development elsewhere, each hearth operates as a case of independent invention. The Fertile Crescent was one of the big cultural hearths from the Neolithic age. This was the center of the language hearth. There is a theory that all language came from that area. (The Renefrew Theory)
Should preference for immigrating to the US and Canda be given to individuals with special job skills, or should priority be given to reunification of family members? a. Should quotas be raised to meet increasing demand for both types of immigration? Why or why not?
America was built on the sole foundation of immigrants. If it is immigrants that have defined our nation as a whole all the way back to the Native Americans where do we put a cap on who is allowed in and who isn't. I feel that preference should be given to skilled workers. Skilled workers bring both education and a plan for what they want to do in life. One of their sole purposes in coming to America to work is to give remittance to their families in their home country. To be classified as a skilled worker you must either have experience or education in that field of work. Bringing in skilled workers is more practical and makes sense from an economical point of view.Trying to unify families is not insignificant however that is a more emotional and charitable point of view that actually puts a burden on our economy because we are having to financially support a whole family versus a single person who is skilled and could potentially support themselves. I think the quotas are appropriate for the time being. I think we already allow enough immigrants in per year to satisfy the needs of immigrants and our economy.
How does ethnocentrism contribute to preservation of group identity? In what ways might an ethnic group sustain and support new immigrants?
Ethnocentrism is the tendency to look at the world primarily from the perspective of one's own ethnic culture. The concept of ethnocentrism has proven significant in the social sciences, both with respect to the issue of whether the ethnocentric bias of researchers colors the data they obtain, and the findings from research in anthropology and sociology. Cultural assimilation is the process by which a person or a group's language and/or culture come to resemble those of another group. In other words, an ethnic group will support the new immigrants by welcoming them in and the new immigrants will slowly adapt to the way of life in their new country. The three types of ethnocentrism are positive, negative, and extremely negative. Most people are ethnocentric, it is the glue that holds societies together. It is learned at an unconscious level. It provides members of a culture with feelings of identity and belonging. Strongest in moral and religious contexts.
At the same time some people are migrating form less developed countries to more developed countries in search of employment, transnational corporations have relocated some low skilled jobs to less developed countries to take advantage of low wage rates. Should less developed countries care whether their surplus workers emigrate or remain as employees of foreign companies? Explain in detail.
I believe that foreign countries should care that that their citizens are migrating to other countries in search of employment in more developed countries. If their citizens continue to migrate to more developed countries then, over time, those countries will not have workers to work towards improving their own economy. Instead, all the remaining citizens at working age will work for the transnational corporations of more developed countries, such as Nike factories in Vietnam. I not only think that the foreign countries will be affected, though. The more developed countries, which have transnational corporations, will be affected. As foreigners continue migrating to more developed countries, those countries in charge of the transnational corporations will have less people, and possibly not enough people, to work in their own low skill factory jobs, leading to a demand of new people and places to work for their corporations. Many of the foreigners migrating in search of financial opportunities, also send money home to help support their families that did not migrate, also called sending remittances.
Should geographers regard culture and social customs as meaningful generalizations about a group of people, or should they concentrate instead on understanding how specific individuals interact with the physical environment? Explain your answer.
I think that it is acceptable to judge by both, but, if I had to choose, I would say generalize by the culture. I say that because the culture represents what the entire community believes is right and cool. Their culture controls what they wear, their preferred genre of music, how they act(attitude), and what they think about other groups.
Paul and Anne Ehrlich argue in The Population Explosion (1990) that a baby born in a MDC such as the United States poses a graver threat to global overpopulation than a baby born in a LDC. The reason is that people in MDCs place much higher demands in the world's supply of energy, food, and other limited resources. Discuss your opinion regarding this view.
In regards to this issue discussed in "The Population Explosion", I believe that Paul and Anne Ehrlich have a good point on their conclusion of MDC versus LDC. People born into MDCs, such as the United States, are, as Paul and Anne stated, much more likely to have a higher demand for resources, such as energy and food, than that of a person born into a LDC. I came to this conclusion because someone born into a MDC use more resources as the norm in those general areas where as a person born into an LDC use much less resources as the norm of those general areas. The reason for this is that someone born into a MDC have more power and wealth to obtain resources than a person born into a LDC. Mainly, though, someone born into a LDC have much less resources available to them than someone born into a MDC because LDC areas are much poorer and have lease opportunities to have great amounts of resources as a person born into a MDC. People born into a MDC have greater opportunities for education leading to better jobs than a person born into a LDC because of their greater wealth.
What have been some of the principle time patterns of immigration flows in the United States? Into Canada? How are those patterns important to an understanding of present-day social conflicts in either or both countries?
In the 17th and 18th centuries, America was bringing African people over to work as slaves. This huge importation of people had brought a new race into the country and it had created the social conflict of racism in America. Here just recently there have been a lot of illegal immigrants trying to cross the U.S. border and some are succeeding, but in doing so they have to have small, minimum wage jobs that push them into smaller communities creating Hispanic areas in states and making some known for it. In Canada, There was a big migration or Irish people and even though they spoke English like the Canadians, the migration included big social, religious, and racial changes. It forced some Canadians into forced assimilation in their own country.
Why might one consider language the dominant differentiating element of culture separating societies?
Language enables parents to teach their children what the world they live in is like and what they must do to become functioning members of society. Some argue that the language of a society structures the perceptions of its speakers. By the words it contains and the concepts it can formulate, language is said to determine the attitudes, the understandings, and the responses of the society. Language, therefore, can be both a cause and a symbol of cultural differentiation.
When earthquakes, hurricanes, and other environmental disasters strike, humans tend to "blame" nature and see themselves as innocent victims of a harsh and cruel nature. To what extent do environmental hazards stem from unpredictable nature, and to what extent do they originate from human actions? Should victims blame nature, other humans, or themselves for the disaster? Why?
Most natural disasters are not 100% caused by humans, but some disasters are tributed by trapped gases that people have produced over the past few industrial centuries. Humans only have a minimal effect on most natural process on Earth. Earthquakes are caused by the shifting of plates under the earth, where no person could ever get deep enough, but hurricanes could be influenced by trapped gases. Some people may blame other people, because they may not have been warned or made aware what's coming, but that is still not anybody's fault. Victims should blame nature because all natural disasters and are caused from natural processes on earth hardly affected by humans.
What are the common characteristics of region? How are formal and functional regions different in concept and definition? What is perceptual region?
Some characteristics of region could be climate, Natural resources, culture, language, or religion are common characteristics of region. Formal and functional regions are different in definition because functional is defined as the particular set of activities or interactions that occur within it but formal is a region marked with sameness(homogeneity) in one or more categories. They are different in concept because formal region is a region that all do and have the same language, ideas, or believes when functional is just the set of activities going on in a region. Perceptual regions are a region that is an idea or fake, that isn't an actual known entity. The "South" and "Mid Atlantic" are perceptual regions.
In what ways might gender affect the distribution of social customs in a community?
Some social customs may only include men or women. And like in China males are dominant so there will be more men doing these social customs rather than girls. Also if there are more men than women new customs might develop that include only men. It will be by hard for China to even out their population, and even if they do there will be stereotypes against women. They will still think men are better and only include them in certain customs. In China men still pay dowries to get a bride. That is a custom that is only for men.
What is meant by spatial interaction? A. According to Edward Ullman (1912-1976), spatial interaction is effectively controlled by three flow determining factors- explain (with a real world example) each of these factors. - Complementarity - Transferability - Intervening opportunity
Spatial Interaction is defined as the flow of migration of people, products, or services across an area. -Complementarity is the surplus of a desired product in an area and a shortage in another. A real world example would be if you lived in San Francisco and wanted to go to Disneyland for a trip, but it is in Anaheim, California and San Francisco only has 2 minor theme theme park attractions that don't compare to Disneyland. -Transferability is when transportation costs of certain goods is too high in relation to the price of the product. A real world example would be the cost of traveling. If you have a bunch of people trying to go together to a place far away, you would each buy a plane ticket for a certain price or if there's a small number of people not traveling too far you would rent a car. -Intervening Opportunity is the presence of a nearer opportunity that greatly diminishes the attractiveness of sites farther away.An example would be someone that lives in Kentucky wanting to go to the beach in Florida for vacation, but then you hear about the new amusement park in Kentucky.
The 2000 US Census permitted people to identify themselves as being more than one race, in recognition that several million American children have parents of two races. Discuss the merits and difficulties of permitting people to choose more than one race.
The U.S. Census permits people to identify themselves as being more than one race, in recognition that several million American Children have parents that are more than one race. In the U.S. it is an obstacle to admit that you are of two races. Even today people are still racist and have prejudice towards each other. As a result it is common for people of two races to not admit that they are. If you are mixed you don't completely fit in either culture.
Twenty US states have passed laws mandating English as the language of all government functions. In 1990, Arizona's law making English the official language was ruled an unconstitutional violation of free speech. Should the use of English be encouraged in the US to foster cultural integration, or should bilingualism be encouraged to foster cultural diversity? Explain your answer.
The U.S. should encourage people to be bilingual because English isn't the most widely spoken language anymore. Chinese is the most spoken language and would play a very big part in an American businessman or entrepreneur who works in China or with Chinese companies. Not only for the business aspect or for relations in the countries around us,we should be encouraged to speak more than just English for reasons in our own country. Such as, Hispanics will become the majority in the U.S. very soon. More people should be able to speak Spanish, or, for the argument of strictly English, we could force assimilation on them so they speak English. I do not advise that because that's just lazy and learning another language is very helpful in our careers and in our everyday lives.
Which demographic characteristics (such as natural increase, crude birth, and crude death) prevail,in the three regions with the largest number of refugees- the Horn of Africa, Afghanistan, and the Middle East? Is the large-scale forced migration alleviating or exacerbating population growth in these regions? Explain.
The crude birth rate is the most dominant demographic characteristic in all of these countries. The forced migration in these countries have been exacerbating to these areas because the population rate is going to drop because of all the war and bad economy that is inside of these countries. This creates more refugees that are coming out of these countries and that will eventually mean less people for the workforce and the decline of their countries. The economy can get even worse and that clears out more space for war zones.
Does the province of Quebec possess the resources, economy, political institutions, and social structures to be a viable, healthy country? What would be the impact of Quebec's independence on the remainder of Canada, on the US, and on France?
The province of Quebec has plenty of land to support its population. Quebec's main industries are made up of agriculture, manufacturing, energy, mining, forestry and transportation. With these industries Quebec has a sound structure and economy in which they could build a healthy country. They already have in place a civil law though it is vague it is not impossible for the Quebec government to formalize their already in place government into a self sustaining country. The only problem I see that Quebec would have to face would be a strong military. I don't see it affecting the United States or France as much as it would Canada. The main problem that could arise from Quebec succeeding would be that Canada could no longer rely on Quebec for economic resources.
Describe the site and situation of Louisville.
The site of Louisville is that Louisville is located 38.25°N, 85.7667°W in the United States. The city of Louisville is defined by a river port in the Ohio River that, although dirty, is one of the largest ports in the area. Louisville is also known for Churchill Downs, one of the most famous horse racing tracks, and known for the Kentucky Derby, the most exciting two minutes in sports. Lastly, Louisville is known for KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken). KFC has a major influence on not only Louisville's economy, but the economy of the entire United States. Louisville's culture has been influenced by these particular things inside of Louisville. For example, Louisville citizens have had a great interest in horse racing. Louisville has also been influenced by fast food, such as KFC, just like the rest of the United States. The situation is that Louisville is located in the northern region of the state of Kentucky west of the Appalachian Mountains and south of the Ohio River and Indiana. Basically, though, Louisville is located in the eastern interior of the United States, closer to the east coast, such as North and South Carolina.
Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, once contained concentrations of many ethnic groups. In retaliation of Ethnic cleansing by the Serbs and Croats, the Bosnian Muslims now in control of Sarajevo have been forcing other ethnic groups to leave the city, and Sarajevo is now inhabited overwhelmingly by Bosnian Muslims. Discuss the merits and obstacles in restoring Sarajevo as a multiethnic city.
When the Serbs and Croats cleansed Sarajevo of the Albanians they left only the Bosnian Muslims to take over Sarajevo. As most know the Muslim religion is extremely strict and people who do not follow their rules are forced out or killed. Thus entering a new culture to Sarajevo is almost impossible because of their sole rule over the country. Another big obstacle is a revolution is almost impossible. If a child doesn't believe in the religions they have nowhere else to go. They have grown up in the religion, been taught the religion and pray that religion every day. They now nothing better than the Muslim religion. A positive of restoring a multiethnic would be a diverse culture with different positive influences such as farming and agricultural ideas.
How do crude birth rate and fertility rate differ? Determine and explain which measure is more accurate statement of the amount of reproduction occurring in a population.
crude birth rate is the number of live births yearly per thousand people in a population. Fertility rates are the average number of children a women can have during her childbearing years. -It differs because it relates to births in a total population, when total fertility rates takes into account age which gives a more reliable and detailed figure. -A total fertility rate gives a more accurate representation of reproduction in a area because it uses a woman's childbearing years which make more sense than using the outliers and non realistic births added to the equation.
What contrasts can you draw between folk culture and popular culture? What sorts of material and nonmaterial elements identify them?
the difference between folk culture and pop culture is that pop culture is always changing whereas folk culture is long term. Folk culture is rural and pop culture is urban. Some of the material things that can identify them are their art, architecture, clothing, and food. Some of the non-material things are beliefs, practices, and their value of people. An example would be the Amish.
