The landscapes we create tell us who we are … Martha B. Sharma APHG Workshop NCGE – Lake Tahoe, NV October 6-7, 2006 NY Times Gettysburg.

The landscapes we create tell us who we are …

Martha B. SharmaAPHG Workshop

NCGE – Lake Tahoe, NV

October 6-7, 2006

NY Times

Gettysburg

III. Cultural Patterns and Processes

Concepts of culture Cultural differences Environmental impacts of

cultural attitudes and practices

Cultural landscapes and cultural identities

Cultural Landscapes

“A cultural landscape is fashioned from a natural landscape by a culture group. Culture is the agent, the natural area is the medium. The cultural landscape the result.”

Carl O. Sauer in The Morphology of

Landscape (1925)

Cultural Landscapes “… all human landscape has cultural

meaning, no matter how ordinary it may be. ... Our human landscape is our unwitting autobiography, reflecting our tastes, our values, and even our fears, in tangible, visible form. ”

“ The man-made landscape … provides strong evidence of the kind of people we are, were, and will be. ”

Peirce Lewis in Axioms for Reading the Landscape (1979)

Cultural Landscapes

“ Most objects in the landscape – although they convey all kinds of ‘messages’ – do not convey those message in any obvious way. The landscape does not speak to us very clearly. … one must know what kinds of questions to ask. ”

Peirce Lewis in Axioms for Reading the Landscape (1979)

Analytical Goals of Human Geography

Use and think about maps and spatial data. Understand and interpret the implications

of associations among phenomena in places.

Recognize and interpret at different scales relationships among patterns and processes.

Define regions and evaluate the regionalization process.

Characterize and analyze changing interconnections among places.

Religious LandscapesGlobal patterns

Places of worshipPlaces of

Remembrance

Cemeteries are a very visible part of the religious

landscape

Grave markers provide cultural

insights into people and places.

Taj Mahal – Agra, India

An AP Human Geography course should encourage field

observationAlthough organized field trips are not

necessary for the course, some combination of exercises, visual aids, and field work should be pursued to provide students with a sense of how

the material world embodies information and ideas about culture,

society, and human-environment relations.

Axioms for Reading the Landscape

I. The man-made landscape – the ordinary run-of-the-mill things that humans have created and put upon the earth – provides strong evidence of the kind of people we are, and were, and are in the process of becoming.

IV. In trying to unravel the meaning of contemporary landscapes and what they have to “say” about us as Americans, history matters.

V. Elements of a cultural landscape make little cultural sense if they are studied outside their geographic (i.e., locational) context.

Peirce Lewis in Axioms for Reading the Landscape (1979)

Activity One

A Cultural Study of Crown Hill Cemetery

From: http://www.iupui.edu/~anthpm/seriate.html

Grave Markers as Cultural Artifacts

Styles of gravestones change over time Relative chronology can be determined

based on change or continuity in material style

Style is any visible attribute Shape, height, width, color of stone,

design details Some grave markers are unique for

personal reasons

Types of Grave Markers

Analyzing Grave Markers at Crown Hill

CemeteryIn this exercise students: Analyze 48 real grave markers

manufactured between 1864 and 1997 based on stylistic changes in design

The “Marker Data Table” is located at http://www.iupui.edu/~anthpm/markerdata.html

Sort the markers chronologicallyAnswer the questions based on photos

and other information in the table

Examples from Crown Hill Activity

Childers (1864) “Symbolic”

Bedino (1995) “Above Ground”

Gatling (1903) “Monumental”http://www.iupui.edu/~anthpm/markerdata.html

Activity Two

A Cultural/Demographic Study of St. Helena’s

Episcopal Church Cemetery

Beaufort County, South Carolina

Beaufort (1710) and St. Helena’s Church (1712)

Named for Henry Somerset, Duke of Beaufort (1684-1714)

St. Helena’s Church

St. Helena’s Church is located in the heart of historic Beaufort, SC

Parish Church of St. HelenaEstablished in 1712 by an act

of the Colonial Assembly Beaufort, South Carolina Original building erected in

1724 Cemetery fills the church

yard Used by the Union Army as a

hospital during the Civil War Partially destroyed by

hurricanes in 1896 and 1959 Major restoration 1998-2000

Reading a Local Cultural Landscape

In Activity Two, students … Use elements of the cultural landscape:

images and data from grave markers in the cemetery of St. Helena’s Church to examine changes over time.

Examine selected grave markers to understand cultural patterns in the local community

Manipulate the cemetery data base to produce

Histograms “Age at Death” Pyramids

Summarize their findings in a short paper.

Getting Started

To begin this field activity, you will need a map of the cemetery to be studied. Add grid marks, if they are not already on the map, to facilitate sector references.

Sample Spreadsheet from the St. Helena’s

Database

Data Summary from the St.

Helena’s Database

12

3

4

5

67

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

Patterns in Age at Death

St. Helena's: 19th Century - Total

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

0 9

19

29

39

49

59

69

79

89

99

Mo

re

Age at Death

St. Helena's: 20th Century - Total

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

0 9

19

29

39

49

59

69

79

89

99

Mo

re

Age at Death

Changes in Age at DeathComparing the 19th and 20th Centuries

10 8 6 4 2 0 2 4 6 8 10

0-4 yrs.

15-19 yrs.

30-34 yrs.

45-49 yrs.

60-64 yrs.

75-79 yrs.

90-94 yrs.

AGE at DEATH

PERCENT

10 8 6 4 2 0 2 4 6 8 10

0-4 yrs.

15-19 yrs.

30-34 yrs.

45-49 yrs.

60-64 yrs.

75-79 yrs.

90-94 yrs.

AGE at DEATH

PERCENT

St. Helena’s: 19th Century

St. Helena’s: 20th Century

Create a Field Experience for Your Class

An AP course should not be just about the Exam

An AP course should be about learning Field work is not a requirement for APHG But field work is essential to learning to

think geographically The experience of field work will

demonstrate for students the geographic perspective

This experience will prepare them to apply what they have learned to any situation

And this will definitely help them on the Exam

Over-arching Course Goals

Students should … Study patterns and processes that

have shaped human understanding, use, and alteration of Earth’s surface

Analyze human social organization Apply the methods and tools of

geography

Source: College Board Course Description Booklet, p. 3.