Cultural Geography Region & Diffusion Exercise

Cultural Geography Region & Diffusion Exercise

The purpose of this exercise is to use geographic concepts to verbally describe a cultural region and diffusion.  You should be able to provide a clear and complete written description of a region you know well and the diffusion of one of its characteristics.  This exercise is worth 5% of your course grade and will be evaluated on the content and clarity of the typed description.  Use NO outside resources.  This exercise may be repeated for an improved grade.  You should submit for this exercise a maximum of one typed, double-spaced, page.

1. Describe the neighborhood you know the best. For your neighborhood, provide information on each of the following:

the cultural attributes that make it identifiable, that make different than any other;

the neighborhood’s location; history

its area or extent, identify the boundaries, and identify the whether the neighborhood is a formal, a functional, a nodal, or a perceptual region;

the neighborhood’s sub-regions (what smaller regions exist within it), particularly the core (diffusion type, contagious or hierarchical expansion or relocation), and

the neighborhood’s supra-regions (within what larger regions does it exist).

1. Suggest a hearth for at least one of the culture traits used to identify the neighborhood. From this you should indicate whether there was expansion or relocation diffusion.  Suggest a reasonable explanation for this diffusion process.  At this point in the course you are not expected to be perfect, but you should be able to suggest whether the diffusion was contagious or hierarchical.

1. Reflect on what this neighborhood teaches its residents. For instance, did your neighborhood teach you that natural systems (or social problems) are interconnected?  Did your neighborhood require that you learn to solve problems in order to survive?  Did your neighborhood teach you that you would be punished for asking questions or being curious?  Did your neighborhood teach you how people succeed in school and business?  Did your neighborhood teach you to build significant relationships with other people?  What did living in that neighborhood teach you?

Each student’s work will be graded against a rubric similar to the following:

Grading Criteria Excellent = A      Good = B             Adequate = C    Poor = D               Failing = 0

cultural attributes            attributes are truly unique           identifiable but not unique          attributes are identifiable                attributes are general, vague     missing

location                both exact absolute and relative locations            exact location by relative measure           absolute, or general relative location               location specified only by supra-region  missing

extent & boundaries      borders identified with area measure    borders identified without area neighboring regions identified            relative area measure, only         missing

region

type       correct type identified and defined by borders  correct type identified in relation to borders       correct type identified            incorrect region type      missing

sub-regions  & core         core, and at least two nested sub-regions identified       core and second sub-region identified            core identified  one sub-region listed, but not core          missing

supra-regions    three supra-regions separate from location, one not nested       two nested supra-regions separate from location     one supra-region listed separate from location  supra-region only listed as location          missing

hearth  explained for cultural attribute  identified for cultural attribute  identified for population              identified as population          missing

diffusion issue: h-c          explained for cultural attribute  identified for cultural attribute  identified for migration                identified as migration   missing

diffusion issue: h/w        explained for cultural attribute  identified for cultural attribute  identified for migration                identified as migration   missing

reflection            well-constructed example, rich description or explanation           culled from exercise directions                definition by negation, only        not caused by location   missing