Part A-
1. The word "geography" comes from a Greek word meaning:
a. to farm the earth
b. to understand culture
c. to describe the land
d. to build monuments
2. Each state within the United States, and each state within Canada, can be considered a:
a. continental culture region
b. formal culture region
c. vernacular culture region
d. functional culture region
3. A territorially bounded system consisting of interacting organic and inorganic components is a(n):
a. ecosystem
b. hemisphere
c. biosphere
d. planet
4. Religions frequently spread through:
a. hierarchical diffusion
b. expansion diffusion
c. contagious diffusion
d. relocation diffusion
5. The _______________ school of thought is the opposite of environmental determinism.
a. organic
b. humans-as-modifiers
c. folkloristic
d. passive-human
6. Which of the following is not essential to the understanding of a culture?
a. its environmental context
b. its physical habitat
c. its ecological aspects
d. its key theorists
7. Cultural ecology studies the interaction between culture and:
a. religion
b. education
c. the environment
d. government
8. In a large city with multiple neighborhoods at different elevations, one part of the city is located at a higher altitude, and the people living in that neighborhood call it "The Hills." The Hills is an example of a:
a. vernacular culture region
b. formal culture region
c. functional culture region
d. continental culture region
9. The school of thought in cultural ecology that emphasizes a culture's mental images of nature-whether accurate or inaccurate-is the school of:
a. environmental determinism
b. the mechanistic view of nature
c. possibilism
d. environmental perception
10. In a hot climate, a certain group of people begins to build their homes with very high ceilings so that hot air will rise upward, away from the living space. They also paint their homes white to reflect sunlight away from their houses. In another area 50 miles away, the people start building homes with high ceilings but do not paint their homes white because they consider the color unlucky. This is an example of:
a. relocation diffusion
b. hierarchical diffusion
c. stimulus diffusion
d. contagious diffusion
11. Popular culture is characterized by all of the following EXCEPT:
a. considerable leisure time
b. mass production
c. money economy
d. strong family control
12. Afghanistan's Taliban government attempted to control the spread of popular Western culture by banning:
a. burqas
b. Coca-Cola
c. hamburgers
d. television
13. Folk architecture is derived from the collective memory of what kind of people?
a. collective memory/traditional
b. archives/country
c. architects/rural
d. collective tradition/mountain
14. Which is NOT a characteristic of the Ontario farmhouse?
a. gabled front dormer window
b. one and a half stories high
c. kitchen housed in a separate outbuilding
d. made of brick
15. Which country's cuisine is distinguished by cuzcuz?
a. Portugal
b. Spain
c. Brazil
d. Mexico
16. Today, what is the most significant aspect of advertising?
a. cyberspace
b. text
c. place-consciousness
d. color and context
17. The primary goal of a leisure landscape is:
a. employment
b. ecotourism
c. entertainment
d. conservation
18. All the objects made and used by members of a group collectively form its:
a. amenity culture
b. nonmaterial culture
c. subculture
d. material culture
19. Which of these is NOT a "leisure landscape"?
a. West Edmonton Mall
b. Disney World
c. Colonial Williamsburg
d. the French Riviera
20. Michael Weiss has argued that Americans can be classified according to their:
a. zip code
b. tastes in fashion
c. career choices
d. age
Part B-
Question 1: Why do you think it is important to understand the ways that different cultures perceive nature and their relationship to nature, especially in terms of hazards management and prevention?
Question 2: Why do we often say that popular culture is 'placeless'? How does this idea relate to the globalization of culture in general?
Question 3: Now that you have a better sense of what GIS and geospatial technologies are, take a minute to think about and describe how these technologies could be used in the career you are currently pursuing.
Part C-
Question 1: Would you consider the US an elongated or compact national territory, in general? Think of its sheer size in your answer. How did the US accommodate for its large size in its governmental structure?
Question 2: Is race enough of an issue today that it should continue to be an integral consideration in the redistricting process? Refer to the following website section 'race and ethnicity' on this subject before answering: https://redistricting.lls.edu/where.php.
Question 3: What is the motivation behind many nations' use of political iconography (examples - statue of liberty, mt.rushmore)?
Part D-
Read the cultural landscape of your neighborhood.
What do you see in your neighborhood (signs, architecture, clothing, stores, people, etc.) that tells you about the culture of the people that live within it?
• Think about how buildings, etc are arranged. What is the history of the architecture? What do you think is the most important cultural characteristic for people in your neighborhood, based on what you see in the landscape?
• For instance, if your neighborhood is a bunch of single family homes on a cul-de-sac, does that maybe mean they value individual space and are less concerned with community interaction? I don't know. Explore the ideas that come to mind.
Write a minimum of 10 lines of description. Post at least one photo in your discussion to help in your descriptions.