Tag: Culture

Divorce Turkish Style

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“Divorce—though originally sanctioned more than 1,400 years ago by Islamic law—is still widely viewed in Muslim societies as a subversive act that breaks up the family. Women who seek divorce can often find themselves ostracized and treated as immoral. Despite such taboos and restrictions, however, divorce rates are rising across Islamic countries, even in ua-conservative places like Afghanistan.” SOURCE: NY Book Review

This is a difficult subject to discuss in the classroom, but it hits as many of the important cultural norms that surround social interactions that are gender-based. Cultural norms explore more than just the legal rights that people many have, but they also look at the cultural expectations, and the communal/family responsibilities that they are seen to have in their society. Divorce is legal in Turkey, but because it was heavily stigmatized, it was quite rare. Today, modern cultural influences from outside the region, (i.e.-the cultural affects of globalization) are promoting and changing traditional cultural norms of the region. This is a very insightful look into the lived-experience of divorce in the Middle East that gives a sense of the cultural impacts of gendered norms.

GeoEd Tags: culture, cultural norms, gender, Turkey, MiddleEast.

How where you are born influences who you become

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Oftentimes, we fail to recognize our own cultural norms because they are so…normal.  Does a fish realize that they’ve always been in water until they flop ashore?  Cultural norms are the air we breathe; in the mountains we might notice the freshness of the air or in an industrial park we might notice the grittiness that comes from particulates that are pollution the air quality, but the point is that we might not notice the air we breathe (or our cultural norms) until we go somewhere else.  Much what we see as our own personality has been shaped within our own cultural environment.  It is not surprising then to see that where you are born can influence who you are and how you see your place in your community (Source: The Conversation).  East Asian children are usually raised to be an integral part of the family and community, while American children who are often taught to become their own individuals and pursue their own path.  Another author paused to consider if Western parenting strategies aren’t the “normal” ones, but if in fact they might seen as weird from a different perspective (Source: BBC). Even our psychological profile is also influenced by the type of society in which we were born.  For example, children in hunter-gatherer societies are more risk averse than urban kids (Source: The Week).  This is not to say that geography is destiny, but where were are from can have a profound impact on who we become.        

GeoEd Tags: culture, cultural norms.

What Cheese Looks Like Around the World

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“Cheese from all around the world comes in different forms, textures, and colors, from white to blue. It’s eaten in many different ways, and some cheeses have legends or myths behind their invention Let’s take a look at what cheese looks like around the world.”

SOURCE: YouTube

Geographers are drawn to videos like this that give a quick tour around the world.  The Travel Insider video channel has a few great examples that show how distinct regional variations in food production create cultural distinct local customs.  Food production is inherently cultural, and these videos show how local flavor creates a series of regional variations. 

While I’m a fan of the “cheese around the world” video, I’ll include some other of my favorites below.  On the food them, there is desserts around the world, sandwiches from around the world, street foods around the world, and off the food topic, but still very cultural, wedding traditions around world as a sampler for the channel.   

GeoEd Tags: culture, place, video, food, food production, agriculture, worldwide.