GEOG 220 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Proselytism, Cultural Geography, Capability Brown
26 Nov 2018
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Sacred and Profane Space
Sparta, Greece: roadside shrines
- Something you would put up on the site of a traffic accident → where someone who has
died or for someone who miraculously survived
- Or to commemorate a local saint
- You can just go and buy one
World Distribution of Major Religions
- Shows us distribution of world religions
- Most of the world’s people are members of one of these religions
World Patterns
- For each religion, these global patterns are obviously the outcome of
- Historical origins and context, population spread and immigration, and proselytization
(to convert)
Origin Areas and Diffusion of Four Major Religions
- The world’s major religions originated in a fairly small region of the world
- The source areas of the world’s major religion are also the cultural hearth areas of
agriculture, urbanization, and other key aspects of human development
Canada’s Religions by Affiliation Numbers
- Decline in protestants
- Affects the aging population of protestants
Sacred Space
- “an area recognized by individuals or groups as worthy of special attention as a site of
special religion experiences or events”
- If our simple model is any indication of what has happened over time, we have moved
from a situation where
- (1) Less of the overall surface of the earth is seen as sacred → i.e. a decline of sacred
space
- (2) More of a focus on specific sacred sites (i.e. sacred places) → these become sites of
pilgrimage or special reverence
- Space allows for different behaviors and structures our world
A Model Of Sacred Space
- If you took the entire percentage of the earth (from 100%-0%) you could see how much
percentage of the earth is sacred
- as we move from the past to the present, less of the worlds surface is sacred → changes
over time may have affected society’s changing views of sacred spaces
- the Australian aborigines see the entire landscape as sacred – 100%
One special case of “sacred and profane” space is the cemetery
- One particular place of reverence is the cemetery, and has been widely studied as a
phenomenon by cultural geographers
- We can see how different attitudes to death affect the landscape (i.e. 19th Century
ideas of nature led to the “garden cemetery” of Mount Royal)
- We experience cemeteries as ‘liminal spaces” [liminal = “boundary”]
- We can look at the diffusion of images/sculptures
- Cemetery = liminal space → don't know if it's a public or private place (same thing with
shopping malls)
- Most cemeteries are private properties
Two Cemeteries Examples
1. The new England school of work (new England and Caribbean)
- Went around to cemeteries all over new England
- They realized there was a very simple chronology of change in the designs of image on
gravestones → there was something called the “Death’s Head” which was similar to a
scull (this was in the early times), then it was the cherub, and then it was the urn and
willow
- All three phases/types were in Boston
- The picture shows the 3 different types
2. Philippe Ariès’ model of difference between Roman
Catholic and Protestant cemeteries
The Willow As A Symbol
- Weeping willow: symbol of mourning because the tree
itself is mourning
Document Summary
Something you would put up on the site of a traffic accident where someone who has died or for someone who miraculously survived. You can just go and buy one. Most of the world"s people are members of one of these religions. For each religion, these global patterns are obviously the outcome of. Historical origins and context, population spread and immigration, and proselytization (to convert) Origin areas and diffusion of four major religions. The world"s major religions originated in a fairly small region of the world. The source areas of the world"s major religion are also the cultural hearth areas of agriculture, urbanization, and other key aspects of human development. An area recognized by individuals or groups as worthy of special attention as a site of special religion experiences or events . Space allows for different behaviors and structures our world.
