Eleven Reasons for Eleven Regions

Eleven Reasons for Eleven Regions informs students about the Global Villages.  Each are occupied by a variety of cultures and peoples; and diversity and cultural pluralism has become the new normal for most of them.  This new normal is primarily the results of mass communication technologies, and the ease of transportation. Both enable people and populations to be on the move locally, across continents and oceans, and virtually throughout cyberspace.

All of the Global Villages vary in geographic size, and are divided into separate “villages” to make studying them easier.  Within each Global Village there are common cultural traits, which have developed over time; but cultural boundaries are not the same as political boundaries; they overlap-as students quickly realize when trying to separate them.

The Global Villages courses are brief in content, and not complete in either historical or cultural information, which would be impossible in such short spans of time.  The lessons here give the interested learner a broad and easily comprehended overview of how and where each Global Village had its beginnings, and where it fits into the world’s cultural puzzle at the present time.  Each of the Global Villages courses focuses on each dominant culture region separately, so that students have time to digest the knowledge and material before continuing on to the next lesson.

Eleven Reasons for Eleven Culture Regions

Reason 1.

Some of the Global Villages will appeal to many people; some will appeal to only a few.  Some Global Villages will only appeal to those that are interested in a particular region.  Regions change over time, people, culture, governments are all dynamic.

Reason 2.

Some Global Villages have more interesting and complex beginnings.  Their cultural hearth may have begun in one place, but ended up in a totally different settlement area.  Once a student is exposed to various culture region, he/she may be motivated to study others.  Sometimes regions have little interest to students until they are enriched with knowledge about the core cultures and ethnic groups, which make up those areas.

Reason 3.

Anyone who expects to travel, or has already traveled away from their home culture region will want to know more about the people and places they will visit, or have visited already.  How many times do we visit somewhere new and then say to ourselves, “I wish I had known more about these places, or people, before I came here.”  Studying culture on this site will give anyone a travel advantage.

Reason 4.

Genealogy is the third most popular hobby in the world; and traveling to ancestral homelands is something many people do after learning of their heritage.  Gaining knowledge before one visits adds to the enrichment gained from the travel experience.  On this site students may take a course about autobiography and culture.  How interesting would it be for someone to visit their ancestral homeland and then write about it and pass that knowledge down to their children and grandchildren?

Reason 5.

Now that international travel is so accessible, many people want to travel just for fun.  There are plenty of opportunities to study abroad and visit ethnic groups for fun as well as for research purposes.  There is an opportunity to learn about ethnographic methods while studying on this site.  Learning about ethnographic methods and ethnography can help you gain more relevant information in your travels and be able to organize your notes and photographs in a way that will enhance both traveling for fun or for research purposes.

Reason 6.

There are basic assumptions about the world that have become “old news.”  What one assumes about certain peoples and cultures often turns out to be completely wrong.  The news media usually reports on the exotic and/or the sensational, and not the everyday lives of those that live in remote places.  If you can’t travel, but would still like to learn about remote places and peoples, this site will allow you to do just that, on your own time, at your own pace, in your own setting.

Reason 7.

Studying and learning about ethnic groups gives us a wider lens in which to see the world.  There are courses and lessons on this site, which help students to appreciate the diversity that we observe in people; and it helps students to understand and experience the joy in finding the many cultural universals, which all humanity shares.

Reason 8.

Geography is a subject that many people are lacking knowledge of; or they don’t think they need the knowledge.  Once the world is seen, not just as geography, but that geography encompasses people and the many ways geographic location influences the way in which lives are conducted on a daily basis.

Reason 9.

Studying the Global Villages and identifying sacred places of others, helps us visualize our own sacred places differently.  We are able to see how diffusion of beliefs over time has taken place.  This allows for critical thinking about one’s own place in the world.

Reason 10.

Studying the 11 dominant culture region makes one see how much influence each one has had in both genetic and cultural heritage worldwide.  Dominant cultures have changed in various regions of the world; but even though colonialism, wars, and displaced peoples cause such changes, the influences of both the newcomers and the local invaded populations overlap each other, adding to the diversity of all communities involved.

Reason 11.

When students study the various regions of the world, comparisons of cultures and peoples can be made, which are both interesting, compelling, and absolutely necessary as globalization continues to influence all of us in ways that were not imaginable just a few short years ago.