A breakdown of American cultures into 11 distinct "nations", each with unique roots and characteristics:
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tufts.edu%2Falumni%2Fmagazine%2Ffall2013%2Fimages%2Ffeatures%2Fupinarms-map.jpg&hash=6662764331d4035193a62c7e8df39a8205e43d40)
The article analyses them in terms of the gun control debate, but if the framework is solid it can be applied to a number of issues. The nations:
QuoteYANKEEDOM. Founded on the shores of Massachusetts Bay by radical Calvinists as a new Zion, Yankeedom has, since the outset, put great emphasis on perfecting earthly civilization through social engineering, denial of self for the common good, and assimilation of outsiders. It has prized education, intellectual achievement, communal empowerment, and broad citizen participation in politics and government, the latter seen as the public's shield against the machinations of grasping aristocrats and other would-be tyrants. Since the early Puritans, it has been more comfortable with government regulation and public-sector social projects than many of the other nations, who regard the Yankee utopian streak with trepidation.
NEW NETHERLAND. Established by the Dutch at a time when the Netherlands was the most sophisticated society in the Western world, New Netherland has always been a global commercial culture—materialistic, with a profound tolerance for ethnic and religious diversity and an unflinching commitment to the freedom of inquiry and conscience. Like seventeenth-century Amsterdam, it emerged as a center of publishing, trade, and finance, a magnet for immigrants, and a refuge for those persecuted by other regional cultures, from Sephardim in the seventeenth century to gays, feminists, and bohemians in the early twentieth. Unconcerned with great moral questions, it nonetheless has found itself in alliance with Yankeedom to defend public institutions and reject evangelical prescriptions for individual behavior.
THE MIDLANDS. America's great swing region was founded by English Quakers, who believed in humans' inherent goodness and welcomed people of many nations and creeds to their utopian colonies like Pennsylvania on the shores of Delaware Bay. Pluralistic and organized around the middle class, the Midlands spawned the culture of Middle America and the Heartland, where ethnic and ideological purity have never been a priority, government has been seen as an unwelcome intrusion, and political opinion has been moderate. An ethnic mosaic from the start—it had a German, rather than British, majority at the time of the Revolution—it shares the Yankee belief that society should be organized to benefit ordinary people, though it rejects top-down government intervention.
TIDEWATER. Built by the younger sons of southern English gentry in the Chesapeake country and neighboring sections of Delaware and North Carolina, Tidewater was meant to reproduce the semifeudal society of the countryside they'd left behind. Standing in for the peasantry were indentured servants and, later, slaves. Tidewater places a high value on respect for authority and tradition, and very little on equality or public participation in politics. It was the most powerful of the American nations in the eighteenth century, but today it is in decline, partly because it was cut off from westward expansion by its boisterous Appalachian neighbors and, more recently, because it has been eaten away by the expanding federal halos around D.C. and Norfolk.
GREATER APPALACHIA. Founded in the early eighteenth century by wave upon wave of settlers from the war-ravaged borderlands of Northern Ireland, northern England, and the Scottish lowlands, Appalachia has been lampooned by writers and screenwriters as the home of hillbillies and rednecks. It transplanted a culture formed in a state of near constant danger and upheaval, characterized by a warrior ethic and a commitment to personal sovereignty and individual liberty. Intensely suspicious of lowland aristocrats and Yankee social engineers alike, Greater Appalachia has shifted alliances depending on who appeared to be the greatest threat to their freedom. It was with the Union in the Civil War. Since Reconstruction, and especially since the upheavals of the 1960s, it has joined with Deep South to counter federal overrides of local preference.
DEEP SOUTH. Established by English slave lords from Barbados, Deep South was meant as a West Indies–style slave society. This nation offered a version of classical Republicanism modeled on the slave states of the ancient world, where democracy was the privilege of the few and enslavement the natural lot of the many. Its caste systems smashed by outside intervention, it continues to fight against expanded federal powers, taxes on capital and the wealthy, and environmental, labor, and consumer regulations.
EL NORTE. The oldest of the American nations, El Norte consists of the borderlands of the Spanish American empire, which were so far from the seats of power in Mexico City and Madrid that they evolved their own characteristics. Most Americans are aware of El Norte as a place apart, where Hispanic language, culture, and societal norms dominate. But few realize that among Mexicans, norteños have a reputation for being exceptionally independent, self-sufficient, adaptable, and focused on work. Long a hotbed of democratic reform and revolutionary settlement, the region encompasses parts of Mexico that have tried to secede in order to form independent buffer states between their mother country and the United States.
THE LEFT COAST. A Chile-shaped nation wedged between the Pacific Ocean and the Cascade and Coast mountains, the Left Coast was originally colonized by two groups: New Englanders (merchants, missionaries, and woodsmen who arrived by sea and dominated the towns) and Appalachian midwesterners (farmers, prospectors, and fur traders who generally arrived by wagon and controlled the countryside). Yankee missionaries tried to make it a "New England on the Pacific," but were only partially successful. Left Coast culture is a hybrid of Yankee utopianism and Appalachian self-expression and exploration—traits recognizable in its cultural production, from the Summer of Love to the iPad. The staunchest ally of Yankeedom, it clashes with Far Western sections in the interior of its home states.
THE FAR WEST. The other "second-generation" nation, the Far West occupies the one part of the continent shaped more by environmental factors than ethnographic ones. High, dry, and remote, the Far West stopped migrating easterners in their tracks, and most of it could be made habitable only with the deployment of vast industrial resources: railroads, heavy mining equipment, ore smelters, dams, and irrigation systems. As a result, settlement was largely directed by corporations headquartered in distant New York, Boston, Chicago, or San Francisco, or by the federal government, which controlled much of the land. The Far West's people are often resentful of their dependent status, feeling that they have been exploited as an internal colony for the benefit of the seaboard nations. Their senators led the fight against trusts in the mid-twentieth century. Of late, Far Westerners have focused their anger on the federal government, rather than their corporate masters.
NEW FRANCE. Occupying the New Orleans area and southeastern Canada, New France blends the folkways of ancien régime northern French peasantry with the traditions and values of the aboriginal people they encountered in northwestern North America. After a long history of imperial oppression, its people have emerged as down-to-earth, egalitarian, and consensus driven, among the most liberal on the continent, with unusually tolerant attitudes toward gays and people of all races and a ready acceptance of government involvement in the economy. The New French influence is manifest in Canada, where multiculturalism and negotiated consensus are treasured.
FIRST NATION. First Nation is populated by native American groups that generally never gave up their land by treaty and have largely retained cultural practices and knowledge that allow them to survive in this hostile region on their own terms. The nation is now reclaiming its sovereignty, having won considerable autonomy in Alaska and Nunavut and a self-governing nation state in Greenland that stands on the threshold of full independence. Its territory is huge—far larger than the continental United States—but its population is less than 300,000, most of whom live in Canada.
What do you think? Reasonably accurate or a bunch of hogwash?
Oh and... the original article: http://www.tufts.edu/alumni/magazine/fall2013/features/up-in-arms.html
So is the new interpretation of the old 9 Nations of North America? Looks nearly identical for West and then just more subdivisions in east.
edit: Oh I see it mentioned in that article.
Anything that puts modern day New Orleans and Quebec together is out to lunch.
I'm New Dutch! :w00t: :ccr
Montreal is the same culturally as New Orleans? Sure, why not.
Quote from: Barrister on November 06, 2013, 04:19:46 PM
Anything that puts modern day New Orleans and Quebec together is out to lunch.
Heh. :hug:
It needs to use the word "slave" more times in describing the Deep South. And I didn't know I lived in Greater Appalachia :mellow:
I don't get how Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan are part of Yankeedom.
Quote from: derspiess on November 06, 2013, 04:21:11 PM
It needs to use the word "slave" more times in describing the Deep South. And I didn't know I lived in Greater Appalachia :mellow:
Yeah so do I :hmm:
Quote from: Jacob on November 06, 2013, 04:12:10 PMQuoteThe New French influence is manifest in Canada, where multiculturalism and negotiated consensus are treasured.
Nothing says 'Quebec' like multi-cultural tolerance :)
QuoteI don't get how Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan are part of Yankeedom.
Maybe Scandis and English Puritans aren't that dissimilar.
Edit: Actually I've read people who say if Edward VI had lived England would've gone a lot more like Sweden :mellow:
It reads like the introductory voice over for a bad post apocalyptic movie.
Quote from: DGuller on November 06, 2013, 04:19:48 PM
I'm New Dutch! :w00t: :ccr
D van Guller: These blueberries are too expensive. I suspect that the Midlanders, who reject our notions of top down government intervention, are charging exorbitant tariffs on the blueberry supply routes.
Just go ahead and post the soda map
Quote from: Ed Anger on November 06, 2013, 04:32:17 PM
Just go ahead and post the soda map
This ain't burger king, you can't have it your way.
It could be interesting to impose the soda map on Yakie's map. :nerd:
Quote from: Sheilbh on November 06, 2013, 04:24:06 PM
Edit: Actually I've read people who say if Edward VI had lived England would've gone a lot more like Sweden :mellow:
What? How?
And I always get Shadowrun vibes with these maps.
Quote from: Savonarola on November 06, 2013, 04:32:15 PM
Quote from: DGuller on November 06, 2013, 04:19:48 PM
I'm New Dutch! :w00t: :ccr
D van Guller: These blueberries are too expensive. I suspect that the Midlanders, who reject our notions of top down government intervention, are charging exorbitant tariffs on the blueberry supply routes.
:mad: Damn Midlanders. :mad:
Quote from: The Brain on November 06, 2013, 04:35:01 PM
Quote from: Sheilbh on November 06, 2013, 04:24:06 PM
Edit: Actually I've read people who say if Edward VI had lived England would've gone a lot more like Sweden :mellow:
What? How?
By the end he was involved in government and the ministers he around him were very Protestant, and his own upbringing was evangelical. They were also interested in European intervention and, broadly, the army.
Quote from: DGuller on November 06, 2013, 04:42:02 PM
:mad: Damn Midlanders. :mad:
Dumb Dutchman. Blueberries are grown in the Northeast.
Quote from: DGuller on November 06, 2013, 04:42:02 PM
Quote from: Savonarola on November 06, 2013, 04:32:15 PM
Quote from: DGuller on November 06, 2013, 04:19:48 PM
I'm New Dutch! :w00t: :ccr
D van Guller: These blueberries are too expensive. I suspect that the Midlanders, who reject our notions of top down government intervention, are charging exorbitant tariffs on the blueberry supply routes.
:mad: Damn Midlanders. :mad:
You must convince your allies in Yankeedom to use their Communal Empowerment ability to smite the Midlanders.
Quote from: Admiral Yi on November 06, 2013, 04:44:39 PM
Quote from: DGuller on November 06, 2013, 04:42:02 PM
:mad: Damn Midlanders. :mad:
Dumb Dutchman. Blueberries are grown in the Northeast.
Not this time of year; the New Dutchmen are dependent on the slave power of the Deep South for their supply of delicious blueberries.
Quote from: Admiral Yi on November 06, 2013, 04:34:38 PM
It could be interesting to impose the soda map on Yakie's map. :nerd:
The soda map is probably more related to the history of soda companies and their marketing/advertising than to anything connected to ethnography. I assume for example that 'Coke' is predominant in the south because Coca-Cola was dominant in the south for a long time. It might be that post-introduction of soda, the terms for soda were influenced by population movements however. :hmm:
Quote from: Caliga on November 06, 2013, 04:51:36 PM
The soda map is probably more related to the history of soda companies and their marketing/advertising than to anything connected to ethnography. I assume for example that 'Coke' is predominant in the south because Coca-Cola was dominant in the south for a long time. It might be that post-introduction of soda, the terms for soda were influenced by population movements however. :hmm:
I don't see how soda company marketing would affect the use of soda vs. pop.
Unless you're claiming certain companies used those terms in their marketing. :hmm:
:yes:
I'm not 'claiming' that so much as I am speculating about that.
Any "culture map" that has arbitrary internal lines being more significant than our national borders is immediately suspect.
Also it reminds me of those red state/blue state things. "53% of the population over here support X, while only 46% of the population over there support it. ZOMG, Culture Clash!"
Quote from: Ed Anger on November 06, 2013, 04:32:17 PM
Just go ahead and post the soda map
I am not sure why people would have a map for baking soda, but I have seen a pop map.
Quote from: crazy canuck on November 06, 2013, 07:38:58 PM
Quote from: Ed Anger on November 06, 2013, 04:32:17 PM
Just go ahead and post the soda map
I am not sure why people would have a map for baking soda, but I have seen a pop map.
Ugh, Canada!
Damned hosers :angry:
If I thought Tufts was a legit institution, I might care what's published in THEIR FUCKING ALUMNI MAGAZINE.
Also, for a supposed scholar, he fails to distinguish WI and MI from Yankeedom, in that they allow broadly deregulated concealed carry and gun rights.
I'm not sure, but I think he may be credentialed, and not, you know, educated.
And he certainly has a fairly condescending world view: "The Far West's people are often resentful of their dependent status, feeling that they have been exploited as an internal colony for the benefit of the seaboard nations. Their senators led the fight against trusts in the mid-twentieth century. Of late, Far Westerners have focused their anger on the federal government, rather than their corporate masters."
But, whatever. He's got some awards, and shit. I'm sure he's lived in many different places, among many different people, and so he must have a diverse experience of life.
I'm willing to guess that the people of Alberta are not a great deal like the people of Nevada.
Quote from: Razgovory on November 06, 2013, 09:49:44 PM
I'm willing to guess that the people of Alberta are not a great deal like the people of Nevada.
I think he was just up on a deadline & realized he hadn't filled out the map entirely, and just decided to call everything else The Far West. Spot on about their Corporate Masters, though. Those Far West dolts don't realize who's really oppressing them!!
Quote from: derspiess on November 06, 2013, 10:11:37 PM
Quote from: Razgovory on November 06, 2013, 09:49:44 PM
I'm willing to guess that the people of Alberta are not a great deal like the people of Nevada.
I think he was just up on a deadline & realized he hadn't filled out the map entirely, and just decided to call everything else The Far West. Spot on about their Corporate Masters, though. Those Far West dolts don't realize who's really oppressing them!!
Better or worse than being called "The Empty Quarter"?
QuoteAlso, for a supposed scholar, he fails to distinguish WI and MI from Yankeedom, in that they allow broadly deregulated concealed carry and gun rights.
Don't Maine and New Hampshire have high ownership rates?
Quote from: Queequeg on November 07, 2013, 06:04:14 PM
QuoteAlso, for a supposed scholar, he fails to distinguish WI and MI from Yankeedom, in that they allow broadly deregulated concealed carry and gun rights.
Don't Maine and New Hampshire have high ownership rates?
Vermont has virtually zero gun laws. Having a loaded rifle in the car is a Fish and Game violation, and suppressors are illegal. Otherwise, anybody can carry, concealed or not, anywhere it's not specifically posted as illegal (e.g. a courthouse).
Maine and N.H. have slightly stricter laws, but still very little regulation.
Yeah. My main objection would be that I think the upper Mid-West is quite a bit more religious these days, more conservative, and more Scandinavian or German. I don't think gun ownership is a whole lot different given the outdoor penchant of both regions.