A good example of a vernacular cultural region is Dixies in the United States. Once they start to see themselves as members of an existing cultural region, others begin to accept them as such and give them a specific name. The existence of these regions is validated solely because they are perceived as existing by their inhabitants. Vernacular cultural regions are also known as popular or perceptual cultural regions. They do, however, have clearly defined borders that separate them from one another. This means that functional regions are configured extremely similar to formal cultural regions. Those central points, or hubs, can be city halls, precinct voting places, banks, or even factories. They also have central points that coordinate everything that is going on in these regions. This means that functional cultural regions include cities, independent states, trade areas, or even large farms. However, they are often organized in such a way that allows them to function economically and politically as a single unit efficiently. This type is often not culturally homogenous. The second type of cultural regions are functional cultural regions. Borders have a much lesser value than cores that feature all of the important traits of that formal region. This is why it is crucial to determine the center of the cultural region. When we start considering multiple cultural traits, these zones start to grow and become much larger than with just a single trait. This is why the borders themselves often look like zones instead of lines. The borders are never sharp since many different cultures mix and overlap with each other. However, this does not mean it is a simple task. Locating the cultural borders of formal regions is easier than with other types. Those traits can include language, religion, and many similar things. However, the number of traits these people have in common can be much larger than that. Formal Cultural Regionsįormal cultural regions are those regions that are inhabited by people that share at least one cultural trait. But, while it is clear we cannot really say how many cultural regions exist, we can say how many different types of cultural regions there are in the world. Depending on the type of culture we are observing, we can also draw different borders. So finding the exact borders of cultural regions is hard because they are constantly changing and fluctuating. The problem is that these groups do not tie themselves to the borders we use to define nation-states. Understands business needs & engages with regional and local stakeholders to meet their priorities and requirements and therefore, builds effective, trustful, personal and virtual relationships with key regional/country stakeholders. They are hard to define and are not clearly marked with borders anywhere, so it is extremely hard to say how many cultural regions are there in the world.Ĭultural regions are often tied to a specific ethnolinguistic group and the area where we can find that group. Regional Procurement Manager - Enabling Function. These activities fall under the umbrella term of culture.

Cultural regions are geographical areas that are defined by a homogeneous human activity or a complex of activities.

Functional region