1. Folk and Popular Culture
Insanely Rad Scot, with Kilt and Three-Fin Thruster
Woman with Oxcart, Myanmar

2. The Forbidden City
Beijing, China 2004

4. Beijing, China 2004

5. culture (social science definition)
Specialized behavioral patterns, understandings, adaptations, and social systems that summarize a group of people’s learned way of life

6. culture is….. Learned, not biological
Transmitted within a society to next generations by imitation, tradition, instruction

7. culture provides…. a “general framework”
each individual learns & adheres to general rules
also to specific sub-groups:
age, sex, status, occupation, nationality

8. Joined by common traditions, behaviors, loyalties, beliefs
Subcultures co-exist
Masculine / feminine
Rural / rural
Different ethnicities
Joined by common traditions, behaviors, loyalties, beliefs
Christmas
Church attendance on Sunday

9. culture is dynamic…. External influences Cultural exchange
Generational
Technology
Environmental
HIV/AIDS
Global warming

10. cultural variables.. micro-macro
1. Cultural traits – most elementary
Expression of culture, the smallest distinctions
Behavior
Object
Beliefs
Attitudes
these “building blocks” = a culture complex

11. culture complex
Individual cultural traits that are functionally interrelated
Masai of Kenya – cultural traits centered on cattle
American football – sports culture

12. culture region
Portion of the Earth’s surface occupied by populations sharing recognizable distinctive cultural characteristics
Political organizations/boundaries
Religions
Economy type

13. cultural realm
A set of cultural regions showing related cultural complexes and landscapes
Large region that has assumed fundamental uniformity in its cultural characteristics and showing significant differences from surrounding realms

14. culture realms

15. cultural hearths

16. Culture The combination of three things: Material objects (artifacts)
Values
Material artifacts
Political institutions
Material objects (artifacts)
Interpersonal relations (sociofacts)
Ideas and beliefs (mentifacts)
Each element has a spatial distribution

17. Material Culture Two basic categories: folk and popular culture
Folk culture
Traditionally practiced by small, isolated, homogeneous groups in rural areas
Popular culture
Characterized by large, heterogeneous groups of people who share common habits despite differences in other personal characteristics
Geographers are interested in two aspects of culture:
Where cultures are located in space
How cultures interact with the environment

18. Important Terminology
Material Culture – the physical objects produced by a culture in order to meet its material needs (Carl Sauer - Berkeley, 1930s – 1970s):
Food
Clothing
Shelter
Arts
Recreation

19. Important Terms
Custom – frequent repetition of an act until it becomes characteristic of a group of people..
Taboo – a restriction on behavior imposed by social custom.
Habit – repetitive act performed by an individual.

20. Folk Culture – rapidly changing and/or disappearing throughout much of the world.
Guatemalan Market
Portuguese Fishing Boat
Turkish Camel Market

21. Folk Culture Stable and close knit Usually a rural community
Tradition controls
Resistance to change
Buildings erected without architect or blueprint using locally available building materials
anonymous origins, diffuses slowly through migration. Develops over time.
Clustered distributions: isolation/lack of interaction breed uniqueness and ties to physical environment.

22. FOLK ARCHITECTURE

23. FOLK ARCHITECTURE
Effects on Landscape: usually of limited scale and scope.
Agricultural: fields, terraces, grain storage
Dwellings: historically created from local materials: wood, brick, stone, skins; often uniquely and traditionally arranged; always functionally tied to physical environment.

24. Maladaptive Diffusion
Diffusion in which image takes place
over precedence over practicality OR
Diffusion of an idea or innovation that is not suitable for the environment in which it diffused into (e.g., New England-style homes in Hawaii, or Ranch-style homes in northeast US).

25. Folk Culture Stable and close knit Usually a rural community
Tradition controls
Resistant to change
Buildings erected without architect or blueprint using locally available building materials
anonymous origins, diffuses slowly through migration. Develops over time.
Clustered distributions: isolation/lack of interaction breed uniqueness and ties to physical environment.

26. FOLK FOOD
How did such differences develop?

27. Hog Production and Food Cultures
Fig. 4-6: Annual hog production is influenced by religious taboos against pork consumption in Islam and other religions. The highest production is in China, which is largely Buddhist.

28. Distribution of Amish
Figure 4-4

29. Hearths of House Types
Folk-housing: building styles that are particular to the culture of the people who have long inhabited the area; there are three distinct folk-housing regions in the United States (by way of Europe):
-New England: dating back to colonial times is of wood-frame and diffused past Wisconsin.
-Mid Atlantic: style originated as a one-room log cabin with a chimney at one end diffusing into Missouri, Arkansas, and Mississippi.
-Southern (Tidewater South): style was originally smaller, only one story, and a porch that diffused southward into Georgia. They were often built on a raised platform to reduce heat.

30. Hearths of House Types
Figure 4-12

31. U.S. House Types (1945–1990)
Figure 4-16

32. U.S. House Types by Region
Small towns in different regions of the eastern U.S. have different combinations of five main traditional house types.

33. Nebraska
Syria
Dominican Republic
Newfoundland

34. North American Folk Culture Regions

35. Food Taboos: Jews – can’t eat animals that chew cud, that have cloven feet; can’t mix meat and milk, or eat fish lacking fins or scales; Muslims – no pork; Hindus – no cows (used for oxen during monsoon)
Washing Cow in Ganges

36. Popular Culture
Clothing: Jeans, for example, and have become valuable status symbols in many regions including Asia and Russia despite longstanding folk traditions.

37. Popular Culture
Wide Distribution: differences from place to place uncommon, more likely differences at one place over time.
Housing: only small regional variations, more generally there are trends over time
Food: franchises, cargo planes, superhighways and freezer trucks have eliminated much local variation. Limited variations in choice regionally, esp. with alcohol and snacks. Substantial variations by ethnicity.

39. A Mental Map of Hip Hop
Fig. 4-3: This mental map places major hip hop performers near other similar performers and in the portion of the country where they performed.

40. Diffusion of TV, 1954–1999
Television has diffused widely since the 1950s, but some areas still have low numbers of TVs per population.
Much media is still state-controlled.
Ten Most Censored Countries:
North Korea
Myanmar (Burma)
Turkmenistan
Equatorial Guinea
Libya
Eritrea
Cuba
Uzbekistan
Syria
Belarus
Source: The Committee to Protect Journalists.

41. Internet Connections
The Internet is diffusing today, but access varies widely.

42. Internet Connections
The Internet is diffusing today, but access varies widely. Some countries censor the Internet, but this is much harder to do.

43. Popular Culture
Effects on Landscape: creates homogenous, “placeless” (Relph, 1976), landscape
Complex network of roads and highways
Commercial Structures tend towards ‘boxes’
Dwellings may be aesthetically suggestive of older folk traditions
Planned and Gated Communities more and more common

44. Are places still tied to local landscapes?
Surfing at Disney’s Orlando Typhoon Lagoon
Are places still tied to local landscapes?
Disconnect with landscape: indoor swimming pools? desert surfing?

45. Dubai’s Indoor Ski Resort Swimming Pool, West Edmonton Mall, Canada

46. Muslim Women in Traditional Dress at Indoor Ski Resort

47. Problems with the Globalization of Culture
Often Destroys Folk Culture – or preserves traditions as museum pieces or tourism gimmicks.
Mexican Mariachis; Polynesian Navigators; Cruise Line Simulations
Change in Traditional Roles and Values; Polynesian weight problems
Satellite Television, Baja California

48. Problems with the Globalization of Popular Culture
Western Media Imperialism?
U.S., Britain, and Japan dominate worldwide media.
Glorified consumerism, violence, sexuality, and militarism?
U.S. (Networks and CNN) and British (BBC) news media provide/control the dissemination of information worldwide.
These networks are unlikely to focus or provide third world perspective on issues important in the LDCs.

49. Environmental Problems with Cultural Globalization
Accelerated Resource Use through Accelerated Consumption
Furs: minx, lynx, jaguar, kangaroo, whale, sea otters (18th Century Russians) fed early fashion trends.
Consumerism evident in most Western Media fashions, including hip hop and rock and roll.
Inefficient over-consumption of Meats (10:1), Poultry (3:1), even Fish (fed other fish and chicken) by meat-eating pop cultures
Mineral Extraction for Machines, Plastics and Fuel
New larger housing desires and associated energy and water use.
Golf courses use valuable water and destroy habitat worldwide.
Pollution: waste from fuel generation and discarded products, plastics, marketing and packaging materials

51. Beijing, China
Palm Springs, CA

52. Marlboro Man in Egypt

53. Forbes Hip Hop Cash Kings, 2007

54. Fiji

55. Suburban Sprawl, Arizona

56. “Progress?”