Folk Culture: Influences of Physical Environment

Question #1: How does the environment influence: - Food choices - Food taboos - Housing stylesAnd, what are the differences among folk cultures?

Folk Culture: Influences of Physical Environment • Environmental conditions can limit the variety of human actions anywhere • Two necessities of daily life- food and shelter- demonstrate the influence of cultural values and environment on the development of unique folk culture. • Different societies prefer different foods and styles of house construction

Food Preferences • Food Diversity in Transylvania • Food customs affected by availability of products • Food habits encouraged by cultural traditions • In Transylvania, food preferences distinguish groups: • Romanians: sour bran soups • Saxons: simmered fatty pork in water • Jews: preferred soups made from beets and sorrel • Armenians: soup based on churut and vegetables • Hungarians: added smoked bacon to the soup

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.

Food Taboos • People refuse to eat particular plants or animals that are thought to embody negative forces in the environment. • protect an endangered animal • Conserve natural resources • Taboo: • Restriction on behavior imposed by social custom

Folk Housing • The house is a product of both cultural traditions and natural conditions • Reflection of cultural heritage, current fashion, functional needs, and the impact of the environment

House Types in Western China Fig. 4-8: Four communities in western China all have distinctive house types.

Question #2: What role do art, sacred spaces & housing play in folk culture?

Himalayan Folk Cultural Regions Fig. 4-5: Cultural geographers have identified four distinct culture regions based on predominant religions in the Himalaya Mountains.

Sacred Places • Java • Front door often faces south • Direction of the South Sea Goddess • Holds the key to earth • Fiji • East wall of house sacred • Madagascar • Main door on west • Most important direction • Thailand • Yuan and Shan • Sleep with head towards east • Staircases must not face west • Direction of death and evil spirits • Laos • Beds perpendicular to the center ridgepole in house • Head =noble, high value • Feet= low value

Home Locations in Southeast Asia Fig. 4-7: Houses and sleeping positions are oriented according to local customs among the Lao in northern Laos (left) and the Yuan and Shan in northern Thailand (right).

Folk Housing Tidewater “I” house

Saltbox Cape Cod Two-Chimeny Front Gable and Wing

Diffusion of House Types in U.S. Fig. 4-9: Distinct house types originated in three main source areas in the U.S. and then diffused into the interior as migrants moved west.

Diffusion of New England House Types Fig. 4-10: Four main New England house types of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries diffused westward as settlers migrated.

Question #3: Why and how is there a rapid diffusion of pop culture? Give examples for • Food/Beverage • Clothing

Popular Culture: Regional Variations • Americans choose particular beverages or snacks in part on the basis of local preference for what is produced, grown, or imported locally. • Bourbon • Consumption concentrated in Upper South • Tequila • Heavily concentrated in the Southwest along the border with Mexico • Pork rinds • Preferred in South • Hogs raised there • Other examples • popcorn/ and potato chips in North • Corn and potatoes grown there

Regional Variations • Cultural backgrounds also affect the amount and types of alcohol and snack foods consumed • Relates partially to • Religious backgrounds • Income • Advertising • Religious Backgrounds • Southeast • Baptists • Utah • Mormons • Location • Texans prefer tortilla chips • Mexican-Americans • Westerners prefer multigrain chips • Concern for nutritional value

Alcohol Preferences in the U.S. Fig. 4-12: Per capita consumption of rum (top) and Canadian whiskey (bottom) show different distributions and histories of diffusion.

Wine Production per Year Wine is typically produced in hilly areas that have cold wet winters and long hot dry summers. Fig. 4-13: The distribution of wine production shows the joint impact of the physical environment and social customs.

Rapid Diffusion of Clothing Styles • Individual clothing habits reflect: • Availability of income • Social forms • Job characteristics • MDCs • clothing habits reflect occupations • higher incomes • Improved communications have allowed the rapid diffusion of clothing styles from one region of earth to another • Speed is essential • Increasing awareness of global clothing styles • Increased travel

Question #4: Discuss how the style of housing post-WWII reflected TIME and not PLACE

U.S. House Types, 1945–1990 Fig. 4-11: Several variations of the “modern style” were dominant from the 1940s into the 1970s. Since then, “neo-eclectic” styles have become the dominant type of house construction in the U.S.

Question #5: How has the electronic diffusion of pop culture changed? How does it impact society?

Diffusion of TV, 1954–1999 Fig. 4-14: Television has diffused widely since the 1950s, but some areas still have low numbers of TVs per population.

Distribution of Internet Hosts Fig. 4-15: The U.S. had two-thirds of the world’s internet hosts in 2002. Diffusion of internet service is likely to follow the pattern of TV diffusion, but the rate of this diffusion may differ.

Question #6: What are the biggest differences between folk and pop culture?

Folk Culture: Influences of Physical Environment