Chapter 4: Folk and Pop Culture

1. Chapter 4: Folk and Pop Culture Unit 3: Culture

2. Geographers look at: • Particular social custom’s origin, its diffusion, and its integration with other social characteristics • Relation between material culture and physical environment

3. Material Culture: • Leisure activities vs survival activities • Habit vs Custom • Habit: Repetitive act that a particular individual performs • Custom: Repetitive act of a group. • Folk and Pop Culture: • Folk: practiced primarily by small homogeneous groups living in isolated rural areas • Pop: found in large, heterogeneous societies that share certain habits despite differences in personal characteristics

4. Where does it originate and diffuse (Key 1) • Folk originates at a hearth, a center. • Migration and diffusion • Pop is a product of MDCs • Technology, some diffusion

5. Music • Folk: • Tells stories, conveys information • Composed anonymously • Transmitted orally • May be modified between generations to reflect changing conditions • Pop: • Written by specific individuals to be sold to a large number of people • Technical skill, performed in studios with electronic equipment

6. Folk Song • Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones,Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones,Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones,Now shake dem skeleton bones!The toe bone's connected to the foot bone,The foot bone's connected to the ankle bone,The ankle bone's connected to the leg bone,Now shake dem skeleton bones!The leg bone's connected to the knee bone,The knee bone's connected to the thigh bone,The thigh bone's connected to the hip bone,Now shake dem skeleton bones!Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones,Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones,Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones,Now shake dem skeleton bones!The hip bone's connected to the back boneThe back bone's connected to the neck bone,The neck bone's connected to the head bone,Now shake dem skeleton bones!The finger bone's connected to the hand bone,The hand bone's connected to the arm bone,The arm bone's connected to the shoulder bone,Now shake dem skeleton bones!Dem bones, dem bones gonna walk aroundDem bones, dem bones, gonna walk aroundDem bones, dem bones, gonna walk aroundNow shake dem skeleton bones!

7. Popular Music: Top Songs Ever • Rihanna: Umbrella • Stevie Wonder: Superstition • Aretha Franklin: Respect • Don McLean: American Pie • R.E.M.-Losing My Religion • Madonna: Ray of Light • Michael Jackson: Billie Jean • Righteous Brothers: You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feelin • Pink: Get the Party Started • Frank Sinatra: Strangers in the Night • Marvin Gaye: Let’s Get it On • A-Ha: Take on Me • Nirvana: Smells Like Teen Spirit • Simon & Garfunkel: Mrs Robinson • Britney Spears: Baby One More Time • Joan Jett and the Blackhearts: I Love Rock n Roll • OutKast: Hey Ya • Carly Simon: You’re So Vain • Judy Garland: Over the Rainbow • John Lennon: Imagine

8. Diffusion of Culture • Pop: • Diffuses rapidly through modern communication and transportation • Uses hearths or nodes of innovation • Hollywood: movies/tv • Folk: • Transmitted slowly and on a small scale • Migration/diffusion rather than electronically

9. Pop Culture Example: Soccer • Most sports began as folk customs, diffused through migration • Earliest soccer game in England in 11th century • Early football resembled mob scenes in villages • Folk to pop began in England 1800s, new founded leisure time allowed for participants and spectators • Game was exported around Europe by English players-eventually by radio/tv around world.

10. What are some country specific sports? • Britain: Cricket • Ice Hockey: Canada, North Europe, Russia • China: Martial Arts • Baseball: North America • Lacrosse: Iroquois Confederation of Six Nations • Which have diffused to other areas?

11. Why is Folk Culture Clustered? (Key 2) • Folk societies are responsive to the environment (for the most part) • Customs influenced by climate, soil, vegetation • Different societies prefer different food/house construction • Food is embedded in environment • Grow what the climate, soil, weather allows

12. People desire/avoid foods according to what may or may not harm them • Folk societies have ‘taboo’ foods. • What are taboo foods to certain regions?

13. Isolation Promotes Diversity • Himalayan Art Study • Buddhists: north-monks, saints: some terrifying. • Hindus: south-everyday life and local scenes • Muslims: Islamic west-beautiful plants and flowers. No harsh climate conditions • Animists: Myanmar (Burma) and SE Asia-symbols and designs from religion

14. Folk Housing • Product of cultural tradition and natural conditions • Reflection of cultural heritage, current fashion, functional needs, impact of environment • Building materials influenced by resources available • Most common: wood and brick

15. Religion and Houses? • Sacred Spaces • East wall sacred in Fiji • Northwest wall in China • Doors are on the west side in Madagascar • US Folk Housing • Older homes showcase folk traditions • Lower Chesapeake-one story, steep roof, two chimneys (Chesapeake Bay, southeast coast) • Middle Atlantic- “I” House, two story, gables on the side, one room deep; two rooms wide (Ohio Valley, App. Mtns, eastern US) • New England-upper New England, southern Great Lakes to Wisconsin. 4 types

16. Why is Popular Culture Widely Distributed? (key 3) • Popular culture flourishes where income and time is available to get or use them • Beverages and snacks are chosen somewhat by what is produced, grown, imported locally • Cultural backgrounds affect amount/type of alcohol and snacks • Clothing reflects income and social forms

17. Clothing Styles • In North America and Western Europe, clothing depicts occupation than environment • Technology has increased the diffusion of styles around the world. • Globalization has created higher awareness of styles • Jeans-a status symbol

18. Clothing Styles • One’s Occupation: • Lawyer Attire= Solid color suits (black, grey, or blue) • Factory Worker Attire= jeans and factory shirt • Income: • Upper Class citizens usually wear more elegant and sophisticated articles of clothing, as well as name brand. • Middle Class citizens usually wear casual articles of clothing and sometimes name brand. • Low Class citizens usually don’t wear name brand clothing, and are very low quality

19. Minimal Traditional: one story, dominant front gable, few details, small and modest

20. Ranch House: replaced minimal in 50s to 60s. One story, long side parallel to street rooms on one level, larger lot needed-urban sprawl

21. Split-level: variant of the ranch house (50s-70s), lower level garage, ‘family’ room w/tv, kitchen, formal and dining areas on intermediate level, bedrooms on top above family and garage.

22. Contemporary: 50s-70s for architect deisgned houses, flat or low-pitched roofs.

23. Shed: late 60s, high-pitched roofs, geometric look/form

24. Neo-Electic

25. Mansard: 1st popular style, shingle-covered second story walls-sloped inward, merged with roof

26. Neo-Tudor: 1970s, dominant, steep-pitched front-facing gables, half timbered details

27. Neo-French: 1970s-80s, dormer windows, rounded tops, high-hipped roofs

28. Neo-colonial: central great room, adaptation of English Colonial homes

29. Log Cabin

30. Saltbox 1650 • New England • Clapboard • Central Chimney • Sloping back roof line

31. Georgian/Federal Colonial • Symmetrical—center door • Duel chimneys • Vernacular form in clapboard—also called I-house

32. Dogtrot House • Typically found in the South. • 2 cabins with a breezeway in between.

33. Shotgun House

34. Tidewater house

35. Cape Cod

36. Dutch Colonial • Gambrel or ‘barn’ roof • Dormers in the roof line

37. Carpenter Gothic • Any material; gothic ornamentation

38. American Four Square • Square box, sometimes porch, lower roof line, Midwestern

39. French Creole

40. TV and Internet • TV: Most popular activity in MDC • TV: most important part of pop culture • TV:US to Europe to other MDC to LDC • TV: 1954: 37 million tv in world: 86% in US • TV: 2005: LDC owning climbed sharply • Internet: diffused like TV but faster • Internet: 1995: 40 mil in world, 25 mil in US • Internet: 2008: 1.6 billion: US: 74% of population • Facebook: 2004, by 2009-200 mil users

44. Key 4-Why does Globalization of Popular Culture cause problems? • Threat to folk culture? • Traditional values lost… • Global diffusion may alter women’s role • Controversial • Media Imperialism • MDC media threatens independence • US, UK, Japan dominate • Promotes economic/cultural imperialism, could destroy traditional custom

45. Impact of Popular Culture • Modifies/controls environment • Imposed on rather than evolves from.. • Example in book: Golf-increase in courses • Landscape becomes uniform not unique • Fast food restaurants

46. Some negatives? • Depletion of scarce resources • Petroleum • Animals • Meat consumption • Pollution • High volumes ( cans, bottles, paper, plastic) • Folk culture has some (like burning grasslands for planting)