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Question #1: How does the environment influence:- Food choices- Food taboos- Housing styles
And, 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).
Tidewater
“I” house
Folk Housing
Saltbox Cape Cod
Front Gable and Wing Two-Chimeny
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?