Case study:
Aborigines from Australia visited the Lincoln center in new York and danced/performed.
- "Aborigine" means indigenous or autochthonous- native to a particular place
- These aborigines and their dances represented folk culture while the Lincoln center reflects pop culture
Culture-the body of customary beliefs, material traits, and social forms that together constitute the distinct tradition of a group of people
What people care about
- Ie: customary ideas, beliefs and values.
What people take care of
- Ie: food, clothing, shelter, and other material wealth
Culture is distinguished by…
- Habit- a repetitive act that a particular individual performs
- Custom- a repetitive act of a group performed to the extent that it becomes characteristic of the group.
- A collection of social customs produces a groups material customs
- A collection of social customs produces a groups material customs
There are two types of material culture
- Folk cultureà Practiced by a small, homogenous, groups living in isolated, rural areas. The scale of territories is small.
- Ie: in Malaysia, they wear a sarong and in india, they wear a sari
- Ie: in Malaysia, they wear a sarong and in india, they wear a sari
- Pop cultureà found in large heterogeneous societies that share certain habits despite differences in other personal characteristics. The scale of territories is large.
- Ie: mcdonalds.
- Ie: mcdonalds.
Cultural geography and anthropology
Anthropology- the scientific study of the origin and of the physical, social, and cultural development and behavior of mankind.
Origins of folk and popular culture
Folk customs generally have anonymous hearths
Most popular customs come from hearths in north America, western Europe, and japan.
- Ie: Popular music and fast food
- Popular customs arise from advances in technology and increased leisure time
Industrial technology allows people to produce large quantities of uniform objects
Origins of folk music
Most folk music is composed anonymously and is transmitted orally
Most songs based on daily activities (ie farming) or Life-cycle events(ie: births and deaths) or mysterious events (weather)
Sometimes folk music has multiple hearths
George Carney- the geographer who identified four major country music hearths in the US
- Southern appalachia
- Central Tennessee and Kentucky
- Ozark and Ouachita uplands of Arkansas
- Eastern Oklahoma and north central texas
- Nashville is the relative center of all of these hearths
Popular music is written by specific individuals for the purpose of being sold to large audiences
In the US, modern pop music started in Tin Pan Alley. They wrote for music halls (England) as well as for vaudeville (US)
English is the universal language of pop music
Diffusion of folk popular cultures
Folk culture diffuses slowly on a small scale from one location to another
- Folk culture spreads through migration, aka relocation diffusion
- Ie: the amish in the US
- Ie: the amish in the US
Popular culture diffuses quickly on a large scale from prominent nodes of innovation
- Popular culture spreads through expansion diffusion, aka hierarchical
Essay possibility 1: Diffusion of Soccer
Soccer called 'football' outside US
Folk culture originated in the 11th century in England when british soldiers found a dane's head and was copied by a little boy who used an inflated cow's bladder instead of a head
- "kick the dane's head"
Rules were standardized in the 12th century
Henry II said that soccer disrupted village life and banned it.
King james I brought the sport back in 1603 but it was still a folk custom
Globalization of soccer into pop culture
- Foot ball clubs were formed in the 1800s and professional leagues formed in 1863. this marked a transition into popular culture
- more leisure time for spectators and participants
- football association, the overall rule-making body, was formed with the professional league
- more leisure time for spectators and participants
they called it "association football"à assoc à soccer
- this distinguished it from rugby football
eventually soccer diffused from England à Europe à world via the british empire
- and the 20th century radio and television increased the popularity of the sport
not as popular in the US
1st college game was Princeton vs Rutgers
1873 all the colleges that were playing soccer, got together to do some rule changes and Harvard moved to drop soccer at that time and make some adjustnments to rugby instead. That became American football.
Pele was a Brazilian player who lead his team to win 3 world cup competitions.
David beckham- UK
The world cup
- happens every 4 years
- has a tv audience of over 2 billion, more than any other sporting event in history
End EP 2
More soccer
Success of US Women's soccer
- has won the world cup and the Olympics
- title IX has evened the playing field for both men and women in sports
Thug problems in Britain
- the football war- 1969 between Honduras and El Salvador
- in Colombia, when the world cup was hosted by the US, the US won. The defender, Escobar, scored a goal against his own team and that was the difference in our wining. Escobar was gunned down outside of a Colombian bar
other popular sports
cricket
ice hockey
martial arts
baseball
basketball- NBA has international players
football- NFL Europe
lacrosse
invented by the Iroquois confederation
folk culture sport
there is now a lacrosse world championship
NCAA now recognizes and so does high schools in USA
Sports and the spread of popular culture
Athletes make money off of brand names and endorsements
- Michael Jordan
- Wheaties
Why is folk culture clustered?
Has unknown origins amongst groups living in isolation
It diffuses slowly through relocation diffusion
Isolation promotes cultural diversity
Unique folk customs develop in isolation, but when observed at a point in time can vary
Widely ,even in nearby places
Religion and art in the Himalayas
P karan and cotton mather studied the geographical area that encompasses Bhutan, Nepal, northern india and Pakistan, southern Tibet (china), to Myanmar (burma)
- Tibetan Buddhist in the north
- Hindus in the south
- Muslims in the west
- Animist in southeast asia
Culture and the physical environment
Environmental determinism vs. possibilism
- Folk customs that deal with food, clothing, shelter are influenced by climate, soil and vegetation
- For example, one adaptation that's been made by people who live in Holland, farmers wear wooden shoes that are cured in such a way that the shoes are water proof. This is useful because the Netherlands are below sealevel.
- For example, one adaptation that's been made by people who live in Holland, farmers wear wooden shoes that are cured in such a way that the shoes are water proof. This is useful because the Netherlands are below sealevel.
Folk food habits
Distinctive food preferences
- Vidal de la blache- "food preferences connect people more than any other environmental connection"
Geophagy- eating dirt.
- The main dirt of choice is kaolin
- Kaopectate contains kaolin
Qat (chat)- a narcotic leaf that is grown in Yemen
Around the world, people eat plants and animals determined by soil, climate, terrain and vegetation.
- Soybeans- people in asia made bean sprouts, soy sauce, and bean curds, and edamame
Food attraction
Food taboos
Ainus in japan because otters cause forgetful
Early Europe they wouldn't eat the skins of potatoes because it looks like leprosy
Hebrew jews- don't eat animals that don't chew cud, with cloven feet, fish lacking fins or scales,
pigs.
Pork spoils in warm climates because muslims have similar pork taboo
India, many hindus are strict vegetarians and don't eat cows
Many geographers try to interpret cow reverence. Like milk from cows.
Cows are a source of oxen(the traditional work animal in india)
In the US, eating insects is a taboo.
Folk and popular housing
No class lecture
Study pictures in TB and BR vocabulary
EP-2 NOT: The role of TV in diffusing popular culture
Watching tv is the most popular leisure activity in MDCs and is the most important mechanism by which popular culture is diffused across the earth
- The US public first saw the TV in the 1930s
- WWII blocked the diffusion of the invention of the TV
- In the early 1950s you could find TV in 20 countries
- In the early 1960s it had grown to 62 countries
- In the late 1960s it had spread to 91 countries
- Some geographers categorize nations by tv service
- Nearly every household
- Common but not universal
- TV exists but is not widely diffused
- Few tvs
Government control
- Taliban outlawed TV
- US, most channels are privately owned but some are public
- Most countries who have TVs channels are run by government
- These countries' tv is run by taxes
- These countries' tv is run by taxes
- BBC sells liscenses to put programs on TV
- In western Europe, some private channels are allowed
- Tv has been used to control populations in totalitarian government
- But changing technology (satellite dish) became a force for political change vs. stability because people learned to smuggle in satellites.
- But changing technology (satellite dish) became a force for political change vs. stability because people learned to smuggle in satellites.
- Satellite dishes have been banned in china and Singapore. Saudi Arabia bans them because they don't want to be shown "un-islamic" teaching.
- Problem in banning dishes, not easily enforced
- Problem in banning dishes, not easily enforced
- Some people even attribute the fall of communism in eastern Europe to the satellite dish.
END EP @ NOT.
Internet
Diffusion of the internet took a similar pattern to tv
EP3: changes in the traditional role of women
The global diffusion of popular culture threatened subservience of women to men – a major folk custom around the world,
- Women stay at home. If they did any outside work, restricted to agriculture and handicrafts
Extreme à Taliban à Black Chador
Advancement & Empowerment of Women
Early History:
- Low Levels of education
- Victimization- often by husbands
In MDCs today_ Popular Culture
- Legal equality
- Economic and social opportunities outside the home
Even in MDCs there is still discrimination
In LDCs popular culture has helped but there are still negative aspects:
- Prostitution
- Sex Tours
- Major source of foreign currency so police look the other way
- Men in MDCs for women in LDCs
- Major source of foreign currency so police look the other way
Global Interaction
Women are equal at home in MDCs
Some folk cultures of LDCs view women as objects money can buy
End EP3
Threat of Modern Media Imperialism
3 MDCs dominate the TV industries in the LDCs
- United States, United Kingdom, and Japan
News Media is under Western Control
- Associated Press (AP)- U.S
- Reuters- British
- Visnews Ltd. is a joint British and American organization that supplies most of the world's television news videos
- Worldwide Television News (WTN)- similar joint organization
- BBC World Service offers a shortwave radio service- helps for traveling reporters
Environmental Impact of Popular Culture
Modification of Nature
- i.e. diffusion of golf- changes landscape
- studied by John Rooney
- studied by John Rooney
Uniform landscape
Distribution of popular culture tends to produce more uniform landscapes
Part of the desire for uniform landscape is for product recognition
Fast food restaurants are main proponents of uniform landscape
Franchise- a companies agreement with local business men to market that company's product
- ie,Great clips, Sams club
negative environmental impact
depletion of scarce natural resources
- if people ate the grains instead of the animals that eat the grain, we'd have more food.
- Popular culture has brought a high volume of waste in solids liquids and gases
- Ie, Fast food waste discards more than recycles
- Ie, Fast food waste discards more than recycles
Case study
Contrast- folk culture and popular culture
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