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8/11/2019 Folk Geography - Part I [EDocFind.com]
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Folk GeographyThe Human Mosaic
Chapter 7
8/11/2019 Folk Geography - Part I [EDocFind.com]
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Differences between popular and
folk culture
Popular culture
Consists of large masses of people whoconform to and prescribe to ever-changing
norms Large heterogeneous groups
Often highly individualistic and groups areconstantly changing
Pronounced division of labor leading toestablishment of specialized professions
Police and army take the place of religion andfamily in maintaining order
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Differences between popular and
folk culture
Popular culture
Money based economy prevails
Replacing folk culture in industrializedcountries and many developing nations
Folk-made objects give way to theirpopular equivalent
Item is more quickly or cheaply producedEasier or time-saving to use
Lends prestige to owner
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Differences between popular and
folk culture
Folk culture
Made up of people who maintain the traditional
Describes people who live in an old-fashioned
way-simpler life-style Rural, cohesive, conservative, largely self-
sufficient group, homogeneous in custom
Strong family or clan structure and highly
developed rituals Tradition is paramount change comes
infrequently and slowly
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Differences between popular and
folk culture
Folk cultureLittle specialization in labor though duties
may vary between genders
Subsistence economy prevailsIndividualism and social classes are weakly
developed
In parts of the less-developed world, folk
cultures remain commonIndustrialized countries no longer have
unaltered folk cultures
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Differences between popular and
folk culture
Folk cultureThe Amish in the United States
Perhaps the nearest modem equivalent in Anglo-
America German-American farming sect
Largely renounces products and labor-savingdevices of the industrial age
Horse-drawn buggies still used, and faithful own
no autos or appliances Central religion concept of demut, humility,
reflects weakness of individualism and social class
Rarely marry outside their sect
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Differences between popular and
folk culture
Folk culture Typically, bearers of folk culture combine folk and
nonfolk elements in their lives
Includes both material and nonmaterial elements
Material culture includes all objects or things madeand used by members of a cultural groupmaterialelements are visible
Nomnaterial culture, including folklore, can be definedas oral, including the wide range of tales, songs, lore,
beliefs, superstitions, and customsOther aspects of nonmaterial culture include dialects,
religions, and worldviews
Folk geographydefined as the study of the spatialpatterns and ecology of folklife
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Culture Regions
Folk Culture Regions
Folk Cultural Diffusion
Folk EcologyCultural Integration in Folk
Geography
Folk Landscapes
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Material folk culture regions
Vestiges of material folk cultureremain in various parts of the UnitedStates and Canada
Material artifacts of 15 cultureregions in North America survive insome abundance though they are in
general decline
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Material folk culture regions
Each region possesses manydistinctive items of material culture
Germanized Pennsylvanian folk region
has an unusual SwissGerman type ofbarn
Yankee folk regiontraditional
gravestone art, with winged deathheads, and barns attached to the rearof houses
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Material folk culture regions
Each region possesses manydistinctive items of material culture
Upland South regionnotched-log
construction, used in building a varietyof distinctive house types such as the
dogtrot
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Material folk culture regions
Each region possesses manydistinctive items of material culture
African-American folk regionscraped-
earth cemetery, banjo that originated inAfrica, and head scarfs worn by women
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Material folk culture regions
Each region possesses manydistinctive items of material cultureQuebec French folk region-grist
windmills with stone towers, and abowling game played with small metalballs
Mormon folk culture distinctive hay
derricks and gridiron farm villagesWestern plains ranching folk culture
the beef wheel, a windlass usedduring butchering
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Quebec
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Quebec
Petanque, abowling gameplayed with metal
balls, diffused toCanada withFrench immigrantsin the 16thcentury.
It has persisted asone aspect ofQuebec French folkregion.
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Folk food regions
Traditional foods of folk culturesprobably endure longer than anyother trait
In Latin America, folk culturesremain vivid with diverse culinarytraditions
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Folk food regions
Mexicoabundant use of chili peppers incooking and maize for tortillas
Caribbean areas combined rice-beandishes and various rum drinks
Amazonian region monkey and caiman Brazil cuscuz (cooked grain) and
sugarcane brandy Pampas style carne asada (roasted
beef), wine and yerba mate (herbal tea) Pacific-coastal Creole manjar blanco (a
pudding)
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Folk food regions
Latin American foods derive fromAmerindians, Africans, Spaniards,and Portuguese
Pattern of Latin American is notsimple and culinary regions are notas homogeneous as the map we saw
suggests
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Folklore regions
Displays regional contrasts in much thesame way as material folk culture
Folk geographers consider diverse
nonmaterial phenomena as folktales,dance, music, myths, legends, andproverbs
Most thoroughly studied in Europe
First research appeared early in the nineteenthcentury
We know more about vanished folk culturesthan surviving ones
Example of Switzerland
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Folklore regions
Four cultural folk-song regions ofNorth America as recognized by AlanLomax
Northern tradition
Unaccompanied solo singing in hard, open-voiced clear tones
Based on British ballads
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Folklore regions
Four cultural folk-song regions ofNorth America as recognized by AlanLomax
Southern tradition
Unison singing is rare
Solo is high-pitched and nasal
Combines English and Scotch-Irish elementsBallads more guilt-ridden and violent than
those of the North
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Folklore regions
Four cultural folk-song regions of NorthAmerica as recognized by Alan Lomax Western style-simply a blend of the Southern
and Northern traditions
African-American tradition Contains both African and British elements Polyrhythmic songs of labor and worship with
instrumental accompaniment Chorus group singing, clapping, body swaying,
and strong, surging beat Each tradition shows distinctive melodies,
instrumentation, and motifs
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Culture Regions
Folk Culture Regions
Folk Cultural Diffusion
Folk EcologyCultural Integration in Folk
Geography
Folk Landscapes
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Folk cultural diffusion
Diffuses by the same methods asother cultural elements, but moreslowly
Weakly developed social stratificationtends to retard hierarchical diffusion
Inherent conservatism produces
resistance to changeEssential difference between folk and
popular culture is speed by whichexpansion diffusion occurs
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Netherlands
The town ofBunschotenSpakensburg is one ofseveral in the
Netherlands retainingelements of folktradition.
Many people continue
to dress in traditionalgarb.
Since costumes differregionally, an expert
can tell where aerson is from b her
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Folk cultural diffusion
Folk songs
Slow progress of expansion diffusion in Anglo-America religious folk songs in the UnitedStates
Eighteenth century core area based mainly in YankeePuritan folk culture
White spiritual songs spread southwest into theUpland South
Today, still retain greatest acceptance in UplandSouth
Disappearance from northern source region may bebecause of urbanization and popularization of culturein the North
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Folk cultural diffusion
Folk songsSimple folk melodies of the spirituals
diffused by means of outdoor revivals
and camp-meetingsNon-English-speaking people and non-protestants were little influenced byspiritual movement
Language and religion proved absorbingbarriers to diffusion
French Canadians and Louisiana Frenchwere not affected by the movement
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Agricultural fairs
Originated in the Yankee region, spreadwest and southwest by expansion diffusion
A custom rooted in medieval European
folk tradition First American agricultural fair was held in
Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in 1810
Idea gained favor throughout Western NewEngland and adjacent Hudson Valley
Diffused into the Midwest where it gained itswidest acceptance
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Agricultural fairs
Originated in the Yankee region, spreadwest and southwest by expansion diffusion
A custom rooted in medieval European
folk tradition First American agricultural fair was held in
Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in 1810
Idea gained favor throughout Western NewEngland and adjacent Hudson Valley
Diffused into the Midwest where it gained itswidest acceptance
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Agricultural fairs
Normally promoted by agriculturalsocieties
Originally educational in purpose
Farmers could learn about improved methodsand breeds
Entertainment function added racetrack andmidway
Competition for prizes for superior agriculturalproducts became common
By the early twentieth century, fairs haddiffused through most of the United States
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Hay stackers
Mountain Western American folkculture produced innovations
Beaverslide hay stacker
Originated in 1907 in Montanas BigHole Valley
Because of recent origin, we know more
about its diffusion30-odd feet tall, wooden ramp structure
used to raise hay to the top of a stack
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Hay stackers
Beaverslide hay stacker
Employed horsepower to pull a basketup an inclined surface
Use spread to at least eight nearbystates and into three Canadianprovinces
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Blowguns
Often past diffusion of a folk culture itemis not clearly known or understood, whichpresents problems of interpretation
Example of the blowgun long, hollow
tube through which a projectile is blownby force of breath Geographer Stephen Jett mapped
distribution of blowgun
Found among folk societies in both the Easternand Western Hemispheres Used from the island of Madagascar to
Amazonian jungles of South America
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Blowguns
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Blowguns
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Blowguns
Apparently first invented by Indonesian people onthe island of Borneo
Diffused with the Austronesian linguistic group
Spread through much of the equatorial island belt
of Eastern Hemisphere Hard to account for its presence among
Amerindian groups in Western Hemisphere Was it independently invented by Amerindians?
Was it brought by relocation diffusion in pre-Columbian
times? Did it spread to New World after European discovery of
America?
No answers to above questions
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African Stone Game, Malawi
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African Stone Game, Malawi
These men areplaying a gamecommonly knownas mancala.
Archaeologicalevidence showsthat the game wasplayed in ancient
times in manylocations in Africaand Asia includingIndonesia.
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African Stone Game, Malawi
The 200 million yearsago existence ofPangaea, a singlelandmass that
subsequently brokeapart with continentaldrift, would accountfor the wide
distribution of thestone game. Today itis sold in stores acrossAmerica an elementof folk culture in a
world of popular
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Blowguns
Nonliterate condition of many folk culturesprecludes written records that mightreveal diffusion
Jett favors transpacific diffusion fromIndonesia before the time of Columbus
You must explain why it is not found in theSouth Pacific islands and Africa
If you support independent invention, youmust accept an identical device was inventedtwo times
Cultural diffusion presents such problems
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Blowguns
Independent invention is always possible
Carl Sauers proposal that plantdomestication occurred independently inboth hemispheres helped free culturalgeographers from deterministic view thateach invention had a single origin
If one or more nonfunctional features, ofblowguns, such as a decorative motif,occurred in both hemispheres diffusionwould be the logical conclusion
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Culture Regions
Folk Culture Regions
Folk Cultural Diffusion
Folk Ecology
Cultural Integration in FolkGeography
Folk Landscapes
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Folk ecology
Folk groups close relationship withthe physical environmentAdaptive strategies possess
sustainabilityLivelihood gained directly through
primary activities farming, herding,hunting, gathering, and fishing
Languages bear vocabularies required toexploit the habitat
Religions act to mitigate environmentalhazards
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Folk ecology
Folk tales honor great hunters
Proverbs offer wisdom concerning weatherand proper time for planting
Architecture reflects local buildingmaterials and climate
One is tempted to conclude folkways existto facilitate the adjustment to physicalenvironment
It is easy to believe the path ofenvironmental determinism
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Folk ecology
Folkways involve more than merelycultural adaptation A variety of folk cultures can exist in any
particular ecosystem
They are not enslaved and wholly shaped bytheir physical surroundings
Not necessarily true that they live in closeharmony with their environment
Often soil erosion, deforestation, andoverkill of wild animals can be attributedto traditional rural folk
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Geophagy
Definedthe eating of earth
Most common in parts of Africa andin the American South among
Americans of African ancestry
Certain kinds of clay are thepreferred earth for eating
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Geophagy
In African source regions, clays areconsumed for a variety of reasons
As a treatment for certain diseases andparasites
Provides nutrients for pregnant women andgrowing children
Consumed as part of religious ceremonies
In the African-American folk region of theSouth coastal plain, geophagy is confinedmainly to pregnant black women and toblack children under the age of five
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Folk medicine
Common to treat diseases anddisorders with drugs and medicinesderived from the root, bark,
blossom, or fruit of plants In the United States, folk medicine is
best preserved in the Upland South
Particularly southern AppalachiaOn some Indian reservations
The Mexican borderland
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Folk medicine
Many folk cures have proveneffectiveness
Root digging in the Appalachians
Much of the produce is now funneled todealers, who serve a larger market
Remains at heart a folk enterprise
carried on in the old waysRequires the traditional through
knowledge of the plant environment
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Folk medicine
Mexican folk culture region along thesouthern border of Texas
Still widely practiced by curanderos, or
curersOver four hundred medicines derived
from wild and domestic plants
Perpetuates a tradition rooted insixteenth century Indian and Spanishsource
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Folk medicine
Local folk medicine along the Texas southernborder is based on the belief health and welfaredepend on harmony between natural andsupernatural Disease and misfortune thought to involve some
disharmony
The curandero strives to restore harmony by use ofcounseling and botanical medicines
In recent years fewer people have sought herbalremedies for infections, sprains, or broken bones
Curanderos now treat more cancer, diabetes, andhypertension than before
In response to change, some curanderos have becomevirtual paramedics and employ antibiotics in some cures
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Folk Medicine in Zimbabwe
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Folk Medicine in Zimbabwe
Traditional healers inAfrica use an array ofenvironmentalproducts for ritualsand curatives.
Various roots, seeds,and horns, as well asskins fromendangered animalscan be seen in thishealers hut.
In African culture,traditional medicalpractitioners areconsidered influentialspiritual leaders.
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Folk Medicine in Zimbabwe
Some base theirreputation onknowledge of biotica,some claim
supernaturaldiagnostic and healingpowers, and othersare witch doctors ableto intercept orexorcise evil spirits.
All use plant andanimal materials intheir word.
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Environmental perception
When folk culture groups, orindividuals, migrate they seekenvironments similar to their own
homelandsThey function best in similar
environments because the lore of the
land passed down relates to oneparticular ecosystem
Overpopulation or other push
factors cause folk groups to migrate
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Environmental perception
Migration of Upland Southerners fromAppalachia between 1830 and 1930 Moved as Appalachians filled up
Normally moved in clan or extended-family
groups Initially found environmental twin of
Appalachians in the Ozark-Ouachita Mountainsof Missouri and Arkansas
Later, others sought out hollows, coves, andgaps of the central Texas Hill Country
Between 1880 and 1930 some 15,000migrated to the Cascade and coastal mountainranges of Washington State
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Environmental perception
People so close to nature remainsensitive to subtle environmentalqualities
Planting by the signs, is still foundamong folk farmers in the UnitedStates and elsewhere
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Environmental perception
Folk groups are much more observant oftheir ecosystems than those in popularculture Folk groups strive for harmony with nature,
though they do not always achieve it Often ascribe animistic religious sanctity to
environmental forces and particular parts oftheir habitat
Many people today lament the loss of a
closeness to nature Once the closeness of nature is lost, it is
impossible to regain because it was theproduct of centuries of trial and error
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