Folk Geography - Part I [EDocFind.com]

8/11/2019 Folk Geography - Part I [EDocFind.com]

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Folk GeographyThe Human Mosaic

Chapter 7


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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Upland South regionnotched-log

construction, used in building a varietyof distinctive house types such as the

dogtrot


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African-American folk regionscraped-

earth cemetery, banjo that originated inAfrica, and head scarfs worn by women


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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 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 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 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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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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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 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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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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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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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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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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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

Folk Geography - Part I [EDocFind.com]

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