Cultural Geography

1
Cultural Geography Folk Customs from Around the
World

• Except as noted, all photos by Dale Lightfoot
• Dale Lightfoot's Cultural Landscapes
• From Around The World
• Oklahoma State University
• Geography Department

2
Folk Customs

• Folk customs (a.k.a. traditional customs) are
  developed and practiced primarily by small,
  homogeneous groups living in more isolated rural
  areas. Social customs such as the provision of
  clothing, shelter, transportation and food have
  evolved differently in different areas of the
  world because natural resources vary widely from
  place to place. Folk customs reflect the benefits
  and constraints of each group's environment, and
  through cultural evolution, particularly the
  level of technology, each generation has left its
  unique imprint on the cultural landscape

3
Culture

• Culture is the learned, generally accepted,
  dynamic way of life of a group of people which
  reflects the underlying and evolving foundation
  of that society their attitudes, objectives,
  technical skills, and world view.
• Adaptation, by Joe Naumann, of a definition
  expressed by Preston E. James.

4
Surface Culture Deep Culture

• Surface culture is composed of those aspects of a
  way of life which are relatively easily observed
• Deep culture provides the foundational elements
  of a culture which are often unexamined and held
  at the subconscious level by most members of the
  society the attitudes, objectives, and world
  view.

5
Dress and Adornment

• An element of surface culture which helps
  distinguish one culture from another and even
  between subcultures within a culture.
• It may be much more than just an adaptation to
  the physical environment.
• It may be also an expression of concepts held
  within the deep culture of the society.

6
Guatemala

• Clothing style of women and girls in the Quichè
  highlands of western Guatemala.

7
Guatemala

• While it is more common in developing countries
  to see women and girls wearing traditional
  clothing (with men more commonly wearing
  western-style clothing), men in rural regions may
  still prefer traditional styles of dress
  (Santiago Atitlàn, Guatemala).

8
Samoa

• Samoan chief in traditional clothing. Notice the
  tattoo adornment on leg and torso also.

9
Spain

• Spanish girls dancing at a feria (a fair), Jerez,
  Spain. In western, developed countries some
  styles of folk dress may still be worn.

10
China

• A popular style of clothing among young Chinese
  males.

11
China

• The ubiquitous Mao suit a garment of choice in
  China since 1949 when the communist/Maoist era
  began.

12
Kazakhstan

• Kazakh rider in the Alatau range south of Almaty,
  Kazakhstan a region of the world traditionally
  inhabited by nomadic horsemen.

13
Uzbekistan

• Uzbek man in Samarkand oblast, Uzbekistan.

14
Uzbekistan

• A variety of female traditional clothing in
  Samarkand oblast, Uzbekistan.

15
Syria

• Grandmother and grandson, rural village of Fedra,
  Syria.

16
Yemen

• Sari-style conservative female-wear in
  Sana'a,Yemen a different look than the more
  common chadar or burka worn outside of the home
  by most women in the Arabian Peninsula.

17
Jordan

• Kufiyah (headcloth) and igal (double ring of
  black cord) traditional raiment of males in the
  Middle East (Jordan Valley, Jordan).

18
Morocco

• Water seller in traditional garb a common sight
  in Morocco at markets, bus stations, and other
  public places where crowds gather (Marrakech,
  Morocco).

19
Jordan

• Kufiyah-capped Bedouin shepherds in the desert of
  northeast Jordan.

20
Morocco

• Berber farmer, Tafilalt Oasis, southern Morocco.

21
Morocco

• Modern Berber Addi Ouadderrou of qsar Mezguida,
  Tafilalt Oasis, Morocco.

22
Italy

• Ethnic dress of the bagpipe player in Rome, Italy
  is worn for commercial purposes tourists pay to
  have photos taken of or with him.
• Photo by Joe Naumann

23
Architecture

• Another distinguishing element of surface culture
  which may be influenced by elements of deep
  culture.

24
Canada

• Folk architecture has always utilized materials
  found in abundance in the local environment.
  These reconstructed 11th century sod buildings
  are built from blocks of earth cut from the
  tundra. Few trees or stones are available for
  building materials in this part of the world
  northern Newfoundland, Canada.

25
Syria

• Beehive-style houses constructed of dried earth
  a material found in abundance on the arid plains
  of central Syria.

26
Syria

• Cone-roofed houses constructed of stone in the
  very stony landscape around Fedra, near Daret
  Ezza, northwest Syria.

27
Syria

• In areas where nomadism (moving to follow herd
  animals) is a way of life, stones or mud brick
  are not practical because they are too heavy to
  move. These people, who frequently move their
  home sites, use animal skins or heavy cloth tents
  which can be folded or rolled up and carried to a
  new location (Syria).

28
Yemen

• Elaborate ornamentation in the stonework of a
  house in Thilla, Yemen .

29
Yemen

• Traditional "cake icing" style of architecture
  and decoration on Yemeni buildings in The Sana'a
  region. This folk architecture, complete with
  unique, semi-circular stained glass insets above
  each window in the house, is still retained in
  modern buildings.

30
Nebraska

• Old settler's cabin constructed of split logs,
  eastern Nebraska.

31
Dominican Republic

• Houses constructed of palm wood and thatch, the
  most abundant construction material available
  around La Isabella settlement, Dominican
  Republic.

32
Jordan

• Traditional architecture constructed with more
  modern building materials of concrete and cinder
  block. This neighborhood in central Amman, Jordan
  is typical of modern, middle class, Middle East
  architecture.

33
Poland

• Traditional European architecture in the Old Town
  of Warsaw, Poland.

34
Religion

• On the surface, one observes architecture,
  rituals, dress, behavior, etc. which arise out of
  deep culture which is very resistant to change.

35
Mexico

• Religion is another facet of culture that is
  commonly etched into the landscape. This remote
  shrine in the southern Baja peninsula of Mexico
  provides evidence that Christianity is entrenched
  in this part of the world.

36
Egypt

• A mosque with twin minaret spires at the southern
  entrance of the Suez Canal in Egypt reveals the
  ubiquitous presence of Islam in this region of
  the world.

37
Armenia

• The "Mr. Pig" restaurant in Yerevan, Armenia.
  Though this country borders the Islamic countries
  of Iran, Azerbaijan, and Turkey, it is obviously
  not Islamic (it is a Christian nation) as pork,
  and references to pigs and pork, are avoided in
  Muslim regions.

38
South Korea

• Buddhist pagoda along a remote highland trail,
  Nam San Mountains, near Kyongju, South Korea.
  Buddhist features, both large and small, have
  been frequently etched into the landscapes of
  eastern and southeastern Asia.

39
Transportation

• An aspect of surface culture which is greatly
  influenced by the technological level of the
  society.

40
Guatemala

• A home-built canoe in Lake Atitlàn, western
  Guatemala. Traditional forms of transportation
  persist throughout the world, especially in less
  developed countries, despite the presence of, and
  growing dependence on, modern transport.

41
China

• People-powered fishing vessels in the Li River,
  near Yangshuo, China.

42
Ecuador

• Family transport with Dad at the steering pole
  on the Rio Napo, upper Amazon Basin, eastern
  Ecuador.

43
Colombia

• Heading home from market with a head full of
  produce (southern Colombia).

44
Mexico

• Burro transportation, Paricutìn area, Mexico.

45
Morocco

• "Ships of the desert" Sahara traffic at Erg
  Chebbi, near Merzouga, Morocco.

46
Morocco

• The family wagon mom is being chauffeured. A
  common form of transportation in the Tafilalt
  Oasis, Rissani, Morocco.

47
Nicaragua

• Ox cart, Grenada, Nicaragua.

48
Portugal

• Horse cart, Serpa, Portugal. Folk transportation
  is still sometimes seen in more developed
  countries.

49
Georgia (former USSR)

• Hay wagon in northeast Georgia. Though the modern
  capital of Tblisi is well developed, folk ways of
  life are still visible in the countryside of this
  former Soviet state.

50
Syria

• Mazote wagon, Aleppo, Syria (mazote is the local
  name for diesel used to fuel home heaters). In
  spite of the presence of modern cars and trucks,
  the horse-drawn wagon remains the preferred
  method of transport for delivering mazote in
  rural and urban areas alike

51
Syria

• Homemade three-wheeled vehicles, Palmyra, Syria.
  Because of the expense of imported cars (all cars
  here are imported), people in many developing
  countries construct their own vehicles from spare
  parts, operations which sometimes evolve into
  small cottage industries which design and build
  similar vehicles for local mass consumption.

52
China

• Jerry-built cars in southeast China a common
  vehicle in this region.

53
Italy

• Cart is used to transport tourists today, more
  than it is used for its traditional use wedding
  gift of a farmer to his son to be used on the
  farm later. Agrigento, Sicily.
• Photo by Joe Naumann

54
Syria

• A traditional method of plowing, near Menbij,
  Syria. Such methods are still used in countries
  where mechanized farming is rare, and in
  developing countries where mechanization is
  common but the animals can still be used on very
  small plots or where the ground is too muddy to
  support a tractor.

55
Oklahoma

• Longhorn cattle, western Oklahoma. Livestock
  herding practices vary widely around the world,
  and while cattle, sheep, and goats predominate,
  other domesticates are still raised in folk
  fashion.

56
Jordan

• Bedouin woman tending to her herd of camels and
  goats, Wadi Araba, southern Jordan.

57
Egypt

• Cattle and camel...an unusual mix middle Nile
  Valley, Egypt.

58
Peru

• An Indìgena with her pack llama, near Cuzco,
  Peru.

59
Peru

• Alpaca herd grazing in the high Andes Mountains,
  between Nazca and Cuzco, central Peru.

60
Hawaii

• "Pigs...for graduation...order now." Were you
  presented with a pig for your graduation? You
  might have, had you lived in rural Hawaii and
  wanted to roast one for a traditional luau
  celebration.

61
Uzbekistan

• Dung cakes drying in the sun in rural Uzbekistan.
  Animal fecal waste, mixed with straw as a binding
  agent, has served as a heating and cooking fuel
  for many world regions throughout human history.

62
Uzbekistan

• A gathering at the village water well and pool,
  rural central Uzbekistan.

63
Yemen

• Outside of villages and their centralized public
  wells, permanent settlement in dry land regions
  requires a smaller private or communal well
  (Hadramaut region, eastern Yemen).

64
Syria

• The interior channel of a qanat, or subterranean
  canal, in Syria. Called karez, foggara, or falaj
  in other countries these traditional irrigation
  system have for many centuries provided water for
  villages and oases across north Africa, the
  Middle East, and central Asia.