FOLK CULTURE

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FOLK CULTURE POPULAR CULTURE

• TWO POLES OF A CONTINUUM

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• FOLK CULTURE
• Transmitted interpersonally
• Stable, conservative, traditionalist
• Based on idea of community (shared experience and
  mutual obligations)
• Clear-cut social roles, M/F division of labor
• Adapted to a particular environment

• POPULAR CULTURE
• Transmitted by media such as books TV
• Constantly changing and innovating
• Based on idea of society (specialized roles and
  interdependence, impersonal coordination)
• Flexible and vague social roles
• Not adapted to any particular environment

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• Persistent elements of folk culture (slowly
  disappearing)
• Architecture
• Vernacular regions
• Traditional medicine
• Music

• Vanishing elements of folk culture (quickly
  disappearing)
• Fences
• Barns
• Agricultural techniques
• Dance

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• I prefer the company of peasants because they
  have not been educated sufficiently to reason
  incorrectly.
• Michel de Montaigne

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remnants of surviving folk culture in the U.S.
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A vernacular region is a shared, traditional way
of ordering experience, therefore, it is part of
folk culture an especially interesting part for
geographers.
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• Folk Culture includes traditional medicine. What
  are some ways folk culture medicine gets
  incorporated into popular culture?
• pharmaceutical companies discover and patent a
  compound
• a substance becomes popular for recreational
  use
• A technique like acupuncture or Chinese herbal
  medicine gains mainstream acceptance

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Diffusion of the Rodeo
Who started it?
Receptivity of Mexicans, Canadians, Mormons?
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Diffusion of agricultural fairs
What types of diffusion are operating here?
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How is this vernacular architecture (folk
architecture) suited to its environment? (house
from Orchid Island, near Taiwan)

• readily available materials
• form responds to climate and weather patterns

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What might be the reason for the forebay on
Pennsylvania barns?
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the dogtrot
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What kinds of environmental adaptation can you
identify?
How else could you build a house to do the same
thing?
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What elements of the Quebec farmhouse respond to
climate?
Do any elements seem to respond more to social
factors?
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Why is the Buriat Mongolian yurt so similar to
the Navajo hogan?
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Pueblo Architecture
Northern New Mexico Pre-Columbian condo Suited
to dry climate with cold, sunny winters strong
diurnal temp swings
horno bread oven
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An adobe drive-through bank
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Can folk culture be imposed by law?
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Popular Culture LandscapeMcDonalds in Moscow
Tokyo
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Popular Culture
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POPULAR CULTURE

• Transmitted by media such as books TV
• Constantly changing and innovating
• Based on idea of society (specialized roles and
  interdependence, impersonal coordination)
• Flexible and vague social roles
• Not adapted to any particular environment

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Not a popular culture landscape
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Popular culture is culture of consumption
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The Strip (example of placelessness)
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when you get to Finland will it look even more
familiar than this?
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You are what you consume!
Aside from income and the need/desire to be
fashionable, what else differs between the
light and dark regions on this map?
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Stars Fans
Fans from US and Japan hold a candlelight vigil
outside Neverland Ranch, Thursday, April 29,
2004, in Los Olivos, Calif. the night before
Michael Jackson is scheduled to appear at the
Santa Maria court for arraignment on child
molestation charges
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the most popular show on earth
seen in 140 countries 32 languages part of 60
bill. export market understood as representative
of Americans and American culture popular with
teens
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changing attitudes about womens bodies
also suggest changing attitudes about mens
self-control
and about desire itself!
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Whats wrong with this picture?

• We have allowed this thing which will mark the
  country with sin for a long time
• (Phra Thep Dilok, Head of National Center for
  Buddhism Promotion in Thailand)

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Morality in Thailand

• There are approximately 130,000 prostitutes in
  Thailand

• about 12,000 are children
• prostitution is legal
• prostitution in Thailand is described as early as
  the 16th century
• prostitution is part of the local culture (many
  brothels cater specifically to locals and Asians)

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Religious Desecration

• What was the problem with the beauty pageant?
• The Buddhist Temple of Dawn is in the background
• Photographing of Miss Universe contestants in
  front of this sacred place was seen as a
  desecration of the site and a sign of disrespect
  to Buddhism

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Dont forget sports!
which seems closer to folk culture participatory
or spectator sports?
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Does the culture of consumption inevitably lead
to this
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this
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and this?
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Popular or folk culture?

• its always a matter of degree
• a point on the continuum
• popular culture challenges folk culture
• popular culture undermines folk culture
• popular culture appropriates elements of folk
  culture
• popular culture markets elements of folk culture