1. Folk and Popular Culture

2. Definition of Culture
A group of belief systems, norms and values practiced by a people
Recognized in 1 of 2 ways
People call themselves a culture
Others can label a certain group of people as a culture

3. Folk Culture Small Incorporates homogeneous population Typically rural
Cohesive in cultural traits
Work to preserve those traits in order to claim uniqueness

4. Folk Culture cont. Material culture: what a group of people make
Nonmaterial culture: beliefs, practices, aesthetics and values of a group of people

5. What does this tell us about American Southern Culture?

6. Songs: Folk Songs: What do they typically describe/reflect?
What is the instrumentation?
Is there a spatial component?
What does this song reflect about the culture?
Shenandoah

7. Popular Music Number One Pop Song All about that Bass:
So? What is this song all about?

8. Male vs. Female: What does this make you feel/think?
What if gender shifts in the song?
Parody with Bass Voice
What does this make you feel/think?
Articles/Critiques:
HW Assignment: Pop vs. Folk Music

9. Popular Culture Large Incorporates heterogeneous populations
Typically urban
Experiences quickly changing cultural traits
Practiced by people across identities and across the world
Also encompasses material and nonmaterial culture

10. How is popular culture diffused?
Hierarchical diffusion
Uses an urban hierarchy (distance decay)
David Harvey: time-space compression
Refers to social and psychological effects of living in a time-space convergence (Donald Janelle)
Since technology links some places more closely than others, culture diffuses more quickly rather than at a constant rate

11. Hearths of Popular Culture
How do things become a part of popular culture?
Often begins with contagious diffusion
Ex. Dave Matthews Band

12. Manufacturing a Hearth
Clayton Rosati
Studied infrastructure of MTV & its role in the production of popular culture and geographies of popular culture
MTV produces popular culture by opening globalized spaces to local culture thereby globalizing local culture

13. Popular culture does not take over the existing popular culture, rather a process called reterritorialization of popular culture occurs
When people w/in a place start to produce an aspect of popular culture themselves in the context of their own culture ands making it their own

14. How are local cultures sustained?
Assimilation of certain groups destroyed local culture
Local culture sustained through customs
Simon Harrison
2 goals of local cultures: keep other cultures out; keep their culture in
Local cultures work to avoid cultural appropriation
Recognized that through cultural appropriation, places become increasingly important
neolocalism

15. Influence of the Physical Environment
Customs are influenced by climate, soil and vegetation
Particularly responsive to environment b/c low level of technology and agricultural economy
2 necessities of life: food and shelter
Shows the influence of cultural values and the environment on the development of unique folk culture

16. Distinctive Food Preferences
Derived from the environment
Adapt food preferences to environmental conditions
Role of terrior (effects of the environment on a particular food item)

17. Food attractions and Taboos
Everything in nature has a signature or distinct characteristic
Therefore people eat and don’t eat certain things based on a response as to whether it is socially acceptable or not
The nutritional value is one of the determining factors in whether someone eats something or not
Some things are eaten b/c they enhance some characteristic the culture deems important

18. Food attractions and Taboo
Taboo to eat things that are thought to embody negativity
May establish food taboos to protect the environment
Religion and social values also play a role in food taboos

19. Folk Housing House among the essential facts of human geography
A. Distinctive Building Materials
-influenced by location, resources available and social factors
B. Distinctive House Form and Orientation
-forms result from customary beliefs or environmental factors

20. Folk Housing cont.
C. Housing and Environment -homes are constructed based on the environment

21. U.S. Folk House Forms
Fred Kniffen-3 major hearths of folk house forms in the US:
NE-saltbox, two-chimney, cape cod, front gable and wing
Mid-Atlantic: “I” house
Lower Cheasapeake-one story w/steep roof and two chimneys
Style of housing not as distinctive anymore due to rapid communication and transportation systems
Majority of people don’t build the houses they live in

22. Local & Popular Culture Seen in the Cultural Landscape
Reflects norms, values and aesthetics of a culture
Placelessness (Edward Relph)
Cultural landscapes are so similar because:
Architecture forms + planning ideas have diffused around the world.
Individual businesses + products are so widespread they impact all places
The borrowing of idealized landsca[e images promotes a blurring of place distinctiveness

23. Why is popular culture widely distributed?
Popular Housing Styles
Modern house styles ( ): minimal traditional, ranch, split level, contemporary + shed style houses
Neo-eclectic (1960-): mansard, neo-Tudor, Neo-French, neo-colonial
*have great rooms rather than separate living + family rooms

24. Diffusion of Popular Culture cont.
Rapid Diffusion of Clothes
Characterized by income and job characteristics
Improved communication
Exposure to folk dress due to increased travel + television
Jeans-know why + how jeans became a part of popular culture

25. Diffusion of Popular Culture cont.
Snack foods and beverages
*preference based on what is made, grown or imported locally
*also affected by background
*dependent on income and advertising

26. Role of TV in diffusing Popular Culture
Significant custom because:
Most popular leisure activity
Most important means by which culture is diffused

27. Why Does Globalization of Popular Culture Cause Problems?
Threat to Folk Culture:
Rising income increases demand for items valued in popular culture
Can lead to domination of folk culture
Loss of traditional values (clothing)
Change in traditional role of women-How?
Can also cause problems in less developed nations-increase in prostitution

28. Globalization of Popular Culture cont.
Threat of Foreign Media Imperialism
Threatens LDC’s independence
Seen as a new type of economic + cultural imperialism
Allow governments of LDC to censor shows and/or only program shows appropriate to traditional values

29. Environmental Impact of Popular Culture
Modifies nature
Uniform landscapes-seen to generate product recognition + greater consumption

30. Negative Environmental Impacts
Increased demand for natural resources
Depletion of resources and/or extinction of species
Inefficient use of resources
Pollution
Popular culture produces a lot of waste
Folk culture can also negatively impact the environment by ignoring natural processes