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M11/26/12

Chapter 4.1Folk and Popular Culture

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Intro

A. Culture

•The combination of three things:– Values – Material artifacts – Political institutions

• This chapter deals with material artifacts

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B. Material Culture• Two basic categories: folk and popular

culture1. Folk culture

• Traditionally practiced by small, isolated, homogeneous groups in rural areas

2. Popular culture• Characterized by large, heterogeneous groups of people

who share common habits despite differences in other personal characteristics

3. Geographers are interested in two aspects of culture:

• Where cultures are located in space• How cultures interact with the environment

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I. Origin of folk and popular cultures

– Folk culture = hearth area; originators are usually unknown

– Popular culture = hearth area comes from more developed countries (MDCs)

• People in MDCs have disposable income and leisure time that allow for these innovations

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I. Origin of folk and popular cultures (cont.)

A. Folk music characteristics• Tells a story or recounts important life events or

activities• Is personal in nature

– Ex: Woody Guthrie, – The Weavers– Pete Seeger– early Blues– Country Music

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I. Origin of folk and popular cultures (cont.)

B. Popular music characteristics• Written by individuals for the purpose of selling to a

large audience• Highly technical

– Ex: Frank Sinatra & Bing Crosby– Elvis– Beatles– Michael Jackson– Tupac– PSY

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Popular Music Map

Figure 4-2

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Hip-Hop Map

Figure 4-3

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II. Diffusion of folk and popular culture

– Folk culture diffuses slowly, primarily through migration, and at a small scale

• Examples: Diffusion of Amish culture, spread of Delta Blues

– Popular culture diffuses rapidly, via hierarchical diffusion, and over a large scale

• Ex: sports (late 19th C.)– movies (early 20th C.)– radio (beginning in 1920s)– television (mid 20th C.)– internet (late 20th to early 21st C.)

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Distribution of Amish

Figure 4-4

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Iroquois Lacrosse

Figure 4-5