Transcript Folk Geography

Culture Regions
 Folk
Culture Regions
 Folk Cultural Diffusion
 Folk Ecology
 Cultural Integration in Folk
Geography
 Folk Landscapes
Cultural integration in folk
geography
 Interaction
cultures
between folk and popular
– Few folk groups escape some interaction
with the larger world
– A lively exchange is constantly on-going
between folk and popular cultures
– Most commonly, the folk absorb ideas
filtering down from popular culture
Cuzco, Peru
Cuzco, Peru

Cuzco, an Inca
capital, is a major
tourist
destinations. Here,
llama wool
sweaters, ponchos,
and rugs are
displayed for the
tourist trade.
Woven on handlooms, they have
natural wool
Cuzco, Peru
colors or are
colored with
mineral or
vegetable dyes.
 Similar products
are also produced
by factory
machines using
chemical dyes for
trendy colors for
appeal to mass
market.

Cultural integration in folk
geography

Interaction between folk and popular
cultures
– Occasionally elements of folk culture penetrate
the popular society
– Folk handicrafts and arts often fetch high
prices among city dwellers
 They
may exhibit quality, attention to detail, and
uniqueness absent in factory-made goods
 Some folk goods are revised to make them more
marketable
 Popular folk items include-Irish fisherman sweaters,
Shaker furniture, and Panamanian Indian molas
Mountain moonshine
Home manufacture of corn whiskey in the
Upland South has been going on since the
early pioneering days of the 1700s
 Probably diffused to America with the
pioneering Scotch-Irish
 The word whisky has a Celtic origin,
probably from the Scottish Gaelic uisge
beatha (“water of life”)
 Home manufacture of whisky has occurred
in many Appalachian hill settlements for
200 years

Mountain moonshine
 Whiskey
making withstood the
prohibitionist attitudes of the
nineteenth century religious revival
– Many mountaineers are devout Baptists
or Methodists, but defied antiliquor
teachings
– Many mountain people proved very
willing to vote their areas legally “dry”
– Corn whiskey is very persistent in the
folk diet
Mountain moonshine
 Traditionally
corn liquor was intended
mainly for family consumption
 Over the years, Appalachian
moonshine began to find its way to
market
– Proved the best way for hill folk to
participate in the money economy
– Converted a bulky grain crop of low
cash value in a compact beverage of
high value per unit of weight
Mountain moonshine

Early as 1791, the U.S. federal
government began taxing manufacturers
of whiskey
– From the beginning, mountaineers found ways
to avoid the tax
– Stills lay concealed in remote coves and
hollows to escape detection
– When stills were discovered and destroyed,
new ones in different locations replaced them
– Revenuers were no more successful in
stopping whisky making than the churches had
been
Mountain moonshine
The important effect was mountain folk
accepted markets offered by popular
culture but rejected its legal and political
institutions
 By the 1950s, some 25,000 gallons of
white lightning reached the market each
week from the counties of eastern
Tennessee alone

– In spite of numerous raids by federal
authorities, production continued unabated
– Today, a substantial amount of illicit whisky
still reaches markets from southern Appalachia
Mountain moonshine


Whiskey production, legal and illegal, in Kentucky
and Tennessee represents an impressive survival
of folk industry to serve a market in popular
society
Illegal whisky production and popular culture
integration led to the creation of the “folk
automobile”
– A fast vehicle needed to outrun the law, but humble in
appearance
– Some have claimed these vehicles were the forerunners
of the basic American stock car
– Stock-car racing then is considered another result of
interplay between folk and popular cultures
Country and Western music
Upland Southern folk music had a very
impressive impact upon American popular
culture
 Derived to a great degree, from folk
ballads of English and Scotch-Irish, who
settled in the upland-South in colonial
times

– Some have hypothesized use of the fiddle
(violin) is an effort to recapture sounds of the
Celtic Scottish bagpipe
– Gradually, Upland Southern folk music
absorbed influences of the American social
experience
Country and Western music

Derived to a great degree, from folk
ballads of English and Scotch-Irish, who
settled in the upland-South in colonial
times
– Became a composite of Old World and New
World folk traditions
– Long remained confined to the traditional
society that developed it
– Dealt with themes such as love and hate,
happiness and sorrow, comedy and tragedy
– Gave expression to a unique life-style and a
particular land
Country and Western music

Entry of country music into popular
culture began about the time of World War
I
– Diffusion was facilitated by the invention of the
radio
– Popularization brought changes
– Small number of songs in folk culture exploded
with the popular culture
– Electrical amplification needed in crowded
noisy night spots produced a curious mixture
with the use of the electric guitar
– Themes of lyrics increasingly addressed life in
the popular culture
Country and Western music

Bluegrass, one of the many styles of
country music, emerged in the 1930s
– Developed by Bill Monroe
– Unique sound is achieved by the joining of a
lead banjo with fiddle, guitar, mandolin, and
string bass
– Using only electric instruments keep it faithful
to its origins
– High-pitched, emotional vocal sound clearly
reveals derivation from Scottish church singing
Country and Western music
 Bluegrass,
one of the many styles of
country music, emerged in the 1930s
 Acceptance
remains greatest in its Upland
Southern core area in Kentucky, Tennessee,
Virginia, and North Carolina
 Most performers come from this core area
 Music retains strong identification with
Appalachian places
Country and Western music
 Impact
of migration of Upland
Southern folk on bluegrass music
– Migrated to Missouri, Arkansas, Texas,
and Oklahoma plus the Depression era
movement of “Okies” and “Arkies” to
the Central Valley of California
– Provided natural areas for bluegrass
expansion in the mid-twentieth century
Culture Regions
 Folk
Culture Regions
 Folk Cultural Diffusion
 Folk Ecology
 Cultural Integration in Folk
Geography
 Folk Landscapes
Folk landscapes
 Folk
architecture most visible aspect
of the landscape
– Comes from the memory of traditional
people
– Built on mental images that change little
from one generation to the next
– Folk buildings are extensions of a people
and their region
 Provide
the unique character of each district
or province
 Offer a highly visible aspect of the human
mosaic
Folk Architecture:
Maasai House, Kenya


The Maasai are pastoralists
who bring their cattle into
their circular housing
compounds (engangs or
manyattas) at night.
Maasai bomas (houses)
are built by women.
Latticed frames are
constructed with termite,
ant and beetle resistant
wood poles, insulated with
packed leaves, and
covered with cattle dung
readily available in the
engang.
Folk Architecture:
Maasai House, Kenya


A snail-shell entry
inhibits entry of
human or animal
intruders.
Lattice sleeping
platforms covered
with cowhide are
attached to internal
walls. There are no
windows, only vents
for the central fire.
Insect damage and
leakage call for
ongoing maintenance.
Using plastic sheeting
as a roof cover is a
modern luxury few
Folk landscapes
 Seek
in folk architecture the
traditional, the conservative, and the
functional
 Expect from it a simple beauty
– Harmony with the physical environment
– A visible expression of folk culture
Building materials
 One
way we classify folk houses and
farmsteads is by the type of building
materials used
Building materials
 Structures
tend to blend nicely with
the natural landscape
 Farm dwellings range from: massive
houses of stone for permanency, to
temporary brush thatch huts
Building materials
 Environmental
conditions influence
choice of construction materials)
– Climate
– Vegetation
– Geomorphology
 Shifting
cultivators of tropical rain
forests build houses of poles and
leaves
Building materials

Sedentary subsistence farming peoples of
adjacent highlands, oases, and river
valleys of the Old World zone
–
–
–
–

Rely principally on earthen construction
Sun-dried (adobe) bricks
Pounded earth
In more prosperous regions, kiln-baked bricks
are available
People in the tropical grasslands,
especially in Africa, construct thatched
houses from coarse grasses and thorn
bushes
Building materials
 Buildings
of Mediterranean farmers
and some rural residents of interior
Indian and the Andean highlands
– Most live in rocky, deforested lands
– Use stone as principal building material
– Create entire landscapes of stone
 Walls,
roofs, terraces, streets, and fences
 Lends an air of permanence to the
landscape
China
Folk architecture: China


The Kazak practice
transhumance,
spending the summer
with their horses,
goats, sheep and
cattle in high pastures
of the Tien Shan
(Heavenly Mountains)
of northwestern
China.
These yurts have
wooden trellis walls
and are covered with
felt which is pressed
animal hair.
Folk architecture: China
The top flap can be
opened to vent a
central fire or
closed to keep out
rain.
 As winter
approaches, the
yurt is dismantled
and carried by
pack animals to
lower elevations.

Folk architecture: China
Many Kazak now
winter in Chinese
style, mud-brick,
sod-roofed houses.
 Yurts are
experiencing
technological
change as wood
gives way to plastic
and felt to canvas.

Building materials
 Housing
latitudes
in the middle and higher
– Houses made of wood where timber is
abundant
– In the United States, log cabins and
later frame houses
– Folk houses of northern Europe and in
the mountains of eastern Australia are
made of wood
Building materials

Housing in the middle and higher latitudes
– In some deforested regions — Central Europe
and parts of China
 Farmers
built half-timbered houses
 Framework of hardwood beams with fill in the
interstices of some other material
– Sod or turf houses typify prairie and tundra
areas
 Russian
steppes
 In pioneer times, the American Great Plains
– Nomadic herders often live in portable tents
made of skins or wool
Floor plan
 Unit
farmstead
– Single structure where family, farm
animals, and storage facilities share
space
– In simplest form is one storied — People
and animals occupy different ends of
structure
– More complex ones are multi-storied
arranged so people and livestock live on
different levels
Floor plan
 Communal
unit housing common
among some shifting cultivators
– Multiple families live under the same
roof
– Sleeping and cooking done in separate
alcoves
– Living space is shared
Floor plan
 Communal
unit housing common
among some shifting cultivators
– Example — the Sarawak longhouse
found on the Malaysian portion of the
island of Borneo
 Accommodates
between 5 and 8 nuclear
families
 An elongated dwelling
 Raised above forest floor on stilts
 Reflect a clan or tribal social organization
Folk Architecture: Manali, India
Folk Architecture: Manali, India

This house has
been constructed
by the Kullu people
who live in the
lower Himalayas of
Himachal Pradesh.
This is a steeply
sloped, rocky and
forested area and
people make the
best use of local
materials.
Folk Architecture: Manali, India
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Noted for their
woodwork, the Kulli
carve and paint
religious and tribal
designs toe propitiate
the gods and ward off
evil
The substantial stone
roof will support a
heavy winter snowfall.
Fodder and cattle are
kept below the living
quarters.
Floor plan
Most common are farmsteads where the
house, barn, and stalls occupy separate
buildings
 Example of the courtyard farmstead

– Various structures clustered around an
enclosed yard
– Appears in several seemingly unrelated culture
regions
– Found in Inca-settled portions of Andes
Mountains
– Also found in the hills of central Germany, and
eastern China
– Have wide distribution — offer privacy and
protection
Floor plan

Strewn farmstead prevails in countries
where Germanic Europeans immigrated
and settled
– Anglo-America, Australia, and New Zealand
– Buildings lie spaced apart each other in no
consistent pattern
– Especially common in zones of wooden
construction where fire is a hazard
– Poorly suited for defense
– Often associated with rural regions of more
than average tranquility
Irish folk houses

Other characteristics that help classify
farmsteads and dwellings
– Form or shape of roof
– Placement of chimney
– Details such as number and location of doors
and windows

Estyn Evens
– Used roof form and chimney placement,
among other traits, in classifying Irish houses
– Determined three major folk-housing culture
regions
Irish folk houses
 If
floor plan and material composition
had been included, more regions
would have been identified
 Other features such as the bed
outshot of far north Ireland, mud
wall constructions of interior
counties, and off-center door found
in several districts
Folk housing in North America
 Few
folk houses are being built today
 Popular culture with its massproduced, commercially built houses
has overwhelmed folk traditions
 Many folk houses survive in refuge
regions
Folk housing in North America

Yankee or New England folk houses
–
–
–
–
Wooden frame construction
Shingle siding often covers exterior walls
Have a variety of floor plans
New England large house — huge two-and-ahalf stories, built around a central chimney and
two rooms deep
– As Yankee folk moved west, they developed
the upright and wing dwelling
– Houses are often massive because of cold
winters
Folk housing in North America
 Upland
Southern folk houses
– Smaller and built of notched logs—
colonial Scandinavian settler technique
– Saddlebag house--two log rooms
separated by a double fireplace
Folk housing in North America
 Upland
Southern folk houses
– Dogtrot house-two log rooms separated
by an open roofed breezeway
– Shotgun house-African-American, one
room wide, but two to four rooms m
depth
– Creole cottage-half-timbered with a
central chimney and built-in porch,
found in Acadiana, a French-derived folk
region in Louisiana
Folk housing in North America
 Canadian
folk houses
– House type found in French speaking
Quebec
 Main
story atop a cellar, attic rooms beneath
a curved, bell-shaped roof
 Balcony-porch with railing extends across
the front, which is sheltered by overhanging
eaves
 Summer kitchen sealed off during the long
cold winters
 Houses often built of stone
Folk housing in North America

Ontario farmhouse—occurs frequently in
the Upper Canadian folk region
– One-and-a-half stories tall, usually built of
brick
– Has distinctive gabled front dormer window

Interpretation of folk architecture is not a
simple process
– Problem of independent invention versus
diffusion is raised repeatedly
– Folk cultures rarely leave behind many written
records, making landscape artifacts all the
more important