Folk GeographyFolk Geography

The cultural makeup of most societies includes elements of: folk, ethnic, & popular cultures

Folk CultureFolk Culture: the collective heritage of institutions, customs, skills, dress, and way of life of a small, stable, closely knit, usually rural community

– Made up of people who maintain the traditional– “old-fashioned” way– Strong family or clan structure

folk geographyfolk geography: defined as the study of the spatial patterns and ecology of folk-life.

Folk Culture in the U.S.

The Old Order Amish The Old Order Amish in the U.S.

– Perhaps the only “folk” equivalent in U.S.– German-American farmers– Largely renounces devices of the industrial age– Horse-drawn buggies still used, and faithful

own no autos or appliances– Central religion concept of demut, “humility” – Rarely marry outside their sect– Clustered around Pennsylvania & Ohio (in 17

total states)

Old Order Amish

The Amish: Relocation Diffusion of Folk Culture

• In Europe the Amish did not develop distinctive language, clothing, or farming practices and gradually merged with various Mennonite church groups.

• Several hundred Amish families migrated to North America in two waves.

Amish Settlements in the U.S.

Fig. 4-4: Amish settlements are distributed through the northeast U.S.

Folk Building Traditions

Mali: “dogon”

Folk Architecture:

• The Maasai are pastoralists in Kenya who bring their cattle into their manyattas at night

• Maasai houses are built by women

• Constructed with termite, ant, and beetle resistant wood poles, insulated with packed leaves, and covered with cow dung

Inside a Sarawak longhouse (Malaysia)

An Iroquois longhouse (upstate NY)

A longhouse in Washington state

House Types in Western China

Four communities in western China all have distinctive house types

Irish folk building styles

Folk Housing in North America• Few folk houses are being built today

• Popular culture with its mass-produced, commercially built houses has overwhelmed folk traditions

House Types

Traditional

American house types:

New England

Mid-Atlantic

Southern Tidewater

What are folk building materials dependent upon???

From log cabins to…

wood framed houses.

Yankee New England

Dogtrot (or saddlebag)

Folk Culture Regions

Folk Cultural Folk Cultural RegionRegion: folk customs are distinctively identified with an area long inhabited by a group.

Ex: Pennsylvanian folk region has an unusual Swiss-German type of barn

Folk Clothing

Cuzco, Peru (an Incan capital city) is a major tourist destinations.

Native llama and alpaca wool sweaters, ponchos, and rugs are displayed for the tourist trade.

They are hand woven on hand-looms and colored with mineral or vegetable dyes.

Folk handicrafts and arts often enter popular culture…

Folk Drinks: Mountain moonshineHome manufacture of corn whiskey in the Home manufacture of corn whiskey in the Upland South has been going on since the Upland South has been going on since the 1700s.1700s.

Corn whiskey is very persistent in the folk diet Corn whiskey is very persistent in the folk diet of Appalachia.of Appalachia.

Entered popular culture through whiskeys Entered popular culture through whiskeys such as Jack Daniels (a “sour mash”). The such as Jack Daniels (a “sour mash”). The government began to tax alcohol…government began to tax alcohol…

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 used in NASCAR racing.

Folk Music: BluegrassBluegrass emerged in the 1930s in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina.

What popular music tradition is Bluegrass going to influence???

Folk Games: Petanque in Quebec

petanque is a bowling game played with metal balls.

Diffused to Canada with French immigrants in the 16th century. It has persisted as one aspect of a Quebec French folk region.

Western plains ranching folk culture

– the “beef wheel,” a windlass used during butchering

Folk Hunting:Blowguns• long, hollow tube through which a

projectile is blown by force of breath

• Geographer Stephen Jett mapped distribution of blowgun

– Found among folk societies in both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres

– Used from the island of Madagascar to Amazonian jungles of South America

         

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“I've hit many squirrels with this store-bought  6' .38cal blowgun and wire darts, but this is the only one I ever killed. I shot out my window, and hit him in the brain with my first shot.”

A successful rabbit hunt with my blowgun

Folk Religious Styles

Great Mosque of Córdoba, Spain

Islam

Buddhism

Hinduism

Judaism

Shinto Temple