The Human Mosaic
CHAPTER TWO
Many Worlds:
Geographies of Cultural Difference
I.
►
Introduction:
Many Cultures
 folk culture vs. popular culture
 material vs. non-material culture
 dominant cultures vs. subcultures
1) Regions of Difference
A) Material Folk Culture Regions
►Plains
Ranch (“beef wheel”)
►African-American (“scraped earth”)
►Yankee (“winged death heads”)
►Pennsylvanian (“forebay barn”)
►Quebec French (“petanque”)
Taking a look at roadside cemeteries
Shotgun Houses in Valdosta, Georgia
B) Is Popular Culture Placeless?
►reasons
for placelessness?
►popular subcultures and “The Clustering of
America” (Michael Weiss)
Where are You?
Tokyo, Japan
Where are You?
Idaho
Where are You?
Finland
C) Indigenous Culture Regions
►a
clear sense of place
►how is their survival possible?
►swidden agriculture and animism in South Asia
►Mayan culture region of Central America
D) Folklore Regions
►Swiss
from?
Folklore regions: where do babies come
Folk Culture: Sense of Place in Cappadocia
Murong tribesman
with his children in
indigenous culture
region in Bangladesh
Mayan culture region in Middle America
Indigenous culture region of the Andes (Quechua & Aymara)
Where do babies come from?
E) Food and Drink
►from
beer consumption to fast-food sales
F) Popular Music
►Elvis
Who?
G) Sports in North America
►ice
hockey, lacrosse, football, soccer, etc.
H) Vernacular Culture Regions
►Where
do you live? Midwest? South or
Dixieland?
Vernacular regions in North America (after Wilbur Zelinsky)
Defining the Midwest
2) Folk and Popular Culture Diffusion:
A) Agricultural Fairs
B) Blowguns: diffusion or independent
innovation?
C) Diffusion in Popular Culture
►hierarchical
or contagious?
►time-distance decay?
►Wal-Mart: reverse hierarchical
D) Advertising
►most
effective device in diffusion in popular
culture
►neighborhood effect
►importance of visual messages (“Marlboro Man”)
E) Communication Barriers
►of
Punk Rock and Gangsta Rap
►from the U.S. Congress to the Taliban
F) Diffusion of the Rodeo
►from
cowboy contests to commercial rodeo
►absorbing and permeable barriers
Another Mc Donald’s opening in Moscow …
3) Ecology of Folk and Popular Cultures
A) Indigenous Ecology
►sustainability
and subsistence farming
►conservation of global biodiversity
►colonialism and neo-colonialism and its
consequences
B) Local Knowledge
►indigenous
technical knowledge
►subsistence economies
►indigenous folk medicine and modern
pharmaceutical products
C) Global Economy
►is
“globalization” good for us?
►turtles and the Miskito population
►resiliency of indigenous cultures and their fight
for survival
D) Folk Ecology
►environmental
perception in migration
►use of different building materials
F) Ecology of Popular Culture
►product
of industrialization
►heavy demands on natural resources and
ecosystems
►recreational activities
►litter culture
►mechanistic view of nature?
(vs. organic view of nature)
4) Interaction in Folk and Popular Cultures
A) Convergence Hypothesis
►Wilbur
Zelinsky’s study of given names (1790/1968)
B) Difference Revitalized?
►greater
individualism and resistance to conformity
(“segregated” communities within popular culture)
 Sun City, Arizona
 San Francisco, California
►“narrowcasting”
of and for special interest groups
►local consumption cultures / consumer nationalism
C) Place Images
►accurate
or misleading? Hawaii? Bali? Others?
Sun City, Arizona
5) Folk and Popular Cultural Landscapes
A) Folk Architecture
►based
on collective memory of traditional people
►barns, churches, mills, fences, dwellings, roofs
B) Folk Housing throughout the World
Mongol Yurt
Navajo hogan
C) Folk Housing in North America
►Yankee
“upright and wing”
►African-American “shotgun”
►Upland Southern “saddlebag” & “dogtrot”
►Quebec French
►Acadian “Creole” … etc.
D) Landscapes of Popular Culture
►landscapes
of consumption
►five-stage model of strip evolution
 single-family residential landscape → over time increasing
commercial functions → creation of a commercial landscape
E) Leisure & Amenity Landscapes
►recreational
nomads
►Golfscapes (> twice the size of Delaware)
►weekend cottages & vacation homes
►in-door skiing in Dubai?
F) Elitist Landscapes
►gentleman
farms of Kentucky
►life on the French Riviera
►other examples you can think of?
G) The American Popular Landscape
►cult
of bigness?
►casual chaos?
While temperatures outside
may rise to 130 degrees …
you can ski inside!
Oklahoma State Capitol …
and an oil derrick.
World’s Largest Six Pack …
in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
H) Shadowed Grounds
►Waco,
Texas (1993)
►Twin Towers of New York (2001)
►McDonald’s restaurant in San Diego (1984)
Waco, Texas