Folk Culture

1. Folk Culture

2. Definition: • Folk culture: cultural traits such as dress, dwellings, traditions, and institutions of usually small, traditional communities • Folk culture is usually passed person-to-person within the relatively small, close-knit community

3. Aspects of Folk Culture • Folk culture comprises people (and objects, etc.) who represent or maintain a "traditional" mode of life • Live in an old-fashioned way • Or with a simpler life-style which is not “modern"

4. Folk culture is usually rural, tight-knit, conservative, and largely self-sufficient. • There is often a strong family or clan structure and highly developed family, religious, or general community rituals.

5. Tradition comes first— change comes infrequently and slowly

6. Folk culture may be either (or both) material and nonmaterial: • Material culture includes all objects made by members of a particular cultural group • Nonmaterial culture: • Folklore: folktales, folksongs, folkdance, folk beliefs (superstitions and customs) • Dialects, religions, etc.

7. African Folk Culture A legacy of tradition

8. African folk culture includes: • Art • Religious Beliefs • Traditions • Dance • Music …in hundreds of ethnic groups

9. Africa’s ancient tribal culture has been closely tied to their religious beliefs, known as animism: the belief that inanimate objects contain the spirit and consciousness of living things

10. Most early African art and rituals were heavily influenced by a belief in animism

11. Shamans are priests or priestesses that use magic to gain power over the supernatural Music, dance, and art came together in animistic rituals– these customs were the origins of later African folk culture

12. Art Primitive art tried to represent the human form in carvings

13. Folk Art Modern folk art is often self-taught and unrefined

14. Dance Highly stimulating and often emotional

15. Music Uses many variations of percussion instruments, especially drums