Where is Folk Culture Clustered?

1. Where is Folk Culture Clustered? Key Issue #2

2. How isolation promotes cultural diversity • Himalayan Art • The influence of the physical environment • Distinctive food preferences • Folk housing • U.S. folk house forms We will examine…. Clustering of Folk Cultures

3. Recall that environmental determinists theorized how processes in the environment cause social customs. • Not sound theory – people in very similar places have very different cultures. Sometimes, people live in extremely different environments, but have similar cultures. INFLUENCE OF THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

4. How did the folk art of groups in close proximity to one another differ? Why? Himalayan Folk Cultural Regions

5. Traditional Vegetable Garden, Istanbul

6. Humans eat plants and animals (living things) • Inhabitants must consider the soil, climate, and terrain in deciding what to grow. • Vidal de la Blache : “Among the connections that tie people to a certain environment, one of the most tenacious is food supply…” • People adapt their food preferences to conditions in the environment. • Ex: fuel shortages in Italy = quick frying, abundance of fuel in Northern Europe = slow roasting and stewing. Food Preferences

7. Terroir- The contribution of a location’s distinctive physical features to the way food tastes Senegal Family Lunch

8. People may desire of avoid certain foods in response to perceived beneficial or harmful natural traits • According to • National • Geographic’s • “Food Taboos: It’s All a Matter of • Taste”… • Eating Insects! Food Taboos • Examples from your textbook • Jewish and Kosher foods • Muslims and pork • Indians and beef

9. Hog Production & Food Cultures

10. Peter Menzel Photographs of Food

11. Building materials are influenced by what is available– highly tied to environment • Wood and brick are the 2 most common globally. • Glass, stone, sod, bamboo, and skins also used. • Wood is most preferred b/c it is easy to work with. Available pre-cut in MDC’s. • Dry areas (China, Mexico) use sun baked bricks. • Stone in South America or Europe. Folk Housing

13. FOLK HOUSING Usually does little to effect the environment or landscape and serves a purely functional purpose

14. House Types in Western China Fig. 4-8: Four communities in western China all have distinctive house types.

15. Kashgar House, western China http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2310/1667517410_6b429fb58d.jpg Kashgarhouses have second floor open-air patios, trees planted around house because soil is moist, unlike other dryer parts of China

16. Dunhuang House, central/western China Dunhuang houses have walled central courtyards, covered with an open air grape arbor. Allows for air movement but Provides shade from intense summer heat/light. Roof is slanted to catch Rainfall in this wet climate area.

17. Turpan House, western China http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/static.panoramio.com/photos/original/2304306.jpg Turpan is located in a deep valley with little open land. There are open courtyards for social gatherings. Second stories are avoided because of strong winds

18. Yinchuan House, Central/Eastern China Yinchuan houses are built around large open courtyards which provide seclusion from outsiders, a folk housing characteristic of Muslim families in China.

19. Building igloos

20. Thatch & mud huts

21. The form of house and orientation may have influence from customary beliefs or environmental factors… • Arrange beds perpendicular to the center ridgepole of the house • Sleep with their heads to neighbors heads and feet to feet so as not to disrespect • Fronts of houses face the fronts of other house along a path. The Lao people of Northern Laos

22. Sleep with their heads to the East, the direction of good spirits. • Houses are NOT set in straight lines because of the idea that evil spirits travel in a straight line. • Ridgepoles parallel the path. The Yuan and Shan of Northern Thailand

23. Diffusion of House Types in U.S. Mid-Atlantic Housing in PA Fig. 4-9: Distinct house types originated in three main source areas in the U.S. and then diffused into the interior as migrants moved west.

24. Diffusion of New England house types • These 4 types were popular in the 18th and 19th century. • As settlers migrated, they carried memories of familiar house types with them and built similar structures on the frontier. Diffusion of New England House Types