Human Geography By James Rubenstein

1
Human Geography By James Rubenstein

• Chapter 4
• Key Issue 2
• Why is Folk Culture Clustered?

2
Isolation Promotes Cultural Diversity

• Folk customs observed at a point in time vary
  widely from one place to another, even among
  nearby places.

3
Examples of Distinctive Folk Art in the Himalaya

• Tibetan Buddhists
• Hindus in the south
• Muslims in the west
• Southeast Asian animists in the east

4
Cultural Regions in the Himalaya
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Tibetan Buddhists in northern region

• Idealized divine figures, such as monks and
  saints.
• Some of the figures are depicted as bizarre or
  terrifying, perhaps reflecting in the
  inhospitable environment.

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Hindus in the southern region

• Scenes from everyday life and familiar local
  scenes.
• Paintings sometimes portray a deity in a domestic
  scene and frequently represent the regions
  violent and extreme climatic conditions.

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Snakes have long been popular subjects of Hindu
art.
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Alam Shah closing the dam at Shishan Pass
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Muslims in the West

• Show the regions beautiful plants and flowers,
  because Muslim faith prohibits displaying animate
  objects in art.
• In contrast to the Buddhist and Hindu, Muslims do
  not depict harsh climatic conditions.

12
Abstract, geometric forms that translated into
the architecture of mosques.
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Geometric forms in the ceiling of a Mosque
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Sistine Chapelin the Vatican City(Christian Art)
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Animist from Myanmar and Southeast Asia.

• Create symbols and designs that derive from their
  religion rather than from local environment.

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The distribution of artistic subjects in the
Himalayas shows how folk customs are influenced
by cultural institutions like religion and by
environmental processes such as climate,
landforms, and vegetation.
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Influence of the Physical Environment

• Examples exist of peoples who live in similar
  environments but adopt different social customs.
• Examples exist of peoples who live under
  different environmental conditions but adopt
  similar social customs.

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Examples of Environment Influence on Clothing

• Residents of arctic climates wear fur lined
  boots to protect from the cold.
• People in the tropics may wear no shoes, because
  heavy rainfall discourages their use.
• Dutch farmers wear wooden shoes because they are
  waterproof.

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Two necessities of daily life

• food and shelter
• demonstrate the influence of
• cultural values and the environment
• on development of unique folk culture.

21
Distinctive Food Preferences

• People adapt their food preferences to conditions
  in the environment.

22
Soybeans as Examples of Food Preference Adaptation

• Excellent source of protein.
• Widely grown in Asia.
• Toxic and indigestible in the raw state.
• Edible if cooked thoroughly.
• Fuel for cooking is scarce.

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Soybeans as a Food Source

• Bean Sprouts (germinated seeds).
• Soy Sauce (fermented soybeans)
• Bean Curd (steamed soybeans).

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In Europe

• Preference for quick-frying foods in Italy
  resulted in part from fuel shortages.
• Abundant wood supply in Northern Europe
  encouraged the slow stewing and roasting of foods
  over fires, which also provided heat for homes.

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Food Diversity
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• Although food customs are inevitably affected by
  the availability of products, food consumed in
  neighboring cultural groups often reflect
  distinctive traditions.

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Ethnicity of Transylvania Before WWII

• 4 million Hungarians
• 4 million Romanians
• 500,000-600,000 Saxons
• 50,000-75,000 Jews
• 20,000-25,000 Armenians
• Thousands of Szeklers

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Soups Consumed by the Poor In Transylvania

• Romanians ate sour bran soups from cracked
  wheat, corn, brown bread, and cherry tree twigs.
• Saxons simmered fatty pork in water, added
  sauerkraut or vinegar, and used fruits.
• Jews preferred soups of beets and sorrel.

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Soups Consumed by the Poor In Transylvania
continued

• Armenians made soup out of curdled milk and
  ground vegetables.
• Hungarians added smoked bacon and thickened the
  soup with flour and onion fried in lard.
• Szeklers substituted smoked goose, or other
  poultry for the bacon of the Hungarian recipes.
  

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Food Attractions and Taboos

• People may desire or avoid certain foods in
  response to perceived beneficial or harmful
  natural traits.

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Taboo

• A restriction on behavior imposed by social
  custom.

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Examples of Food Taboos

• Abipone Indians of Paraguay eat jaguars and
  bulls to make themselves strong.
• The mandrake was thought to enhance lovemaking
  in Mediterranean climates.
• The Ainus in Japan thought that otters would
  make one forgetful.
• Europeans first thought potatoes caused typhoid
  and tuberculosis.

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Environmental factors to the Prohibition against
Hogs

• To the Hebrew, pigs were unsuited to pastoral
  nomadism, and the meat spoiled quickly in hot
  climates.
• To Muslims in Arabia, pigs competed with humans
  for food and water, without offering compensating
  benefits like wool, or milk.

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Annual Hog Production
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Environmental Reasons for the Hindus prohibition
against Beef

• A large supply of oxen are needed to pull plows.
• Religious sanctions have insured an increasing
  population of cattle.

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Insects as Food

• Americans avoid eating insects, despite their
  nutritional value.
• In Thailand, giant water bugs are deep fried as
  snack foods.
• Americans consume insects in canned mushrooms
  and tomato paste.

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Trays of tasty insects at the night market, Hat
Yai, Thailand
41
Folk Housing

• The house is a product of both cultural tradition
  and natural conditions.
• A reflection of cultural heritage, current
  fashion, functional needs, and the impact of the
  environment.

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Distinctive Building Materials

• Wood when forest are available.
• Bricks of dried wet mud, when trees are in
  limited supply.
• Also used are resources such as stone, grass,
  sod, and skins.
• Drywall for interior wall is used to save money.

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Distinctive House Form

• Form often reflect religious values.
• - East wall is sacred in Fiji
• - Northwest wall in China is sacred
• - Walls and corners are also noted in
  parts of the Middle East, India, and
  Africa

44
Houses in Madagascar

• The main door is in the west (the most important
  direction).
• Northeast corner is most sacred.
• North wall for honoring ancestors.
• Important guest enter room from the north and
  sit against the north wall.
• The bed is placed against the east wall, with
  the head facing north.

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• In the south-central part of Java, the front door
  always faces south, in the direction of the South
  Sea Goddess, who holds the key to Earth.

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Houses in Laos

• Beds are arranged perpendicular to the center
  ridgepole of the house.
• People sleep with their heads opposite their
  neighbors.
• A child, living next door, sleeps with his or
  her head toward the parents feet.

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Housing in Laos
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Houses of the Yuan and Shan of Thailand

• All sleep with their heads toward the east.
• Staircases must not face west (the direction of
  death and evil sprits.

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Housing in Thailand
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Housing and Environment

• Pitched roofs in wet and snowy climates to
  facilitate runoff.
• Windows face south in temperate climates to take
  advantage of the Suns heat and light.
• In hot climates, window opening may be small to
  protect the interior from the heat of the sun.

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Housing In China

• Kashgar have second floor open-air patios.
• Small open courts in Turpan.
• Large private courtyards in Yinchuan.
• Sloped roofs in Dunhuang.

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House types of Western China
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U.S. Folk House Forms

• Pioneer homes reflected the style in the place
  from which they migrated.
• Homes built in the past half century display
  popular culture influences.

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Major hearths of folk house forms in U.S.

• New England
• Middle Atlantic
• Lower Chesapeake

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Source areas of U.S. house types
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Major house types in New England

• Saltbox
• Two-Chimney
• Cape Cod
• Front Gable Wing

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Diffusion of New England house types
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Major house types in Middle Atlantic

• The I house resembled the letter I, because
  it was one room deep, two rooms wide, two stories
  high.

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Lower Chesapeake or Tidewater

• One story, with steep roof, chimneys at either
  end, and typically one room deep.
• In wet areas house was raised on piers or brick
  foundations.

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Todays Houses in U.S.

• Distinctions are relatively difficult to observe.
• Most houses are mass produced by construction
  company.