Exam 4: Folk and Popular Culture

Identify a hybrid, or syncretic, form of art, music, or architecture in your surroundings. What elements of folk and popular culture does it combine? If you cannot identify any such hybrids in your surroundings, imagine a new product or item of your own.

What folk food preferences and taboos have you seen in your own family, or in other families with which you are familiar? What might a cultural geographer say about these?

Considering the changes that you have seen in your life (not the examples already given in this chapter), discuss one way that you have seen popular culture impinge on folk culture. How did you or other people that you know react to the situation, and why?

Terroir refers to

As components of group identity and cultural learning, folk customs usually originate from

When we analyze the patterns of popular culture in our surroundings, we can surmise that

Popular culture and folk culture can both result in a higher level of

Discuss the ways in which television has diffused popular culture historically as well as in your own experiences. How does your experience (or inexperience) with television compare to those larger trends?

The adoption of a popular custom often depends on a person's amount of disposable income.

Culture refers to a habit that is widely adopted by a group of people.

Typically, popular culture

What is the difference between a custom and a habit?

One significant impact of popular culture is to

Pioneer farmers settling the grasslands of the American West often built houses of sod, while early settlers of the eastern forest built wooden structures like log cabins. This suggests that building materials

Why do promoters of popular customs, such as fast-food restaurants, seek to create a uniform landscape appearance?

A repetitive act performed by an individual is a

Hotels, fast-food restaurants, and other franchises encourage a uniform appearance on the landscape to promote customer recognition.

Many less developed countries fear the loss of folk culture because

The choice of clothing in Western countries is strongly influenced by

Why do leaders of some developing countries fear the loss of folk culture? And what defensive measures might you recommend they take to protect folk culture?