Human Geo 4.2. Questions Flashcards
When was music invented according to a legend?
A Chinese legend tells that music was invented in 2697 BCE, when an Emperor sent Ling Lun to cut bamboo poles that would produce a sound matching the call of the phoenix bird.
How do Folk songs originate?
- Originate anonymously + are transmitted orally
- May be modified throughout generations
- Content most often derived from daily life events that are familiar to the majority of the people
- As people migrate, folk music travels with them
- Folk songs may tell a story or convey info about life-cycle events (like birth, death, and marriage)
- They may convey info about environmental features like agriculture and climate (ex. the Vietmanese song telling about summer vs winter seeds)
- English folk songs draw upon similar themes
- Festivals throughout Vietnam have music in locally meaningful environmental settings where people in traditional clothes sing about elements of daily life.
How does the origin of popular music differ from folk music and how did popular music as we know it originate?
- Written by specific individuals for the purpose of being sold or performed in front of a crowd.
- Displays a high degree of technical skill
- Today’s popular music originated around 1900, when the main music entertainment in North America and Europe was the variety show (music hall or vaudeville). A music industry in Tin Pan Alley, NY provided songs for it.
- The diffusion of American popular music worldwide began in earnest during the 1940s, when radio networks broadcast music to American soldiers and citizens of countries with fighting.
How do popular musicians tend to cluster?
- In particular communities according to shared interest in specific styles (like Tin Pan Alley, Dixieland Jazz in New Orleans, country/gospel in Nashville, and Motown in Detroit).
- Now with the globalization of popular music, musicians are less tied to the culture of particular placces, and have more connections with performers of similar styles from far away than with nearby performers of different styles.
- They increasingly cluster in communities with other creative artists. Nashville, New York, LA, and San Fransisco all have high numbers and concentrations of musicians.
- Musicians cluster here so they can be near sources of employment and cultural activities AND so they have better access to agencies that book life performances and shows.
What regional variations can be observed in popular music preferences?
In the US in 2017, Rihana was especially popular in the southeast and east, Justin Beiber in the southwest, and Twenty-One Pilots in and around Utah.
How did soccer originate?
- Originated as a folk custom in England during the 11th century, and became a part of global pop culture beginning in the 19th century.
- After the Danish invasion of England between 1018 and 1042, workers excavating a building site found a Danish soldier’s head and began to kick it.
- A boy got the idea of using an inflated cow bladder as a ball, and early football games turned into mobs of people from 2 villages gathering to kick the ball.
- The winning side was the one that kicked the ball into the center of the rival village.
How did soccer become a globally popular sport?
- In the 1800s, the transformation began. Football and other recreation clubs were founded in the UK (frequently by churches) to give factory workers organized recreation during leisure hours.
- Increasing leisure time and income meant more people could view and participate in sporting events, so football clubs started hiring professional players. This organization marks the transition.
- The Football Association was formed in 1863 to standardize rules and organize professional leagues
- Association – Assoc – Soccer.
- In the late 1800s, the British exported Assoc first to continental Europe (where Dutch students were the first to play football in the late 1870s), then to other countries. Miners from Bilbao Spain adopted it in 1893, and British citizens further diffused the game throughout the British empire, and it was further diffused by new communications systems (TV).
What is required for a sport to be called an olympic sport?
To be included in the Summer Olympics, a sport must be widely practiced in at least 75 countries and on 4 continents (50 countries for women). The 2020 Summer Olympics included competition in 34 sports.
What are some regionally distinctive sports which cultural groups prefer?
- Cricket in UK and former British colonies
- Ice Hockey in colder climates like Canada, the northern US & Europe, and Russia.
- Wushu (martial arts of combined forms): China
- Baseball (primarily USA/Canada became popular in Japan in the late 19th century after it was introduced by American Japanese returning from studies in the US and was added to 2020 Olympics.
- Football: different forms in US, Canada, Australia.
- Lacrosse: formed by Iroquois (“bump hips”). European colonists in Canada picked it up and diffused it to a handful of US communities.
How can sports be a strong force for cultural and regional identity?
- MLB teams have strong regional identities.
- Lacrosse has fostered cultural identity among the Iroquois confederation of 6 nations because they have been invited by the International Lacrosse Federation to parcitipate in championships along with teams from Australia, Canada, and the US.
- The Iroquois Nationals are the only team made entirely of Native American members. They were unable to travel to the World Lacrosse Championship in 2010 because the UK immigration officials wouldn’t accept their Iroquois-issued Passports.
Why do people wear distinctive folk clothing?
For a variety of environmental and cultural reasons. Wooden shoes in the Netherlands have practical uses in a wet climate. Fur-lined boots protect against the cold and snowshoes permit walking on snow in arctic climates. People in warm/humid places may not need any footwear if time spent in water discourages cultural use.
- North Americans/Europeans and people in other parts of the world have been exposed to each other’s forms of dress through increased travel and the diffusion of media. Ponchos, dashikis, & parkas have been adopted by people elsewhere in world.
- In some parts, continued use of folk clothing may not be because of environmental conditons or cultural values but to preserve cultural identity or to attract tourists.
How can wearing traditional clothing in countries dominated by popular cultures be controversial (and vice versa)?
- Men in these places must decide whether to wear Western-style suits, especially if they are in a place of leadership.
- Women in Southwest Asia & N Africa traditionally wear loose-fitting body/head coverings.
- The burqa= entire face/body
- The hijab = the practice of covering the head
- Niqab = a veil that covers bottom half of the face.
- Several countries where Western-style women’s clothing is popular (France & Belgium) have restrictions on where women can wear Muslim clothes.
How are popular clothing styles rapidly diffused?
- Fashionable clothes are among the most globally distributed products and change frequently.
- Pop clothing habits are more likely to reflect occupation/income than regard for physical features. A lawyer in NY is more likely to dress like a lawyer in Mexico than like a factory worker in NY.
- Color, shape, and design of women’s dresses change to imitate pieces created by designers.
- People who choose the same clothes will wear them in different cultural contexts. Commonplace & traditional clothing in one part of the world may be considered bold and controversial in another.
How have improved communications permitted the rapid diffusion of clothing styles from one region of Earth to another?
- Original designs for women’s dresses (created in Paris, Milan, London, or NY) are reproduced in large quantities at factories in Asia and sold for relatively low prices in North American and European chains.
- Speed is essential in manufacturing copies of designer dresses bc fashion tastes change quickly.
- What did took years now takes weeks from the time a dress is displayed to the time it is available in stores: due to electronic communications.
- Diffusion of pop clothing erodes local variations.
Ex: A shopper who buys the international brand Zaea can find identical looking jeans in Indonesia nad Spain, and the clothing itself may be from Asia.
In the popular culture of the 21st century, food preferences seem far removed from folk traditions. They are influenced more by cultural values than environmental features. Where can some regional variations be observed? (coke)
- What to call Soda varies in the United States
- Consumers prefer Coke in some countries and Pepsi in others
- Coke is sales leader for cola in most of Western Hemisphere, excepting Canada’s French-speaking province of Quebec, where Pepsi won them over with advertising tied to French Canadan culture.
- Russian gov’t allowed only Pepsi, and after the Soviet Union ending, Russinas quickly switched to Coke bc of Pepsi’s association with communism.
- Arab countries boycotted products sold in Israel because they opposed a Jewish state. Coke was the only choice in Israel until 1992.
