Category Archives: Folk and Pop Culture

Folk and Pop Culture

What are you eating for Thanksgiving?

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Thanksgiving, Eating Patterns

Happy Thanksgiving everybody! Here’s hoping that the smell of roasting turkey soon fills your house, although my personal preference is to deep fry.

In the spirit of the season I wanted to share some survey data compiled by fivethirtyeight.com showing the regional eating patterns of my favorite holiday. Their data shows the most popular side dish in each part of the country. Does your family fit the regional profile or does it go against the grain? I came to a startling conclusion when I looked at the map, “Dear God we serve every single one of these in my house.” Then again, we do Thanksgiving big.

There is one side dish we serve that is not listed on their survey, rice and black beans. While that may not sound like a typical Thanksgiving side dish it certainly is in homes like mine that have a Cuban background. A common practice for immigrant families is to adopt the cultures and traditions of their new home, such as Thanksgiving. The twist is that these families will also incorporate portions of their own culture into the new tradition. Growing up it was customary for us to have a turkey roasting in the oven while simultaneously doing a traditional Cuban pig roast in the backyard.

Does your family have any Thanksgiving traditions that people might find odd? If so feel free to share them in the comments section below.

For the full article from fivethirtyeight.com follow this link. Quick warning: there are some colorful references to what people do after their Thanksgiving meal.

Ethnicity, Folk and Pop Culture

The Caste System in India: Still Dividing the Population 65 Years Later

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Since before recorded history Indian society was dominated by the caste system, dividing the population into different social classes. Once one was born into a caste there was no escape, social mobility was impossible, unless it was to be forced into a lower caste for some violation of traditional protocol. People from different castes were not even allowed to interact with one another for fear of reprisals from their peer groups or suffering the loss of social status.

At the very bottom of this social divide were those known as the “untouchables.” These were the most destitute of the population and were often limited to degrading jobs as public restroom cleaners because they weren’t allowed other opportunities. Their status was so low that it was a crime for them to even make eye contact with anybody in the upper castes.

Thankfully, this discriminatory system was outlawed in India in 1950. While it has been a step in the right direction caste politics have not been totally done away with. In rural areas the presence of the caste system is still quite strong where government supervision is the most relaxed.  Over the last few decades Indian law has established a practice of setting aside a percentage of government jobs and university opportunities for people from the lowest castes. The thought process is that by giving them these opportunities it begins to make up for past discrimination. It is similar to the affirmative action laws that were enacted in the United States during the Civil Rights movement.

Just as it has in the US these opportunities for the lower classes have created controversy. Many in the higher classes are protesting that despite higher test scores they are not getting enough access to the best jobs or admission to the top universities. Recently, this struggle has even presented itself through outright protests that have left 8 dead and countless more injured. While violence will not create a solution it has at least made people around the world realize, “Oh yeah, the caste system. That’s still a thing?”

The main point to be taken away from this lingering class struggle is that outlawing institutional discrimination isn’t enough, generations must pass to fully eradicate this negative legacy.

Folk and Pop Culture, Religion

Mecca: The Hajj and the Big Hotel

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A few weeks ago it was announced that a new hotel will be built in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. New hotels are announced and built on a seemingly endless basis, what makes this one special? Size.

Developers are planning on making it the world’s largest hotel with over 10,000 rooms. A full 3,000 more than the current leader, the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

While it may seem a daunting task to fill such a large hotel there is one time a year that there should be no problem at all, the annual hajj. The hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam, requiring Muslims to make one trip in their lifetime to the birthplace of the religion’s founder Mohammed. This pilgrimage happens once a year during the final month of the Muslim calendar.

Millions of Muslim from around the world come to share in the ceremony. So many Muslims arrive that it is considered the largest annual gathering of people on the planet. Come the annual hajj, the reality is that even with 10,000 rooms, the problem they will face is not too many rooms, but still not enough to accommodate everybody in attendance.

This sacred trip taken by Muslims is a theme that comes up repeatedly in Human Geography. It is the most well known pilgrimage taken by believers among the major religions and is commonly used as an example on tests and exams. Being able to identify the hajj, or using it as an example on an essay, might be the difference between failing and passing  the AP® Human Geography Exam.

Folk and Pop Culture

Culture: Breakfast Foods Around the World

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Recently my family and I went to the local Cracker Barrel for dinner. When we were seated the waitress asked me if I wanted a dinner menu or a breakfast menu. Despite it being late in the evening, I couldn’t resist, I was going to have breakfast as my dinner. I ordered a country fried steak topped with gravy and eggs prepared sunny side up. The accompanying sides were grits, hash browns, and biscuits with gravy on the side. I enjoyed my meal and didn’t really think about it again.

Country Breakfast
A traditional country breakfast.

A few days later I was looking through the New York Times site and came across a feature about typical breakfast foods around the world. A common theme was the serving of cold cereals but it was not universal. Many of the foods were not something Americans would typically associate with a morning meal. Looking back at my “breakfast” at Cracker Barrel, I realized that my steak and eggs provided more protein in one meal than what many people consume over several days.

I hope you check out the link to see the unique morning meals served around the world. If you aren’t curious about the foods, at least take a look as the adorable kids posing for each shot.

New York Times: Breakfast around the World

Folk and Pop Culture

The World Cup: From Folk Culture to Globalization

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The World Cup is in full swing and it is, without a doubt, the biggest event on the planet. Billions of people will watch the international soccer (or football as most of the world calls it) tournament over the course of the next month. In the United States soccer is considered a second tier sport behind American football, basketball, and baseball. For years I have tried to explain to my students that while we in the US have paid little attention to soccer for most of our history, in the rest of the world it is far and away the most popular sport. For me personally, I was exposed to soccer at an early age, growing up in a Hispanic household ignoring soccer wasn’t really an option.

The question I get asked most often, why is soccer so popular in the rest of the world? It is simultaneously a complicated and simple question to answer. To better understand the question one must understand the origin of soccer as a folk tradition in England. Hundreds of years ago while excavating a historical site the head of a Danish soldier was discovered, what does one do when discovering the head of an invading soldier? They decided to kick the thing around, it later morphed into a game as two villages took turns kicking the head back and forth to each other. Thankfully, they eventually stopped kicking the head around and played the game with a ball, over the years rules and a playing field were established and soccer took on the form we are much more familiar with now. Continue reading The World Cup: From Folk Culture to Globalization →