Acculturation

acculturation - change resulting from contact between cultures

e.g., assimilation, colonialism, cultural loss, diffusion, extinction, fusion, imperialism, incorporation, isolation, multicultural

Acculturation Processes:

Directed - assimilation, colonialism, cultural loss, imperialism

Nondirected - isolation, incorporation

Other - diffusion, extinction, fusion, multicultural

Acculturation Processes:

assimilation - become part of dominant (San living at Tshum!kwi, US as a melting pot and policies to create an American identity, Tasaday at Tboli)

colonialism - being controlled by the dominant culture, typically a nation state, ,e.g., British in South Africa & India, Portuguese in Brazil, US in Puerto Rico or Samoa

cultural loss - dominant cultures drive cultures off their lands and away from their traditional ways, causing them to lose their old ways and to occupy marginal areas. The people still retain their original cultural identity. (Tasaday, San)

diffusion - spreading of cultural elements between cultues with no intent to direct change

extinction - the dominant culture causes another culture to die out (Tasafeng & Sanduka, Yahi)

imperialism - where the corporations of one culture control other cultures by political and economic means, e.g., U.S. Corporations in Puerto Rico, Multinational Corporations

incorporation - selectively taking a cultural element from the dominant culture, but retaining one's own cultural identity

isolation - trying to keep the dominant culture out and not be affected by it

fusion - cultures coming together to form a new one. Also called syncretism, e.g., the Balinese merging traditional Javanese with Hindu to form Balinese Culture, Samoans taking parliamentary government and creating a multi-fono, which merges the idea of the council of chiefs with a national government.

multicultural - stressing the importance of different cultures, races, and ethnicities being part of one system (the World, India, US, So Africa, Mexico)

Updated:Friday, 16-May-1997 10:16:49 PDT
Court Smith, Oregon State University