Culture Terms

Warm-Up

• What is a taboo and how does this relate to the study of culture?

Culture Trait

• Single Feature of a Culture– Examples• Type of clothing• System of Religious beliefs

Culture Complex

• Group of individual traits that are interconnected.

• Keeping Cattle is a culture TRAIT• Keeping cattle PLUS the traits that cattle is a

measure of wealth in the society, they drink the milk or cattle blood, and the herders have an elevated status is society is a CULTRE COMPLEX

Material Culture=Artifacts:

• Tangible Things– Examples:• Tools• Weapons• Furniture

Nonmaterial Culture= Mentifacts&Sociofacts:

• Mentifacts (ideas, values, and beliefs of a culture)– Examples: • Language• Religion• Artistic pursuits• Folk Stories• Myths

• Sociofact- describe how cultural traits take on a life of their own, spanning over generations– Examples:• Educational and Political Institutions• Religious Organizations• Family Structure

• Distinctions are not always clear cut. A house is artifact, sociofact (expresses the nature of the family), and mentifact (reflects the culture groups beliefs about architecture and building materials

• Cultural Diffusion: The movement of people, ideas and goods from one location to another

• Cultural Hearth: Places where innovations originate and spread from– Examples: Egypt, Mesopotamia, Indus River Valley

and West Africa

• Cultural Barriers: hindrance to diffusion, such as a taboo, which prevents habits from establishing themselves in a society because of already established prohibitions, customs, and rules– Food Taboos: Hindus and Beef, Muslims and Jews

with Pork, Somali Clans with Fish

• Acculturation: Change that occurs within a culture when it adopts a practice from another culture (Mongols adopting Chinese culture) Adopting some of the cultural traits of a host/larger culture

• Transculturation: when an equal exchange of traits or influence between two groups or cultures occurs

• Syncretism: the birth of new trait from blending two or more cultural traits

• Assimilation: the process by which immigrants become totally integrated

• http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/31356213

• Globalization- increasing interconnection of all regions in the world through politics, communication, transportation, marketing, manufacturing, and social and cultural processes.

• Culture region- a portion of earth’s surface occupied by populations sharing recognizable and distinctive cultural characteristics.

• Cultural landscape and built environment- it comprises the physical implications of human culture wherever a human culture exists, the landscape reflects their culture.

• Sequent occupance- the succession of cultures leaving their mark in a shared space or territory often over generations of time.

• Independent innovation- when many hearths invent similar innovations without knowing each other.

S Curve: Diffusion often follows an S curve adoption pattern

• Cultural Convergence: process by which 2 cultures adopt each others traits and become more alike

• Culture Realm- merging together of culture regions

• Culture Identity-

• Cultural Determinism- the environment places no restrictions on humans whatsoever

• Political Ecology: the government of a region affects the environment which in turn affects the choices available to the people

• Folklore: Stories passed form generation to generation. Jack tales: stories that involve Jack and his adventures (Jack and the beanstalk)

• Popular Culture: practice of customs that span many cultures and have a global culture

• Natural Landscape: deals with the physical earth

• Adaptive Strategy: how a person adapts to a new culture

• Folk Songs: describe a group of people

• Food Cultures: UK= fish and chips, E. Asia= snake, Andies= guinea pigs, Tanzania= worms with peanutbutter

• Folk Food: attributed to a particular people or culture

• U.S. Food Cultures: New England= clam chowder, Maine/Cape Code= Lobster, South= fried chicken, collared greens, BBQ, peach cobbler

• Sports and Culture: Soccer(Football) is the most popular sport in the world

• Hooligans: Soccer fans who incite violence (usually by yelling out remarks at players or fans)

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtOXiQToz64

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30ThJblpDLs&feature=related

• Architecture and Culture: Housing trends vary and can depend on climate and building materials

Architecture

• Modern & Contemporary (in notes already)• Traditional: Structures built as the city was

being established• Indigenous: Built by the Natives • House Types: ( see notes)• Anglo- American- influenced by British