CHAPTER 13
Cultural Exchange and Survival
Contact and domination
– Acculturation– Westernization – influence of Western
expansion on other societies– Destruction, domination, resistance, survival,
adaptation, and modification of local cultures may follow interethnic contact
Development and environmentalism
Religious change
– Religious proselytizing can promote ethnocide
– Political ideology of a nation-state may oppose traditional religion (e.g., Soviet empire)
– Governments may also use their power to advance a religion (e.g., Islam in Iran or Sudan)
Antimodernism
– Antimodernism: rejection of the modern in favor of what is perceived as an earlier, purer, and better way of life
– Barber (1992, 1995) argues tribalism and globalism are the two key – and opposed – principles of our age
– In antimodern movements, social solidarity often is achieved through exclusion, separation, and opposition
Resistance and survival
– Oppressed people always resist in some non-public way
– Methods of curbing resistance:• Hegemony• Convincing subordinates that they will eventually gain power• Isolating subordinates and supervising them closely
– Weapons of the Weak (Scott)
Cultural imperialism
– Spread or advance of one culture at the expense of others, which it modifies, replaces, or destroys
• Mass media
Making and remaking culture
– Popular culture– Indigenizing popular culture
World system of images
• Electronic mass media can spread, and even help create, national and ethnic identities
Transnational culture of consumption
• Contemporary global culture is driven by flows of people, technology, finance, information, and ideology
People in motion
– Today, people are traveling more than ever
Indigenous peoples
– Term and concept indigenous people gained legitimacy through international law
– Cultural Exchange and Survival– Essentialism
Continuance of diversity
– Anthropology has crucial roles to play:• Promoting a more humanistic vision of social
change
• Increasing respect for the value of human biological and cultural diversity
• Increasing understanding of similarities and differences among humans throughout the world