APHUG Units 1-3 Vocabulary

Agnosticism

View that God's existance is unprovable.

Abrahamic Religion

Monotheistic faiths emphasizing that trace their origins to Abraham. Judaism, Christianity, Islam.

Atheism

Belief that God does not exist.

Animism

Belief that nature has a soul.

Ex: Trees, Sky, Mountains etc.

Baha'i

Religion founded by Baha'ullah in Iran who declared himself as a prophet of God/"the promised one". Teachings: World peace through unity of all religions, live a simple life, dedication to serving others.

Buddhism

A religion based on the teachings of Siddartha Gautama (Buddha).

Caste

A social structure in which classes are determined by heredity. Used in the Hindu religion.

Christianity

A monotheistic system of beliefs and practices based on the Old Testament and the teachings of Jesus as embodied in the New Testament and emphasizing the role of Jesus as savior.

Confucianism

Chinese religion/philosophy of life; Focuses on ethical principals for the orderly conduct of daily life.

Diaspora

Forced exodus of the Jewish homeland.

Ethnic Religion

A religion with a relatively concentrated spatial distribution whose principles are likely to be based on the physical characteristics of the particular location in which its adherents are concentrated.

Fundamentalism

Literal interpretation and strict adherence to basic principles of a religion.

Hajj

A journey to Mecca for all Islamic people. This must be accomplished as the Fifth Pillar in the Islamic religion.

Karma

The belief that actions in this life, whether good or bad, will decide your place in the next life. (Hinduism/Buddhism)

Hinduism

Primary religion practiced in India. No known founder. Believes in many gods and reincarnation. Caste system is part of their beliefs.

Islam

The religious faith of Muslims, based on the religious system founded by the prophet Muhammad and taught by the Koran. The basic principle of the Koran is absolute submission to a unique and personal god, Allah.

Jainism

A religion that branched off from Hinduism and was founded by Mahavira; its belief is that everything has a soul, and its purpose was to cleanse the soul. Hearth is in India.

Judaism

First recorded monotheistic religion. Does not believe that Jesus was Messiah. Holy book is the Torah. Hearth in Israel.

Minaret

The tower attached to a mosque from which the muezzin, or crier, calls the faithful to prayer five times a day (Islam).

Missionary

Someone who travels to spread their religion to others.

Monotheism

Belief in one God.

Mormonism

Christian religion founded by Joseph Smith in 1830 in New York; believe in the Bible and the Book of Mormon. (Officially called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints)

Pilgrimage

Purposeful travel to a religious site to pay respects or participate in a ritual at the site.

Polytheism

Belief in more than one god.

Profane

Unholy; Showing contempt toward sacred things.

Protestant

Branch of Christianity that originated during the Reformation when Martin Luther broke off from the Roman Catholic Church.

Reincarnation

Belief that the individual soul is reborn in a different form after death. This happens until the soul reaches enlightenment.

Sacred Space

An area that has special religious significance or meaning that makes it worthy of reverence or devotion.

Secularism

The principle of separation of the state from religious institutions.

Sharia Law

Determines how Muslims conduct their personal religious lives. Set of conducts that instruct and guide the every day Muslim life.

Shiite

A branch of Islam that comprises 16% of Muslims. After Muhammad died, they believed that the leadership of Islam should be passes through his family to his cousin/son-in-law.

Shintoism

Ethnic religion with it's hearth in Japan. Modified by the introduction of Buddhism. Nature and the land-emperor are seen as divine.

Sikhism

Emerged in India. Founded by Guru Nanak Dev. Influenced by Hinduism and Islam.

Sunni

Muslim Majority. After Muhammad died, they believed the next leader should be elected from those who were capable.

Taoism (Daoism)

Chinese religion; The religion (philosophy based) evolved by Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu, that holds the belief that happiness lies in proper harmony with nature.

Theocracy

A form of government in which God or a deity is recognized as the supreme civil ruler; run through use of religious laws.

Universalizing Religion

A religion that attempts to be global, to appeal to all people, wherever they may live in the world, not just those of one culture or location.

Zionism

A movement for the re-establishment of a Jewish nation in Israel.

5 Pillars of Faith

Fundamental beliefs of Islam - proclaiming Allah as god, praying 5 times a day, giving charity, fasting during Ramadan, taking hajj to Mecca.

Creolization

Languages that result from mixing of a colonizer's language with the indigenous language of the people being dominated.

Dialect

A regional variety of a language distinguished by vocabulary, spelling and pronunciation.

Extinct language

A language that was once used by people in daily activities but is no longer used.

Indigenous language

Language native to a region and spoken by the indigenous people of that region.

Indo-European

A large language family of hundreds of languages, including English.

Isogloss

A boundary that separates regions in which different language usages predominate.

Kurgan (nomadic warrior) Theory

Theory that Indo-European spread from Central Asia by Kurgan warriors on horses that conquered much of Europe and South Asia around 3,000 BC.

Language

A system of communication through the use of speech, a collection of sounds understood by a group of people to have the same meaning.

Language branch

A collection of languages within a family related through a common ancestral language that existed several thousand years ago.

Language family

A collection of languages related to each other through a common ancestor long before recorded history.

Language group

A collection of languages within a branch that share a common origin in the relatively recent past and display relatively few differences in grammar and vocabulary.

Lingua franca

A language mutually understood and commonly used in trade by people who have different native languages.

Linguistic fragmentation

A condition in which many languages are spoken, each by a relatively small number of people.

Logogram

A symbol that represents a word rather than a sound.

Multilingualism

The ability to be able to communicate in more than two languages.

Official language

The language adopted for use by the government for the conduct of business and publication of documents.

Pidgin language

A form of speech that adopts a simplified grammar and limited vocabulary of a lingua franca; used for communications among speakers of two different languages.

Renfrew Theory

Theory by Colin Renfrew that believes Indo-European began in Turkey and diffused into Europe and South Asia along with agricultural practices (not military conquest) around 5,000 BC.

Spanglish

A combination of English and Spanish spoken by Hispanic Americans.

Acculturation

The process of social, psychological, and cultural change that stems from blending between cultures; adapting some aspects of the larger culture.

Apartheid

Laws (no longer in effect) in south Africa that physically separated different races into different geographic areas.

Assimilation

The process by which a person's or group's culture come to resemble those of another group; loss of own culture.

Centrifugal force

A force that divides people and countries.

Centripetal force

An attitude that tends to unify people and enhance support for a state.

Colonialism

A particular type of imperialism in which people move into and settle on the land of another country.

Cultural convergence

When two cultures become more similar because of frequent interactions.

Cultural divergence

When a culture splits into different cultures because of lack of interaction.

Contagious diffusion

The rapid, widespread diffusion of a feature or trend throughout a population.

Cultural relativism

The practice of evaluating a culture by its own standards.

Culture

Body of material traits, customary beliefs, and social norms that together constitute the distinct tradition of a group of people.

Cultural landscape

The visible imprint of human activity and culture on the landscape.

Cultural trait

A single element of normal practice in a culture, such as the wearing of a turban.

Custom

The frequent repetition of an act, to the extent that it becomes characteristic of the group performing the act.

Diffusion

The process of spread of a feature or trend from one place to another over time.

Ethnic cleansing

A process in which a more powerful ethnic group forcibly removes a less powerful one in order to create an ethnically homogeneous region.

Ethnic/Folk culture

Culture traditionally practiced by a small, homogeneous, rural group living in relative isolation from other groups.

Ethnicity

Identity with a group of people that share distinct physical and mental traits as a product of common heredity and cultural traditions.

Ethnic enclave

A place with a high concentration of an ethnic group that is distinct from those in the surrounding area.

Expansion diffusion

The spread of a feature from one place to another in an additive process.

Ethnocentrism

The practice of judging another culture by the standards of one's own culture.

Gender

The socially constructed roles and characteristics by which a culture defines male and female.

Gendered spaces/gendered landscapes

Concept that specifically addresses cultural values regarding gender, such as behaviors that are acceptable only for one gender, and often only in certain spaces.

Genocide

The deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation.

Global/Popular culture

Culture found in a large, heterogeneous society that share certain habits despite differences in other personal characteristics.

Globalization

Actions or processes that involve the entire world and result in making something worldwide in scope.

Hearth

A center where cultures developed and from which ideas and traditions spread outward.

Hierarchical diffusion

The spread of an idea from persons or nodes of authority or power to other persons or places

Imperialism

Domination by one country of the political, economic, or cultural life of another country or region.

Indigenous

Originating or occurring naturally in a particular place; native.

Innovation

An improvement of an existing technological product, system, or method of doing something.

Multiculturalism

The presence of, or support for the presence of, several distinct cultural or ethnic groups within a society.

Placemaking

The process of creating a physical environment that is comfortable and reflects one's values, experiences, and tastes.

Race

A category of humankind that shares certain distinctive physical traits. (Social concept with no genetic basis)

Relocation diffusion

The spread of a feature or trend through bodily movement of people from one place to another.

Racism

Believe that race is primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.

Sense of place

The feeling that an area has a distinct and meaningful character.

Stimulus diffusion

The spread of an underlying principle, even though a characteristic itself apparently fails to diffuse.

Sequent occupance

The notion that successive societies leave their cultural imprints on a place, each contributing to the cumulative cultural landscape.

Syncretism

The blending of traits from two different cultures to form a new trait.

Time-space convergence

The idea that distance between some places is actually shrinking as technology enables more rapid communication and increased interaction among those places.