Unit 3: Cultural Patterns and Processes Flashcards

Culture

the shared experience, traits, and activities of a group of people who have a common heritage

Cultural synthesis (syncretism)

the blending together of two or more cultural influences

Modern and contemporary architecture

when new buildings are constructed using innovative designs

Christian

traditional houses of worship tend to have a central steeple or two high bell towers in the front of the building

Hindu

temples and shrines tend to have a rectangular-shaped main body and feature one or more short towers of carved stone

Buddhist

temples and shrines vary depending on which Buddhist tradition is followed in the region

Islamic

mosques can take a variety of forms, though many have central domes

Judaic

there is not a common architectural design style to synagogues.

Monolingual

knowing one language only

Pidgin

simplified forms of the language that use key vocabulary words and limited grammar

lingua franca

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

Folk music

music that is original to a specific culture

Fusion cuisine

when more than one global tradition is incorporated in dishes

Universalizing religions

accept followers from all ethnicities worldwide

Ethnic religions

confined to members of a specific culture group

Syncretic religions

synthesize the core beliefs from two or more other religions

Polytheistic

believing in more than one spiritual god

The Five Castes (from highest to lowest)

1. Brahmans

2. Kshatriyas

3. Vaishyas

4. Shudras

5. Dalits

Theocracies

religious leaders hold the senior positions of governance

Secular

not directly governed in a religious manner and, instead, often utilize French or British legal tradition and government structure

Nation

a population represented by a singular culture or a culture group

Ethnicity

a complex mix of genetic heritage and political allegiance

State

a population represented by a single government

Cultural identity

how people are identified and how they identify themselves

Indigenous population

the people who originally settled in an area

Environmental determinism

a culture’s traits are defined by the physical geography of its native hearth or culture region

Possibilism

concept proposed by Sauer that stated cultures were to a partial degree shaped by their environment and the material resources available to them

Cultural relativism

an individual’s beliefs and activities can only be understood in the context of that person’s culture

Ethnocentrism

the belief in the superiority of one’s nation or ethnic group, and in the inferiority of other nations or ethnic groups

Internal identity

used by individuals to express their cultural heritage, ethnicity, or place of origin to people who share their heritage or place of origin

External identity

used by individuals to express their cultural heritage, ethnicity, or place of origin to people who do not share a common cultural or geographic background

Culture regions

an area of bounded space with a homogeneous characteristic that can be one or more components of culture

Border states

where one part of the state is decidedly Southern and another part seems more Northeastern

Culture hearth

the idea that every culture has a localized area where it originated or has its main population center

Ancient culture hearths

developed ideas and technologies that still exist today

Sequent occupance

different dominant cultures replace each other over time

Acculturation

the process of adapting to a new culture while still keeping some of one’s original culture

Assimilation

a complete change in the identity of a minority culture group as it becomes part of the majority culture group

Cultural survival

used to describe the efforts to research, understand, and promote the protection of indigenous cultures

Cultural globalization

a number of influences such as literature, music, motion pictures, the Internet, and satellite and cable television, mainly from English-language sources, combined to diminish and potentially eliminate the media and culture of other linguistic groups

Ethnic cleansing

where people of one ethnic group are eliminated by another, often under threat of violence or death

Genocide

a large-scale systematic killing of people of one ethnic group

Material culture

the material manifestation of culture, including tools, housing, systems of land use, clothing, etc.

Nonmaterial culture

beliefs, traditions, celebration, thoughts, values and ideas of a group

Taboo

something that is forbidden by a culture or a religion, sometimes so forbidden its not even discussed

Cultural landscapes

the forms of superimposed on the physical environment by the activities of humans.

Indigenous community

the community of indigenous people living together working to keep their culture alive

Sense of place

a strong feeling of identity that is deeply felt by inhabitants and visitors of a location

Language

A set of mutually intelligible sounds and symbols that are used for communication

Religion

the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods

Relocation diffusion

a form of diffusion where the ideas being diffused are transmitted by their carriers as they migrate to new areas

Expansion diffusion

the spread of an idea through a population in a way that the number of those influenced becomes continuously larger. Includes contagious, hierarchical, and stimulus diffusion.

Contagious

Transmission of a phenomenon through close contact with nearby places, like diseases.

Hierarchical

an idea spreads by passing first among the most connected individuals, then spreading to other individuals.

Reverse hierarchical

diffusion up a hierarchy, such as from a little city to a big one.

Stimulus

the spreading of an underlying principle of an idea when the idea as a whole cannot spread to a particular culture.

Creolized language

a language that began as a combination of two other languages and is spoken as the primary language of a group of people.

Colonialism

an effort by one country to establish settlement in a territory and to impose its political, economic, and cultural principles on that territory.

Imperialism

the policy of extending a country’s influence through political or military force to areas already developed by indigenous people.

Time-Space convergence

the decline in travel time between geographical locations as a result of transport, communication, and related technological and social innovations.

Cultural convergence

different cultures acquire common ideas, products, and traits, becoming more similar.

Cultural divergence

different parts of a cultural region are exposed to different influences and become dissimilar.

Dialect

different forms of the same language used by groups that have some different vocab and pronunciations

Language extinction

a language that is no longer spoken by anyone as their native language

Language family

a collection of languages that are all descended from an original, proto-language Indo-European family

Nomadic Warrior Theory

language diffused through nomadic movement/conquest (hierarchical diffusion)

Sedentary Farmer Theory

language diffused by farmers relocating (relocation diffusion)

Multiculturalism

when various ethnic groups coexist with one another without having to sacrifice their particular identities.