Sustainability issues
Waste products (environmental capacity), uniform landscapes, animal endangerment (overuse of animal products), need for recycling, etc
Ethnocentrism: biased perspective of one's ethnic group as being superior
Being racist or sexist
Cultural relativism: objective (unbiased) view of understanding others cultural beliefs & customs
Having your own beliefs different from how you were raised or taught
Centripetal forces unify a state and provide stability
Means âdirected towards the centerâ
âNATIONALISMâ loyalty & devotion to a nationality
Nations & states foster it:
Promoting symbols of the nation state
Flags & songs
Centrifugal forces divide a state leading to balkanization, weakening, etc.
Means âto spread from the centerâ
Leading too:
Cultural shatter-belt is where a state breaks down through Ethnic Conflict (balkanization)
Ethnic cleansing is where the more powerful ethnic group forcibly removes the less powerful ethnic group to make a homogenous nation state
WWII: millions of Jews, Romas & other ethnicities were forcibly moved to concentration camps & later exterminated
Balkanization is the process by which a state breaks down due to conflicts among its ethnicities
Yugoslavia was once multicultural with multiple ethnicities broke up into 6 republics
Diffusion feature spreads across space from one place to another over time
Originates at a Hearth or place from which an innovation begins (Point of origin)
Relocation diffusion spread of an idea through the physical movement of people from one place
People carry their culture (language, religion & ethnicity)
Spread of Christianity to Africa followed by Expansion diffusion
Expansion Diffusion spread of a feature from one place to another in an additive process
Refers to:
Hierarchical diffusion: spread of an idea from one node of power & authority to another
Contagious diffusion: rapid & widespread diffusion of something throughout a population because of proximity
Contagious disease like influenza or HIV/AIDS
: spread of a principle rather than a specific characteristic
Feature of an iPad that are now common on competitorâs products
Organization of Language:
Language family: collection of languages related through a common ancestral language that existed long before recorded history (pre-historic)
Language branch: exists within a family, comprising a collection of languages that are related through a common ancestral language that existed several thousand years ago
Connections between languages in a branch can be seen in archaeological evidence
Language group: collection of languages within a branch that share a common origin in the relatively recent past
Exhibit many similarities in grammar & vocabulary
One theory that all languages originate in Africa
Attributing to the complexity & diversity of languages present in Africa today
142 language families
Indo-European: largest language family (2.8 Billion speakers) between 400 â 500 languages
Evidenced by its predominant usage in Europe, S. Asia, North & Latin America.
Four branches widely used: Indo-Iranian, Germanic, Romance & Balto-Slavic
Four branches spoken by relatively fewer people: Albanian, Armenian, Celtic & Greek
Sino-Tibetan: 2nd largest language family in the world as it includes Mandarin (worldâs single most-spoken language)
Spoken in Peopleâs Republic of China, worldâs most populated of state with 1.3 billion
African Language Families
Arabic is the primary Afro-Asiatic family language
206 million people speak, official language across 2 dozen countries in SW Asia & N. Africa
1 billion Muslims in the world speak some Arabic
Due to Islamâs holiest book, Quran (Koran) written in Arabic
Hebrew is a member of the Afro-Asiatic language family
Original language of Judaismâs Bible & Christianityâs Old Testament
More than 95% of sub-Saharan Africans use a language from the Niger-Congo family
Swahili developed through interactions between African groups & Arab traders (Lingua Franca of Africa)
Its vocabulary has a pronounced Arabic influence
One of the few African languages with a thorough literary tradition
Distribution of Indo-European Branches
8 branches make up the language family
4 being extensively spoken & 4 others comprising fewer speakers
Germanic Branch
English is part of the West Germanic group of the Germanic branch
Other W. Germanic group include Dutch, Flemish, Frisian, Afrikaans & German.
Another important Germanic group is N. Germanic
Includes 4 languages spoken in Scandinavia (Swedish, Danish, Norwegian & Icelandic)
Romance Branch is composed of descendants of Latin
Stretches from Portugal along the Mediterranean to Slovenia, pocket in Romania & Moldova
4 most widely used Romance languages: Spanish, Portuguese, French & Italian
Romanian is separated from other Romance languages by Slavic-speaking countries
Mixed Languages
Lingua Francas are adopted common languages due to trade & business
English, Spanish & Mandarin Chinese
Creole languages (a mixture of two languages that is a native language of a group of people)
Used to describe languages in the Caribbean when slavery & colonization merged cultures
Ex: Haitian Creole
Pidgin language is a language that develops when two or more different languages meet in one geographic region
Result of trading among people who speak different languages
Ex: Swahili which combines some Bantu dialects with Arabic
Evolving to a primary language of a region, it becomes a creole language
Dialects regional variation of a language
Different regions throughout the U.S. have dialects of the English language
Someone in the southern regions may pronounce English words differently compared to someone in the northern regions of the US
Variations in vocabulary & accent
Due to its widespread diffusion around the world, English has an especially large number of dialects & subdialects
Isogloss is a geographic âbarrierâ that exists between the use of one word over another
Soda vs Pop
Two classifications of religion:
Monotheistic: believing in one supreme being or god.
Polytheistic: believing in more than one supreme or deity.
Include Hinduism & Shintoism
Pagan is a polytheistic religion in ancient times.
Fundamentalism is the literal/strict interpretation of the fundamental(basic) principles of a religion.
Theocracies are govâts ruled by religious laws
During the Enlightenment era, vast majority of theocracies ended in the western hemisphere
Today, still practiced in Iran & Saudi Arabia
Religions
Universalizing Religion - anyone can be a member of it
Beliefs attract the universal population
Seek converts throughout the world through Missionaries
Make it easier to spread
Diversity in its worshipers from various ethnic backgrounds
Christianity (Worlds Largest Religion), Buddhism & Islam
Ethnic Religion - part of a particular ethnic or political group
Must be born into it &/or through marriage
Hinduism (World Largest Ethnic Religion) & Judaism
Folk religions being classified as ethnic
Worldâs largest religions:
Christianity (2.2 billion people)
Islam (1.6 billion people),
Hinduism (1 billion people)
Buddhism (500 million people)
Cultural diffusion causes the altering of the cultural landscape, practices, innovations, ideas
Acculturation: people change some of their cultural habits when they arrive in their new country but maintain other traditions.
Spanish speakers that immigrated to the U.S. & learned English to speak it when in public but speak Spanish around friends & family
Mongols conquered China & largely adopted Chinese culture
Transculturation: differs in that it is an equal exchange or flow of traits between two cultural groups
Strong influence of both Buddhism & Confucianism in East Asia
One did not dominate the other but rather Buddhism diffused & interacted with Confucianism.
Syncretism: blending of beliefs and practices between different cultures to create something new.
Sikhism which combines elements of Islam & Hinduism
Bahaâi which accepts other religious founders, Shin-Buddhist which blends Buddhists & Shinto practices in Japan.
Assimilation: When people completely abandon their old culture & adopt the culture of their new country.
Teenager gives up the folk music of his/her homeland & submerges into American pop music
Immigrating to a new country & no longer speak native language or carrying on traditional customs.
Latin language & culture is an early example adopted & basis of most modern-day languages
Language became dominant due to the power of the Roman people
Cultural appropriation describes a situation where a dominant cultural group takes a product or idea from an oppressed/minority cultural group and uses it for its own benefit
Using a Native-American tribal name as an American sports team name (Redskins, Blackhawks, etc.)
Cultural imperialism is the invasion of a culture into another by dominating