2.15- Culture, World Languages and Religion
Culture
Culture
Links to an external site. is what defines a person's way of life, their general customs and belief. Culture includes language, music,, tools and technology, clothing, gender roles, religion and belief systems. The term culture is very imprecise and it is often applied to very large groups of people that shares only the most general characteristics. For example, we hear a lot about American Culture, African American Culture or Asian Culture. But these groups are too large to share more than a few broad characteristics. We might say that US culture is characterized by beliefs that promote individual rights, autonomy, and individual responsibility. But when you look beyond broad abstractions and get to specifics, this becomes highly debatable. In fact, US culture encompasses many subcultures that share some of the core set of beliefs but disagree over parts of the core and over an array of other matters. The same is true for all other regions of the World! Its easy to generalize and we will no doubt do so in this class. It is important, however, to recognize that generalizations are just that - general. Within a culture huge diversity can exist and sensitivity to that diversity is absolutely necessary. To truly appreciate the World, you have to recognize its complexity.
Three important terms to know:
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Cultural Imperialism: the imposition by a politically and/or economically dominant culture onto another non-dominant culture. A community forcefully extends the authority of its way of life over the other population by either transforming or replacing the non-dominant community's culture. Colonialism is example.
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- Cultural Nationalism: Protecting and defending a cultural system against dilution or offensive expression. In France, for example, 40% of the music on French radio stations must be by French artists. Nationalism is on the rise in Europe, the UK, the US and elsewhere. Brexit (the UK leaving the European Union) is really a poster child for nationalism in the West in the 21st century.
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- Cultural Hybridization: is the blending of elements from different cultures. Bolivian Hip-Hop, fusion cuisine and Tex-Mex food are all examples. KPop is a great example of cultural hybridization. This Korean pop music includes influences from hip-hop, reggae, electronic music etc.
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Religion
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The religions of the World are formal and informal institutions that embody value systems. Most have deep roots in history, and many include a spiritual belief in a higher power. Religion is an important part of cultural identity for many people around the globe. Some formal religions proselytize, trying to extend their influence converting others. Islam, Buddhism and Christianity fall into this category. Others, such as Judaism and Hinduism, accept converts reluctantly.Informal religions, have no formal central doctrine and no firm policy on who may or may to be a practitioner. Many people combine informal religious beliefs with their more formal religious practices.
Christianity is the world's larges religion in area and number of practitioners. 2.1 billion people describe themselves as Christian globally. About 1.3 million people practice Islam of which 11 % are Shi'a (particularly in Iraq and Iran) and 89% are Sunni. Judaism is the "parent religion" of Christianity and closely related to Islam. All three share the same historical, theological roots. There about 14 million people who practice Judaism. About 900 million people are Hindus and 350 -900 million are Buddhist. We will spend more time on both these religions later in the course. There is growing secularism around the World. 1.1 billion people describe themselves as non-religious or atheist.
Language
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Language is central to almost every aspect of human culture. Today there are roughly 7000 languages in the World, half of which will be lost in the next 100 years, mostly because of globalization. Language can tie a culture together and it can also divide it.
One half the globe's population speaks an Indo-European language (French, English, Spanish, Hindi, Bengali etc). Within language families, there are smaller units (sub-families) that tell us about history and geography among groups of people. Sub-families share similar sounds, words and grammar. My grandparents immigrated from Italy. They did not speak Italian, they spoke Romagnol which is a distinct enough dialect from Italian to be considered a sub-family or a distinctive language. Better known are German and English, French and Spanish - all in the same family but distinctive languages. Individual languages often have distinctive dialects associated with specific regions or places. English spoken by the English, Scots, Welsh or Jamaicans are quite different. They are dialects of the English language. Language is a key component of culture and the loss of a language or dialect has a major impact on the survival of a culture.