CHAPTER 13Cultural 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