There are many theories as to the cause of the disappearance of the Indus valley civilization, including violent conflict with the Aryans, intermarriage with the Aryans, floods, drought, and/or decline in trade with other societies. Topic 1: On several occasions in class, we discussed the processes of accretion and syncretism. Describe and analyze the cross-cultural influences in a Mediterranean and Indus Valley context. Your essay should provide examples of cultural (remember the components of culture we discussed early in the semester) interchange between different societies and civilizations. Introduction Culture is the complex combination of intellectual, artistic, material, scientific, and technological developments in a society. In addition, culture is comprised of the established religious, political, social, and economic institutions in a civilization. Finally, language is perhaps the most critical component of culture. Language is the medium for the expression of thoughts, perceptions, sentiments, and values that characterize a community. Cultural traits and complexes, or micro- and macro-level patterns of communication and behaviors, further form the unique traditions associated with a collective identity. Cross-cultural interchange fosters transformation of the dynamic narratives that are the essence of a people. Two of these cross-cultural processes affecting the formation and evolvement of human societies are accretion and syncretism. Syncretism
Question: With the collapse of the classical civilizations, post-classical civilizations arose shortly thereafter. Compare the factors that led to the rise post-classical civilizations from 500 CE to 1200CE between two of the following regions- Europe, East Asia, Africa or the Middle East.
A culture is an idealized pattern of meanings, values, and norms differentially shared by the members of a society, which can be inferred from the non-instinctive behavior of the group and from the symbolic products of their actions, including material a artifacts, language, and social institutions.
The Neolithic Revolution was the major change in human life caused by the beginnings of farming. This revolution changed people’s lives in several ways. It changed the way people lived because before the Neolithic Revolution they relied on hunting and gathering food. It also changed the way they settled, because of this revolution they were able to live in villages for a long time, unlike before; they had to relocate often because their food source would become scarce. The way civilizations lived changed because of the Neolithic Revolution. A civilization is a form of culture that consists of cities, advanced technology, specialized workers, complex institutions, and record keeping. The early river valley civilizations; which developed in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus, and China, had more similarities than differences. The river valley civilizations were similar when it came to their writing systems, inventions, and geography. However, they were also different when it came to writing systems and inventions.
Culture is the characteristics of a group of people defined by language, cuisine, religion social habits music and art. There are many different types of culture including western culture, eastern culture, African culture and many more. Culture is influenced by the groups of people that make up the country (Zimmermann, 2012). The term culture was first used by an English Anthropologist named Edward B. Tyler. It was first mentioned in 1871 in his book named ‘Primitive Culture’. He stated that culture is "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society”. Since then culture is the main focus of anthropology.
Throughout the history of Earth, there have been many fascinating developments, the most prominent being the first civilizations, Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. They had many similarities, such as characteristics of early civilizations and social structures, but they also had their differences. The most embossed differences included the divergent geography, prior belief, trade, relations with other civilizations, and politics.
A culture is the characteristics that relate and reflect on a particular group of people. This may include language, religion, music/arts, beliefs, values, and, overall, their way of life.
Tainter main argument is that the collapse of societies stemmed from the failure of problem-solving institutions. That once these issues arose in the empires, the ruling factions were unable to provide solutions or relief that would provide stability and support the citizens. Furthermore, the societies collapsed they couldn’t adapt the
The Neolithic Revolution is an important part of history; it changed the Nomad’s lifestyles for good. For example, instead of Nomadic hunters and gatherers, the Nomads instead grew and harvested their own crops because of agriculture and they also domesticated wild animals. The revolution also led to the development of civilizations. A civilization is a complex culture with five traits: advanced cities, advanced technology, record keeping, specialized workers and complex institutions. The four major civilizations are a region of Mesopotamia named Sumer, Egypt, Indus Valley and China. Archaeologists and historians have identified the Traits of Civilization in the Ancient River Valleys of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus and China.
Culture embodies a myriad of concepts that include customs, behaviors, core values, and beliefs which support a specific population within a community or country. Culture is a well-defined set of principles and beliefs which are strengthened by the people who represent these ideals. Each culture has its own unique and distinctive principles and engages its members as part of a group whose key ideals are aligned with its beliefs and practices.
Culture is a convenient way of describing the ways members of a group understand each other and communicate that understanding “Culture is not only race or ethnicity; it includes gender, sexual orientation, education and literacy level, profession, hobby, or life experience that may include violence, trauma, or disease. Each of these cultures has their own language or slang, and group behavior and beliefs”
In the past anthropologist have compared different cultures and set up an explanation for their development starting from an uncivilized society and transforming to a civilized society. This is based on different theory's that sets the basis of the Unilinear evolutionist thought. This thought is shared and best explained by evolutionists like Taylor, Spencer, and Morgan. This theory views a societies development as a linear path of progression. Here, the western society is set to be in the height level of society and the rest follow the line towards the western view. With time we see that a new theory of thought is set into motion. In Contrast to the unilinear view is Boas historical particularity. He argues that cultural change can't be measured
Culture is the overall view of shared products between human society. When we live in a given society we are taught things in ways that other people learn them in different societies. It is safe to assume that society influences our cultural construction of reality. The most influential topic in correlation to cultural construction is language. Culture is passed on my language and
Culture is described as the symbols that individuals, groups and societies use to make decision of daily life and to assure their values. Culture is a model of basic assumptions invented, discovered or developed by a given organization as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaption and internal combination, which has worked well enough to think correctly and, so to instruct to new comers as the valid way to observe, consider and feel in relation to these problems. Culture consists of manner, mind-set, values, rituals, religious belief, law (written and unwritten), arts, ideas, custom, belief, ceremonies, social institutions, myths and legends, individual identity and behavior. Cultural pattern classifies are used to describe the dominant beliefs and values. Culture has been called the way of life for an entire society. It is a group or community living together and sharing a set of norms. Culture and society are coexistent. One does not or cannot exist without the other. Culture and society may have some common elements but the two are not the same; they are not identical.
The concept of cultural syncretism exists when two different cultures combine their ancient beliefs of the past to create new traditions and/or beliefs. There are several cultural factors that influenced both Africa and the Americas such as weaponry, technological advancements, medical and religious. China and India’s values were quite different when it came to cultural beliefs. They would isolate themselves from outside traditions, which made them more resistant to syncretism.
Culture can be defined as “the sum total of the beliefs, rules, techniques, institutions, and artifacts that characterize human populations” or “the collective programming of the mind.