Cultural Syncretism

Every culture has their own practices that are seemingly foreign to other cultures that come after them. For example, we cannot judge the culture of Chinese people today in present day China as we judged the culture of the people who used to settle in the same country. The only thing that they share is location because history, technology, and religion have influenced modern cultures in ways that would have been completely foreign to ancestors of the same place. An example of this comes from Ruth Benedict in her essay The Pueblos of New Mexico. In this essay she describes that Indians who used to live in New Mexico. They were very different from the people that live there today. They were very relaxed in many ways of their culture expect religion.

• the persistence of broad cultural traditions, especially in the Mesoamerican, Andean, Chinese, European, and Indian civilizations.

China’s unity of its civilians helped the prosperity of its nation to become well known to other power nation. At this period China became well known and believed to be as equally strong to other power nations. Sterling extensively explains that building The Great Wall of China came at an immeasurable cost for a "temporary advantage" (147). Many citizens of China have died for the cause of building a national symbol for China, which was not known as The Great Wall of China until foreigners gave it a name to remember. Only during the Ming dynasty did the interconnections of the walls that once divided China, became a unity. The expansion of many walls together came at a great cost. The Great Wall of China made it very difficult for the Mongols and Manchus to penetrate their defensive system, but this did not stop them from failing to attack the dynasty. The perceived barbarians had bankrupt the dynasty. Strategies of keeping enemies from infiltrating is a vital key to keep an economy from chaos and destroying a nation’s wealth that took years or centuries to achieve.

Leading up to the early colonial period of American history, a collision of cultures changed the way populations in the Americas and their descendants would live their lives and interact with those around them. The new arrivals in their land had a different culture and view of the world that was at odds with their own. It should be asked of the peoples of the Americas, if not having been given over to disease, could have had the advantage over their opponents. In written history one can read that the Native Americans certainly had the numbers to gain victory over their opponents; however, they lacked guns and resistance to the diseases carried by their invaders. The purpose of this paper is to answer whether the changes brought on by the cultures

The dominant themes of early European and American Indian interactions were trade, warfare, and religion. According to the Created Equal 2nd Edition textbook, the first interaction that took place between the Europeans and the American Indians was in 1492, which was the year when Christopher Columbus first landed in America. (1.Borstlelman, Jones, May, Ruiz, Wood, pg 11) When Columbus first came to America his way of interacting with the American Indians would define theme of interactions for a long period to come. Amazed by the gold that was to be found from the American Indians and the common belief at that time that the “whole world is the rightful inheritance of Christianity.” Columbus and his followers set to rule the American Indians and impose Christianity on them. Having more advanced warfare than the American Indians, early Europeans enslaved and robbed them of their land and possessions. Due to the European diseases that were brought, most island populations of American Indians became extinct. Therefore, in search for more labor Europeans moved to explore the mainland. The French trade increased mainly because of the Indian’s ability to procure beaver pelts. Furthermore, without the Indian’s cooperation, the Europeans could not carry its trade in furs and skins. Without the Indians, the Europeans wouldn’t have been to increase their economy.

Prince George’s Annual Traditional POW Wow is an event put on by the Prince George Friendship Centre, it takes place at the Carrie Jane Gray Park. It is rich in energy and historical popular culture. Hosting the powwow is a way of ensuring the rich heritage of the aboriginal people is preserved. The word Pow Wow, or pau wau, means a gathering of people coming together to trade. Explorers misinterpreted the ceremony of medicine men dancing, thinking all natives gathered to sing and dance in this manner.

In other countries people treat conquered people with much more respect than in the United States. They follow their lead a little bit more and they worship them in a way. The psychometric findings supported the thesis that as Chinese become progressively removed from their ancestral culture and in greater contact with the dominant American culture, they show a concurrent increase in their assimilation orientation and in their internalization of American perceptual norms. Indians had choices about assimilation. The first choice was for a tribe to assimilate into the dominant American culture, become civilized, give up tribal ways and be absorbed into America society. Many tribes tried this, many times through history. The most balanced approach

Emergency management encompasses a wide range of protective measures aimed at improving a community’s resiliency, managing risks, and implementing mitigation strategies. When considering emergency response strategies, emergency managers must account for cultural issues within their communities. They must structure emergency planning around community policies and underlying issues that could hinder the implementation of mitigation measures. Using blanket strategies for disaster mitigation in most cases do more harm than good. Tailoring strategies to meet the needs of specific needs of community is the best way to approach disaster planning and mitigation efforts. Emergency mangers must

In African cultures, they believe in creating a positive environment for the gods by singing and dancing, with the hope that the attention will cause the gods, to grant their request. The African also believe that without the body and spirit there will be no god. In the Indian culture, they believe that dance the body and spirit are one, and therefore it cannot be separated. The Indian’s also believe that the body and spirit work together in unity or as one. Lastly, both the Africans and Indians believe the body is the temple of the spirit.

You can look back into the history of even America and see how the influence of African beliefs transformed our lives today. Even though African’s have lost some of their previous beliefs, they still practice their tradition of old which is intriguing. No matter how old the rituals, even in face of other religious ideologies Africa prospers and continues their traditions. I find it admirable how two religions can clash and yet exist almost peacefully between the different groups of

In Africa, there are many cultures, each their own traditions. They may seem strange and different

In early history, cultures outside of Europe were seen as simple and primitive. The powerful Europeans were lucky to find new worlds, bring their cultures and values to the Natives who needed them for their own salvation. Africa was a poverty stricken backwards world that never accomplished anything significant. Native Americans were easily conquerable and primitive. These oversimplified and false statements hide the flourishing cultures in the Pacific 's, Africa and Americas that existed before the Europeans started their conquests driven by the lust for power, resources, allies and wealth. The Asian and African trade systems were vital components for the European economy to thrive. The Pacific regions, African regions and Americas were

Culture is a way of life inevitably intertwined within all civilizations since the beginning of human history. Handed down from one generation to the next, culture remains as a perpetually endless occurrence. Humanity has been involuntarily defining its regions, civilizations, and each its peoples and the respective geographical locations in which the inhabitants were born. Prosperous and thriving throughout the centuries, all ways of life continue to grow and develop as multiple factors, such as climate change, war, natural disasters, politics, and religion come into play. Beliefs, arts, and customs are primary in defining culture, yet many other major cultural characteristics contribute

One of Ruth Benedict’s most well known books that were published is Patterns of Culture. In this book she discusses how customs and cultures are viewed. She specifically talks about three different cultures that she studied during her anthropological fieldwork. “Traditional custom, taken the world over, is a mass of detailed behavior more astonishing than what any one person can ever evolve in individual actions no matter how aberrant” (Benedict 1934:2).

It has been said that the Self-Strengthening Movement was a response to the West. The repeated defeats which China suffered from the 1st and 2nd Anglo Chinese Wars convinced the Qing Court Officials that the western powers were not barbarians. Instead, their weapons were very superior. And the foreign powers have been kept seeking advantages and privileges from