Study Of Culture Contact Research Articles

ETYMOLOGY AND MEANING OF THE CONCEPT OF ACCULTURATION

Any system of interpersonal and intercultural relationshipsposes topical questions for the researcher and stimulates the process ofidentifying relevant answers. Our attention is focused on the influenceof one culture on the other, i.e. on the phenomenon of acculturation. Thepurpose of the article is to provide a brief excursus into the history ofthe concept discussed.In general, acculturation (Latin acculturare from ad — towards, at,for and cultura — education, development, culture) presupposes the partialadoption of an alien culture by an individual, a group, or society.The concept applies primarily to knowledge, values, norms, skills, habits,techniques, beliefs, and language. Acculturation may lead either tothe enrichment or to the disappearance of a culture, i.e. to its assimilation. The term acculturation originated from British and American culturalanthropology. It was used to describe the effects of cultural interactionwith a new alien culture during the process of colonization in the late19th century (Powell, J. W. 1880, Boas, F. 1896, Thurnwald, R. 1932,Redfield, R. 1935, Herskovits, M. 1938, Linton, R. 1940).In the early 20th century, the term began to appear in American dictionariesand encyclopedias. The second half of the 1930s is characterizedby a heightened interest in the systematic study of acculturationprocesses, reflected in the works of many scientists, namely Herskovits,M., Redfield, R., and Linton, R. Memorandum for Acculturation (1936);Herskovits, M. Acculturation: The Study of Culture Contact (1938), Manand his Works: The Science of Cultural Anthropology (1948); Linton,R. Acculturation in Seven American Indian Tribes (1940), etc.Until the 1950s, the research in the field of acculturation was limitedto the studies of changes in cultural traditions under the influence ofWestern civilization. However, since the ’50s and ’60s, the research hassignificantly expanded its horizons. Franz Boas claimed that alien cultureinfluenced everyone’s development.In the context of globalization and mass migration, the scientific conceptof acculturation remains rather significant.

Power Relations and the Adoption of Foreign Material Culture: A Different Perspective from First-Millennium BCE Nubia

Questions of power relations have long been central to archaeological study of culture contact, with colonial relationships exciting particular interest. However, current frameworks do not account for the adoption of foreign material culture by cultures that are politically stronger than those from which they adopt. The wide variety of Egyptian material culture forms on display at first millennium BCE royal sites in Nubia such as the cemeteries of el-Kurru and Nuri is one such example of non-colonial cultural interaction which is not adequately explained by the postcolonial theories currently popular. This paper argues that the Kushite royal adoption of Egyptian forms was not based in concerns of ethnic identity or subaltern resistance, but instead reflected native Kushite state structures and value systems. It argues that theories of state structure and economy, including prestige goods economies, are more useful for understanding the nature of culture contact in non-colonial situations.

From colonist to creole: Archaeological patterns of Spanish colonization in the new world

Creolization theory has recently been adopted and adapted by archaeologists as a useful tool for the study of culture contact and culture change. Another term, acculturation, has a much longer history and appears to examine the same phenomena. An examination of how this approach was applied in the study of the development of a Hispanic creole culture demonstrates its utility regardless of the terminology used.

Post-Colonialism and the Political Imagination

This article considers the rise and fall of political anthropology in the context of the global shift from colonial to post-colonial rule. Classical political anthropology peaked in the 1960s and has remained obstinately out of fashion ever since, not least because of the narrow, acultural view of politics associated with it. Neither recent anthropological interest in power, nor more broad theoretical attention to the issue of post-colonialism, seem to have helped bring the phenomenon of post-colonial politics into clearer theoretical light. Taking its cue from Malinowski's late interest in questions of transculturation, the article argues for the gains of a radically empirical approach to post-colonial politics, an approach which would acknowledge the diversity of post-colonial experience and the unpredictable contours of what different people take politics to be. The article uses recent anthropological examples from South Asia, concentrating on issues of democracy and representation, to illustrate what such an approach might look like. Drawing the line Imagine yourself high in the air over Africa. It is 1938 and you are 'a passenger flying over the inland route of the Imperial Airways', a route which our intellectual navigator assures us, can provide 'almost literally a bird's eye view of the cultural situation'. As you cross the Upper Nile the circular villages and unclothed natives give 'a surface effect of Old Africa'. But 'as the 'plane crosses the border between Nilotic and Bantu peoples, it becomes obvious that it is a transformed Africa over which we are moving. Among the Baganda the houses are new, square, built on the European pattern; even from above, the dress and equipment of the natives spell Manchester and Birmingham.' Then, moving on, 'In Nairobi we enter a world where natives and things African seem to play but the role of mutes and properties respectively ... The white inhabitants go about their European business and live in a world almost untouched, on its surface, by Africa.' And then, shifting the visual metaphor into full imperial gear, 'we can conclude that changing Africa is not a single subject-matter, but one composed of three phases. It would be almost possible to take a piece of chalk, and on the face of the continent to map out spatially the areas of each type: predominantly European, genuinely African, and those covered by the processes of change' (Malinowski 1938: vii-x). I have been quoting from Malinowski's 1938 introduction to Methods of study of culture contact in Africa. It is an essay full of surprises and required reading for

Anthropology and British Psychiatry

11. Letter, G.Elliot-Smith to Edwin Embree (former Secretary, then Director of Division of Studies, RF), 12/1/26. File 401AD, University College, Anthropology, 1924, 1926-1927. RF, RAC. 12. Letter, Elliot-Smith to Embree, 3/14/27. File 401AD, University College, Anthropology, 19143, 1926-1927. RF, RAC. 13. See George W. Stocking, Jr., ed., Observers Observed: Essays on Ethnographic Fieldwork (Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin, 1983), and Ernest Gellner, 'Malinowski and the dialectic of past and present'. Times Literary Supplement, June 7, 1985. 14. B.Malinowski. Practical Anthropology. Africa, 1929, 2:22-38, p.22. 15. A.R. Radcliffe-Brown, 'Memorandum on Anthropological Research: 11/17/30. Transmitted with a letter, Radcliffe-Brown to Day, 11/11/30. Folder 25, 910 Programme and Policy Anthropology Cultural, 1931-1956. RF, 3, 910, 3, RACV. It is worth examining the Memorandum in some detail as this document is the earliest clear statement from RadcliffeBrown about his perspective. His views were influential inside the RF. 16. Radcliffe-Brown, 'Memorandum: pp.3-4. RadcliffeBrown's later protestation against being labelled as a functionalist does seem rather weak in light of this document. See A.R. Radcliffe-Brown, 'On Social Structure, Presidential Adress, Journal of the RoyalAnthropological Institute, 1940, 70:1-12; and A.R. Radcliffe-Brown, 'Functionalism: A Protes: American Anthropologist, 1949, 51: 320-323. 17. For example, Richard Thurnwald, Economics in Primitive Communities (London: Oxford University Press, 1932); C.G. Brown and A. McD. Hutt, Anthropology in Action (London: Oxford University Press, 1938); Monica Hunter, Reaction to Conquest: Effects of Contacts with Europeans on the Pondo of South Africa (London: Oxford University Press, 1936); I. Schapera, A Handbook of TswanalLaws and Custom (London: Oxford University Press 1938); and Audrew Richards, Land, Labour and Diet in Northern Rhodesia (London: Oxford University Press, 1939). The Institute cooperated with the Medical Research Council in a coordinated programme of nutritional research work in the Empire In addition to Richard's book, the IIALC also devoted a special edition of Africa to problems of nutrition. See Africa, 1936, IX, 2. 18. Lucy Mair, ed., Methods of Study of Culture Contact (Oxford University Press, 1938). 19. Audrey I. Richards. The Village Census in the Study of Culture Contact. Africa, 1935, 8:20-23, p.21.

Aboriginal and Spanish Colonial Trinidad: A Study in Culture Contact

Aboriginal and Spanish Colonial Trinidad: A Study in Culture Contact

Aboriginal and Spanish Colonial Trinidad: A Study in Culture Contact

Aboriginal and Spanish Colonial Trinidad: A Study in Culture Contact

Aboriginal and Spanish Colonial Trinidad: A Study in Culture Contact.

Aboriginal and Spanish Colonial Trinidad: A Study in Culture Contact.

Aboriginal and Spanish Colonial Trinidad: A Study in Culture Contact.

Aboriginal and Spanish Colonial Trinidad: A Study in Culture Contact.

A communications model of culture contact

From the introduction: "Most anthropologists currently involved in the study of culture contact recognize the importance of adequate communication for successful transmission of ideas or traits. Some, such as Niehoff, have made explicit the importance they feel it has: "Communication by the innovator is probably the single most important kind of action in which he will engage, since it is a prerequisite for everything else that follows. No ideas or techniques can be transferred from one person to another unless there are channels of communication established to transfer them, and these are the patterns of communication. If no adequate patterns of communication are established, the other innovator techniques cannot take place. (Niehoff, 1966:15). However few investigators concentrate upon the formal properties of communication itself when dealing with cross-cultural contact situations. Much, of course, has been done by social psychologists dealing with communication at an intra-cultural level, but few studies follow the pattern established by Eisenstadt (1952) in dealing with communication at an inter-cultural level.

Areal Studies and Culture History: Language as a Key to the Historical Study of Culture Contact

Linguistics has long been recognized as a valuable tool in unraveling culture history. The types of historical linguistic relationships usually focused on, however, are genetic. Diffusional areal relationships provide valuable evidence of communicative contacts among groups and of the nature of this contact. Such relationships can be found in all aspects of language--syntactic-semantic, phonetic, and lexical--as well as in such uses of language as folklore. Examples are drawn from North American Indian languages.

The Relationship between Chinese Law and Common Law in Malaysia, Singapore, and Hong Kong

There is a considerable body of literature on the relationship between common law and various systems of personal laws especially in the Asian context. My only excuse for adding yet another account is this: A technical legal description of this relationship, focusing on such topics as marriage, divorce, inheritance, and so on, adds a real and important dimension to the study of culture contact. Except in Hong Kong, common law is no longer the dominant political system; it has become, with local variations, “government law” in the territories under consideration. Since law is the instrument most often used in the implementation of new government policies affecting family matters, for example, it seems important that some attempt be made to describe the techniques of interaction and to set out the present law as accurately as possible. Hopefully this essay will serve as skeleton reference material on the relation between these two systems of law. To accomplish this aim I will: (a) describe the ways in which the common law has been adapted so as to take account of Chinese law, (b) state the “principles of Chinese law” which the courts have formulated in the course of this adaptation, and (c) note the points at which the respective courts in the three territories have differed in their interpretation regarding the content of Chinese law.

The Relationship between Chinese Law and Common Law in Malaysia, Singapore, and Hong Kong

There is a considerable body of literature on the relationship between common law and various systems of personal laws especially in the Asian context. My only excuse for adding yet another account is this: A technical legal description of this relationship, focusing on such topics as marriage, divorce, inheritance, and so on, adds a real and important dimension to the study of culture contact. Except in Hong Kong, common law is no longer the dominant political system; it has become, with local variations, “government law” in the territories under consideration. Since law is the instrument most often used in the implementation of new government policies affecting family matters, for example, it seems important that some attempt be made to describe the techniques of interaction and to set out the present law as accurately as possible. Hopefully this essay will serve as skeleton reference material on the relation between these two systems of law. To accomplish this aim I will: (a) describe the ways in which the common law has been adapted so as to take account of Chinese law, (b) state the “principles of Chinese law” which the courts have formulated in the course of this adaptation, and (c) note the points at which the respective courts in the three territories have differed in their interpretation regarding the content of Chinese law.

Behaviour and Cultural Value in West African Stories: Literary Sources for the Study of Culture Contact

Opening ParagraphIn much modern West African literature in English and French the authors depict problems concerning the relationship between the socio-cultural background and the particular experiences and behaviour of the characters portrayed. Investigation and analysis of such stories to ascertain the authors' ‘solutions’ of the characters' problems can aid our understanding of values and attitudes among modern Africans and in turn contribute to the growing corpus of knowledge about culture contact. As Cyprian Ekwensi, the Nigerian novelist, has claimed: ‘African writing is writing which reveals the psychology of the African.’ Obviously it reveals the psychology of both the author and the characters whom he portrays, and even though stories are written by individuals who are ‘modern’ Africans, strong opposition to any consideration of African literature as individualistic ‘art for art's sake’ has been manifested by Africans, including the Society of Nigerian Authors in their reply to Martin Tucker's 1962 argument that African novelists are over-communal and insufficiently individualistic in what they portray. In making such a response, the Nigerian authors in effect reasserted a traditional African attitude towards art as socially functional rather than merely aesthetically pleasing. One is thus justified in pursuing the study of modern literary works by Africans as expressions of attitudes and values related to tradition, contact, and change.

: The Navayats of Kanara: A Study in Culture Contact . Victor S. D'Souza.

American AnthropologistVolume 61, Issue 3 p. 534-534 Free Access The Navayats of Kanara: A Study in Culture Contact. Victor S. D'Souza. Paul Friedrich, Paul Friedrich Deccan College, Poona, IndiaSearch for more papers by this author Paul Friedrich, Paul Friedrich Deccan College, Poona, IndiaSearch for more papers by this author First published: June 1959 https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1959.61.3.02a00310AboutRelatedInformationPDFPDF ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessClose modalShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL No abstract is available for this article. Volume61, Issue3June 1959Pages 534-534 RelatedInformation RecommendedVictor Turner Prize AwardedRegna Darnell, Anthropology NewsChild Care and Culture: Lessons from AfricaMarida Hollos, American Ethnologist

Time and Place as Variables in Acculturation Research

American AnthropologistVolume 60, Issue 1 p. 39-46 Free Access Time and Place as Variables in Acculturation Research1 FRANCIS A. J. IANNI, FRANCIS A. J. IANNI Russell Sage CollegeSearch for more papers by this author FRANCIS A. J. IANNI, FRANCIS A. J. IANNI Russell Sage CollegeSearch for more papers by this author First published: February 1958 https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1958.60.1.02a00050Citations: 3 1 This article is a revision of a paper which was read at the VIth International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 6,1956. AboutPDF ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL References Beals, Ralph L. 1952 Acculturation, economics, and social change in an Ecuadorian village. Proceedings, International Congress of Americanists 29: 67– 73. Beals, Ralph L. 1953 Acculturation. In Anthropology today, A. L. Kroeber, ed. Chicago, University of Chicago Press. Boas, Franz 1911 Changes in bodily form of descendants of immigrants. Final Report. The Immigration Commission, Washington, D. C. The Government Printing Office. Child, Irvin L. 1943 Italian or American The second generation in conflict. New Haven, Yale University Press. Elkin, A. P. 1932 Five year plan of research. Africa V: 1– 13. Fortes, Meyer 1936 Culture contact as a dynamic process. Africa IX: 24:55. Herskovits, M. J. 1937 The significance of the study of acculturation for anthropology. American Anthropologist 39: 259– 64. Herskovits, M. J. 1941 Some comments on the study of culture contact. American Anthropologist 43: 1– 10. Herskovits, M. J. 1954 Some problems of method in ethnography. In Method and perspective in anthropology, Robert F. Spencer ed. Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press. Ianni, F. A. J. 1952 The acculturation of the Italo-Americans of Norristown, Pennsylvania: 1900 to 1950 Unpublished doctoral dissertation. The Pennsylvania State University. King, Morton B., Jr. 1956 The minority course. American Sociological Review 21: 80– 84. Levi, Carlo 1947 Christ stopped at Eboli. New York, Farrar, Straus. Lewis, Oscar 1953 Controls and experiments in field work. In Anthropology today, A. L. Kroeber, ed. Chicago, University of Chicago Press. Mair, L. P. 1934 The study of culture contact as a practical problem. Africa VIII: 415– 22. Malinowski, B. 1929 Practical anthropology. Africa II: 22– 38. Malinowski, B. 1945 The dynamics of culture change: an inquiry into race relations in Africa. New Haven, Yale University Press. Radin, Paul 1935 The Italians of San Francisco: Their adjustment and acculturation. State Emergency Relief Administration Project 2-F2–98. Saloutos, Theodore 1956 They remember America. Berkeley, University of California Press. Schapera, I. 1935 Field methods in the study of modern culture contacts. Africa VIII: 315– 26. Spiro, Melford I. 1955 The acculturation of American ethnic groups. American Anthropologist 57: 1240– 52. Stonequist, Everett V. 1937 The marginal man. New York, Scribners. Tax, Sol 1951 Selective culture change. American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings XLI: 315– 20. Thomas, W. I. and Florian Znaniecki 1927 The Polish peasant in Europe and America, New York, Knopf. Wagner, Gunter 1936 The study of culture contact and the determination of policy. Africa VII: 335– 50. Wissler, Clark 1920 Opportunities for coordination in anthropological and psychological research. American Anthropologist 22: 1– 12. Citing Literature Volume60, Issue1February 1958Pages 39-46 ReferencesRelatedInformation

The West African Students' Union: A Study in Culture Contact

Opening ParagraphThis study of a specific instance of culture contact, that provided by the situation of West African students in Britain, is limited to a discussion and analysis of their association in the West African Students' Union. The fact of common geographical origin partly explains the formation of such a Union, for the same reason as United States, Canadian, South African, and other large groups of students living in Britain have become so organized. But this would ignore the situation of colour prejudice facing coloured students in Britain, and also their colonial status in relation to Britain. Because of this determining characteristic of being an association of coloured colonial students, the West African Students' Union has developed, throughout its history, certain features not normally found among students' unions, and which are reminiscent of ‘protest movements’. The analysis which is presented here seeks to determine the reasons why West African students organized themselves into the West African Students' Union from 1926 onwards. It is unfortunately not possible to do more here than touch briefly upon the major changes which took place during that time, but as most of the data here presented have not hitherto been published, enough details have been included to give an idea of the manner in which members of the West African Students' Union responded to the situation of culture contact. The paper is divided into two parts: first, an historical account of the type of ideas held by the members of the Union; and, secondly, a discussion of the reasons why West African students join the Union.

A Study in Culture Contact

From Black to White in South Australia By Ronald and Catherine Berndt. Pp. 313 + 5 plates. (Melbourne: F. W. Cheshire Pty., Ltd.; London: Angus and Robertson, Ltd., 1951.) 37s. 6d.

The Bantu in the City: a study of cultural readjustment on the Witwatersrand, Methods of Study of Culture Contact in Africa and Native Standards of Living and African Culture Change

The Bantu in the City: a study of cultural readjustment on the Witwatersrand, Methods of Study of Culture Contact in Africa and Native Standards of Living and African Culture Change

Acculturation. The Study of Culture Contact

Acculturation. The Study of Culture Contact