Compare And Contrast The Culture And Culture Of Bosnia-Herzigovina

Dictionary.com defines culture as “the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group. (dictionary.reference.com) Culture can be characterized by five characteristics that all cultures have in common. They are learned, shared, symbol, integrated, and dynamic. Simply put, Learned means culture is learned from others. Shared means it is shared among each other. Symbol can consist of hand gestures or holy symbols that are recognized throughout the culture. Interconnected means different parts of the culture are interconnected. Dynamic means that they can interact and change. When you have multiple cultures intermingled to a large degree it can sometimes create havoc within that country. The best example of this is Bosnia-Herzigovina. (http://home.earthlink.net)

Each group has a military independent of the other two. The two regions are Bosnia, named for the Bosna River, and Herzegovina, taken from the word herceg, which loosely means duke. The Bosnians control the northern regions. It is the flatlands and plateaus where most of the farming is done. Herzegovina is a mountainous region where very little farming can occur. It is controlled by the Serbs and the Croats. The Croats are mostly in the central regions but fall within the southern overall region. (The northern region of Hervigovina). The Bosnians are Muslims, the Serbs are Eastern Orthodox Christian, and the Croatians are primarily Catholic. Until recently all three groups lived intermingled with no serious problems. However the Serbs instituted a campaign of cleansing against the Bosnians. So today the Bosnians and Croatians control 51% of the country and the Serbians now control 49% by themselves. With the three separate ethnic groups, it makes for a strange cultural