The world is shrinking. There are no new worlds to discover, and the edges of the map draw closer together. The world is changing. It is growing more connected each day. This surge in globalization offers many benefits and opportunities for society to advance in the coming years. However, it also has the potential to destroy the unique and distinctive aspects of individual societies. It is vital to acknowledge similarities shared with those outside of one’s own society. Yet it is also necessary to recognize what makes a culture unique. The Minangkabau and the Trobriand Islanders are two societies that illustrate the similarities that can be shared by different cultures, as well the differences that make each culture unique. By comparing these societies, one can recognize the importance of embracing foreign cultures for their similar traits and respecting them for their differences.
The Minangkabau people make their home on the Islands of Indonesia, off the coast of the Indian Ocean. The five million Minangkabau, primarily located in West Sumatra, live as agriculturists. Farmers cultivate wet-rice fields and plant coffee, fruits, and vegetables in irrigated plots. The culture centers on a concept known as adat, which is the governing custom of Minangkabau society. Every aspect of Minangkabau life and culture is tied to one of the four major adat. Matrilineality, for example, falls under the adat nan teradat, and is a major cornerstone of the Minangkabau culture. They practice matrilocality, with men continuing to live with their mothers and sisters after marriage. Property ownership is flexible, but ancestral lands are passed strictly from mother to daughter.
In addition to a deep-seated matrilineal tradition, the Minangkabau devo...
... middle of paper ...
...ders. The hope was that the regimented game would replace the wild partying and dancing that the islanders enjoyed. The islanders embraced the game, but altered it significantly to fit their existing customs. The islanders’ highly stylized and wildly sexual cricket competition is now an integral part of the culture.
The world is shrinking. Every culture shares at least one similarity with another group. The Minangkabau and the Trobriand Islanders both belong to complex and fascinating structures. Their similarities illustrate the effects of globalization, as well as the existence of independent invention. Their differences set them apart and reinforce the belief that every culture is unique. The world is growing more connected. The blank edges of the map have been filled in, but there is still much to be discovered about the world and societies that call it home.
Jared Diamond, author of the Pulitzer Prize Winning, National Best Selling book Guns, Germs and Steel, summarizes his book by saying the following: "History followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among peoples' environments, not because of biological differences among peoples themselves." Guns, Germs and Steel is historical literature that documents Jared Diamond's views on how the world as we know it developed. However, is his thesis that environmental factors contribute so greatly to the development of society and culture valid? Traditions & Encounters: A Brief Global History is the textbook used for this class and it poses several different accounts of how society and culture developed that differ from Diamond's claims. However, neither Diamond nor Traditions are incorrect. Each poses varying, yet true, accounts of the same historical events. Each text chose to analyze history in a different manner. Not without flaws, Jared Diamond makes many claims throughout his work, and provides numerous examples and evidence to support his theories. In this essay, I will summarize Jared Diamond's accounts of world history and evolution of culture, and compare and contrast it with what I have learned using the textbook for this class.
In the rough and tropical island of Papua New Guinea, lived an exceptional aggregation of individuals called, The Gebusi. In the 1980's, The Gebusi tribe was anything besides up to date and acculturated. The Gebusi had their own particular singular and special customs and conventions that they rehearsed and accompanied. The Gebusi tribe took part in custom homosexuality, divination or witchcraft was exceedingly respected and polished, and they partook in particular sister-trade relational unions. By 1998-99, The Gebusi tribe had made another lifestyle. The Gebusi had gotten accustomed with new social convictions, modernization due to “western ways” that had changed their lives until the end of time especially changing their ways and view on gender roles and sexuality.
There are many cultures throughout the world, which may be far apart and yet still have similarities. Two of those such cultures, the Basseri, that live in Iran, and the Nuer, whom live in Sudan, have their differences, but also have some similarities. Many of the differences and similarities come from their subsistence strategies and the social and political organization of their societies. With the regions of the world, both the Basseri and the Nuer live in, they’ve had to adapt to the environment they live in along with the limitations imposed by that environment.
Blij has clearly put this book into historical significance by mentioning the idea of geography and how it plays a role in societies all over the world. However, the five themes of culture regions, cultural diffusion, cultural interaction, cultural ecology, and cultural landscapes are all clearly defined within a specific context to a particular nation. Through reading this intriguing piece of literature I received the underlying notion that Blij firmly believes that landscapes of the world realm are not going to change. De Blij worldview of regions, diffusion, interaction, ecology, and landscapes has allowed him to simultaneously link issues together from the United States all the way to Southeast Asia.
Since the beginning of time, mankind began to expand on traditions of life out of which family and societal life surfaced. These traditions of life have been passed down over generations and centuries. Some of these kin and their interdependent ways of life have been upheld among particular people, and are known to contain key pieces of some civilizations.
The way of the Ju/‘hoansi life has changed dramatically in many ways throughout the years. However, it is still possible to reflect upon their original way of life and compare it with their present state of living. Most of the changes occurred due to environmental, economical, developmental, social and cultural changes. All of which play a vital role in determining a Ju’s way of life. Although the land of the Dobe and !Kangwa have developed and changed in recent years, there are still some remnants of how the environment used to be. A significant shift in social and cultural aspects of the Ju/‘hoansi life can be observed in the new environment. However, some important aspects of their culture and belief system are still reflected in their everyday lives.
...estern modernity into non-industrial Asia was inevitable, how indigenous populations decided to deal with globalization was however the key to their future.
Coffin, Judith G., and Robert C. Stacey. "CHAPTER 18 PAGES 668-669." Western Civilizations: Their History & Their Culture. 16TH ed. Vol. 2. New York, NY: W. W. Norton &, 2008. N. pag. Print.
...ch, Roger B., Linda Black, Larry S. Krieger, Phillip C. Naylor, and Dahia Ibo Shabaka. World History: Patterns of Interaction. Evanston, Illinois: McDougal Littell, 1999. [Document 1]
Nanda, S and Warms, R.L. (2011). Cultural Anthropology, Tenth Edition. Belmont, California: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. ISBN – 13:978-0-495-81083-4.
This book serves to teach readers about the varieties of cultures, social
Ruth Benedict’s anthropological book, Patterns of Culture explores the dualism of culture and personality. Benedict studies different cultures such as the Zuni tribe and the Dobu Indians. Each culture she finds is so different and distinctive in relation to the norm of our society. Each difference is what makes it unique. Benedict compares the likenesses of culture and individuality, “A culture, like an individual, is a more or less consistent pattern of thought or action” (46), but note, they are not the same by use of the word, “like.” Benedict is saying that figuratively, cultures are like personalities. Culture and individuality are intertwined and dependent upon each other for survival.
culture rather than nature . . . [they] are neither timeless or transcendent” (264). In other words,
Domosh, Mona, Roderick Neumann, Patricia Price, and Terry Jordan-Bychkov. The Human Mosaic: A Cultural Approach to Human Geography. 11thth ed. New York: W.H. Freeman and Company, 2010. N. pag. Print.
The colonization of civilizations has changed the world’s history forever. From the French, Spaniard, and down to the English, have changed cultures, traditions, religions, and livelihoods of other societies. The Native Americans, for example, were one of the many civilizations that were conquered by the English. The result was their ways of life based on nature changed into the more “civilized” ways of the colonists of the English people. Many Native Americans have lost their old ways and were pulled into the new “civilized” ways. Today only a small amount of Native American nations or tribes exist in remote areas surviving following their traditions. In the book Ceremony, a story of a man named Tayo, did not know himself and the world around him but in the end found out and opened his eyes to the truth. However the Ceremony’s main message is related not only to one man but also to everything and everyone in the world. It is a book with the message that the realization of oneself will open the eyes to see what is truth and false which will consequently turn to freedom.