in Heart of Darkness and Things Fall Apart One approach to understanding a culture entails an investigation of its art. By studying the art of multiple cultures, recurrent themes may help to define universal attributes of human nature. With this premise in mind, an obvious corollary suggests that the few similarities between highly disparate cultures may be particularly exemplary of humankind. Cultural differences become readily apparent
Louise Pratt In the Arts of the Contact Zone, Mary Louise Pratt has tried to explain the concepts of the “contact zone”, which she referred to as “the space of colonial encounters”. This social space that she speaks about is a stage where “disparate cultures meet, clash, and grapple each other, often in highly asymmetrical relations of domination and subordination”. Pratt aims to highlight these relations between the colonizer and the colonized “in terms of copresence, interaction, interlocking
the dominant culture of their conquerors. However, the process of how these two cultures interact is often not that simple. For example, the term transculturation was coined in the 1940s by sociologist Fernando Oritz to describe the process by which a conquered people choose and select what aspects of the dominant culture they will assume (Pratt 589). Unlike acculturation, transculturation recognizes the power of the subordinate culture to create its own version of the dominant culture. In an essay
Conflicting Cultures in Gish Jen's Mona in the Promised Land Novels that illustrate a confrontation between disparate cultures provide particularly straightforward insights into basic human behavior. Characters confronted with a cultural conflict must explore basic human commonalities to breach the gap between the cultures. In doing so, one diminishes the differences between her culture and the unknown culture, ultimately bringing her closer to her raw humanity. Simultaneously, this sets
Culture embodies the collection of values, beliefs, and traditions that shape an individual’s relationship to the world. Cultural attributes are similar to an iceberg in the sense that some aspects of cultural identify are overtly visible to the world, while others are hidden and manifest themselves because of unexpected experiences in life. The seemingly unrelated and latent values, beliefs, and traditions that combine to constitute a person’s cultural identity are often irregular and discordant
omniscience of gossip, such as their speculation on Marn Wolde, “that she had done in Billy Peace” (184). However, the town assembles and disassembles according to the tragedy and set of events. Everything remains in flux as does the Native-American culture, who Robert C Hamilton examines in “Disaster Stamps”: The Significance of Philately in Louise Erdrich’s The Plague of Doves, that “even when they imitate traditional Native narrative, they are ultimately textual, in the manner of the traditional Western
Expectation, and Culture Difference Theories The students’ cultures have strong effects on their ways to learn and process knowledge, and to see the world surrounding them. (Nisbett 7) Therefore, the cultural background about the student cultures is helpful for the teacher to know how their cultures influence them and their learning ways in order to develop their academic performance. There are several theories that may help the teacher to examine the impact of the culture on the student
skin color is not the only cause of discrimination. Ideas and ways of life change our level and how we are accepted by those who "lead". Our disparate ideas, on things such as family and love, are a main source of hatred between cultures. Using symbolism and characterization, Carter explores the view on family, discrimination, and nature of a different culture in his novel The Education of Little Tree. They believe of a strong family relationship, not just people living under the same roof. Granpa
The Italian Social Structure's Role in Creating Culture Anthropologists and other social scientists define human culture as learned behavior acquired by individuals as members of a social group. The concept of culture was first explicitly defined in 1871 by the British anthropologist Edward B. Tylor. He used the term to refer to " that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society." Since then
These days, many migrants gather together and make their own small place to hold their cultures. Because their cultures are more a blend of multiple cultures rather than a traditional, they are different each other. However, even though a mixed culture seems like a unique non-traditional, it is as same as one strong culture. In the story, Culture is Ordinary, Raymond William says, “every human society has its own shape, its own purposes, its own meanings. Every human society expresses these, in institutions
resentment to a differing society and culture in which he could not bring himself to condone what in his mind were ridiculous and odious acts of sacrilege. There was little to no attempt by the Spanish conquistador to appreciate the culture of the Aztecs and see the beauty that they had to offer to the world. Granted, Cortés does mention that the Aztecs practiced human sacrifice which is inherently morally abominable, but nonetheless the eradication of a culture can be considered more a less just as
The movie Crash examines the interpersonal communications that exists between different groups’ of people. In this film, characters are highlighted by the contact that occurs when disparate people are thrown together in large urban settings. Crash displays extreme instances of racism and shows how the thought, feeling, and behavior of individuals are influenced by actual, imagined, or implied presence of other human beings. My analysis will focus on Social Cognition and how people process, and
hero, a mentor, a dark figure and so on. Prime examples of this archetypal plot structure, with their own unique adaptations, may be found within the two poetic narratives Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Aside from their completely disparate backgrounds and morals, both works include and follow the monomythic journey, as perceived by Joseph Campbell in The Hero with a Thousand Faces, as well as in the secondary works of others who have helped to further our understanding of this analytical
other social scientists world wide define the concept of culture as “a set of learned behaviours and ideas that humans acquire as members of society” (Lavenda & Schultz, 2008). Culture plays an absolutely imperative role in who we, as human beings, are as a distinct species. Within the confines of the complex social structures of the world, culture allows humans (and groups of humans) to effectively express themselves. Humans also utilize culture to systematically adapt and alter the environments that
One significant issue in contemporary culture is the lack of individuality in today’s conformist society. Since the modern world is a multicultural melting pot, being one’s own person can go against traditional social norms. This is a problem that matters because of the surprising phenomenon of conformity that makes people surrender to it without resistance. Many people are rushed or stressed in life, so they resort to what the rest of society is doing. Thus, becoming too much of a conformist
asserts that the success of the project rests not on merely exploiting the resources available (while ignoring or displacing the indigenous people), but on reaching a kind of harmony and exchange with the landscape and with the colonised. This hybrid culture represents, for Malouf, the ideal ultimate outcome of the colonial process. The potential for this utopia is personalised in the crude shape of Gemmy Fairley, an English castaway who lives among aborigines for 16 years before crossing back into
hall is a cultural theorist and member of The Birmingham School of Cultural Studies his work explores the way meaning is constructed through language; as a result, culture emerges through this process of representation. Representation to Stuart Hall is the production of meaning through language, and is vital to the creation of culture, for it conveys meaning (Stuart Hall). Meaning is fluid and requires a translation in order for meaning to be conveyed two variables need to be present, encoding and
of the Melting Pot about the Indian immigrant experiences in America in her short stories and novels. The longing for the security of home and comfort of their own culture creates a conflict known only to those born in the third world, burdened with the choice of living in the West. While changing citizenship is easy, swapping culture is not. Multiculturalism is a theme
2012). This paper explores cultural relativism from the context of traffic violation fines in Mexico versus the United States. Mordidas From Spanish, mordida translates into English to mean “bite”, slang used in Mexico that describes a bribe. In many cultures, bribes might be called a time-honored tradition, not only expected by both parties
stepdaughters. Upon closer examination, there is an underlying argument from this text. When cultural differences and relationships collide, life can either become complicated or it can be embraced. This is justified by the fact that living in a new culture is intimidating, tension can arise in relationships from cultural differences, it