Transcript Culture definitions PP

Mi’kmaw Studies 10
Introduction to Culture Unit
Anthropology
• the study of human society, culture and
behaviour, and also the starting point of
human beings and their physical
characteristics and way of life.
Ethnographer
• A person who submerses themself into
another group’s way of life to learn
about their culture. They collect data
through observations, interviews, etc.
Culture
• is a shared,
learned,
symbolic system
of values, beliefs
and attitudes that
shapes and
influences
perception and
behaviour.
Culture
• Culture is complex and interconnected
• It consists of all the knowledge, beliefs,
art, law, morals, customs, skills and habits
learned from parents and others in society.
• Culture is the primary adaptive mechanism
for humans.
Culture
• culture has three important
features:
– Symbols
– Language
– and values
• There are three aspects of
culture:
– Mental: what people think
– Behaviour: what people do
– Material: what people make
Symbol
• anything
with a
culturally
defined
meaning.
Language
• A set of symbols that expresses ideas and
allows people to think and communicate
with each other. It is an important way to
transmit culture.
Society
• an interacting group of people sharing a
common culture.
Nation
• A people who share common origins,
history, customs, and government, and
often share a common territory of land and
language.
Ethnocentrism
• The tendency to look at the world primarily
from the perspective of your own culture.
• Ethnocentrism often contains the belief
that your own race or ethnic group is the
most important and/or that some or all
aspects of its culture are superior to those
of other groups.
• Individuals will judge other groups in
relation to their own particular culture,
especially with language, behaviour,
customs and religion.
Cultural Relativism
• Understanding other cultures by their own
categories. These cultures are assumed
to be valid and worthy of respect.
– Example: The Europeans did not practice
cultural relativism because they arrived and
judged the way of life of the Mi’kmaq people
to be uncivilized. They felt that the Mi’kmaq
people did not have a culture. They were
comparing their culture to the Mi’kmaq. They
were ethnocentric.
Assimilation
• the loss of distinctive
cultural traits as a
population
surrenders its
independence and is
absorbed into a
dominant society and
culture.
– Example: Residential
Schools