Section D: How do people adapt to culture?

What is acculturation and assimilation?

Acculturation is the process of the less dominant culture adopting the traits of the more dominant one. Assimilation is when the less dominant culture loses native customs completely.

Discuss: Does assimilation affect only the less dominant culture?

Transculturation is the two way flow of culture between the dominant and less dominant culture.

What is syncretism?

Syncretism is the combination of different cultural concepts into one.

Discuss: What is an example of syncretism in our culture today?

Section E: How do we interpret culture?

What is ethnocentrism?

Ethnocentrism is the practice of judging another culture by the standards of one’s own culture.

What is ethnocentric about this comic?

What is cultural relativism?

Cultural Relativism is the practice of evaluating a culture by its own standards.

Discuss: Are the dogs big or small?

Part 2: Folk Culture

Section A: Introduction to Folk Culture

Introduction to Folk Culture Folk Music Folk Architecture

What is folk culture?

Folk Culture is the practices of a relatively small group of people in a focused area.

Folk Culture Usually relatively isolated Often dependent on the environment Usually practiced by small, homogenous groups in isolated areas. Are often isolated or have multiple hearths Anonymous hearths, anonymous sources, anonymous dates

Groups that practice a Folk Culture can be expressed in three ways:

Indigenous Cultures A culture group made up of the original inhabitants of a territory that is distinct from the dominant national culture.

Folk Culture Region A culture group where norms are traditionally practiced by a small, homogeneous, rural group living in relative isolation from other groups.

List: Create a list of as many examples of Folk Culture Regions and Subcultures that you can.

Section B: Folk Music

Music composed by unknown composers and transmitted through oral tradition. Contains important life cycle event (birth, death, and marriage) customs. Often used to teach successive generations about culturally relevant topics.

A Vietnamese Folk Song While seedlings for the summer crop are no old when they are three months of age, Seedlings for the winter crop are certainly not young when they are one-and-a-half months old.

American Folk Music The Northern Songs: Ballads close to English originals. The fiddle is featured at dances, and fife-and-drum bands are popular. The Northern Songs: Westward to Texas, speak of hard lives and is the roots of country music. The Southern and Appalachian Songs: West of the Mississippi River, reflects the experiences of cowboys, plains farmers, river people, and gold seekers. The Western Songs: Located in the south and grew out of the slave experience. Slave Songs:

Examples: Provide an example of a folk song that you know.