Culture Change and the Modern World

Making the Modern World As world population grows and travel and communication get faster, You can find can of soda, radio, CD player anywhere But economic inequality, difference in quality of life and life expectancy increase

Making the Modern World How do history and culture contribute to differences in quality of life?

European Expansion In 1400 – Muslim nations from Spain to Indonesia preserved scholarship of regions and developed astronomy, math, medicine, chemistry, zoology – China’s central government managed large area and vast trade – European cities smaller and ruled by small local governments

European Expansion In ’s – Missionaries spread Christianity – Search for fortune and wonders, fountain of youth – Technological development and growing population drive quest for resources

European Expansion In ’s – While traveling to world to introduce Christianity and claim resources, Europeans introduce diseases that kill up to 95% population of the New World

European Expansion Pillage – gold and silver sent to Europe – Pizarro captured Inca emperor, Atahuallpa got $91 million in gold and silver ransom Forced Labor – population drain impoverished Africa, plantations to grow sugar and cotton – 11.7 million slaves from Africa to Americas Joint Stock Companies – Dutch East India Co. – Trade monopolies, massacres, huge profit at expense of locals

Colonialism Active possession of foreign territory – Strategic locations like Yemen – Exploit native people and resources, Africa – Settlement by growing European population

Colonialism Industrialization in Europe and America – Production of weapons – Need for resources To get profit out of colony, impose taxes – Native subjects charged taxes – Forcing them to work for colonists or produce products the colonists wanted

Independence and Poverty Most nation in the Americas gained independence in 18 th and 19 th centuries African and Asian nations gain independence mostly after WWII Expensive to suppress rebellion In /5 world’s population, more than a billion people, live on less than $1/dayhalf the world’s population on $2/day

Independence and Poverty End of colonialism not end of forced cultural change and foreign intervention

Independence and Poverty Development – Expectation that success will come from developing industrialized market economy – Soviet Union and US provide aid money – Development projects introduced often without regard for traditional practices

Independence and Poverty Multinational Corporations – Large wealthy corporations influence small, local economy – Profits made by manufacture and sales in poor nations go to shareholders in wealthy nations

Independence and Poverty Urbanization – 1970 – 1997 city dwellers in high income countries increased 5% in low income 47% – People move to cities in search of work – Separation from family changes culture

Independence and Poverty Population Pressure – Any economic gains lead to population growth until subsistence pattern can’t support the population – Search for more land causes conflict – Population is a problem, consumption also problem

Independence and Poverty Instability – Past 100 years very violent WWI, WWII, Cold War proxy (Ethiopia, Somalia, Nicaragua, El Salvador), Rwanda – Anthropologists can’t cause or prevent violence, only record and document political instability

Looking to the Future World is very interconnected Anthropology is important in a world where we encounter different cultures Culture is flexible, changeable, varied Therefore we are not locked into any bad situation, we can create new norms