Objective: Students will analyze culture and it’s elements including political economic and social as well as themes of World Cultures and cultural diffusion.

Let’s examine the characteristics of the United States economic characteristics: traits used to describe the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services social characteristics: traits used to describe people political characteristics: traits used to describe law and government Label each figure on your handout with an EC, SC, or PC for which characteristic you think fits best.

Additional Elements of Culture There are many other examples of Elements of American culture than those that are listed in the graphic. One example is “housing”. List housing in the additional elements box, then next to it give some examples of the types of housing Americans might live in. With the people around you, come up with 3 more examples of Elements of American Culture and list at least one example for each.

Generalization A generalization is a broad statement that describes most people. A generalization about this class might be that “most people in the room are years old” This doesn’t include everyone, but it covers MOST people. On your paper, list a few generalization that you can find about American Culture.

Themes of World Cultures

During 7 th grade World Cultures, we will study the cultures in the regions of Africa, Middle East, Europe, and Central Eurasia. Themes will be used during our study. What is a theme?

Themes of World Cultures 1.The physical world changes cultures and cultures change the physical world. 2.Cultures meet and exchange ideas and goods. 3.Cultures struggle with tradition and change. 4.Cultures gain, use, and lose power over time. 5.Cultures address scarcity in a variety of ways

Studying culture is a monumental task. Conduct an Internet search of culture and the results will exceed five million. During Grade 6 World Cultures, themes were used to organize how cultures would be studied. Use what you have learned about the Themes of World Cultures to examine a series of pictures…you need to tell me which Theme of World Cultures is depicted in the picture

September 2, 2011 Get out the “Themes of World Cultures and Cultural Diffusion” worksheet from yesterday, a pen or pencil, and your signed welcome letter (if you didn’t already turn it in) Be seated, silent, and ready to go when the bell rings.

Review What are the five themes of World Cultures?

Cultures address scarcity in a variety of ways

Cultures gain, use, and lose power over time.

Cultures struggle with Tradition and Change

Cultures meet and exchange ideas and goods.

The physical world changes cultures and cultures change the physical world.

Did you know that themes provide a perspective through which we can learn about other cultures? In this regard, the Themes of World Cultures act like lenses that allow us to see how other cultures have responded to different issues. Similar to the elements of culture, each Theme of World Cultures can be described in terms of its economic, social, and political characteristics. To determine how issues can be described economically, socially, and politically, let’s examine the following.

The physical world changes cultures and cultures change the physical world. “In Kenya, some 750,000 persons – 150,000 of whom are refugees – could be affected by heavy flooding and mudslides, and in Somalia, some 450,000 persons in the Juba and Shabelle river basins could also bear the strain.” United Nations, Social Characteristics: How are people affected by this issue? ___________________________ ___________________________

Cultures meet and exchange ideas and goods. “The Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty to limit global warming and cut emissions of greenhouse gases, comes into force. The EU has consistently taken the lead in efforts to reduce the impact of climate change.” United Nations, Political Characteristics: How have governments responded to this issue? _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ ______________________

Cultures struggle with tradition and change. “During its 19-day session at UN Headquarters, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Woman (CEDAW) will review the status of women in Argentina, Fiji, Russia, Australia, Papua New Guinea, India and Albania.” United Nations, Economic Characteristics: How are the wages that women are paid affected by discrimination? _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _______________

Cultures gain, use, and lose power over time “The demise [end] of the Soviet Union and the emergence of the newly independent states raised concerns about the control of Soviet nuclear weapons.” Congressional Research Service, Political Characteristics: Why are other nations concerned about this issue? ______________________ ______________________ ______________________ ______________________ ______________________

Cultures address scarcity in a variety of ways. “More than 23 million people in pastoral, agricultural and sub- urban communities, as well as internally displaced people and refugees in the region, are reeling from the impact of water and food shortages, pasture scarcity, conflict and insecurity.” UN News Centre, Economic Characteristics: What do food shortages tell us about a nation’s wealth? ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ __________________

From sixth grade World Cultures, what does Cultural Diffusion mean? – The movement of cultural components from one culture to another

Examples With the people next to you, brainstorm some examples of cultural diffusion in your life. – Examples: Video games from Japan, pasta from Italy

American Saturday Night Cultural Diffusion is EVERYWHERE— even things that you didn’t know were from other places often are. – Did you know that musical beats used in most “American” music originated in Africa? – Did you know a song was written about cultural diffusion?

American Saturday Night Directions: Listen to the song—you don’t have to do anything except listen to it the first time through. As you are listening, listen to the lyrics and watch the video and try to find different components of US culture that came from other places. YxcA&ob=av3e YxcA&ob=av3e

American Saturday Night This time as you watch, I want you to list 7 things you see or hear in the video that you think are from another culture. b=av3e

Assignment With the people sitting at your group of desks, you are going to write a new verse to add to this song of examples of cultural diffusion in the US. These examples can come from your own ideas or images you saw in the video. A verse has 5-7 lines Your verse does NOT have to rhyme, but it does need to have appropriate lyrics. You only need to write the verse on one persons paper as long as you put everyone’s name at the bottom.

Would anyone like to share their verse? Make sure that ALL group members FIRST and LAST names are on the paper and pass it over

Review How do themes help us study world cultures? What are the five themes of World Cultures? How do the five themes help us study world Cultures? What is cultural diffusion? What are some examples of Cultural Diffusion in the US?