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missclash
Joined: May 31, 2009
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How much do you think western culture has influenced the traditional culture and is traditional culture diminishing because of this?
June 1, 2009 - 05:16 AM
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Is there any effect of globalization (which is followed by the influence of Western culture) in your home town?
Please elaborate how and what do you feel about it
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Simone
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Traditional culture is dying out due to Western influences!!
June 1, 2009 - 07:24 AM
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It has changed traditional cultures dramatically!! Western influence in places where the strongest cultures exist, like in the Amazon, is rapidly changing the way tribes live! I have seen first hand how missionaries have come into tribes and changed the way they eat and drink, what they wear, and even their names. Tourists bring in so called "gifts", like plastic torches, which end up being a negative impact on the environment and also creating tension between individuals in the communities about things like who got the better torch?! Plastics etc. are being brought into these areas which is changing the way they naturally make things like baskets and fishing line from trees. Their ancient and traditional languages are also being lost due to outsiders coming in. Oil exploiters from western cultures also destroy tribal cultures because the tribes now must learn about the outside world in order to defend their territories legally.
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Bongani
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Re: How much do you think western culture has influenced the traditional culture and is traditional culture diminishing because of this?
June 1, 2009 - 08:05 PM
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Definitely. Western culture has to a large extent overshadowed and to some extent destroyed traditional culture. I'm not just talking about primitive tribes in North America, i speak for my own people in relatively developed Southern Africa. We live in what is probably the most peaceful & richest region in Africa but at the same time we are losing our identity. Case in point: language! In all the SADC (Southern African Development Community) countries European languages enjoy a monopoly on officialdom,education, research and even religion. I can personally speak of several of my colleagues who speak perfect English and yet cannot speak a word of their mother tongue. What brings the point home is that I am currently studying in North Africa and there as much as French is the official language, Arab is the language of everyday usage; even the major cellphone operators have voice recordings in Arabic then French, something unheard of in Southern Africa where it would be considered backward. I will not speak of a myriad other cultural and traditional identities that have been lost including marriage, civil accountability (visit ubuntu [Linux] for an interesting history on that word)& cultural identity. Its a tide that seems no one wants to stem.
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missclash
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Re: How much do you think western culture has influenced the traditional culture and is traditional culture diminishing because of this?
June 6, 2009 - 04:38 AM
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Hi all,
Thank you for your replies!
I didn't realize the negative effect on the tribes! so thank u for the info..it's nice to know it from the direct person's point of view as well
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SakyaC
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Re: How much do you think western culture has influenced the traditional culture and is traditional culture diminishing because of this?
July 5, 2009 - 08:46 AM
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Western culture...its easy to tell its influence but its impact is difficult to gauge because this culture seems to influence mostly in passing phases which to me means that it is ultimately very weak in nature and will not last for very long in the chaotic environment that the world has always been.
It is absolutely true that western culture is corrosive to traditional heritage because the base of "western" culture is that if it can be exploited and is profitable, then exagerate it and make it more important than any other value or tradition so that many will follow and put in money for "it".
Its just a psychological game that is used to capture the mind to buy things that are pretty much unnecessary to life.
It will pass and what we will realize is that the powerful traditional techiques to living are the strongest ways to survive on planet earth because its what we've relied on for our entire existence.
However, I am not speaking of the religious aspect of each indeginious tradition but of the essentiallity of how our respective cultures and peoples have existed, through the hard labor required of agriculture, horticulture and the care of livestock. There are certain principles that each culture has lived by and it is these that will survive through western culture because it is what works. We can only build upon these principles and improve, culture will always be changing.
All we should focus on is that we preserve and respect the most valuable aspects of each and every culture becuase I feel that it will remind us of who we are, not who the corporate world wants us to be...we are human, we are us, we are what we are and nothing else
This post was edited on: 2009-07-05 at 09:45 AM by: sakyacalsoyas1
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James An
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Re: How much do you think western culture has influenced the traditional culture and is traditional culture diminishing because of this?
July 14, 2009 - 05:41 PM
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My life is entirely embedded in western culture.
I think the "western culture" is incredibly pervasive. There are far subtler examples of western influence on the way we think, including the choice of language and the use of words. I find a lot of English discussion around this issue tends to be very ethnocentric, from the subtle labeling of indigenous populations as "tribes" living in "villages" to the explicit belief that Aboriginal North Americans belong to "primitive tribes" as Bongani put it. These subtle invasions of western thought to order cultures in a hierarchy with western society at the top is demonstrated in a piece called the "Body Ritual among the Nacirema", a satirical ethnography. Give it a read and be mindful of your interpretation of the Nacirema and how you perceive them as you read.
I think corporatization is only one aspect of western culture, one that's very aggressive and exploitive. I think there's a lot more to western culture than just the idea of corporations. A lot of it seems to stem from a strong emphasis on individuality and a lot of it is obviously influenced by Christian ideology. Ideas like the scientific method are usually perceived as part of western culture. As is the European Union or the Marxist ideas of communism and class struggle against the bourgeousie. I think how we think about law and justice is deeply rooted in western thought: in Roman law and the Bible.
Sometimes I internally struggle between cultural relativism, that belief and activities should be judged based on the culture in which they're embedded, and universal statements like the declaration of human rights. There are many instances where cultures compromise what I believe is a universal human right such as when a right to life or gender equity come into question.
It doesn't make sense to me to "preserve and respect the most valuable aspects of ... every culture" as it's impractical to decide which aspects are most valuable. Who is to assign the value and who is to break down cultures into distinct aspects?
I have some issues with the title of this issue itself: "How much do you think western culture has influenced the traditional culture and is traditional culture diminishing because of this?", because it assumes that western culture is not traditional and has no root in tradition. Globalization is an aspect of western culture, but I would argue that western culture is neither defined entirely by corporatization or globalization.
Especially in the communities that I belong to, it seems that our culture is shifting back to more organic and traditional principles of waste reduction, of sustainability, and of local communities. I think it's inaccurate to always expect western culture to be "evil" or exploitative and to expect other cultures that it is influencing as the victims of western influence.
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Bongani
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Re: How much do you think western culture has influenced the traditional culture and is traditional culture diminishing because of this?
July 15, 2009 - 10:06 AM
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I am torn between Western culture and my traditional culture. I agree with many of JamesAn's points I also want to point out that while corporatization is a major factor the whole influence of Western culture extends so much more than just that. I believe it embraces religion itself, language, philosophy, identity....
In Africa we have a philosophy called "Ubuntu" (popularized by an operating system of the same name). it is summarized by Desmond Tutu beautifully when he said,
"One of the sayings in our country is Ubuntu - the essence of being human. Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that you can't exist as a human being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness. You can't be human all by yourself, and when you have this quality - Ubuntu - you are known for your generosity.
We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole world. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity."
That is a concept that has been almost destroyed in many parts of my country and that is eroding in the new generation. I agree there are so many thins about Western culture that are positive and bring light to the darkness that sometimes prevails but there are just as many that are not. Yes JamesAn point is valid, who chooses what is bad and what is good? I think that if tribes & peoples are given time to settle into the new Global village, natural selection will find it's way. They can pick what is good and leave what doesn't sit well with them. But as it is we are forced to integrate in mere decades what seeped through the collective consciousness of Europe over centuries. Forced? By who? Media, money, ourselves. We are left behind as disjointed beings, individuals who have part of their identities truncated and a feeling of belonging to an abstract concept of modernity rather than a rooted identity in their real cultures.
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