Cultural diffusion

Incultural anthropologyandcultural geography,cultural diffusion,as conceptualized byLeo Frobeniusin his 1897/98 publicationDer westafrikanischeKulturkreis,is the spread ofculturalitems—such asideas,styles,religions,technologies,languages—between individuals, whether within a single culture or from one culture to another. It is distinct from thediffusion of innovationswithin a specific culture. Examples of diffusion include the spread of thewar chariotandiron smeltingin ancient times, and the use ofautomobilesand Westernbusiness suitsin the 20th century.

Types

Five major types of cultural diffusion have been defined:

Expansion diffusion: an innovation or idea that develops in a source area and remains strong there, while also spreading outward to other areas. This can include hierarchical, stimulus, and contagious diffusion.
Relocation diffusion: an idea or innovation that migrates into new areas, leaving behind its origin or source of the cultural trait.
Hierarchical diffusion: an idea or innovation that spreads by moving from larger to smaller places, often with little regard to the distance between places, and often influenced by social elites.
Contagious diffusion: an idea or innovation that spreads based on person-to-person contact within a given population with no regard for hierarchies. HIV/AIDS first spread to urban neighborhoods (Hierarchical diffusion) and then spread outwards (contagious diffusion)^[1]
Stimulus diffusion: an idea or innovation that spreads based on its attachment to another concept. Occurs when a certain idea is rejected but the underlying concept is adopted. Early Siberian people domesticated reindeer only after exposure to the domesticated cattle raised by cultures to their south. They had no use for cattle but the idea of domesticated herds appealed to them, and they began domesticating reindeer, an animal they had long hunted.^[2]

Mechanisms

Inter-cultural diffusion can happen in many ways.Migrating populationswill carry their culture with them. Ideas can be carried by trans-cultural visitors, such as merchants,explorers,soldiers, diplomats, slaves, and hired artisans. Technology diffusion has often occurred by one society luring skilled scientists or workers by payments or another inducement. Trans-cultural marriages between two neighboring or interspersed cultures have also contributed. Among literate societies, diffusion can occur through letters, books, and, in modern times, through electronic media.

There are three categories of diffusion mechanisms:

Direct diffusionoccurs when two cultures are very close to each other, resulting in intermarriage, trade, and even warfare. An example of direct diffusion is between theUnited StatesandCanada,where the people living on the border of these two countries engage in hockey, which started in Canada, and baseball, which is popular in American culture.
Forced diffusionoccurs when one culture subjugates (conquers or enslaves) another culture and forces its own customs on the conquered people. An example would be the forcedChristianizationof theindigenous peoplesof the Americas by the Spanish, French, English, and Portuguese, or the forcedIslamizationof West African peoples by theFulaor of theNuristanisby the Afghans.
Indirect diffusionhappens when traits are passed from one culture through a middleman to another culture, without the first and final cultures being in direct contact. An example could be the presence ofMexican foodin Canada since a large territory (the United States) lies between.

Direct diffusion was common in ancient times when small groups of humans lived in adjoining settlements. Indirect diffusion is common in today's world because of themass mediaand the invention of theInternet.Also of interest is the work ofAmericanhistorian and criticDaniel J. Boorstinin his bookThe Discoverers,in which he provides a historical perspective on the role of explorers in thediffusion of innovationsbetweencivilizations.

Theories

The many models that have been proposed for inter-cultural diffusion are:

Migrationism,the spread of cultural ideas by either gradual or sudden population movements
Culture circlesdiffusionism (Kulturkreise)—the theory that cultures originated from a small number of cultures
"Kulturkugel"(a German compound meaning" culture bullet ",coinedbyJ. P. Mallory), a mechanism suggested by Mallory^[3]to model the scale ofinvasionvs. gradual migration vs. diffusion. According to this model, local continuity of material culture and social organization is stronger than linguistic continuity, so that cultural contact or limited migration regularly leads to linguistic changes without affecting material culture or social organization.^[4]
Hyperdiffusionism—the theory that all cultures originated from one culture

A concept that has often been mentioned in this regard, which may be framed in the evolutionary diffusionism model, is that of "an idea whose time has come" —whereby a new cultural item appears almost simultaneously and independently in several widely separated places, after certain prerequisite items have diffused across the respective communities. This concept was invoked with regard to the independent development ofcalculusbyNewtonandLeibnitz,and the inventions of theairplaneand of theelectronic computer.

Hyperdiffusionism

Hyperdiffusionists deny thatparallel evolutionor independent invention took place to any great extent throughout history; they claim that all major inventions and all cultures can be traced back to a single culture.^[5]

Early theories of hyperdiffusionism can be traced to ideas aboutSouth Americabeing the origin of mankind.Antonio de León Pinelo,a Spaniard who settled inBolivia,claimed in his bookParaíso en el Nuevo Mundothat theGarden of Edenand the creation of man had occurred in present-day Bolivia and that the rest of the world was populated bymigrationsfrom there. Similar ideas were also held by Emeterio Villamil de Rada; in his bookLa Lengua de Adánhe attempted to prove thatAymarawas the original language of mankind and that humanity had originated inSoratain the BolivianAndes.The first scientific defence of humanity originating in South America came from the Argentinepaleontologist Florentino Ameghinoin 1880, who published his research inLa antigüedad del hombre en el Plata.^[6]

The work ofGrafton Elliot Smithfomented a revival of hyperdiffusionism in 1911; he asserted thatcopper–producing knowledge spread fromEgyptto the rest of the world along withmegalithicculture.^[7]Smith claimed that all major inventions had been made by the ancientEgyptiansand were carried to the rest of the world by migrants and voyagers. His views became known as "Egyptocentric-Hyperdiffusionism".^[8]William James Perryelaborated on Smith's hypothesis by usingethnographicdata. Another hyperdiffusionist wasLord Raglan;in his bookHow Came Civilization(1939) he wrote that instead of Egypt all culture and civilization had come fromMesopotamia.^[9]Hyperdiffusionism after this did not entirely disappear, but it was generally abandoned by mainstream academia.

Medieval Europe

Diffusion theory has been advanced^{[according to whom?]}as an explanation for the "European miracle",the adoption of technological innovation inmedieval Europewhich by the 19th century culminated in European technological achievement surpassing theIslamic worldandChina.^[10]Technological imports to medieval Europe includegunpowder,clockmechanisms,shipbuilding,paper,and thewindmill;however, in each of these cases, Europeans not only adopted the technologies but improved the manufacturing scale, inherent technology, and applications to a point clearly surpassing the evolution of the original invention in its country of origin.

There are also some historians who have questioned whether Europe really owes the development of such inventions as gunpowder, the compass, the windmill or printing to the Chinese or other cultures.^[11]^[12]^[13]

However, historian Peter Frankopan argues that influences, particularly trade, through the Middle East and Central Asia to China through the silk roads have been overlooked in traditional histories of the "rise of the West". He argues that the Renaissance was funded with trade with the east (due to the demise of Byzantium at the hands of Venice and the Fourth Crusade), and that the trade allowed ideas and technology to be shared with Europe. But the constant warfare and rivalry in Europe meant there was extreme evolutionary pressure for developing these ideas for military and economic advantage, and a desperate need to use them in expansion.^[14]

Disputes

While the concept of diffusion is well accepted in general, conjectures about the existence or the extent of diffusion in some specific contexts have been hotly disputed. An example of such disputes is the proposal byThor Heyerdahlthat similarities between the culture ofPolynesiaand the pre-Columbian civilizations of theAndesare due to diffusion from the latter to the former—a theorythat currently has few supporters among professionalanthropologists.^[15]^[16]^[17]^[18]^[19]

Contributors

Major contributors to inter-cultural diffusion research and theory include:

Notes

^Domosh, Mona (2013).The Human Mosaic: A Cultural Approach to Human Geography(Twelfth ed.). New York, NY: W.H. Freeman and Company. pp. 10–12.ISBN 978-1-4292-4018-5.
^Domosh, Mona (2013).The Human Mosaic: A Cultural Approach to Human Geography(Twelfth ed.). New York, NY: W.H. Freeman and Company. p. 12.ISBN 978-1-4292-4018-5.
^In the context ofIndo-Aryan migration;Mallory, "A European Perspective on Indo-Europeans in Asia". InThe Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Peoples of Eastern and Central Asia.Ed. Mair. Washington D.C.: Institute for the Study of Man (1998)
^The term is a 'half-facetious' mechanical analogy, imagining a "bullet" of which the tip is material culture and the "charge" is language and social structure. Upon "intrusion" into a host culture, migrants will "shed" their material culture (the "tip" ) while possibly still maintaining their "charge" of language and, to a lesser extent, social customs (viz., the effect is adiasporaculture, which depending on the political situation may either form asubstratumor asuperstratumwithin the host culture).
^Legend and lore of the Americas before 1492: an encyclopedia of visitors, explorers, and immigrants, Ronald H. Fritze, 1993, p. 70
^Indians of the Andes: Aymaras and Quechuas, Harold Osborne, 2004, pp. 2–3
^The Routledge Dictionary of Anthropologists,Gérald Gaillard, 2004, p. 48
^Megaliths, Myths and Men: An Introduction to Astro-Archaeology, Peter Lancaster Brown, 2000, p. 267
^Sociocultural Evolution: Calculation and Contingency,Bruce G. Trigger, 1998, p. 101
^Carlo M. Cipolla,Before the Industrial revolution: European Society and Economy 1000–1700, W.W. Norton and Co., New York (1980)ISBN 0-393-95115-4
^Peter Jackson:The Mongols and the West,Pearson Longman 2005, p. 315
^Donald F. Lach:Asia in the Making of Europe.3 volumes, Chicago, Illinois, 1965–93; I:1, pp. 82–83
^Robert Bartlett:The Making of Europe. Conquest, Colonization and Cultural Change 950–1350,Allen Lane, 1993
^'The Silk Roads: A New History of the World'ISBN 9781101912379
^Robert C. SuggsThe Island Civilizations of Polynesia,New York: New American Library, pp. 212-224
^Kirch, P. (2000).On the Roads to the Wind: An archaeological history of the Pacific Islands before European contact.Berkeley:University of California Press,2000
^Barnes, S.S.; et al. (2006)."Ancient DNA of the Pacific rat (Rattus exulans) from Rapa Nui (Easter Island)"(PDF).Journal of Archaeological Science.33(11): 1536.Bibcode:2006JArSc..33.1536B.doi:10.1016/j.jas.2006.02.006.Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2011-07-19.
^Physical and cultural evidence had long suggested that Polynesia was settled from west to east, migration having begun from theAsianmainland, not South America. In the late 1990s,genetictesting found that themitochondrial DNAof the Polynesians is more similar to people from southeast Asia than to people from South America, showing that their ancestors most likely came from Asia.
^Friedlaender, J.S.; et al. (2008)."The genetic structure of Pacific Islanders".PLOS Genetics.4(1): e19.doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.0040019.PMC2211537.PMID 18208337.

References

Frobenius, Leo.Der westafrikanische Kulturkreis. Petermanns Mitteilungen 43/44,1897/98
Kroeber, Alfred L. (1940). "Stimulus diffusion."American Anthropologist42(1), Jan.–Mar., pp. 1–20
Rogers, Everett (1962)Diffusion of innovations.New York: Free Press of Glencoe, Macmillan Company
Sorenson, John L.& Carl L. Johannessen (2006) "Biological Evidence for Pre-Columbian Transoceanic Voyages." In:Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World.Ed. Victor H. Mair.University of Hawaii Press,pp. 238–297.ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4;ISBN 0-8248-2884-4

External links

"Diffusionism and Acculturation"by Gail King and Meghan Wright,Anthropological Theories,M.D. Murphy (ed.), Department of Anthropology, College of Arts and Sciences, The University of Alabama.

[1] Domosh, Mona (2013).The Human Mosaic: A Cultural Approach to Human Geography(Twelfth ed.). New York, NY: W.H. Freeman and Company. pp. 10–12.ISBN 978-1-4292-4018-5.

[2] Domosh, Mona (2013).The Human Mosaic: A Cultural Approach to Human Geography(Twelfth ed.). New York, NY: W.H. Freeman and Company. p. 12.ISBN 978-1-4292-4018-5.

[3] In the context ofIndo-Aryan migration;Mallory, "A European Perspective on Indo-Europeans in Asia". InThe Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Peoples of Eastern and Central Asia.Ed. Mair. Washington D.C.: Institute for the Study of Man (1998)

[4] The term is a 'half-facetious' mechanical analogy, imagining a "bullet" of which the tip is material culture and the "charge" is language and social structure. Upon "intrusion" into a host culture, migrants will "shed" their material culture (the "tip" ) while possibly still maintaining their "charge" of language and, to a lesser extent, social customs (viz., the effect is adiasporaculture, which depending on the political situation may either form asubstratumor asuperstratumwithin the host culture).

[5] Legend and lore of the Americas before 1492: an encyclopedia of visitors, explorers, and immigrants, Ronald H. Fritze, 1993, p. 70

[6] Indians of the Andes: Aymaras and Quechuas, Harold Osborne, 2004, pp. 2–3

[7] The Routledge Dictionary of Anthropologists,Gérald Gaillard, 2004, p. 48

[8] Megaliths, Myths and Men: An Introduction to Astro-Archaeology, Peter Lancaster Brown, 2000, p. 267

[9] Sociocultural Evolution: Calculation and Contingency,Bruce G. Trigger, 1998, p. 101

[10] Carlo M. Cipolla,Before the Industrial revolution: European Society and Economy 1000–1700, W.W. Norton and Co., New York (1980)ISBN 0-393-95115-4

[11] Peter Jackson:The Mongols and the West,Pearson Longman 2005, p. 315

[12] Donald F. Lach:Asia in the Making of Europe.3 volumes, Chicago, Illinois, 1965–93; I:1, pp. 82–83

[13] Robert Bartlett:The Making of Europe. Conquest, Colonization and Cultural Change 950–1350,Allen Lane, 1993

[14] 'The Silk Roads: A New History of the World'ISBN 9781101912379

[15] Robert C. SuggsThe Island Civilizations of Polynesia,New York: New American Library, pp. 212-224

[16] Kirch, P. (2000).On the Roads to the Wind: An archaeological history of the Pacific Islands before European contact.Berkeley:University of California Press,2000

[17] Barnes, S.S.; et al. (2006)."Ancient DNA of the Pacific rat (Rattus exulans) from Rapa Nui (Easter Island)"(PDF).Journal of Archaeological Science.33(11): 1536.Bibcode:2006JArSc..33.1536B.doi:10.1016/j.jas.2006.02.006.Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2011-07-19.

[18] Physical and cultural evidence had long suggested that Polynesia was settled from west to east, migration having begun from theAsianmainland, not South America. In the late 1990s,genetictesting found that themitochondrial DNAof the Polynesians is more similar to people from southeast Asia than to people from South America, showing that their ancestors most likely came from Asia.

[19] Friedlaender, J.S.; et al. (2008)."The genetic structure of Pacific Islanders".PLOS Genetics.4(1): e19.doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.0040019.PMC2211537.PMID 18208337.

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