Introduction to Culture Unit Mi'kmaq Studies 10 Introduction to Culture Unit

Anthropology the study of human society, culture and behavior, and also the starting point of human beings and their physical characteristics and way of life

Ethnographer A person who submerses themselves into another group’s way of life to learn about their culture. They collect data through observations, interviews, etc.

Culture a shared, learned, symbolic system of values, beliefs and attitudes that shapes and influences perception and behavior

Culture Culture is complex and interconnected It consists of all the knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, customs, skills and habits learned from parents and others in society. Culture is the primary adaptive mechanism for humans.

Culture culture has three important features: Symbols Language Values There are three aspects of culture: Mental: what people think Behavior: what people do Material: what people make

Symbol anything with a culturally defined meaning

Language a set of symbols that expresses ideas and allows people to think and communicate with each other an important way to transmit culture

Society an interacting group of people sharing a common culture

Nation people who share common origins, history, customs, and government, and often share a common territory of land and language

Ethnocentricism The tendency to look at the world primarily from the perspective of your own culture. Ethnocentrism often contains the belief that your own race or ethnic group is the most important and/or that some or all aspects of its culture are superior to those of other groups. Individuals will judge other groups in relation to their own particular culture, especially with language, behaviour, customs and religion.

Cultural Relativism Understanding other cultures by their own categories. These cultures are assumed to be valid and worthy of respect. The Europeans did not practice cultural relativism because they arrived and judged the way of life of the Mi’kmaq people to be uncivilized. They felt that the Mi’kmaq people did not have a culture. They were comparing their culture to the Mi’kmaq. They were ethnocentric.

Assimilation loss of distinctive cultural traits as a population surrenders its independence and is absorbed into a dominant society and culture