Continuity, Transformation, Change ► Exploring Ways of Marking Time ► Tradition, Modernity, Postmodernity ► Hasn’t this Happened Before?

Exploring Ways of Marking Time ► Cyclical Time The Life Spiral The Seasons, A Life, Astronomical Time (the Maya Count, Stonehenge, Medicine Wheels)

Exploring the Ways of Marking Time Dreamtime: Origins and Meanings The Dreaming has different meanings for different Aboriginal Australian groups. The Dreaming can be seen as an embodiment of Aboriginal creation which gives meaning to everything. It establishes the rules governing relationships between the people, the land and all things for Aboriginal people. The Role of Oral Tradition Australian Aborigines have the longest cultural history in the world, which some estimate at 65,000 years

Exploring the Ways of Marking Time ► Linear Time Chronicle, Heroic Exploits, and the Right to Rule The Role of Writing Cuneiform in Mesopotamia 3300 BC Hieroglyphs in Egypt 3100 BC

Tradition ► belief, values, way of life: “the passing down of elements of a culture from generation to generation, especially by oral communication.” ► harmony with the past ► tightly knit community and family ► Merriam-Webster Dictionary: 1 : an inherited, established, or customary pattern of thought, action, or behavior (as a religious practice or a social custom) 2 : the handing down of information, beliefs, and customs by word of mouth or by example from one generation to another without written instruction 3 : cultural continuity in social attitudes, customs, and institutions 4 : characteristic manner, method, or style

Modernity ► a 20th century idea, although its roots are in the Industrial Revolution ► related to the idea of progress (which can be traced back at least 2000 years to Classical times) ► goal oriented and developmental (‘underdevelopment’) ► based on transformations in mechanization and factory production (hence Fordism) and changes in society (e.g., gender and family changes)

Modernity ► changes in society (e.g., gender and family changes) ► shift from primarily production to primarily consumption begins for early industrial nations ► alienation from work (make only a component not the total product) ► alienation from family and place ► increasing mobility ► increasing diversity of personal experience ► increasing social problems ► decreasing health ► loss of traditional identities and the search for new ones in a changed world ► increased independence but also responsibility

Modernity ► Merriam-Webster: 1 a: of, relating to, or characteristic of the present or the immediate past: CONTEMPORARY 1 a: of, relating to, or characteristic of the present or the immediate past: CONTEMPORARY 1 b: of, relating to, or characteristic of a period extending from a relevant remote past to the present time 2: involving recent techniques, methods, or ideas : UP-TO-DATE 3: capitalized: of, relating to, or having the characteristics of the present or most recent period of development of a language 4: of or relating to modernism : MODERNIST

Postmodernity ► critique of economic and social conditions brought on by industrialization ► attempt at a return to elements of tradition ► rebellion against unchecked capitalism ► stress on the individual increases and greater need for escape (addiction, religious fervor) ► Merriam-Webster: of, relating to, or being any of several movements (as in art,architecture, or literature) that are reactions against the philosophy and practices of modern movements and are typically marked by revival of traditional elements and techniques of, relating to, or being any of several movements (as in art,architecture, or literature) that are reactions against the philosophy and practices of modern movements and are typically marked by revival of traditional elements and techniques

But Hasn’t this Happened Before? ► The Classical World Hesiod (fl. 700 BC), in Operae et Dies (Works and Days), bemoans how things are falling apart, wishes to return to a truer, simpler time (this is called the Primitivist tradition in Classical scholarship) Ammianus and other writers admire Progress and glorify Roman achievements against the Barbarian tribes (Positivist Tradition in Classical scholarship) ► Our Current World Jihad vs. McWorld Fundamentalists (both Christian and Muslim) decry the debasement of the ‘modern’ world Just as Modernization did, Globalization sweeps away traditions that knit societies together, standardizes what we eat, drive, wear—and eventually–think.

Continuity, Transformation, Change ► A Dialectical Approach: Cancel old ways, Preserve some things from that time, Transcend to a new state ► Studying Continuity, Transformation, and Change in human societies is a core pursuit of Anthropology