RLG245Y1- Blog 1

Blog Entry #1

Documents: Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language – Crystal, David

                           Encyclopedia of Culture and Anthropology- Levinson, David and Melvin Ember                                               

                  After reading the two documents assigned for this week and looking at the theme I made the connection that between the two articles there were four key aspects needed in order to define ancient culture. The first one was located in David Crystals Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. The first aspect that was introduced was the aspect of language. Both in present and past society language has been a distinguisher of cultural backgrounds. For example a person would not likely be able to distinguish if someone was from Italian or Greek decent solely based on their appearance, but they would be able to clearly distinguish their cultural backgrounds if they heard them speak in their own native tongues. In many ways language can be used to define culture. In many different cultures around the world, different parts of a particular country have different languages that are called dialects. These unique twists on the “original language” gives people a way to categorize themselves from the rest of the country. The document also talks about the concept of written language and how it can be used to help distinguish cultural backgrounds. For example many religions contain religious scriptures in which millions of people in present society rely on in order to fully grasp the concepts of their religion. Thus allowing people to distinguish themselves through the use of written language.

                  In the second document assigned Encyclopedia of Culture and Anthropology, by David Levinson and Melvin Ember encompass the other three aspects that were explained in great detail. The first one presented was culture, one of the things explained in the document was how do we exactly define culture. “Although the phenomenon we call culture is the focus of cultural anthropology, there are important difference among anthropologists as to just how to define it”. The document progresses looking at many anthropologists perspectives as to what culture is and how it defined or defies society. Another theory discusses was cultural progression. “People were thought to have more or less culture, accordingly as there civilizations were taught to be more or less advanced”. Thus making the conclusion that a person could have more or less culture depending on where they lived. In many aspects this could be seen as negative considering they probably would not have had many means to evolve with the rest of society. But reading this in present society, I don’t feel that it applies as much as it did in that particular ear. Thus showing the cultural evolution/progression. Canada is known to be a multi-cultural country, meaning that all cultures are welcomed and that many cultures are shared amongst people. But each particular culture distinguishes it self by the different traditions each of them do, thus everything a culture does is based on its people.

            The third aspect, which is also in Encyclopedia of Culture and Anthropology, is ethnicity. The term “ethnic groups” was not used up until the 1500’s, before this words such as race or tribe were used to distinguish different groups. Ethnic groups share the same similarities, also expressed in the document is the use of classes. “The identity of particular ethnic groups is composed of elements that may differ markedly from those that mark other groups due to the unique history of each group”. The document states that ethnic groups were more organized by wealth power and status. Groups such as “ethnic, tribal and communal” were used. Some were seen as high status while others were seen as low.  For many people ethnicity defined who they were. They were one particular ethnicity and that was it. Going back to Canada as being multi-cultural, I believe one of the main reasons for being viewed as so multi-cultural country is because of the increasing interracial relationships. People want to be accepted no matter what their ethnicity is. Thus moving away from the one ethnicity.

            The last aspect that was in Encyclopedia of Culture and Anthropology is the aspect of religion. Religion like ethnicity has provided people with a feeling of knowing who they were. It was often a way of life for most people. Religion was seen as the driving force that unified people, which allowed for the other three aspects to prosper. The document argued that religion was used as an indication as to how a particular society progressed. When I think of the word religion immediately think of culture, which makes me think of ethnicity, which make me think about language. These four key aspects help the reader to grapple and better understand the ways in which ancient culture can and was defined.

Crystal, David, ed. Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language (2nd ed.), selections (“How Many        Languages?” “The Origins of       Language,” “Families of Languages,” “The Indo              European Family,” “Other Families,” and “Language and Religion”). Cambridge:              Cambridge University Press, 2003.

Levinson, David, and Melvin Ember, eds. Encyclopedia of Cultural Anthropology (1st ed., 4        vols), selections (“Asia, Central,” “Culture,” “Ethnicity,” “Religion”). New York:             Henry    Holt and Co., 1996.