Cultural Borrowing

2021 ◽  
pp. 19-20
Author(s):  
Debbie Keiser ◽  
Brenda McGee ◽  
Mary Hennenfent ◽  
Chuck Nusinov ◽  
Linda Triska
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Borrowing

Islam: The Unpillaged Eastern Religion

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve Bruce
Keyword(s):  
Faith Community ◽  
Cultural Appropriation ◽  
Feng Shui ◽  
The West ◽  
Eastern Religion ◽  
Authoritative Text ◽  
Cultural Borrowing ◽  
Ways Of Life

Understanding why Islam has contributed little to contemporary religious and spiritual innovations allows us to see the principles underlying cultural borrowing. With its creator God, authoritative text, religious dogmas, and defined ways of life, Islam is too much like Christianity for cultural appropriation, and there is a considerable Muslim presence in the West that constrains borrowing. Such appropriation is easiest when ideas are not embedded in a large faith community (feng shui is an example), when they are retrieved from an ancient and undocumented past (as with Celtic Christianity), or when they are entirely fictional (as with the supposed characteristics of Atlantis).

The Uniqueness of Nguni Mediumistic Divination in Southern Africa

Africa ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 277-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. David Hammond-Tooke
Keyword(s):  
Southern Africa ◽  
Physical Symptoms ◽  
Social Arrangements ◽  
Cultural Borrowing

AbstractMediumistic divination is unique to the Nguni, as all other Bantu-speakers in southern Africa used a fairly ‘objective’ divinatory system involving a set of four incised bone tablets, or an assortment of astragals, shells and other objects (or a combination of both). Also, unlike non-Nguni, Nguni diviners were predominantly women. They were called to the profession through a life-transforming, ancestor-sent illness (thwasa) characterised by psychological and physical symptoms. The article discusses the nature, and possible correlates, of these differences. It is argued that the form of Nguni divination is connected with three related aspects of Nguni social arrangements that distinguish them from other southern African Bantu-speakers, namely the presence of strong patricians, the conceptualisation of the ancestors as a transcendent, undifferentiated collectivity, and the marked subordination of women. In addition, there is evidence of both the borrowing of certain aspects of the San trance dance, as an appropriate expression of female tensions, and, especially among Cape Nguni, of the concept of divinatory animals. This San influence is much less evident among the Zulu. The importance of appreciating the essentially selective nature of cultural borrowing is emphasised.

Politics of Ritual Syncretism: Islam Among the Non-Muslim Giriama of Kenya

Africa ◽  
1970 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 217-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Parkin
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Elements ◽  
Cultural Borrowing

Ritual Syncretism as Cultural BorrowingLeach in his study of the Kachin interpreted disputes over claims to administer ritual or to recite myths as a means whereby politically opposed factions sought to assert their independence or their dominance (Leach, 1954, p. 278). He also showed that in this competition the Kachin made use of ritual and other cultural elements which they had adopted from the Shans and were using for political ends.

N.F.S. Grundtvig, Niels Bukh and Other 'Japanese' Heroes. The Educators Obara Kuniyoshi and Matsumae Shigeyoshi and Their Lessons from the Past of a Foreign Country

2007 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret Mehl
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Physical Education ◽  
Educational System ◽  
Creative Process ◽  
Cultural Memory ◽  
The Past ◽  
Stereotypical Image ◽  
Cultural Borrowing ◽  
New Education

AbstractObara Kuniyoshi (1887–1977), the founder of Tamagawa Gakuen, and Matsumae Shigeyoshi (1901–1991), the founder of Tôkai Educational System (TES), were both inspired by Denmark and Danish education, although in different ways. Obara, a representative of the New Education Movement in Japan, became interested in Denmark when he heard about Danish gymnastics, which seemed to be ideally suited to his vision of rigorous but non-competitive physical education. In 1931, two years after founding his own school, he succeeded in inviting the Danish gymnast Niels Bukh and a group of his students to Japan. The interest in gymnastics sparked off a wider interest in Denmark. Matsumae Shigeyoshi's attention was drawn to Denmark and to the Danish folk high schools as a result of his encounter with Uchimura Kanzô. Although not an educator by training, he decided to devote his life to education. This article explores the role of cultural borrowing in the thought and educational praxis of Obara and Matsumae. Although they uncritically accepted a Danish cultural memory (Denmark's recovery from military defeat in the nineteenth century through spiritual strength and education) and cultivated a stereotypical image, the adaptation of this image to suit their own needs represents a highly creative process which resulted in two successful private schools.

scholarly journals Moderate Conventionalism and Cultural Appropriation

2019 ◽  
pp. 81-88
Author(s):  
Juha Räikkä ◽  
Mikko Puumala
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Group ◽  
Traditional View ◽  
Cultural Appropriation ◽  
Moral Relevance ◽  
Moral Criticism ◽  
Relevant Difference ◽  
Social Conventions ◽  
Binding Force ◽  
Or Practice ◽  
Cultural Borrowing

Cultural appropriation, also called cultural borrowing, has been the topic of much discussion in recent years. Roughly speaking, cultural appropriation happens when someone outside of a cultural or ethnic group takes or uses some object that is characteristic or in some way important to the group without the group’s permission. Individuals who find cultural appropriation (or borrowing) unproblematic have often argued that if we express moral criticism of the use of traditional Sami outfits by non-Sami, then we are logically committed to criticize all kinds of habits that are clearly acceptable –such as using jeans, eating pizza or drinking tea. However, we will argue that in many cases that objection is problematic. We point out that if one social habit or practice is prohibited (or supported) by existing social conventions but another is not, then there is a convention difference between the cases. The convention difference is in turn a morally relevant difference, or so we aim to show. We refer to “moderate conventionalism,” according to which existing social conventions are morally relevant facts that should be taken into account when choosing how to act, whatever the content of the conventions happens to be. The claim is analogous with the traditional view that laws have some moral relevance and binding force independent of their content. Keywords: cultural appropriation, conventionalism, moderate conventionalism, convention difference

scholarly journals Japanese Philosophy: Approaches to a Proper Understanding

2018 ◽  
pp. 7-22
Author(s):  
L. B. Karelova
Keyword(s):  
Human Mind ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Proper Understanding ◽  
Cultural Field ◽  
Intellectual Traditions ◽  
Intercultural Interactions ◽  
Cultural Borrowing ◽  
Definition Of

Since the role of the Asian countries is increasing in the modern world, their philosophical traditions attract more and more attention. Due to this trend, a more complete panoramic view of the development of world philosophy as a whole is accessible, and it has become possible to understand that any constructions of the human mind that have arisen in a particular cultural field of experience cannot be regarded as exemplary and absolute. The researchers of Asian philosophies concentrate mostly on studying the texts of individual thinkers. As a rule, they do not set themselves the task of examining these texts from the point of view of intercultural interactions and transformations of significant ideas and concepts in various cultural and historical contexts, defining the direction and mechanisms of cultural borrowing, as well as revealing new approaches and growth points. To achieve these goals, the research should focus at the problem of the self-determination and development of philosophy as a separate science in non-Western cultures, which are based on intellectual traditions with different origin than Greek and Judeo-Christian traditions. This article deals with the consideration of some topics that elucidate the features of the development of philosophical science in Japan, including the emergence of the concept of “philosophy” in this country, the definition of its subject, the formation of philosophical terminology, and various interpretations of what the term “Japanese philosophy” means. The author pays special attention to the characteristic of the main periods of progress of Japanese philosophical thought. In the conclusion, the author argues that the most important characteristic feature of the Japanese philosophy is its involvement in intercultural dialogue throughout its history.

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