Creolization intro

In the introduction to the book “creolization”, the writer David discussed the meaning of the creolization and how it evolves from the idea of Acculturation, a theory that “denied the possibility of any African influences surviving the Middle Passage”. That is to say, the theory of the acculturation is that the culture of the Africa is assimilated on the encountering with the European and inferior one just submits to the “superior” one. The idea of acculturation is somewhat prejudiced because of the fact it does not admit the room for “acculturated Africans”. However the following scholars propose a lot of theories. But, they are all biased in someways . In other words, they could not get away from the “donor culture” . Then, in 1976, two scholars assert that there is not a thing called “donor culture” and nothing could transfer between two culture. the following century, we have lots of scholars proposing different views, but they all particularly have some flaws.

The concept of the “Creolization” effectively explains the clashing views about whether there’s a donor culture or we need to excise all the possibilities. Creolization is a syncretic expression in which the pressure to change stimulates the willingness of people to change. And the extent of culture making changes depends on the loyalty toward the original culture. Also the rate of the Creolization is close linked to the material abundance which means that people tend to cliche to their original culture if the material is abundant.

Creolization literally shows in every aspect of the human life, including architecture, agriculture, cooking, cartography, medicine, religion, and etc. In addition, Creolization shows different stages at different time.

I found this theory quite inclusive and true. It is very illustrative and straightforward in defining the cultural interchange and culturally mutual learning. Take the U.S as an example, as the melting pot for all people from different countries with different cultures, the U.S has done a lot to provide an inclusive environment to every one. Though, some critics may contend that the melting pot is actually more like a “salad”, I still believe U.S has done much better than other countries, like my motherland, China. In the U.S, we could see people of different colors and of different beliefs. The each individual displays their own unique culture and special influence upon the culture of the U.S. Each individual with different background provides the united states the power to become the world’s leader.

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