Assignment 1

Arab Art, Science, Technology and Culture

ARBC-2301
Elijah Akins
January 11, 2013

Defining Culture
Culture, in an anthropological sense, defines the human condition that reflects
an identity as well as a common interpretation of experiences. The elements of
culture take many forms; broadly these elements could be divided into tangible
and intangible elements. A few example of these divisions are presented below.
tangible
buildings
infrastructure
various material goods
intangible
language
division of labor
sexual practices
knowledge
All of these factors contribute to a characteristic cultural identity. In essence,
culture could be succinctly defined as the range of human learned behavior
patterns[?].

Cultural Interaction
As time has progressed, civilizations have developed sophisticated means of
transportation of not only physical entities, but ideas and data as well. This
ease in which Cultural parties can explore and communicate directly effects the
interaction between different cultures. In the early days, of civilization physical
barriers posed much more of a barrier than now. For instance, vast oceans
and high mountains served to isolate various civilizations while navigable rivers
promoted the opposite. The advent of communication technologies, such as
radio and internet, have helped to lower these barriers; however there still exists
language barriers although through various technologies and general increased
multilingualism even these tribulations are greatly reduced since earlier times.
Cultures can interact in a myriad of ways from individuals fraternizing to
whole governments cooperating toward a common goal. On the individual
level, the intermingling of cultures can occur through physical location, various communication technologies, and marriages. Organization such as NATO1
and NAFTA2 and the UN3 are all examples of governments working together
to achieve various economic, political, and strategic goals. Most cultures have
interacted in various capacities since their inception.
1 North

American Treaty Organization.

American Free Trade Agreement.
3 United Nations.
2 North

Cultural Evolution
The process by which cultures evolve is a very difficult phenomena to explain
accurately. The evolution of cultures may be clear in some contexts such as natural disasters, but also may be more elusive. Often there are many confounding
variables that make absolutely attributing changes difficult if not impossible.
In addition, the rate at which cultures change can be subject to immense variety. No culture is immune to change over a long enough period of time; often
cultures are products of their surroundings, including other cultures. As time
progresses, technology expands the reach of cultures and natural resources vary
and thus, cultures respond.

Cultural Identities
Often when we think of what identifies a culture, we tend to think of mostly
intangible things. Language, social norms, and political ideas are all examples
of this. Although many of these intangible characteristics are the result of
tangible phenomena influencing a population. Often these differences in tangible
phenomena can result in various behaviors of a society that differ from one
another. A culture that was once unified may diverge into another cultural
identity due to ideological differences or even geographical isolation.

Cultural Persistence
The persistence of a culture involves many factors. One of the most important
factors in the longevity of a culture is the ability to adapt. As new technology
and science replace old ideology, a civilization improves its chance of surviving.
An example would be the displacement of religion in Western Society by science
and technology during the Enlightenment period. Another factor is the physical
resources available to culture. In essence the persistence of a culture is synonymous with the ability of that culture to evolve in response to both external and
internal entities.

Conclusion
Cultures are a human phenomena that have relatively recently been introduced
into the species lexicon. These societies have many characteristics but the crux
of them deal with behaviors that are learned. Cultures interact with one another
and evolve based on both internal and external forces that are sometimes difficult
to quantify.

References
[1] Dennis Oneil, Human Culture: What Is Culture? Palomar College, n.d.
Web. 10 Jan. 2013.