Ch. 16 - Sociocultural Exchanges

Socio-cultural exchanges

Cultural DiffusionWhat is Culture?

We take it for granted that people in different countries have different cultures. As Wood and McManus describe it:

“In India holy men go naked and stand in one position for years, bury themselves in sand or adopt painful postures, permanently distorting their bodies. In Japan, the simple act of pouring a cup of tea has become a ceremony which involves meditating for long periods and gently stirring the tea with a bamboo whisk. In England, wealthy people ride horses at high speed, following a pack of hounds and chasing a small fox, while one of the riders blows a horn.”

We accept that these behaviours are part of the culture of the people in these countries.

Many aspects of people’s behaviour, attitudes, beliefs and appearance make up culture. We can define culture as the

framework of shared mean-ings which people who belong to the same community (or group or nation) use to help them interpret and make sense of the world. In other words, a culture is the expres-sion of people’s world view.

Globalisation is neither static nor inevitable.

Outline!

ToK BoX — Page 634Plato’s Cave and Enlightenment

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16C H A P T E R 1 6

Consumerism and culture Page 623

The role of transnational corporations (TNCs) in spreading consumer culture. The spatial and temporal pattern of adoption of branded commodities on a global scale.

Socio-cultural integration Page 625The role of diasporas in preserving culture, the impact of cultural diffusion on an indigenous remote society, and the ways in which international interactions may result in the homogenisation and dilution of culture, including cultural imperialism.

The process of cultural diffusion Page 619

Cultural traits in terms of language, customs, beliefs, dress, images, music, food and technology. The diffusion of cultural traits resulting from the international movement of workers, tourists and commodities.

16.1 Maori people performing a powhiri, or traditional welcome. The dress, language, customs and beliefs of Maori people are important cultural traits of their total culture.


Culture defines the lifestyle of people, and also their values and beliefs.

Culture shows itself in many ways. Culture is expressed through language, customs, beliefs, traditions, thinking, behaviour, faith, music, clothing, art, technology, images, food, architecture, dance, and in many other ways. Each of these individual features of a culture is known as a cultural trait. Therefore, for the Maori people of New Zealand, cultural traits include their traditional dress, their language, the architecture of their marae (or meeting place), and their spiritual beliefs and myths of origin (fig-ure 16.1). It is the combination of these cultural traits, along with many other factors also, that defines Maori culture.

Q U E S T I O N B L O C K 1 6 A1.! What is meant by the terms (a) cultural trait, and (b)

culture?

The Diffusion of Mass Consumer Culture

The following item appeared on the internet:

“A group of American tourists arrived in Italy. ‘Amazing!’ said one to their tour guide. ‘You have pizza here too’. A group of Japanese boy scouts landed in Chicago. ‘Amazing!’ they told their troop leader. ‘They have McDonald’s here too’.”

This anecdote tells us a great deal about the globalisation of culture. A food that was invented by the Italians – pizza – is now accepted by people in the US and many other countries. Similarly, an American food chain – McDonald’s – is now found in so many countries that children who have grown up with it consider it to be ‘local’ to their own country. And the fact that this anecdote was found on the internet, making it available instantly to anyone with an internet connection anywhere in the world, demonstrates how quickly ideas now move around the world.

Globalisation works against the preservation of tradi-tional cultures. Traditions and ways of life that have survived for centuries in various parts of the world are finding it increasingly difficult to withstand the pressures of foreign influences. As the cultural theorist, Stuart Hall commented, “global consumerism … spreads the same thin cultural film over everything – Big Macs, Coca Cola and Nike trainers everywhere – inviting everyone to take on western consumer identities and obscuring profound differences of history and tradition between cultures” (figures 16.2 and 16.3).

16.3 Donkeys carry Coca-Cola into the traditional markets of Fez, Morocco.

The speed with which cultural influences move from place to place has never been more rapid than it is today. However, globalisation is not a new or recent process. For example, before 1000, the nations and tribes of Europe each had its own distinctive culture, with various lan-guages, dress, architecture and beliefs. Around the year 800, the Serbian general Charlemagne conquered vast areas of Europe, including France, Germany, and parts of Spain and Italy. This led to the concept of ‘Europe’ emerging for the first time as a common culture based on Christianity and the Latin language spread through the empire.

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16.2 Ronald McDonald welcomes customers in Wuhan, China.

16.4 A sign reflecting the spread of both the Christian religion and the English language to Africa – the name of this business is typical of many in Ghana. Other examples may appear humorous to outsiders, such as the Rock of Ages Cement Works and the Only Jesus Can Do It Beauty Salon.


P L A N E T G E O G R A P H Y

European culture developed further as something distinctive with its own identity in the 1100s and 1200s when Christian Europe and the Islamic Middle East and North Africa came into conflict. This was perhaps the first clash between two cultures that were larger in scale than individual tribes or nations. Both Christian and Islamic cultural influences spread further over the following centuries and traders and conquerors travelled around the world (figure 16.4). Other cultures similarly spread their influence during the 1400s to 1800s, including especially the Chinese through South-East Asia (figure 16.5).

16.5 Although this temple is Chinese in its architecture and religious practices, it is located in Penang (Malaysia), and is surrounded by colonial buildings built by the British.

In past centuries, cultural diffusion has occurred through a series of processes:•! exploration by traders of areas around the world that

were unknown to those people at the time;•! establishment of trading links in areas that produced

goods different from the home areas;•! investment in new areas by traders, and a return of

profits to the investors;•! expansion of production of raw materials, commodi-

ties and food in the new areas where investment has occurred;

•! conquest and colonisation by the trading power, imposing new systems of government and culture on local cultures; and

•! migration of colonists to new colonies, bringing fur-ther cultural impact to colonial areas.

In general, these processes were undertaken by people from European countries who established colonies over-seas, usually in Africa, Asia, South America and Oceania. Occasionally, similar processes were followed by other cultural groups, notably Chinese and Arab traders, although these groups did not conquer and colonise to the same extent as the Europeans.

Traders and colonists exported the culture of their home societies into the areas where they travelled. This influ-ence still shows today in the buildings found in many parts of the world (figure 16.6). However, the cultural

influences also show in less visible ways such as the religion, language, legal systems and education found in many former colonies and trading areas. The result was often to suppress, or at least have an impact on, local cultures. In this way, the colonies and trading areas became contact zones that marked the ‘frontier’ of the expansion of one culture into a new area.

The process of cultural diffusion continues today at an accelerating rate. Today, colonisation is relatively less important than trade in promoting cultural diffusion. Colonisation does continue to play an important role in cultural diffusion, and notable examples include Indonesian influence in Irian Jaya, Chinese influence in Tibet, and until 1989, Russian influence in Eastern Europe.

Although tourism and migrant workers are often sources of cultural diffusion, as discussed elsewhere in this book, trade is probably the main agent of cultural diffusion. However, it is important to understand that the nature of today’s trade is quite different from trade in the 1800s. Today, trade includes foreign investment, advertising and commercial media broadcasts which transfer cultural in-fluences with great speed and strength. Cultural diffusion has now occurred to such a great extent that many people claim that ‘places are all becoming the same’ (or homoge-nised). We will investigate this claim later in the chapter.

16.6 This building in Hanoi, Vietnam, shows two periods of cultural diffusion. The building is in European style, having been built by the French during colonial times. The posters show a more recent cultural infusion — socialism — which originated in Europe and spread to Vietnam through Russia (then the Soviet Union).

It is important to understand that cultural diffusion can occur in two ways. First, in expansion diffusion, an idea develops or exists in a source area and then spreads into other areas while remaining strong at the source. For example, Islam developed in the Arabian Peninsula of the Middle East, and spread from there through North Africa, the rest of the Middle East, East Africa and parts of South-East Asia. However, it remained strong in its source area, the Arabian Peninsula, so this is an example of expansion diffusion. Expansion diffusion usually occurs where populations are stable or fixed; it is the idea that moves.

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On the other hand, the second type of cultural diffusion is relocation diffusion. In this case, people who have adopted a new idea or belief carry it to a new destination. The spread of Christianity from Israel to Europe and then on to Africa, Asia and South America by traders and missionaries would be an example of relocation diffusion. It is possible that an idea transferred by relocation diffusion may lose its original strength in its source area, although this does not always happen. The longer an idea takes and the further it has to travel, the less likely it is to be adopted in new areas; this is known as time-distance decay. It explains why cultural diffusion by ‘instantaneous’ satellite television broadcasts are so powerful, why American speech and slang appear very quickly across the globe, and why ‘foreign’ products gain rapid acceptance in many other countries (figure 16.7).

The two types of diffusion were illustrated diagrammati-cally in figure 10.67 in chapter 10.

16.7 An advertisement for Coca-Cola in Sana'a, Yemen. The global spread of this soft drink has been so strong that a slang term for the homogenisation of cultures is 'coca-colanisation'.

Q U E S T I O N B L O C K 1 6 B

1.! What is meant by the term ‘cultural diffusion’?

2.! Explain the process of cultural diffusion which occurred in past centuries.

3.! Describe the difference between ‘expansion diffusion’ and ‘relocation diffusion’, and give an example of each.

4.! What is ‘distance-time decay’? How does it help understand the process of cultural diffusion?

Adoption vs Adaption of Mass Consumer Culture

When confronted with the impact of a new culture, the choice facing people is whether they should reject the new influence, adopt it or adapt it. Where people adopt a new cultural trait, they take it on board in its entirety, perhaps abandoning some older tradition or belief to do so. Where a cultural trait is adapted, it is modified in

some way, usually so it can be accommodated within the framework of an existing culture or world view.

When Buddhism spread from India into Myanmar, the local people adapted it into their traditional belief system. Before Buddhism came to Myanmar, the people believed that spirits called nats inhabited every tree, rock, stream, house and other feature of the landscape. The people adopted Buddhism by making Buddha a supreme nat, enabling them to adopt Buddhism as well as retain their belief in the spirits. Even today, Buddhist temples and pagodas in Myanmar include important places to pay homage to the nats (figure 16.8).

16.8 Worshippers at the Shwe Dagon Pagoda in Yangon look on as a devotee pours water over a small image of Buddha to earn merit. Behind the Buddha image is an image of a guardian nat, an example of cultural adaptation by the Myanmar people.

One of the most obvious examples of the global spread of mass consumer culture today is McDonald’s fast food (figure 16.9). It is claimed that a new McDonald’s opens somewhere in the world every six hours. Because the foreign, or American, image of McDonald’s is attractive to people in many countries, local businesses sometimes copy as much of the name and image as they believe they can get away with; an example of this is shown in figure 16.10. This is a contemporary example of cultural adapta-tion.

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16.9 Although American in origin, McDonald's 31,000 fast food restaurants are now found in 119 countries. This example is one of many McDonald's outlets in Moscow, Russia.



16.10 Perhaps imitation is a sincere form of flattery; this is a fast-food outlet in Yangon, Myanmar.

16.11 A McTurco meal in a McDonald's restaurant in Istanbul, Turkey.

Furthermore, McDonald’s itself is a good example of reverse adaptation, where mass consumer culture has changed to become more easily accepted by local people. It is possible to buy teriyaki burgers at McDonald’s outlets in Japan, McLaks (a grilled salmon sandwich) in Norway, and ayran (a chilled yogurt drink) and McTurcos in Turkey (figure 16.11). In India, the burgers are made from mutton and are called Maharaja Macs, as Hindus will not eat beef and Muslims will not eat pork. In addi-tion, as many Hindus in India are vegetarian, McDonald’s offer a spicy vegetarian patty made of potatoes and peas called a McAloo Tikki (figure 16.12).

Because of the adaptability of cultures, globalisation has not resulted in all places becoming the same, although there is certainly greater mixing (or hybridisation) of cultures. Cultural diffusion is not a new process, and although the pace of cultural change is accelerating, the impact is uneven across the world – some places are more accepting of global cultural changes while others are more resistant.

Q U E S T I O N B L O C K 1 6 C1.! Explain the difference between cultural adoption and

cultural adaptation.

2.! Define ‘reverse adaptation’, and give an example of it.

3.! What does the term ‘hybridisation’ of cultures mean?

Consumerism and CultureTransnational Corporations (TNCs)

A transnational corporation (TNC) is a company that operates in several (or even many) different countries. According to the Instituto del Tercer Mundo, there are about 37,000 major transnational corporations with some 170,000 subsidiaries (local representative companies) in the world. Of these corporations, about 200 of them control the bulk of world trade. The growing influence of these top 200 TNCs is shown by their increasing share of world Gross Domestic Product, which has increased from 17% in the mid-1960s to 24% in 1982 and 33% in 1995. Although new figures have not been reliably estimated

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16.12 The menu of a McDonald's restaurant in Mumbai, India. Note the vegetarian options near the top of the menu.


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since that time, it is reasonable to assume that the percentage has continued to increase. In 1995, when they controlled 33% of world GDP, the same 200 corporations also controlled 76% of world trade.

All 200 of the largest TNCs have headquarters in just nine countries, all located within the tripolar core zone that was discussed in chapter 12. Japan hosts the headquar-ters of 62 of them, while others are found in the United States (53), Germany (23), France (19), United Kingdom (11), Switzerland (8), South Korea (6), Italy (5) and the Netherlands (4).

Manufacturing and petroleum companies hold many of the top positions in UNCTAD´s annual ranking of the world’s 25 largest non-financial TNCs, even though TNCs in service industries have become increasingly important since 2000. In general, the larger TNCs from LEDCs tend to operate in a broader range of industries than TNCs from MEDCs, the most important industries being elec-tronics and computers, petroleum and telecommunica-tions.

Transnational corporations often have a wide-ranging impact in many countries, taking their production methods into a variety of economies and cultures. For example, one author describes the activities of Nike in the following words:

“Nike, the athletic footwear marketer, used to own manufactur-ing plants in the United States and United Kingdom, but pres-ently subcontracts 100% of its production capacity to suppliers in South and East Asia. The geography of Nike’s production partnerships has evolved over time, a change powered in part by changing labour costs in Asia. Initially, production of Nike shoes took place in Japan. Soon, subcontracting agreements diffused factories in South Korea and Taiwan. Presently, those partnerships are diminishing in importance as labour costs rise and new networks of subcontractors become established in In-donesia, Malaysia and China where workers involved in shoe production are paid about one-thirtieth of the wage their coun-terparts make, working for other companies, in the United States”.

For many TNCs involved in manufacturing, the attraction of operating in economically less developed countries is low labour costs. Ironically, the attraction of TNCs involved in retailing to the same countries is the increas-ing wealth and spending power of the population as the economy grows and develops. Because of the widening gap between rich and poor in many developing countries, it is seldom the same people who would, for example, eat in an American fast food outlet in China as would work in an American shoe factory in China.

Fast-food TNCs have been especially vigorous in estab-lishing themselves in many countries. Usually, these fast-food corporations are US-based, and they have estab-lished operations in many countries with quite different

cultural backgrounds (figure 16.13). When these compa-nies establish in developing countries, they usually charge prices that are similar to those charged in the United States, which means prices are much higher than local food restaurants. However, they often establish a very fashionable image of exotic ‘foreign’ American food that encourages local residents to spend a significant pro-portion of a weekly salary on a single meal. Compared with many local food outlets, the fast-food TNCs are clean and safe, and this encourages local people to change their dietary habits and eat there. As the fast-food TNCs tend to sell food that has a much higher fat content than local food, this is beginning to lead to problems of obesity and lack of fitness among people who dine at the outlets frequently.

16.13 A not-entirely-official KFC restaurant in Moscow, Russia.

It should also be recognised that fast-food TNCs have adapted to local conditions in many countries where they operate while retaining their American image. The adaptations to McDonald’s menus was discussed in the previous section. The operations of the TNCs also adapt to local conditions where appropriate. For example, figure 16.14 shows the home delivery vehicles for Pizza Hut in Shenzhen, China. In a country where private motor vehicles are uncommon and bicycles are used more often, the pizzas are delivered in insulated boxes on the backs of bicycles.

16.14 Part of the fleet of bicycles used for home delivery of pizzas in Shenzhen, China.

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Q U E S T I O N B L O C K 1 6 D1.! Using relevant figures, describe the importance of

transnational corporations in the world today.

2.! Explain why transnational corporations may have a significant impact on cultures in many parts of the world.

Socio-cultural IntegrationHomogenisation and Dilution of Culture

It is a common claim that ‘places everywhere are becom-ing the same’. The claim arises from seeing people in many diverse places wearing similar blue jeans, brand-name trainers and drinking cola from a metal can. The claim also arises from the perception that cities around the world are losing their individuality and character, and taking on a uniform anonymous ‘international’ ap-pearance. The trend towards uniformity in the character of different places is known as homogenisation of land-scapes.

In general, homogenisation of landscapes also means ‘westernisation’ of place, or taking on the features of a European or North American landscape. This process does not refer only to buildings, but also to the shops and services found in cities around the world. Thus, fast food outlets and brand-name clothing outlets can now be found in many countries around the world, either in their authentic form or in an adapted or ‘pirated’ form. The inspiration for such shops is more likely to be a western cartoon, television show or corporation than the tradi-tional culture of the country (figure 16.15).

The study of geography first began because people were fascinated by the differences between places and the desire to explain those differences. The homogenisation of landscapes dilutes these differences, although it does not eliminate them. Because of the interaction between cultures, there is no longer a clear and simple correlation between culture and place. In today’s world, there are very few ‘pure’, untainted cultures remaining, and it seems likely that this process will continue into the fore-seeable future. Rather than remaining resistant to change, most cultures in the world today are open to change (willingly or otherwise), leading to hybridisation and homogenisation.

When culture contacts occur, they are often caused by the actions of powerful international corporations or media interests. In both cases, a common outcome is that the economies of developing countries become more depend-ent on the developed world.

When television programs made in one country are beamed into other countries with different cultural priorities, the values portrayed often have a great impact on the population (figure 16.16). Values that are taken for granted by children in the United States may be culturally challenging to a child in China, India, Tanzania, or even in Australia or Canada. However, because American culture is perceived in many countries as the road to wealth and affluence, these values can sometimes be accepted somewhat uncritically.

The imposition of other cultures is often sustained through advertising which supports foreign investment and economic activity (figures 16.17 and 16.18). Such advertising usually has one of two aims. One possibility is to portray a foreign product as part of the local culture

16.15 This restaurant in Beijing (China) markets itself in an overtly American way to increase its appeal to young people, for whom ‘Ameri-can’ equals ‘cool’ or ‘mod-ern’. There is no evidence here whatsoever of China’s long history of food traditions.

16.16 A Bud-dhist monk walks past a shop advertis-ing Disney home videos in Yangon, Myanmar. Foreign media programmes were banned until recently in Myanmar because of the negative effects they might have on local people.


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in the hope that this will speed up acceptance of it. Such advertising aims to achieve the objective where children in Japan and Dubai perceive McDonald’s as being Japanese or Arab.

The second possibility is to achieve the opposite of portraying a product as part of the local culture. Some-times, it is the exotic foreign nature of a product that is highlighted in the hope that people will embrace this as an improvement over what they have traditionally used. An example of this is the advertising by transnational corporations promoting the use of infant feeding formulas or packaged foods in LEDCs (figure 16.19). The desire by young mothers to be ‘modern’ has led many to abandon breastfeeding, leading to poorer nutrition of infants and sometimes fatal disease such as diarrhoea.

16.17 Advertising for Coca-Cola, which is an American product, in Ulaan Bataar, the capital city of Mongolia.

16.18 Another example of Coca-Cola advertising in an environment that is very different from its origins — in rural Djibouti.

Where either of the two aims of advertising are followed, however, local people’s perception of their own culture is challenged, diminished or modified in a way that en-courages another foreign culture to emerge in a more dominant position.

When one culture is imposed upon another, a process known as cultural imperialism is said to occur. Cultural imperialism can be a deliberate, active, formal policy, or it may be nothing more tangible than a general active or

passive attitude. For example, when Australian Aborigi-nal people send each other Christmas cards with scenes that feature snow, or when maps of the world are drawn with Europe in the centre top, these are commonly regarded as examples of cultural imperialism.

The term ‘cultural imperialism’ is usually viewed negatively because it implies an unbalanced power relationship in which the culture of a stronger or more powerful nation or society suppresses the culture of a smaller or weaker society. Thus, powerful Western governments are capable of cultural imperialism that negatively affects people in many LEDCs, but almost all the people of LEDCs do not have the power required to exercise cultural imperialism in the opposite direction. Similarly, some observers claim that in today’s globalised world, agencies such as the World Bank, the IMF (Interna-tional Monetary Fund) and the WTO (World Trade Organisation) are also agents of cultural imperialism.

16.19 The message of this sign to African mothers in Djibouti is in French, and says 'Blédina helps your baby to grow well — and makes your life easier!".

Because the term ‘cultural imperialism’ has negative overtones, it is difficult to provide examples of it that people of all persuasions will accept. For example, many Palestinians assert that Israel’s policies towards the Palestinian homelands reflect cultural imperialism, but few Israelis would agree. Similarly, many West Papuans accuse Indonesia of cultural imperialism in Irian Jaya, but few Indonesians from Java or Sumatra would agree.

With the dominance of English language around the world today and the decline of many minority languages, some commentators accuse native speakers of English of cultural imperialism if they refuse to learn and use other languages. English may also be an agent of cultural im-perialism if it disempowers non-native speakers in impor-tant areas of business and commerce (figure 16.20).

It is not only landscapes and economies that are becom-ing more similar, but cultures and attitudes also. In many countries, hybridisation of cultures is occurring as traditional cultures take on values and aspects of other cultures with which they have come into contact. In



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some countries, traditional cultures are sustained mainly through the economic value of tourism.

One aspect of culture that is becoming more uniform as a result of globalisation is music (figure 16.21). Modern western music is associated with progress and anti-establishmentism in the minds of many young people, and at times rebellion. This has led to the wide accep-tance of modern music around the world. Furthermore, it has led many bands and musicians to try and copy the style, abandoning their own cultural traditions. In some cases, musicians have tried to combine their indigenous sounds with western music, and this results in a modifi-cation of traditional culture rather than its abandonment.

In the same way that colonialism during the 1800s threat-ened the sovereignty of nations that were forced to

become politically dependent, national sovereignty can be threatened by economic forces today. Where powerful transnational corporations operate in a country, a nation may find itself dealing with a company that is financially larger than the country itself. In such cases, countries are vulnerable to the wishes of companies who can threaten to sack local workers or even withdraw operations from a country completely if they do not get what they want.

A geographer, David Harvey, attempted to give reasons for the cultural homogenisation that is occurring in the world today. Harvey argued that because business inter-ests are competitive by nature, investors are constantly searching for new places where a profit can be made more rapidly than elsewhere. Harvey called this waiting time for a profit the turnover time of capital.

Harvey argued that the search for shorter and shorter turnover times of capital is the real cause of the shrinkage of time-space. He said this shrinkage is quite different from the time-space convergence that was described in chapter 13. Time-space convergence involves physical travel between two points, but the shortening of the turn-over time for capital does not. Therefore, Harvey devised the term time-space compression to describe the reduced turnover time for capital. The process of time-space compression can be measured by the declining cost of travel and communications, as shown in table 16.1.

Table 16.1Declining Cost of Transport and Communications

1920 to 2010 (all figures in 1990 $US)

Year

Sea Freight

(average ocean

freight and port

charges per tonne)

Air Transport

(average revenue per passenger kilometre)

Telephone Call

(3 minutes, New York to London)

Computers

(index 1990 = 100)

1920 95 - - -

1930 60 0.42 245 -

1940 63 0.29 189 -

1950 34 0.19 53 -

1960 27 0.15 46 12,500

1970 27 0.10 32 1,947

1980 24 0.06 5 362

1990 29 0.07 3 100

2000 22 0.05 0.20 42

2010 19 0.04 0.05 26

16.20 Advertising in Ulaan Bataar (Mongolia) to encourage people to learn English. As English has become the international language of business, some argue that language is a form of cultural imperialism.

16.21 A man in Yangon (Myanmar) walks beneath a huge advertisement for music that is anything but traditional. The appeal of western culture is obvious.

Source: United Nations Development Program, updated.


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Marshall McLuhan defined changes in cultures as detraditionalisation. Followers of David Harvey would argue that detraditionalisation is the result of local social practices being overwhelmed by foreign business and economic interests. The electronic media and develop-ments in telecommunications have served to strengthen the power of business interests to impose their ideas and values on traditional cultures.

However, not all geographers agree with Harvey’s analysis of corporate power. Some geographers argue that culture contact is not all one-sided, and that people from the dominant western culture are being influenced by concepts from other cultures. Examples of this include acceptance of Japanese management practices in many western companies, and the adoption of aspects of east-ern religions by youth in developed countries searching for new meaning.

Q U E S T I O N B L O C K 1 6 E1.! What is meant by the term ‘homogenisation’ of landscapes?

2.! Explain why homogenisation of landscapes usually results in the westernisation of local cultures.

3.! Give some examples from your own knowledge of ways in which music (a) builds bridges between cultures, and (b) erodes individual cultures.

4.! Explain how the concept ‘time-space compression’ differs from ‘time-space convergence’.

5.! The contact between cultures is often portrayed as a destructive process. How can contact between cultures be constructive instead?

The Role of Diasporas in Preserving Culture

A diaspora is the scattering or dispersal of a community of people or a cultural group from its homeland to other parts of the world. The term was first used to describe the dispersal of Jewish people, but has since been used to describe the spread of many cultural groups such as the Irish, the Italians, Africans, Indians and various Pacific Islander groups. In general, the people of a diaspora share a common cultural and/or geographic origin, and although spread across many new areas, retain a strong sense sense of identity and common background.

The Jewish diaspora is found across the world, with concentrations in the US, Russia and South Africa that reflect historic migrations. The Indian diaspora is found in places such as southern and eastern Africa, Fiji, Singa-pore, Myanmar, Brazil and the United Kingdom. The Irish diaspora has particular concentrations in the United States, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. An Indo-Chinese diaspora from Vietnam and Cambodia has concentrations in Australia and the west coast of the USA.

During the 16th to 19th centuries a forced diaspora occurred in the form of the slave trade in which an estimated 12 million Africans were transported to North America, South America and the Caribbean to work as forced labourers for British, Dutch, Portuguese and other European land owners on plantations growing crops such as sugar and cotton (figures 16.22 and 16.23). The slave trade not only created an African diaspora in the Ameri-cas and the Caribbean but led directly to the development and spread of the concepts of racial differences and racial inferiority, not only among the slave-owning élites but among the Africans and Arabs who sold the enslaved people to the Europeans.

16.22 One of the many fortresses on the coast of Ghana (West Africa) from which European traders sent thousands of captured men and women to the Caribbean and the Americas as slave labour.

16.23 A memorial to the suffering imposed by slavery at the site of the former slave market in Zanzibar, Tanzania.

The slave trade created a connection between people on both sides of the Atlantic ocean and was thus an impor-tant agent of globalisation and cultural diffusion. One of the after-effects of slavery has been the rise of the Rastafari movement and the creation of yet another diaspora, that of Jamaicans returning to Africa.

The Rastafari Movement (also known as Rastafarianism, or Rasta) began in the slums of Jamaica in the 1930s when a Jamaican born black nationalist, Marcus Garvey, began calling on the descendants of slaves to take pride in their



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African heritage. Garvey began to speak in religious terms, telling prophesies about a black king who would be crowned in Africa, and who would be a redeemer and liberator of the dispossessed black race. When the Ethiopian ruler Haile Selassie was crowned emperor in November 1930, many people believed that Garvey’s prophesy had come true. Haile Selassie was also known as Ras Tafari Makonnen, from which the name ‘Rastafari’ derives. Haile Selassie took on a vast array of titles including ‘Conquering lion of the tribe of Judah, Elect of God and King of the kings of Ethiopia’, and the descen-dants of slaves in Jamaica started to see Ethiopia as their promised land.

Following the crowning of Haile Selassie in Ethiopia, the Rastafari movement in Jamaica began to develop as a religion. Black people were called upon to follow a path towards truth and reject the power of modern, oppressive white society (which they called ‘Babylon’) which was seen as rebelling against God, who was identified by the name Jah.

During the 1930s, six principles of the Rastafari move-ment emerged which still hold today:• hatred for the white race;• the complete superiority of the black race;• getting revenge for the wickedness of white peoples;• opposition to and humiliation of the government and

all legal bodies of Jamaica;• return to Africa (especially Ethiopia, which is ‘the

Promised Land’); and• acknowledging the former Ethiopian Emperor Haile

Selassie as the supreme being (living god) and only ruler of black people.

During the 1950s and 1960s, several additional Rastafari principles emerged:• smoking cannabis (ganja) was seen as a spiritual act

that brings a person closer to Jah;• alcohol was to be avoided, as it is seen as a tool of white

oppression;• dietary guidelines were adopted that avoided pork,

milk and coffee;• wearing hair in dreadlocks was seen as a symbol of the

mane of the lion of Judah (the Emperor Haile Selassie);• the use of certain distinctive words was adopted, such

as ‘upfulness’ (which means being helpful), ‘overstand-ing’ (as a higher form of ‘understanding’) ‘irie’ (to de-scribe positive feelings, acceptance, or anything that is good), ‘inity’ (which means unity), and ‘downpression’ (which means oppression, but emphasises the down-wards pressure applied by a powerful person to sup-press a victim);

• women were forbidden from wearing trousers; and• the use of reggae music, especially the music of Bob

Marley, who is revered in Rastafari circles, was used to express mood and power (figure 16.24).

16.24 The rules for entry to a Rastafari tabernacle in Shashemene, Ethiopia.

16.25 Many symbols of the Rastafari Movement are on display in this tabernacle in Shashemene, Ethiopia, including portraits of Emperor Haile Selassie, the colours of the Movement, a shrine to cannabis, and pictures of the Lion of Judah.

During the mid-20th century, a large migration of Rastafari Jamaicans occurred to several overseas destina-tions, notably the United Kingdom, the United States, and South Africa. However, the largest migration of the Rastafari diaspora was from Jamaica to Ethiopia, and this took place due to a combination of three factors. First, racial relations were quite tense in Jamaica between the


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British colonial rulers and the black descendants of former slaves. This was due to a range of British colonial government policies that local people believed were racist. Second, more people became aware of Marcus Garvey’s teachings, especially his ideas that Blacks of the Diaspora could never prosper in countries governed by whites, and that therefore they must migrate to Africa to contribute to the creation of a strong Black-governed nation. Third, the crowning of Emperor Haile Selassie in Ethiopia seemed to fulfil Garvey’s prophesy: “Look to Africa, to the crowning of a Black King that will be the Redemptor” (figure 16.25).

In adoration of Haile Selassie as a living god, the Rastafari in Jamaica declared themselves to be free citi-zens of Ethiopia, pledging loyalty to the Emperor and the Ethiopian flag, even adopting its colours of red, yellow and green as the colours of the Rastafari Movement.

16.26 The main street in Shashemene, Ethiopia.

16.27 Two Rastas, a priest and his wife, in Shashemene, Ethiopia.

During the 1950s and the subsequent decades, large numbers of Rastas migrated from Jamaica to Ethiopia, establishing a community in the town of Shashemene (about 250 kilometres south of the country’s capital, Addis Ababa), where Haile Selassie gave the Rastafari a grant of 500 hectares of land in 1948 (figure 16.26). The situation deteriorated for the Rastafari in Ethiopia, how-ever, when Haile Selassie was overthrown in a military coup in 1974. Army officers murdered Haile Selassie the

following year, although many Rastafari believed he was immortal and thus never died. Nonetheless, because the Rastafari were so closely associated with the former emperor, almost 98% of the land grant was confiscated by the new hard-line socialist government that came to power, and they were left with a mere 12 hectares in Shashemene. During the 1980s, persecution of the Rasta community caused its numbers in Shashemene to shrink to just 50 people (figure 16.27).

16.28 The Nyahbinghi Rastafari Tabernacle in Shashemene, Ethiopia.

Since then, numbers have grown once again, and today about 300 Rasta families live in Shashemene, but they experience widespread discrimination. The Rastafari diaspora is a highly visible group in Shashemene with their brightly coloured clothes, loud reggae music, dread-locked hair, and widespread marijuana smoking (figure 16.28). Although a few have opened shops, hotels and businesses in Shashemene, most of the Rastafari stay segregated from the general community, living in walled compounds where they can play reggae music and smoke marijuana without outside interference (figure 16.29).

16.29 The wall and gate of the compound of the Twelve Tribes of Israel Rastafari community in Shashemene, Ethiopia.

Ethiopian citizenship was taken away from the Jamaican settlers during the socialist period of the 1970s, and the loss of citizenship and loss of land continues to upset the Rastafari diaspora in Ethiopia. Although the Government is examining the possibility of granting citizenship to



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Rastafari who have lived in Ethiopia for four years or more, restoring land that had been confiscated is almost impossible, as it was reallocated to local Ethiopians who have been using it for several decades for farming.

Nonetheless, the presence of the Rastafari community has had some impact on the local population. For example, the Rastafari demand for marijuana has created an expanding market for the crop with rising prices, and some local farmers have replaced their cultivation of potatoes with marijuana growing to supply the Rastafari. The Rasta presence also provokes debate among local people about the nature of the former Emperor Haile Selassie. Many Ethiopians see the former ruler as an autocratic and somewhat cruel absolute ruler, and certainly not the divine being that the Rastafari claim.

Overall however, the impact of the Rastafari diaspora on the host society in Shashemene has been minimal because the gap between Rasta culture and the culture of the host society is so great — in spite of their original common African origins. Most of the Ethiopians in the Shashe-mene area are conservative Orthodox Christians or Muslims. As such, they do not condone the marijuana smoking by the Rastafari or the reggae music they play. Furthermore, both the Christian and the Muslim commu-

nities object strongly to the Rasta claims that the former Emperor Haile Selassie was a divine figure who is worthy of worship. On the other hand, most people in the Christian and Muslim communities do acknowledge that the Rastafari are peaceful people who seldom cause any disturbances or problems. They also acknowledge the good work done by people such as Rita Marley, widow of the musician Bob Marley, who joined with local Rastafari aid workers to fund a school and a clinic in Shashemene.

Q U E S T I O N B L O C K 1 6 F1.! What is meant by the term ‘diaspora’?

2.! Identify some major diasporas in the world today.

3.! What caused the African diaspora that is seen today in North and South America, and the Caribbean?

4.! What are the main features of the Rastafari Movement?

5.! How did the rise of the Rastafari Movement lead to a Jamaican diaspora in Ethiopia?

6.! Describe the role of the Rastafari diaspora in Ethiopia in preserving culture.

7.! To what extent has the host society in Ethiopia adopted traits of the Rastafari minority culture?

SERAM IRIAN JAYA - MALUKU BORDER

THE BIRD’S HEAD

Sorong Manokwari

Fakfak

Kaimana Nabire

Enarotali

Japakopra

Timika

Tembayapura

IIaga

Bokondini

Wamena

Genyem

SentaniJayapura

Regioninhabited by

the Dani

Tanahmerah

Asmat(Agats)

BirufuBirab

Merauke

SudarsaIsland

Sarmi

Bosnik

BiakIsland

Napido

Biak

YapenIsland Serui

WisselLakes

VAN REES RANGE

Mamberamo

River

JAYA WIJAYA MOUNTAINS

Baliem

Riv

er

ARUISLANDS

ARAFURASEA

PACIFICOCEAN

0 100 200KILOMETRES

N

PA

PU

A N

EW

GU

INE

A

140oE

140oE135oE

135oE

5oS 5oS

16.30 Map of Irian Jaya, showing the location of the area inhabited by Dani people in darker green.


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Case Study of Socio-Cultural Integration — the Dani People of Irian Jaya

The western half of the island of New Guinea is part of Indonesia. Known as Irian Jaya, it is the eastern-most province of Indonesia, and it is home to the Dani people who live in the Highlands of the province (figure 16.30). They are found in the valleys of the rivers which cut deep valleys through the forest-covered mountains. Altogether there are about 194,000 Dani people, 100,000 living along the Baliem River which flows to the south and the rest along tributaries of the Mamberamo River which flows to the north.

The Dani were one of the last large groups of people to be ‘discovered’ by the outside world. Their existence was unknown by outsiders until a group of American adven-turers , led by Richard Archbold, flew over the Baliem Valley in 1938. The fliers were astonished to find compact villages, neat gardens and well developed irrigation sys-tems (figure 16.31). Since the 1950s, contacts with outside cultures have increased, although the Dani remain quite isolated because of the rugged terrain of the Highlands.

The biophysical environment of the Dani people

The biophysical environment of the Irian Jaya Highlands is a difficult one — harsh and unforgiving. Although there are rich, fertile soils in the wide floodplain of the Baliem River, most of the region has steeply sided valleys where is almost no flat land to grow food. On the hillsides, soils are shallow and stony, and they have few nutrients. The Dani people are farmers, so the poor soils are a major problem for them.

Rainfall in the Highlands is very heavy. Like mountain ranges anywhere in the world, orographic rain falls as the moving air is forced to rise and cool down. Average annual rainfall varies from 2,000 to 2,500 mm. This heavy rainfall causes leaching of the soils, washing away minerals and nutrients. It also leads to soil erosion and gullying on steep hillsides.

Temperatures do not change very much through the year because the region is so close to the equator. During the day, temperatures average about 20˚C, although they often drop below freezing point at night because the air is so thin. Snowfalls are common, and several peaks are capped in snow throughout the year.

Q U E S T I O N B L O C K 1 6 G1.! Describe in words the location and type of country where

the Dani people live.

2.! In what ways is the biophysical environment of the Dani harsh?

Pre-contact Dani life

Before contact with the outside world, the Dani people lived a very traditional lifestyle that was heavily depend-ent on their biophysical environment. Unlike people in industrialised nations, the Dani did not have (and still do not have) the resources to change their surroundings on a large scale. Therefore, the Dani live within the confines of their environment rather than live by changing their environment.

When outsiders made first contact with the Dani people, one of the first things they noticed was the traditional Dani style of clothing. The Dani wear surprisingly little clothing given the cold nights experienced in the High-lands. Women wear little more than a grass skirt, some-times with a string carry bag over their backs. The string bag is used as protection against the sun, for warmth and for carrying food and small children. Men wear little more than a penis sheath made from the dried fruit of the gourd vine. Ornaments such as arm bands or ‘neckties’ made from shells are sometimes worn, especially on fes-tival occasions (figure 16.32). All the materials for cloth-ing worn by both men and women were traditionally grown in the village or gathered from the nearby forests.

16.32 A group of men in Miagaima village, dressed for a pig kill ceremony, wearing traditional penis sheaths together with decorations such as armbands and head dresses. The black colouring worn by some comprises charcoal mixed with pig fat.

16.31 An oblique aerial view of the Baliem Valley. This is similar to the view that amazed Richard Archbold in 1938.



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The lifestyle of traditional Dani people centred on the growing of food. Unlike most traditional groups in New Guinea, which practised shifting cultivation, the Dani practised sedentary agriculture. This means that the same land was cultivated year after year, rather than being abandoned for a new plot. Sedentary agriculture meant that land could be individually owned, intensively farmed and neatly laid out, using a complex system of irrigation channels (figure 16.33). Farming plots were surrounded by fences with sharp spikes on top to keep wandering pigs out of the gardens.

16.33 A sweet potato garden under cultivation beside the Baliem River, with the irrigation channels clearly visible.

16.34 Most farming is done by Dani women. This woman is using a digging stick to cultivate sweet potatoes.

The main crop grown was the sweet potato and after the initial clearing of the land, work in the fields was usually done by the women (figure 16.34). Sweet potatoes are high in starch and need to be supplemented with protein to make a balanced diet. Although some protein came from hunting small birds and marsupials, most protein came from the raising of pigs. Pigs were a measure of a person’s wealth, and so they were rarely killed except at large ceremonies. As a result, women and children often suffered from malnutrition, as they usually received much less pig meat at the feasts than the men. Pig kill ceremonies were held to mark births, deaths, marriages, and to make pre-battle magic, to cure illnesses and to make peace after war.

16.36 A group of men butcher the pig using bamboo and bone knives, and stone axes. The pieces of pig meat are wrapped in banana leaves for cooking.

The pig-kill ceremony was the centre of traditional Dani life. Traditionally they were held only once every three to six years and long preparations were required. On the day of the pig kill, the men of the host village would

16.35 During this pig kill ceremony, the men have pierced the pig's heart with an arrow, and are now pump-ing the heart with their feet to hasten death.

16.37 Young men and women dance during the pig kill celebrations.


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dress in their finest outfits and would take turns to shoot arrows into the heart of a pig (figure 16.35). While the pig was dying, a fire would be started and the cooking rocks heated. Then the pig would be butchered using stone axes and bamboo knives, with the pieces wrapped in banana palm leaves (figure 16.36). When the stones were hot, they would be removed from the fire using wooden tongs and placed into an underground pit, together with

the pieces of pig and vegetables such as sweet potato. During the four to six hours that the food was cooking, dancing, singing and games would take place (figure 16.37). Eventually, after night had fallen, the pig would be eaten, first by the men, then by the women and children who would eat the remains (figure 16.38). Because the women received only the ‘left-over’ pig meat, they were poorly nourished compared with the men in

If the purpose of education is enlight-enment and the development of wis-dom, then by the time you finish your IB studies in Geography you will hopefully be well on the road towards acquiring both.The ancient Greek philosopher, Plato, tried to explain how education leads to enlightenment. He said that knowledge is “justified true belief”, which he explained in his tripartite (or three-part) theory of knowledge, as follows:.... a person ‘S’ knows proposition ‘P’ if and only if:1. P is true2. S believes P3. S is justified in believing P.Plato said that all three points are neces-sary and sufficient conditions for knowledge. Almost everyone (except a hardened relativist) would accept the first two points. However, many people debate the precise form and degree of justification required for the third point.Plato tried to explain what it means to be truly educated and enlightened in his most famous book, The Republic. In that book, Plato used the image of a cave, as follows:Imagine a group of prisoners who are chained together in an underground cave. They have lived all their lives in that position, chained to face the wall of the cave in front of them.Behind them is a blazing fire that provides light, and between the fire and the prisoners, there is a bridge with a safety wall. As people pass across the bridge, they will cast shadows on the wall in front of the prisoners, somewhat like shadow puppets. Some of them walk across the bridge talking, while others walk in silence.The prisoners will see the shadows of the passing people, and they will hear their voices echoing from the wall. Because this is all they have ever experi-enced, they will assume that the shad-ows and the echoes are truth and reality.

If one of the prisoners was released, we can imagine he would stand up and turn around. When he saw the fire for the first time, he would probably be in great pain because of the strong glare, and he would take some time to process the realities that he was now seeing compared with the realities he had known all his life. Eventually, however, he would understand that the things he thought were realities were, in fact, illusions.If the prisoner was then dragged up a steep and rugged tunnel to the earth’s surface, he would suffer another round of pain when confronted by the glare of the sun. However, when his eyes had adjusted, he would start to see a new reality, first in the shadows, then actual objects, and eventually in the whole cosmos of the moon, the sky and the stars. Last of all, he would be able to see the sun, and begin to understand the importance of the sun in causing many of the other things he was seeing.Eventually, he would be able to take in a deeper reality than anything he had ever known in the cave, either while he was chained or after he had been released. He would come to understand that the sun was the cause of day and night, the seasons and the life that he

was witnessing, and he would start to form hypotheses, explanations and reasons to explain what he was experi-encing.Moreover, if the former prisoner was subsequently led back into the cave, he would almost certainly take pity on his fellow prisoners, because he would un-derstand that even if he tried to explain what he had seen, they could never fully understand. Having experienced enlightenment, the former prisoner would probably rather suffer anything than return to the false notion of truth he was living under previously and return to live in this miserable manner.And yet, when he returned to the gloom of the cave, the other prisoners would notice that the man who had been to the surface would not be able to see clearly because his eyes had now adjusted to the light of the world above. The other prisoners would claim that he had returned without his vision, and that it would be better not even to think of ascending from the familiarity of the cave. The message of Plato’s allegory of the cave is that one must make the uncom-fortable ascent from the gloom of igno-rance if one is to become enlightened.The next ToK BoX is on page 649.

ToK BoX Plato’s Cave and Enlightenment.



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traditional times. Through the pig-kill ceremony, the Dani’s culture, ceremonies, wealth and nutrition were linked together.

Traditionally, the Dani people lived in round timber houses with round grass roofs (figure 16.39). Huts were almost always situated immediately beside the food gardens so that no time was wasted going to and from

the fields. Men lived in separate houses from the women and children and the houses for both genders were always two storey. The lower level had an earth floor, covered with grass, and was used as a living and cooking area. There was a fire in the centre which filled the hut with smoke for warmth. The upper level, which had a bamboo floor, was for sleeping and (in the case of men’s huts) for storing valuable or sacred objects. Dani huts had no chimney, so the smoke built up in the huts, even-tually seeping out through open doors or through the thatched roofs. Dani people therefore spent most nights inhaling smoke from the fires, and this caused serious health problems (figure 16.40). The average life expectancy of Dani people (even today) is only 38 years as many die from pneumoconiosis. This is similar to the disease suffered by coal miners called ‘black lung disease’ when the alveoli of the lungs become clogged with carbon soot.

16.41 Traditional vine and timber suspension bridges such as this one over the Baliem River at Wamena are still found throughout the Dani territory.

Before outside contact, walking was the only means of land transport used by the Dani. A dense network of walking tracks criss-crossed the Dani territory. Small bridges of timber or vines spanned rivers and streams, while small bridges of logs crossed irrigation canals (fig-

16.38 After the pig meat has been cooked underground using hot rocks, the meat is distributed, first to the men, followed by the women and children as shown here.

16.39 Typical Dani huts have conical roofs and are surrounded by the gardens so that people do not waste time or effort walking long distances to the fields. The irrigation ditch can be seen clearly in the right foreground.

16.40 Smoke from the fire in the men's hut collects in the upper part of the hut where the men sleep at night. The black carbon deposits on the walls indicate the unhealthy interior environment of Dani huts.


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ure 16.41). In order to cross a large river such as the Baliem, logs were strapped together into a raft, with the passengers standing up as the raft was paddled across the river.

An important part of traditional Dani life was ritual warfare. Watchtowers were built in each Dani village (figure 16.42). While the women gardened, the men would keep watch in case a surprise attack should come. Fighting used spears, bows and arrows. However, the purpose of the fighting was not to take territory or to kill the opposition. The fighting was done for the sheer enjoyment and excitement. Normally, a battle would not last more than a single day, and would normally end when first person had been killed — this would deter-mine the winner of the battle. In some cases, people from the winning village would eat the body of the person killed to draw upon his spirit and strength. However, this often spread diseases, especially when the brain of the dead person was eaten. This was because any disease suffered by one human can be caught by another, unlike diseases carried by animals to which humans tend to be immune.

The Dani people had a strong and rich culture. The tradi-tional religion of the Dani saw the world as being filled with spirits and ghosts. The Dani made charms to protect themselves from the spirits. A special type of charm was the mummified bodies of special people. Many Dani villages have the mummified remains of great chiefs from the past hidden away on the top floors of the men’s houses. In some cases, these remains may be over 300 years old, and are preserved by the smoke which fills the hut each evening. These mummified bodies are brought out only on special occasions (figure 16.43).

Q U E S T I O N B L O C K 1 6 H1.! Why are traditional Dani houses unhealthy?

2.! How appropriate is traditional Dani clothing? In your answer, consider (a) the climate, and (b) the difficulties of washing clothes.

3.! In what ways was traditional Dani farming quite advanced?

4.! What were the main traditional Dani foods? How adequate was the traditional Dani diet?

5.! What advantages were there in using tools made from locally available raw materials such as stones, bones and timber?

6.! How did the great pig kill feasts serve to bind together traditional Dani society?

7.! What were the important traditional Dani measures of wealth?

8.! Why did the traditional Dani people engage in ritual warfare?

First contact with the outside world — explorers and missionaries

For many centuries, the Dani existed in isolation. Some brief, isolated contacts were made in the early 1900s by mountain climbers, but these contacts were in the high mountains well away from Dani settlements. Following Richard Archbold’s ‘discovery’ of the Dani in 1938, several visits were made to Dani villages over the next year. Archbold wrote of his travels in the National Geographic in 1941, and this was the first time most people were aware of the existence of the Dani people. Archbold described Dani society as a ‘paradise on earth’.

World War II, which was fought in South-east Asia from 1941 to 1945, prevented contact with the Dani people for several years. However, several Christian missionary groups became interested in the Dani following the National Geographic article, and some groups made contact in 1950 and 1952. In April 1954, the first missionaries landed in the Baliem Valley to establish a mission station. Six years later in 1960, virtually all Dani people were in contact with one or another missionary group. The

16.42 A defensive watch-tower at Miagaima village. Only a few decades ago, thousands of such watch-towers covered areas of Dani settlement. Now that ritual warfare has ended, most of the watch-towers have been cut down and destroyed. Only two now remain in the Grand Valley, these having been re-built as tourist objects. Note the smoke seeping through the thatched roof of the hut with no chimney in the background.

16.43 A 350 year old smoked mummy in Pummo village.



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missionaries opened schools throughout the Dani area and began medical services, church services and literacy programs. Unlike government officers, the missionaries always learned the local language and lived as much as possible like the local people, and so they were able to communicate very clearly.

The missionaries came to convert the Dani people to Christianity. They felt that the traditional Dani people were ‘lost souls’, and that becoming Christian was the only way they could have eternal life. By the early 1990s, almost every village in the Dani area had one or more mission station attached to it (figure 16.44). It is estimated that over 80% of Dani people had been converted to Christianity. In fact, the efforts of the Christian missions has meant that Irian Jaya has become Indonesia’s only province where Christianity is the dominant faith. Most of Indonesia is strongly Muslim.

Culture contact with the Christian missionaries had great impact on the Dani people. When they were first converted to Christianity in the 1950s, many Dani people thought they would change colour and became white. By the early 1960s, Dani had come to terms with being black Christians. As a result, many Dani people have adopted Christian names such as Moses, Isaac, and even Epaphroditus.

Unlike missionaries in some parts of Papua New Guinea, the missionaries in Irian Jaya never insisted that Dani people who had become Christians should wear clothing. The missionaries were concerned that clothing would create skin problems for the Dani because it was so hard to wash clothes properly. Therefore, although some Dani people have chosen to adopt Western clothing, many Dani people today continue to wear traditional clothing.

Although the missionaries eliminated ritual warfare and cannibalism, ceremonies such as the pig-kill have con-tinued. However, pig-kill ceremonies now take place

much more often, being used to celebrate Christmas, Easter, baptisms, marriages, the Indonesian Day of Independence or even the arrival of an important guest. More frequent pig-kill ceremonies mean that people’s nutrition has improved, especially in the cases of women and children. The more frequent ceremonies have also strengthened the bonds between neighbouring villages, reducing tensions and the likelihood of conflicts.

16.45 Women sometimes travel for several days to sell their produce at the markets in Wamena. Travel to the markets has opened up new channels of communication for Dani people. These days, a mix of traditional and Western dress is found.

Before contact with outsiders, Dani people seldom travelled more than a few kilometres from their village. To have ventured further would have taken them into territory controlled by another village. The arrival of the missionaries has broadened the view of Dani people, as they were made aware for the first time that other people existed in the world. With the end of ritual warfare, Dani people now travel long distances without fear of attack. Women will often travel for several days to sell their produce in the markets in faraway towns and villages (figure 16.45). Such travel to markets has opened up entire new networks of communication and ex-changes of ideas which never previously existed. The missionaries also operate a transport system using light aircraft. Although mainly intended to take missionaries in and out of remote areas, the aircraft are also used to transport ill Dani people out of remote villages in cases of emergency. Such flights can reduce a three day walk over snow-capped mountains to a short half-hour flight. This can often mean the difference between life and death.

The missionaries have brought great changes to the traditional pattern of farming. They brought new tools — shovels, hammers and nails — which could make the traditional lifestyle more efficient. They also brought household implements such as saucepans and plastic dishes which made life in the villages easier (figure 16.46). However, manufactured goods such as these cost money, and for the first time Dani people came to see the need to earn some money. Over time, money has come to replace pigs as the measure of a person’s wealth.

16.44 The ‘Dr Bob Pierce Memorial Chapel’ is attached to a Protestant mission con-ducted by The Mustard Seed Incorporated, Wamena.


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Traditionally, the Dani people were subsistence cultiva-tors. In other words, they grew only enough food for themselves and their immediate families. When the missionaries arrived, they bought food from the Dani people, and this led to small markets being established. The main crop grown by the Dani was the sweet potato. The missionaries wanted a more diverse diet, so they handed out seeds to grow vegetables such as cabbages, tomatoes, carrots, corn and beans. The Dani people then began eating these vegetables also, and their diet became more balanced and malnutrition further decreased.

16.46 Although living in a traditional hut in a compound near the mission station at Sinatma, this Dani boy dresses in western clothes and stands beside his plastic plates and metal can that are drying in the sun.

Perhaps the biggest impact of the missionaries has been to change the world view of the Dani people. The main aim of the missionaries was to lead the Dani into a mature Christian faith. This meant that the Dani had to learn how to learn how to read and write, because otherwise they would not be able to read the Bible or other Christian literature. Each of the mission stations built a school, and both children and adults were encouraged to attend classes to learn basic literacy and numeracy. Over half the Christian missionaries in Irian Jaya were involved in translation and literacy programs with local people. Through education, the Dani have come to learn that the world is much bigger than they had thought possible. The Dani still believe the world is full of ghosts and spirits, but they now see these spirits as being subject to the higher authority of God.

Q U E S T I O N B L O C K 1 6 I1.! Why did it take until the 1930s for outsiders to learn of the

Dani people?

2.! Why were Christian missionaries attracted to the Dani people?

3.! How successful were the missionaries in evangelising the Dani people?

4.! What was the missionaries’ attitude to traditional Dani dress?

5.! How has missionary activity affected the traditional great pig kill feasts?

6.! Why did the Dani abandon ritual warfare?

7.! How did missionary work ‘broaden the perspectives of Dani people’?

8.! How did the missionaries affect the diet and health of the Dani people?

9.! Why were the missionaries so keen to make the Dani people literate?

Indonesian government impact!

The Indonesians took control of Irian Jaya from the Dutch in 1962. The Indonesians were as different from the Dani people of Irian Jaya as were the Dutch. Almost the entire population of Irian Jaya in 1962 were Melanesians, closely related to the people of Papua New Guinea and other nations such as the Solomons and Fiji. The only historic link between Irian Jaya and the rest of Indonesia is that both were Dutch colonies. Some people argue that Indo-nesian control of Irian Jaya is an example of colonialism.

There was some resistance to the Indonesian take-over by Dani people. In 1977, fighting broke out in the Dani region. The Dani attacked the Indonesians with bows and arrows and the Indonesians responded with rockets, attack aircraft and helicopters to strafe Dani villages. About 500 Dani people were killed.

In general, the Indonesian officials in Irian Jaya seem to look down upon the Dani people, seeing them as savages who are little better than animals. For many years they tried to ignore the Dani people as much as possible, and this has helped to preserve their traditional culture. Travel to and from the Highlands by Dani people is heavily restricted by the government, and alcohol is banned from the Dani region by the government leaders, most of whom are Muslim.

One exception to this ignoring of the Dani concerned the wearing of clothes. The Indonesians were offended by the near-nakedness of the Dani, and a campaign was launched in the early 1970s to get them to wear clothes. The campaign was called ‘Operation Koteka’, koteka being the Indonesian word for ‘tail’, an insulting term for the penis sheath worn by Dani men. The Dani were usually too proud of their traditions to abandon their traditional clothing, and as they despised the Indonesians, the campaign failed. They resented the insulting comments about their traditional clothing and if anything, Operation Koteka encouraged Dani people to continue wearing traditional dress as a sign of defiance against what they saw as cultural imperialism.

Nonetheless, by the mid-1980s, the Indonesian govern-ment felt the need to try once again to improve the life of the Dani people. The authorities were concerned about



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the short life expectancy of the Dani, many of whom were dying in their late 30s from pneumoconiosis. The government began building Western-style square houses for nuclear families (figure 16.47). Most Dani people rejected these houses and have often built traditional houses beside them. Then they use the square houses for storing books or clothes or as animal shelter. They do not like the square houses because they are too cold- the metal roofs let out the heat at night and the smoke escapes through the doors and windows.

The Indonesians have had some influence on the Dani diet. In an effort to make the Dani people more Indone-sian, new crops such as rice and new animals such as water buffalo were introduced. Most Dani people have not adopted these new foods because they cannot attach any wealth or prestige to them. Dani people see chickens and goats as something to sell rather than eat. They do not refuse to eat the new foods, but most cannot see a good reason to do so.

16.47 Housing provided by the Indonesian government in Wamena.

A cultural conflict arose between the Dani and the Indonesians over the value of pigs. The Dani people have traditionally seen pigs as the main source of wealth and prestige. However, to the Indonesians who are Muslim, the pig is an unclean animal. The Indonesians tried to convince the Dani people to stop eating pigs, but they were not successful. Then the Indonesians offered to improve the quality of Dani pigs by importing some new stock from Bali for breeding purposes. Bali is an Indonesian island, but being Hindu, had some pigs.

Unfortunately, the pigs from Bali carried a disease called encephalitis. This caused death by inflammation of the brain among people who ate the pig meat. The disease is still widespread among Dani pigs, and many Dani people believe that the Indonesians sent diseased pigs to Irian Jaya deliberately.

The Indonesian government is still trying to make the Dani people more ‘Indonesian’. In the late 1980s, the government took over most of the mission schools so that Dani children would learn about Indonesian things — language, culture, religion — rather than Christian things.

School classrooms now carry portraits of the Indonesian president as the government wants the children to see themselves as Indonesians rather than Dani. However, most Dani children have difficulty with Indonesian education. Unlike the mission schools, which taught lessons in the Dani language using traditional systems of thinking and logic, schools now teach in the Indonesian language and use different ways of thinking. Even today, fewer than 1% of Dani children proceed to high school.

Q U E S T I O N B L O C K 1 6 J1.! Describe the differences between the Dani and most other

Indonesians.

2.! How do most Indonesians regard the Dani people?

3.! What evidence is there that relations between the Dani and the Indonesian government lack harmony?

4.! What were the aims of Operation Koteka? Why was the campaign unsuccessful?

5.! Why does the government want the Dani people to abandon their traditional housing? Why have the Dani been reluctant to agree to this?

6.! How have Muslim attitudes among Indonesians towards eating pork affected relations with the Dani people?

7.! Why does the Indonesian government place so much importance on educating Dani children in schools? What problems does this cause?

Tourism

Because of its isolation, few tourists come to the Dani region. However, since the mid-1980s, small numbers of adventurous trekkers have begun coming to the Irian Jaya Highlands (figure 16.48). Tourism has already had quite a significant impact on the Dani people.

16.48 A trekking group, accompanied by Dani porters, on a walking track near Uwosilimo.

Many of the tourists hire local people as guides and porters. This gives local people the chance to earn money, learn English and explore new areas. On the other hand,


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it also means Dani people may be diverted away from growing food or other village responsibilities. Tourists bring new styles of clothing, new ideas and new habits which many Dani people have tried to copy to be ‘fashionable’. When tourists give novelties or gifts to local people, especially children, a ‘cargo cult’ can develop where Dani people come to expect gifts or charity whenever outsiders arrive. This is quite different from their traditional way of life which emphasised giving rather than receiving.

16.49 This Dani man has dressed himself in an exaggerated form of traditional dress in the hope that tourists will pay him to be photo-graphed.

In an attempt to earn income from tourists, basic hotels for trekkers were built in the early 1990s, mainly by Indonesian entrepreneurs from Java and Sumatra. To support this, some Dani villages encourage trekkers to pitch tents in their compounds and local people produce souvenirs for sale to tourists. While this can help preserve traditional crafts, it can also corrupt the traditional culture (figure 16.49). There is a real danger that if tourism expands too much or too quickly, the Dani culture could be wiped out in a way that neither the missionaries nor the Indonesians were capable of achieving.

Of course, tourism can bring benefits also. Culture contact is a two-way process, and if tourists take the time and trouble to study the culture of the people they are visiting, important learning can take place. There is some evidence that the Indonesian authorities see tourism as a reason to preserve aspects of traditional Dani culture. For example, the airport terminal at Wamena, the biggest town in the Dani region, is modelled on traditional Dani huts (figure 16.50). Tourists visiting villages usually buy some Dani artefacts such as spears and arrows. If these are displayed back in their homes, then Dani culture may become better known and more appreciated around the world.

16.50 Wamena Airport Terminal, modelled on the architecture of a traditional Dani compound.

Q U E S T I O N B L O C K 1 6 K1.! Why would tourists wish to travel to a remote area such as

the Grand Valley of the Baliem?

2.! Draw up a table which lists the advantages of tourism for the Dani on one side, and lists the disadvantages on the other.

3.! What conclusions about the costs vs benefits of tourism to the Dani people can you draw from the table you constructed in the last question?

4.! Draw a time line from 1900 to the present. Mark in the important events in the history of Dani culture contact. Include the early explorers, Richard Archbold, the first missions, government actions, tourism, and all other noteworthy events.

5.! What evidence is there that culture contact with the Dani has been a two-way process?

6.! Do you think the Dani people should be protected from future culture contact? Explain your answer fully.

7.! To what extent has cultural diffusion led to the globalisation of Dani culture?



Documents

Ch. 16 - Sociocultural Exchanges