Transculturation

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Transculturation is a term coined by Cuban anthropologist Fernando Ortiz in 1940^[1] to describe the phenomenon of merging and converging cultures. Transculturation encompasses more than transition from one culture to another; it does not consist merely of acquiring another culture (acculturation) or of losing or uprooting a previous culture (deculturation). Rather, it merges these concepts and instead carries the idea of the consequent creation of new cultural phenomena (neoculturation)^[2] in which the blending of cultures is understood as producing something entirely new.

Although transculturation is somewhat inevitable, cultural hegemony has historically shaped this process. Particularly, Ortiz referred to the devastating effects of Spanish colonialism on Cuba's indigenous peoples as a "failed transculturation". Further, he affirmed "that when cultures encounter each other, each of the parties invariably exerts a strong influence on the other(s)."^[3] Transculturation is often the result of colonial conquest and subjugation. In a postcolonial era, the effects of this oppression remain, as native peoples struggle to regain their own sense of identity. On the other hand, new musical genres have often emerged as a result of transculturation. In reference to Cuba in particular, there exists a mixture between European and African musics as "African slaves left a major imprint on Cuban society, especially in the area of Cuban popular music."^[4]

Where transculturation affects ethnicity and ethnic issues, the term "ethnoconvergence" is sometimes used.^{[citation needed]} In a general sense, transculturation covers war, ethnic conflict, racism, multiculturalism, cross-culturalism, interracial marriage, and any other of a number of contexts that deal with more than one culture. In the other general sense, transculturation is one aspect of global phenomena and human events.

The general processes of transculturation are extremely complex—steered by powerful forces at the macrosocial level, yet ultimately resolved at the interpersonal level. The driving force for conflict is simple proximity—boundaries, once separating people (providing for a measure of isolation) become the issue of a conflict when societies encroach upon one another territorially. If a means to co-exist cannot be immediately found, then conflicts can be hostile, leading to a process by which contact between individuals leads to some resolution. Often, history shows us, the processes of co-existence begins with hostilities, and with the natural passing of polarist individuals, comes the passing of their polarist sentiments, and soon some resolution is achieved. Degrees of hostile conflict vary from outright genocidal conquest, to lukewarm infighting between differing political views within the same ethnic community.^{[citation needed]}

These changes often represent differences between homeland pons, and their diasporic communities abroad. Obstacles to ethnoconvergence are not great. The primary issue, language, (hence, communication and education) can be overcome within a single generation—as is evident in the easy acclimation of children of foreign parents. English, for example, is spoken by more non-Anglo-American people than by Anglo-Americans. It has become the current lingua-franca, the worldwide de facto standard international language.

Processes of transculturation become more complex within the context of globalization, given the multiple layers of abstraction that permeate everyday experiences. Elizabeth Kath argues that in the global era we can no longer consider transculturation only in relation to the face-to-face, but that we need to take into account the many layers of abstracted interactions that are interwoven through face-to-face encounters, a phenomenon that she describes as layers of transculturation.^[5] Kath draws upon the concept of constitutive abstraction as seen in the work of Australian social theorists Geoff Sharp^[6] and Paul James.^[7][8]