Transculturation and Ethnocentrism

Transculturation- Transculturation is simply the action of adopting another society's culture and adopting it as your own. It is a shift from being part of one culture and following their beliefs and ideals, to being part of another culture, and instead following their beliefs and ideals.  An example of transculturation can be seen when we look back in history to when Europe was taking control over many areas of South America. Because of Spanish conquest, many countries in South America speak Spanish and have many traditions that are tied back to traditional Spanish cultural practices. t certainly wasn’t the choice of the ethnic people that originally inhabited these countries. The settlers came in and forced change. This shows how transculturation isn’t always intentional or optional. Say that somebody moves to New Zealand, but they are originally from Venezuela. They might slowly, over time adopt their culture and start following their traditions and beliefs. Transculturation is completely normal. In fact, it could even be considered a survival mechanism. When a person moves to another place, it's normal to have a desire to fit in. It’s normal to feel like you should be like the people around you in terms of cultural beliefs, and following certain beliefs and withholding certain standards. 

Ethnocentrism- Ethnocentrism is the belief that a certain culture/race/ethnic group, usually your own, is superior to a certain one, or all others. Even if we don’t mean it, most of us have felt these feelings of superiority/hostility at one point. Whether it meant looking at another culture, and not understanding some of its traditions, and therefore labeling it as weird/unnatural, or not agreeing with the traditions of another culture, and avoiding/hating on it. As an example of ethnocentrism, we can look back in history to the Holocaust during WWII. This is probably one of the most extreme, and horrifying cases of ethnocentrism in recent history. Another example of this type of extreme ethnocentrism is the ownership and treatment of slaves in colonial America. As a less mid version of ethnocentrism, some Americans find it weird or unnecessary to eat with chopsticks, as is done in most Asian countries. Because they are accustomed to using silverware, such as spoons, forks, and knives, they may find it hard to relate to and respect other cultures that are different than them. Ethnocentrism is truly toxic, and can allow our own beliefs, traditions, cultural practices, and more interfere with intercultural communications.