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acculturation — English
The voluntary adoption of certain aspects or a certain element of the culture of one group of people by people of a different culture. Sport has been and still is a very strong force for acculturation. The adoption of soccer (football) as the main sport of most African countries is an excellent example of acculturation. Even African peoples who have retained many or most of their own African cultural traits, have chosen soccer as their favourite sport. The world-wide adoption of the martial arts from East Asia, the ritual sparring from Africa, and the ancient combat techniques from Western Europe (eg karate, Kung Fu, tai chi ch’uan, stickfighting [molamo] and jousting) as popular forms of sport in many parts of the world serve as examples of sport as an acculturation factor. Language is an integral component of any culture. People do not readily replace their language with another, but they adopt another language such as English or French as a second or third language because these are international business and science languages. Christmas has long been a very important cultural event for Christian peoples in Europe and the Americas, but today it is also being celebrated by non-Christian nations, albeit in a different way. The American culture is particularly attractive to millions of people world-wide. Halloween is part of the American culture and has nothing to do with the South African cultures, but nowadays many young people of all racial groups in South Africa celebrate Halloween. Denim jeans used to be part of the American culture, but it has now been adopted as the normal attire of many groups in many parts of the world. Globally, acculturation is happening at an ever-increasing rate. It is the result of the increasing interaction between different peoples. As globalisation (see “globalisation”) is turning the world into a so-called global village, acculturation is accelerated. There are even fears that some indigenous cultures might disappear altogether as people the world over are “Americanising”. Acculturation should not be confused with enculturation which is not a voluntary process. During the imperialist period, people of the colonised countries were forced to adopt the language of the colonial nations. After the Anglo-Boer War (1889 – 1902) in South Africa, Afrikaans was banned from all schools and English became the only language of instruction. During the apartheid era in South Africa, Afrikaans and English were the only languages of instruction, while the use of the African languages in education was suppressed. During the Nazi rule of 1933 to 1945 certain books, plays and music were banned in Germany. Exactly the same was the case in the USSR and South Africa in the 1970s and 1980s. Many other examples of acculturation and enculturation could be named, and you would probably recognise many from your own life. Consider the internet and the social networks as factors of acculturation in your life. (See “demonstration effect”.)
