Definition of transculturation - What it is, Meaning and Concept

The transculturation is a phenomenon that occurs when a social group receives and adopts the cultural forms that come from another group .The community , therefore, ends up substituting to a greater or lesser extent its own cultural practices.

The concept was developed in the field of anthropology .Anthropologist Cuban Fernando Ortiz Fernandez ( 1881 - 1969 ) is appointed as responsible for cradling the notion in the framework of his studies on cultural contact between different groups.

In addition to all of the above, we have to underline that this phenomenon of transculturation can be divided into different types.Yes, there is colonization, immigration, rebirth or remote reception.

Any of These modalities give rise to the adoption of cultural forms in different areas of society.In this way, the most frequent thing is that these changes are more noticeable in the language, in the way of dressing, in matters cultural or even professional level.

A clear example of transculturation can be seen in America from the discovery that Cristobal Colon made of the continent in the year 1492.With the colonization of these lands the inhabitants of the same saw how their cultural heritage took a radical turn in many aspects and perhaps one of the changes that best shows that change is that the Catholic Church tried to impose their beliefs at all costs.

Currently, the existing levels of immigration and also the so-called globalization are the phenomena that are allowing the existing levels of transculturation to grow palpably.

The meaning of the term changed over the years, especially with respect to its field of action.In the beginning, transculturation was understood as a process that developed gradually until the acculturation (when one culture imposes itself on another).

Although transculturation can develop without conflict, it is usual for the process to generate confrontations since the receiving culture suffers from the imposition of traits that, until then, were alien to it.

Little by little, transculturation began to be used to describe the cultural changes that occur over time.In this sense, transculturation does not necessarily imply conflict, but rather consists of a phenomenon of cultural enrichment.

Specifically we can establish that the transculturation process is divided into three phases: the partial loss of culture, the incorporation of what is external culture and finally the recomposition effort that is necessary to undertake so that the balance between the elements that have come from outside and those that survive from what the original culture is.

On a more general level, it can be said that transculturation is the adaptation of the traits of a foreign culture such as own .The transition occurs in various phases where, inevitably, certain elements of the original culture are lost.Some experts note that the conflict occurs in the first phase of transculturation, when the foreign culture begins to be imposed on the original one.