Cultural Syncretism: What It Is And How It Arises In Societies
As is evident, humanity exists a variety of different cultures. Many of them end up mixing with others.
In this article We will study one of the most important mechanisms by which this mechanism can occur, which is cultural syncretism We will analyze how this phenomenon is generated and we will also see some examples that exactly reflect its implications.
When we talk about syncretism, and more specifically cultural syncretism, we are essentially referring to a process of mixing cultures that can occur through hybridization or mixing between two or more of them In other words, this phenomenon refers to the mix that can be experienced when two cultures meet, without one imposing itself on the other.
Therefore, thanks to cultural syncretism, two or more cultures can give rise to a new one, which results from the product of all those that have intervened, to give rise to a set of customs, values and ways of acting and thinking that draw from various sources A new culture would be created thanks to the union of others that previously existed.
Cultural syncretism can affect all spheres of a society’s culture. Historically it has occurred and in fact it occurs. Different schools of thought in a given science can influence each other or even merge and give rise to new ones. The same can happen in the field of religion, where some creeds collect passages from other doctrines and take them as their own.
Politics does not escape this mechanism either, and two ideologies can bring their positions closer together until they merge in a new movement that did not previously exist with that level of complexity, since the result is taking elements from different sources, creating a hybridization of both.
If we focus on the etymology of cultural syncretism, we discover that the word syncretism comes from Greek, being an expression by the philosopher Plutarch that referred to the union of Cretans to confront a common enemy. The term was rescued centuries later by Erasmus of Rotterdam, giving it a similar meaning.
In this case, this scholar referred to syncretism as that which united people despite the fact that they maintained differences in their religious beliefs. Erasmus included this concept, among many others, in his work Adagiaa compendium of proverbs from ancient Greece and Rome which brings together much of the most primitive knowledge of early Europe.
From then on, the term gained greater importance, until in our era, it has adopted the meaning by which we know it today, relating it to the phenomenon of mixing between cultures that produces an enrichment of them, by allowing the exchange of elements among all for common growth.
Cultural syncretism versus competition
The mechanism of cultural syncretism, as we have already seen, supposes a mechanism that at an anthropological level allows the mixture between cultural groups and therefore a greater richness of all of them. On the contrary, We can find other processes in which not all the cultures involved benefit
The clearest is that of intercultural competence. When two cultures compete with each other in this way, the one that is stronger, whether because it belongs to a greater number of people, because said group will use force to impose itself, or for any other reason, will prevail over the other, even making that the defeated culture disappears.
We observe, therefore, a substantial difference, since in the case of cultural syncretism A peaceful coexistence of both cultural groups was facilitated under terms in which everyone derived some benefit from the relationship However, under the competition, the cultures involved will seek supremacy in a clash that will leave a single winner.
Of course, in this struggle between cultures, the conflict can arise unilaterally, that is, by a cultural group that seeks to impose itself on others, who may not want to enter into said conflict. Cultural syncretism represents another form of relationship between cultures, one in which both are mixed and in some way evolve, they are enriched by said mixture.
The meeting between two worlds
Throughout history there have been countless cases of cultural syncretism, more or less evident, but if we want to observe one of the most important examples, we could focus on what happened after the year 1492, which changed the world forever. or rather, the worlds.
Because that was the year in which three ships crossed the Atlantic Ocean, with Columbus at the head of the expedition, to irremediably connect the destinations of Europe and the lands that would since then be known as America, in addition to the rest of the globe. The union and mixture between cultures would be constant since then.
This is how some European and pre-Columbian cultures begin to exchange elements, mix and, ultimately, mix This process occurs with greater or lesser intensity depending on the different areas and for many years, until it crystallizes into new nations that enjoy a rich cultural background, generated by two very different sources.
It is evident that not all regions experienced this cultural syncretism, but others experienced what we previously described as cultural competition, with one ending up imposing itself on the other until it was practically completely reduced. This could be the case of the English colonization of North America, as opposed to the Spanish and Portuguese in the rest of the continent.
Of course, this is a complex issue in which there are different perspectives and which will depend a lot on the specific place where we put the magnifying glass and the certain circumstances that occurred there. In any case, it serves to illustrate the properties and procedures that occur in cultural syncretism to achieve the mixture between cultures and lead to a result that did not previously exist
Cultural syncretism and cultural appropriation
However, today there are critical voices towards cultural syncretism, since some sectors equate it with another phenomenon called cultural appropriation. This expression refers to the capture by a certain culture of an element typical of another group. This act is given a negative connotation, since it is considered that this element should only be used by the culture to which it belongs.
However, the processes of cultural syncretism, like many others at the anthropological level by which cultures are born, develop, merge or disappear, are beyond these value judgments. Cultures are not hermetic, but are exposed to this type of mechanisms that in one way or another give rise to them being modified or even mixing substantially with others.
This is the case of cultural syncretism. Those who criticize this phenomenon and consider it cultural appropriation do so because they consider that one of these cultures is somehow plundering the other, as if it were a form of cultural colonialism, and in some way benefits from it. an item that does not belong to you.
They also reproach that the importance of said element is distorted or even that its origin is forgotten, because the culture that has taken it makes it its own, and the cultural group to which it belonged does not have enough strength or voice to claim it. Another criticism is the use of said cultural components to establish a series of fashions based on the exotic and ethnic.
As we said, the mechanisms of cultural change, such as syncretism, do not understand these value judgments and simply happen. None of the cultures that we can observe today in the world are pure so to speak, but all of them, to a greater or lesser extent, are the product of an exchange, a mixture, and in other words, a cultural syncretism that has given rise to the cultural groups that we know today.
Therefore, although some sectors may criticize the fact that two or more cultures share elements, giving rise to new and more complex cultural groups, the truth is that it is a phenomenon that is difficult to avoid or control, since it is a of the ways in which these elements change, as we have already seen.
