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Haley Miller

9/6/13

Cultural Anthropology

Diffusionism

Have you ever wondered why we do the things we do? Such as grooms carrying

brides over the threshold. Or children being taught to sit criss-cross applesauce. This is

known as diffusionism. In this paper I'll discuss diffusionism a little more indepth and

explan why I'd favor it as an anthropologist.

Diffusionism is the journey a cultural trait or practice makes from one culture to

another. Often this journey takes place through migration, trade or war. In the thebeginning two versions of diffusionism were found. They were the heliocentric diffusion

and culture circles. Heliocentric is the theory that all cultures come frome one singular

culture. Culture circles is only slightly different as their theory is all cultures come from a

select few original cultures.

But diffusion's uses don't end in anthropology. Though it may have begun in areas

such as anthropology, archaeology, and cultural geography, it now is used in areas of

aricultural business studies, technalogical advancement, economical geophraphy, history,

political science and rural sociology. Today diffusion is used often in the business and

industrial world of all countries. Evidence of this is copyright and or patent laws. They

show that diffusion is a big part of our culture today as in the past.

As for why I as an anthropologist "dig" diffusionism? I believe diffusion is the

moust accurate way to connect the past, present and future. Because it gives explanations

for ingrained traits and customs; this feeds into my belief that by knowing where we

came from, we can better predict where we're going. It also brings to light the

connections and bonds that we share with all other human beings and can help us be

better as well as do better.

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In summary, diffusionism is the process of one cultural custom or trait traveling

and joining another culture. It has been around since different cultures were discovered

and is just as common to society now as it was then. I feel like it's an accurate and solid

method to investigate the inner workings of the past; we do this because of this, this is

practiced because of this. As an anthropologist I'd favor diffusion due to it's vitality to not

only our survival but our cultures, its longevity and it's innumerable uses.

Work Cited

"The University of Alabama." - Anthropological Theories. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Sept. 2013.