I found six concepts that were used in class presentations. Each of them is different in meaning, but are often found in the same culture. Rites of passage, acculturation, dowry, ranked society, adaptation, cultural relativism, and enculturation are the concepts that stuck out most t

The second concept is acculturation which is defined as “major culture changes that people are forced to make as consequence of intensive, firsthand contact between societies” (Haviland, 487). The concept of acculturation was most evident in the presentation made by the tourism group. I learned that when an American travels to another country they must abide by that country’s laws, adapt to their language, and the do’s and don’ts of life in that country.

I chose Dowry as the third concept of anthropology I learned about from listening to the Hindu Marriages group presentation. Dowry is defined as “payment of a woman’s inheritance at the time of her marriage, either to her or her husband” (Haviland, 488). I found it interesting that in the Hindu culture the brides family presents gifts to the grooms family as a symbol of thanks for allowing their son to marry the bride. This tradition is similar to the American tradition of the bride’s parents paying for the wedding.

There are several radio stations in our city that play several different types of music on a daily basis. The music group gave the audience a few different types of music, which served as an example of cultural relativism. I think that music represents culture in that the musician tells a story about their experiences. After to listening to a rap song, I may be able to form an image of what it is like to live his life. I liked that there was a good mix of cultures within the group, which shows that they were able to put aside their own prejudices to present their topic.

The first concept I chose is rites of passage. This concept was used in the marriage presentation. Rites of passage is defined as “rituals, often religious in nature, marking important stages in the lives of individuals, such as birth, marriage, and death” (Haviland, 490). The marriage group presented rites of passage in three forms, leave parent’s home, establish home, and establish a family. These three passages are main stays in American culture. When a person is married, the first thing that happens is that they move out of their parent’s house and move in with their spouse and establish a home of their own. The third passage is to establish a family with their new spouse.

The marriage group practiced cultural relativism by describing the traditional western marriage. In American society there are several different cultures that are intermarried. In order to have a successful intermarriage, the bride and groom must be fully accepting of each other’s culture. Take for example a marriage between an African American and an Anglo American. Both parties must be able to accept the culture that they bring into the household in order to truly assimilate themselves to each other. The Hindu marriage group described cultural relativism in a similar way. As with any marriage, the ability of the two families to accept each other is important, but with Hindu marriages sometim

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