User:Littlefa/Cultural assimilation

Cultural assimilation
Throughout history there have been different forms of cultural assimilation examples of types of acculturation include voluntary and involuntary assimilation.[1]

Overview
Examples of forced cultural assimilation is extremely relevant in regards to indigenous groups during colonialism taking place between the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.[1] This type of assimilation included religious conversion, separation of families, changes of gender roles, division of property among foreign power, elimination of local economies and lack of sustainable food supply.[1] Methods of forced assimilation are often unsustainable leading to revolts and collapses of foreign power to maintain control over cultural norms.[1]  Often times cultures that are forced into different cultural practices through forced cultural assimilation will revert back to their native practices, and religions that differ from the forced cultural values from other dominant powers. In addition throughout history voluntary assimilation is often in response to pressure from a more dominant culture, and conformity is a solution for people to remain in safety. An example of voluntary cultural assimilation would be during the Spanish Inquisition when Jews and Muslims accepted the Roman Catholic Church as their religion, meanwhile in privacy many people still practiced their traditional religions.[1] This type of assimilation is used to convince a dominant power that a culture has peacefully assimilated yet often times voluntary assimilation does not mean the group fully conforms to the accepted cultural beliefs. [1]

Latin America
A major contributor to cultural assimilation in South America began during exploration and colonialism that often is thought to begin in 1492 when Europeans began to explore the Atlantic in search for "West Indies", leading to the discovery of the Americas.[2] Europe remained dominant over the Americas indigenous populations as resources such as labor, natural resources i.e. lumber, copper, gold, silver and agriculture flooded into Europe, yet these gains were one sided as indigenous groups did not benefit from trade deals through colonial powers.[2] In addition to this colonies such as Portugal and Spain required that colonies in South America assimilate to European customs such as following the Holy Roman Catholic Church, acceptance of Spanish or Portuguese over indigenous languages and accepting European style governments. [3]

Through forced cultural assimilation colonial powers such as Spain used methods of violence to insert cultural dominance on indigenous populations. [4] An example shown in 1519 when Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés discovered Tenochtitlán the original capital of the Aztec Empire in Mexico.[5] Cortés after discovering the Aztecs practiced human sacrifice killed high ranked Aztecs and held Moctezuma II the aztec ruler captive. Shortly after Cortés began creating alliances to resume power in Tenochtitlán and renamed it Mexico City.[5] Without taking away power through murder and spread of infectious diseases the Spanish conquistadores whose numbers were relatively small would not have been able to take over Mexico and convert many people to Catholicism and slavery.[5] While Spaniards influenced linguistic and religious cultural assimilation among indigenous in South America during colonialism, many indigenous languages such as the Incan language Quechua are still used in places such as Peru to this day by at least 4 million people. This demonstrates that forced cultural assimilation is not long term or fully effective on different cultures such as the indigenous in Latin America.

Citations


 * 1) Pauls, Elizabeth Prine. “Assimilation.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 21 Aug. 2019, www.britannica.com/topic/assimilation-society.
 * 2) “European Colonization of the Americas.” European Colonization of the Americas - New World Encyclopedia, www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/European_Colonization_of_the_Americas.
 * 3) “Pueblo Uprising of 1680 (Article).” Khan Academy, Khan Academy, www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/precontact-and-early-colonial-era/spanish-colonization/a/pueblo-uprising-of-1680.
 * 4) Gabbert, Wolfgang. “The Longue Durée of Colonial Violence in Latin America.” Historical Social Research / Historische Sozialforschung, vol. 37, no. 3 (141), 2012, pp. 254–275. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41636608. Accessed 28 May 2020.
 * 5) “The Spanish Conquistadores and Colonial Empire (Article).” Khan Academy, Khan Academy, www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/precontact-and-early-colonial-era/spanish-colonization/a/the-spanish-conquistadores-and-colonial-empire.
 * 6) Turner-Trujillo, Emma. “An Overview of Latino and Latin American Identity.” The Getty Iris, 21 Sept. 2017, blogs.getty.edu/iris/an-overview-of-latino-and-latin-american-identity/.