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BRITISH SCHOOL (DIFFUSIONISM) (Elliot smith and Perry (extreme school)…
BRITISH SCHOOL (DIFFUSIONISM)
Elliot smith and Perry (extreme school)
basic premises
single centre of origin
ruled put psychic unity of mankind
man was not equally inventive
Egypt agriculture with irrigation , sun worship , pyramids , life after death
. all these not found in other parts - S.Africa , S. America
Job = to unravel the path of diffusion of cultural traits , chain of diffusion from Egypt
dilution of cultural traits - space and time, this proposition was accepted
extremism , no other center of origin than Egypt
extreme and river , first to study diffusion of culture (
Egyptology
- originated in Egypt. also called
heliocentric
school - worship if sun god.
smith founder
and known as Egyptologist
smith was a surgeon
, went to Egypt to study anatomy of mummies ,stayed long and came across Egyptian civilization ---> impressed by its culture. believed
Egypt is cradle of civilization
.
studied
Maya pyramids , Japanese pagodas , Cambodian and Balinese temples and american Indian burial mounds -
all display Egyptian prototypes.
perry book -
children of the sun
advocates smith POV
, Egypt - all cultural traits spread. believed in sun worship , pyramidal structures , gold and silver ornaments - Egypt creations
smith book -
origin of civilization
introduction = common points of diffusion (previous mind map)
criticisms
did not consider other civilisations
not seen preceding civilizations Like Egyptian civilizations for example -
Tigris - Euphrates civilization or Mesopotamian civilization.
could not give evidences - imagination
W H Rivers school of diffusionism
Rivers -
father of medical anthropology
= because more
interested in Rx of people
, physician and field worker(hence showed evidences,failed sometimes) - toda of Nilgiri hills and Melanesian tribes. earlier evolutionist ,
became diffusionist later
toda = patrilineal society , polyandry as they
practice female infanticide
to sacrifice their first female child to deity , female sex ratio declined, also called
buffalo tribe
. nowadays today don't practice polyandry
premises
multiple center of origins
diffusion took place locally eg -
toda , Melanesia borrowed traits from neighbors
, arrived at microlevel conclusion
dilution of cultural traits
criticisms
could not give evidences and became
conjecturalism
book -
history of Melanesian societies
gave theory of
uninventiveness and degeneration
, eg - 5 diff burials in AUS in an otherwise homogeneous population , aborigines could not have invented , thus small successive migrations occurred around them.
over all criticisms of British school
contribution of extreme school of diffusion is nil
dogmatic
,
preconception
- Egypt only center of origin
some places
rivers failed to provide evidences
Emphasized only material culture and
ignored non material aspects of culture
Took into form simple form of diffusion of cultural traits
but not explained diff of cultural complex
contribution
introduced
change aspect of society
and culture