Cultural materialism behind global cultural diffusion process

In this paper, the author intends to illustrate cultural materialism behind cultural diffusion process. The author first argues that despite the two opposing paradigms of cultural views （differentialism vs. universalism） what is really happening and winning is the third paradigm of mixing cultural perspective as presented in Jan Nederveen Pieterse＇s book Globalization and culture-global Mdlange. Then the author takes Marvin Harris＇ cultural materialism theory as the basis and gives specific evidence from China to illustrate the formation and eventual spread of any ＂new cultural scripts＂, which is done through the transformation process from territorial culture to translocal culture with economic motive behind as the driving force. These Chinese cases of global mixing, in turn, form a further support to Marvin Harris＇s cultural materialism theory.

The diffusion of Hong Kong cultural values to China's Mainland: a case study in Shenzhen

s—Since Shenzhen became a special economic zone in 1980, it has achieved spectacular growth in its economy. At the same time, it has opened its door to the importation of foreign goods and cultures,particularly from its neighboring city,Hong Kong.Nowadays,Hong Kong cultural traits, including materialism, individualism, and the idolization of movie stars and pop singers have become well accepted and commonly followed by the people in Shenzhen. This paper looks into the role of mass communication, particularly television programs, in this process of cultural diffusion, and to assess the cause and effect of such changes on Shenzhen.

A STUDY ON CELLULAR AUTOMATA BASED ON RELATIONAL DATABASES AND SPATIO-TE MPORAL SIMULATIONS OF CULTURE DIFFUSION

This paper presents a development o f the extended Cellular Automata9CA),based on relational databases(RDB),to model dynamic interactions amon g spatial objects.The integration o f Geographical Information System(GIS)and CA has the great advantage of simu lationg geographical processes.But standard CA has some restrictions i n cellular shape and neighbourhood and neighbour rules,which restrict the CA’ s ability to simulate complex,real world environ-ments.This paper discusses a cell’ s spatialrelationbasedonthe spatialobject’ s geometricalandmon -geometricalc haracter-istics,and extends the cell’ s neighbour definition,and considers that the cell’ s neighbour lies in the forms of not on ly spa-tial adjacency but also attribute co rrelation.This paper then puts forw ard that spatial relations between t wo different cells can be divided into three types,including spatial adjacency,neighbour hood and complicated separation.Ba sed on tradition-al ideas,it is impossible to settle CA’ s restrictions completely.RDB -based CA is an academic experiment,in which some fields ard desighed to describe the essential information needed to define and select a cell’ s neighbour.The culture innovation diffusion system has mul tiple forms of space diffusion and in herited characteristics that the RD B -based CA is capable of simulating more effectiv ely.Finally this paper details a successful case study on the diffusion o f fashion wear trends.Compared to the original CA,the RDB -based CA is a more natural and efficient representation of human k nowl-edge over space,and is an effective t ol in simulation complex systems that have multiple forms of spatial diff usion.

Cultural interactions among diverse ethnic groups in a frontier region of a mainstream culture:A case study of Thai Korat,Laotian,and Tai Yuan vernacular houses in the central Lamtakong watershed,Nakhon Ratchasima

This study aims to study the conditions for the architectural form of vernacular houses of Thai Korat,Laotian,and Tai Yuan ethnic groups living in the central Lamtakong watershed.Nineteen stilt houses with the age of fifty-three to one hundred years were incorporated in the case study.Data were meticulously gathered through methods such as observation,photography,surveying,architectural drawing,three-dimensional modeling,and interviews.The analysis,conducted within the frameworks of ethnic identity and cultural diffusion,involved morphological and comparative assessments.The findings showed that the houses in the present case study could maintain their ethnic identities as can be clearly seen in the space planning and the shapes of the houses passed down from generation to generation.In addition,there was cultural acceptance among these ethnic groups through exchanging,adopting,and borrowing house construction techniques,in order to express the common traits in the larger social context in a friendly and smoother way.This phenomenon indicates that the co-existence in a multicultural society is the key that makes different ethnic groups be able to maintain their ethnic identity and live with the larger society in a friendly way.Hence,the cultural significance of stilt vernacular houses in the study area is embedded in the dynamic process of exchanging house construction techniques,fostering harmony within the broader social context.This preservation simultaneously safeguards the essential elements and key attributes of ethnic identity in architecture.