Cultural syncretism comes into being when two different cultures fuse their past beliefs and create new beliefs and tradition. In the context of western influence in Africa and Americas, this led to a change in many aspects of life including medical, religious and technological advancements (StudyMode). But this did not come easily as the Westerners encountered resistance from the locals in some regions such as India and China while they blended well in some cases like in the Africa and Americas cases.
The Africans and Americas were far willing to accommodate the new culture introduced to them. The African culture got more advanced weaponry, new religion and medical advancements because theirs was much inferior. The Americas also had the same challenge when their culture was compared to that of the westerners (Das 8). Their culture also was inferior and therefore was willing to accommodate the new and better cultures. India and china had a better and more advanced and that is why they felt no great influence from the outsiders. Their cultures were older and superior, therefore they could not accommodate anything less than or comparable to theirs.
These legacies were far too reaching and their influence is still felt today. This is so because as it happened before, India and China are independent of the western influence and accommodation of the western cultures because to this day, they have their culture intact and has not opened up to outside influences. On the other hand, much of the African and Americas culture is greatly replicating much of the western culture and this is all thanks to what happened before in regard to them accommodating the western culture in so many spheres of their lives (Stewart 1999).
References
StudyMode. (2011, 10). Cultural Syncretism. StudyMode.com. Retrieved 10, 2011, from http://www.studymode.com/essays/Cultural-Syncretism-820421.html
Das’, N. K. Cultural Diversity, Religious Syncretism and People of India: An Anthropological Interpretation. Web, Retrieved on 28th November, 2011. http://www.bangladeshsociology.org/BEJS%203.2%20Das.pdf
Stewart, C. (1999). Syncretism and Its Synonyms: Reflections on Cultural Mixture. Diacritics. Vol 29, Issue 3 pp 40-62. Retrieved on 28th November 2013. http://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/diacritics/v029/29.3st wart.html
