Hypothetical Power Scenarios
This page is intended to clarify the anthropological concepts of syncretism, domination, assimilation, and acculturation for students of anthropology.
Imagine that a cultural group “from the North” seeks better weather to avoid extreme winters and starts to travel in a southern direction while a group “from the South” seeks more fertile land for agriculture and begins to travel northward. Imagine that the Northern people are very advanced in medicine but that the Southern group is advanced in weaponry. These groups meet in the middle of their continent. Each may be a threat to the others’ survival and, based on varying circumstances, each would have more power than the other.
Scenario 1. The Southern group realizes that the Northern group has a higher chance of survival and therefore will likely be more successful in establishing their culture in the new land. The Southern group may decide to eliminate the competition for resources by attacking the Northern group using their more advanced weaponry. After a few years of warfare, the Northern group is completely destroyed and their cultural traditions, beliefs, and languages no longer have any survivors to continue them. This would be called “domination.”
Scenario 2. The Southern group realizes that, if they completely eliminate the Northern group, they won’t be able to access their medical…
