Comparative Analysis of Objective Cultural Elements Across Indian, South African, and French Societies
| Comparison of objective elements from these different cultures | |||
| Groups from different geographical regions | |||
| Objective element | Culture 1- Indian Culture (Asian) | Culture 2- South African Culture (African) | Culture 3 – French Culture (European) |
| Community event | Ratha Yatra is a festival held by the Indians in Delhi, and it is also called the festival of chariots. This festival is similar to these others because it involves the community. However, this celebration is connected to religion because the people make a procession with deities carried on a chariot. The Indians and the Hindu religion in the environment influence the festival. | Knysna Oyster Festival is a festival aimed at celebrating the oyster industry. What makes this celebration different from all the others is that it is not attached to anything cultural. The festival is also different because it involves eating, a cycle tour, and sometimes a marathon. It is similar to Rtha Yatra because it has come to be accepted by society and thus attracts participants from all over. | Dunkirk Carnival is a community event that takes place in cities in North France, like Paris. This festival is characterized by revelers who wear colored clothes (Kelly, 2008). The festival is connected to an old tradition of fishermen who held a party with their families before going to fish at sea. Thus, the environmental and cultural factors influencing this festival are similar to those controlling the Knysna Oyster Festival. |
| Music | Bhangra is a Hindu music and dance known to have originated from the Punjab people. It is played and danced during the vernal Vaisakhi festival (Morcom, 2017). The similarity between this type of music and the Ilembe and French’s modern sounds is that they have incorporated Western instruments. | South Africa has many different genres of music. The most popular modern-day music is Ilembe and Amapiano, both made from an infusion of Western and African rhythms. | France also has a variety of music genres; however, some popular genres are hippo, rock music, jazz, and dance. These were not initially French sounds (Kelly, 2008). However, they are inspired by the influence of foreigners in the society, which makes it similar to Bhangra and Ilembe of South Africa. |
| Artistic Creations | Street art on the streets of Delhi is all paintings incorporating signature animals in the community, such as elephants (Bhasin, 2018). Therefore, the images depict nature and show the connection between society and the things in its surroundings. | The type of craft seen in the streets of Johannesburg is different from those seen in the streets of Delhi based on the message they carry. The Nelson Mandela Square, for instance, has statues of their heroes. Their art is more inclined to tell the South African history of independence (Jayna, 2017). | The streets of Pari have several sculptures and art. The region is a place for high art (Dossin, 2019). As such, there are statues that not only represent the French culture but also show their artists’ prowess. For instance, the Lion of Belfort (Le Lion de Belfort) is a statue depicting this culture. |
Takeaways from this assignment
From this assignment, I have taken away the fact that cultures are rich, and even though they are different, some things are similar in every culture. The first similarity is that every element of culture carries information about the people. In India, their love and respect for elephants is portrayed in their street art. In Johannesburg, South Africa, the statues tell the story of the independence of the people. Also, there is a lot of influence from other cultures in every culture I have studied. For instance, in music, most cultures have incorporated Western culture into their music. Hence, it is impossible to get a pure culture that does not have traces from other cultures.
The environment has a lot of impact on culture because it determines how people view their surroundings and behave (Matsumoto, Juang, & Hwang, 2022). These two things are then represented in the elements of culture. In this case, the environment influences these people, as seen in music and other aspects. Consequently, all three cultures adapted well to their environment, primarily through community events. One can see these events blend with the environment and the people. These events also adapt to the environment because th