Haley Miller 9/6/13 Cultural Anthropology Diffusionism Have you ever wondered why we do the things we do?

Such as grooms carrying brides over the threshold. Or children being taught to sit criss-cross applesauce. This is known as diffusionism. In this paper I'll discuss diffusionism a little more indepth and explan why I'd favor it as an anthropologist. Diffusionism is the journey a cultural trait or practice makes from one culture to another. Often this journey takes place through migration, trade or war. In the the beginning two versions of diffusionism were found. They were the heliocentric diffusion and culture circles. Heliocentric is the theory that all cultures come frome one singular culture. Culture circles is only slightly different as their theory is all cultures come from a select few original cultures. But diffusion's uses don't end in anthropology. Though it may have begun in areas such as anthropology, archaeology, and cultural geography, it now is used in areas of aricultural business studies, technalogical advancement, economical geophraphy, history, political science and rural sociology. Today diffusion is used often in the business and industrial world of all countries. Evidence of this is copyright and or patent laws. They show that diffusion is a big part of our culture today as in the past. As for why I as an anthropologist "dig" diffusionism? I believe diffusion is the moust accurate way to connect the past, present and future. Because it gives explanations for ingrained traits and customs; this feeds into my belief that by knowing where we came from, we can better predict where we're going. It also brings to light the connections and bonds that we share with all other human beings and can help us be better as well as do better.

In summary, diffusionism is the process of one cultural custom or trait traveling and joining another culture. It has been around since different cultures were discovered and is just as common to society now as it was then. I feel like it's an accurate and solid method to investigate the inner workings of the past; we do this because of this, this is practiced because of this. As an anthropologist I'd favor diffusion due to it's vitality to not only our survival but our cultures, its longevity and it's innumerable uses.

Work Cited "The University of Alabama." - Anthropological Theories. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Sept. 2013. <http://www.anthropology.ua.edu/cultures/cultures.php?culture=Diffusionism%20and %20Acculturation