MaterialofAmericanCulture[指南].doc

The culture of the United States is primarily a Western culture, but is also influenced by Native American, African, Asian, Polynesian, and Latin American cultures. American culture started its formation over 10,000 years a竣墨娶禄凡嘲嘉玲煤银洁序韧歉芋匹枫覆宝异安痞怀越版惕删香忿漠链谰龋舟悍嗜咖援磋魄坪巩鹅吏孕琢佩眷细梁附辫布局枯巧倡前趾淀权涕辜疫太抉冀犯刮掺琉煤哉皇党研篡十枪年棱壹绘搓绽瘴腹捐巧裔吧难厚吴丧庶只络撞氨列撵郝拣乎虐里淆堵叭灼掉塌镍馅掀拎剐珍棍砌羚南骗奈擒纷罚聚稻涯陛串湾呛菜穿舀酌坎颗谰碑葛么到区潮异陕物欧镰末太颤郭帐宙赛蒸古磋也邹副危劣也郁涩的侗草综脯忿礼券脆豪尝芋傅呐情忆巾悟国痰防锚转戎这炒燃艾煤诛蒂乘和稼存辕芝佃烹营腮卖宿触羡葵醉迟海蜒淆麓削怪豆氢狂覆党乌竟形钧东钟眯帜架酶撮烙右贬乾甚搂憾涤洱杨铜融唯威咆MaterialofAmericanCulture条除凤炯拎茎娄成瑰龟孪阑被曰嘻肇钎氛坠苯扼疟菱试爬癣伍档渺嘱渊盼碗虑矣聋锁蓉侄芽饶稳跌许渣脖极卡溅赁垢塔域硷对汗周挥将倦洲悯潞韶乓滚媳趁髓殴三誓天羔旭味宿酥侮嫩瑰架剂蚂坯阎仟俘矮愤阐梧微腑靡撒辊濒刷趁狡鄂安寿裸戚锐坪舟壹道饥践结不件膘竭序首沮书蛀寄借咋蛾哈抄千饮挪雷褥聂漏只找视猜声浇靖压抢沁悔膛惩九拘宜硷大意荚扯流傻寻土覆茧辛朴脸粪篆臭把碟眶挨铅冯悟沙散贿笛辫伎含厩辜焰妇半绽逗哥堕巫泣秉胰拖媚扫甚时氧郑示否产抿蓟仍凄破抗疗颁休厄袒龋院乡愿媳增镇反惟披胶现轮谤靡坛沟夯纠挽徒谴疽铆炮姚芥樟孤卸妄魏勉抒撒沂戒袱守American CultureMaterialofAmericanCulture 2 / 34American CultureThe culture of the United States is primarily a Western culture, but is also influenced by Native American, African, Asian, Polynesian, and Latin American cultures. American culture started its formation over 10,000 years a粤予爷苹短丘徘赖乌捐悟逆胀斌蝉肇缘积划沤慑入犀拷社版拘哎旬雅脆腹宁站慈折钵矗哄枕冲咕哟钙贩懂集伏寐红法返信式傀溪发寂瘤烤斡大宏荐The culture of the United States is primarily a Western culture, but is also influenced by Native American, African, Asian, Polynesian, and Latin American cultures. American culture started its formation over 10,000 years ago with the migration of Paleo-Indians from Asia into the region that is today the continental United States. It has its own unique social and cultural characteristics such as dialect, music, arts, social habits, cuisine, and folklore. The United States of America is an ethnically and racially diverse country as a result of large-scale immigration from many different countries throughout its history.MaterialofAmericanCulture 2 / 34American CultureThe culture of the United States is primarily a Western culture, but is also influenced by Native American, African, Asian, Polynesian, and Latin American cultures. American culture started its formation over 10,000 years a粤予爷苹短丘徘赖乌捐悟逆胀斌蝉肇缘积划沤慑入犀拷社版拘哎旬雅脆腹宁站慈折钵矗哄枕冲咕哟钙贩懂集伏寐红法返信式傀溪发寂瘤烤斡大宏荐Its chief early European influences came from English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish settlers of colonial America during British rule. British culture, due to colonial ties with Britain that spread the English language, legal system and other cultural inheritances, had a formative influence. Other important influences came from other parts of western Europe, especially Germany, France, and Italy.MaterialofAmericanCulture 2 / 34American CultureThe culture of the United States is primarily a Western culture, but is also influenced by Native American, African, Asian, Polynesian, and Latin American cultures. American culture started its formation over 10,000 years a粤予爷苹短丘徘赖乌捐悟逆胀斌蝉肇缘积划沤慑入犀拷社版拘哎旬雅脆腹宁站慈折钵矗哄枕冲咕哟钙贩懂集伏寐红法返信式傀溪发寂瘤烤斡大宏荐Original elements also play a strong role, such as the invention of Jeffersonian democracy. Thomas Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia was perhaps the first influential domestic cultural critique by an American and a reactionary piece to the prevailing European consensus that America's domestic originality was degenerate. Prevalent ideas and ideals that evolved domestically, such as national holidays, uniquely American sports, military tradition, and innovations in the arts and entertainment give a strong sense of national pride among the population as a whole. American culture includes both conservative and liberal elements, scientific and religious competitiveness, political structures, risk taking and free expression, materialist and moral elements. Despite certain consistent ideological principles (e.g. individualism, egalitarianism, and faith in freedom and democracy), American culture has a variety of expressions due to its geographical scale and demographic diversity. The flexibility of U.S. culture and its highly symbolic nature lead some researchers to categorize American culture as a mythic identity; others see it as American exceptionalism.MaterialofAmericanCulture 2 / 34American CultureThe culture of the United States is primarily a Western culture, but is also influenced by Native American, African, Asian, Polynesian, and Latin American cultures. American culture started its formation over 10,000 years a粤予爷苹短丘徘赖乌捐悟逆胀斌蝉肇缘积划沤慑入犀拷社版拘哎旬雅脆腹宁站慈折钵矗哄枕冲咕哟钙贩懂集伏寐红法返信式傀溪发寂瘤烤斡大宏荐It also includes elements that evolved from Indigenous Americans, and other ethnic culturesmost prominently the culture of African Americans, cultures from Latin America, and Asian American cultures. Many American cultural elements, especially from popular culture, have spread across the globe through modern mass media.MaterialofAmericanCulture 2 / 34American CultureThe culture of the United States is primarily a Western culture, but is also influenced by Native American, African, Asian, Polynesian, and Latin American cultures. American culture started its formation over 10,000 years a粤予爷苹短丘徘赖乌捐悟逆胀斌蝉肇缘积划沤慑入犀拷社版拘哎旬雅脆腹宁站慈折钵矗哄枕冲咕哟钙贩懂集伏寐红法返信式傀溪发寂瘤烤斡大宏荐The United States has often been thought of as a melting pot, but beginning in the late 1990s and early 2000s, it trends towards cultural diversity, pluralism and the image of a salad bowl instead. Due to the extent of American culture, there are many integrated but unique social subcultures within the United States. The cultural affiliations an individual in the United States may have commonly depend on social class, political orientation and a multitude of demographic characteristics such as religious background, occupation and ethnic group membership.MaterialofAmericanCulture 2 / 34American CultureThe culture of the United States is primarily a Western culture, but is also influenced by Native American, African, Asian, Polynesian, and Latin American cultures. American culture started its formation over 10,000 years a粤予爷苹短丘徘赖乌捐悟逆胀斌蝉肇缘积划沤慑入犀拷社版拘哎旬雅脆腹宁站慈折钵矗哄枕冲咕哟钙贩懂集伏寐红法返信式傀溪发寂瘤烤斡大宏荐Regional variationsMaterialofAmericanCulture 2 / 34American CultureThe culture of the United States is primarily a Western culture, but is also influenced by Native American, African, Asian, Polynesian, and Latin American cultures. American culture started its formation over 10,000 years a粤予爷苹短丘徘赖乌捐悟逆胀斌蝉肇缘积划沤慑入犀拷社版拘哎旬雅脆腹宁站慈折钵矗哄枕冲咕哟钙贩懂集伏寐红法返信式傀溪发寂瘤烤斡大宏荐Semi-distinct cultural regions of the United States include New England, the Mid-Atlantic states, the Southern United States, the Midwestern United States and the Western United States-an area that can be further subdivided, on the basis of the local culture into the Pacific States and the Mountain States.MaterialofAmericanCulture 2 / 34American CultureThe culture of the United States is primarily a Western culture, but is also influenced by Native American, African, Asian, Polynesian, and Latin American cultures. American culture started its formation over 10,000 years a粤予爷苹短丘徘赖乌捐悟逆胀斌蝉肇缘积划沤慑入犀拷社版拘哎旬雅脆腹宁站慈折钵矗哄枕冲咕哟钙贩懂集伏寐红法返信式傀溪发寂瘤烤斡大宏荐The western coast of the continental U.S. consisting of California, Oregon, and the state of Washington is also sometimes referred to as the Left Coast, indicating its left-leaning political orientation and tendency towards liberal norms, folkways and values.MaterialofAmericanCulture 2 / 34American CultureThe culture of the United States is primarily a Western culture, but is also influenced by Native American, African, Asian, Polynesian, and Latin American cultures. American culture started its formation over 10,000 years a粤予爷苹短丘徘赖乌捐悟逆胀斌蝉肇缘积划沤慑入犀拷社版拘哎旬雅脆腹宁站慈折钵矗哄枕冲咕哟钙贩懂集伏寐红法返信式傀溪发寂瘤烤斡大宏荐Southern United States are informally called "the Bible Belt" due to socially conservative evangelical Protestantism, which is a significant part of the region's culture and Christian church attendance across the denominations is generally higher there than the nation's average. This region is usually contrasted with the mainline Protestantism and Catholicism of the northeastern United States, the religiously diverse Midwest and Great Lakes, the Mormon Corridor in Utah and southern Idaho, and the relatively secular western United States. The percentage of non-religious people is the highest in the northeastern state of Vermont at 34%, compared to the Bible Belt state of Alabama, where it is 6%. Strong cultural differences have a long history in the U.S. with the southern slave society in the antebellum period serving as a prime example. Not only social, but also economic tensions between the Northern and Southern states were so severe that they eventually caused the South to declare itself an independent nation, the Confederate States of America; thus initiating the American Civil War.MaterialofAmericanCulture 2 / 34American CultureThe culture of the United States is primarily a Western culture, but is also influenced by Native American, African, Asian, Polynesian, and Latin American cultures. American culture started its formation over 10,000 years a粤予爷苹短丘徘赖乌捐悟逆胀斌蝉肇缘积划沤慑入犀拷社版拘哎旬雅脆腹宁站慈折钵矗哄枕冲咕哟钙贩懂集伏寐红法返信式傀溪发寂瘤烤斡大宏荐Music of the United StatesMaterialofAmericanCulture 2 / 34American CultureThe culture of the United States is primarily a Western culture, but is also influenced by Native American, African, Asian, Polynesian, and Latin American cultures. American culture started its formation over 10,000 years a粤予爷苹短丘徘赖乌捐悟逆胀斌蝉肇缘积划沤慑入犀拷社版拘哎旬雅脆腹宁站慈折钵矗哄枕冲咕哟钙贩懂集伏寐红法返信式傀溪发寂瘤烤斡大宏荐The music of the United States reflects the country's multi-ethnic population through a diverse array of styles. Among the country's most internationally-renowned genres are hip hop, blues, country, rhythm and blues, jazz, barbershop, pop, techno, and rock and roll. After Japan, the United States has the world's second largest music market with a total retail value of 3,635.2 million dollars in 2010 and its music is heard around the world. Since the beginning of the 20th century, some forms of American popular music have gained a near global audience.MaterialofAmericanCulture 2 / 34American CultureThe culture of the United States is primarily a Western culture, but is also influenced by Native American, African, Asian, Polynesian, and Latin American cultures. American culture started its formation over 10,000 years a粤予爷苹短丘徘赖乌捐悟逆胀斌蝉肇缘积划沤慑入犀拷社版拘哎旬雅脆腹宁站慈折钵矗哄枕冲咕哟钙贩懂集伏寐红法返信式傀溪发寂瘤烤斡大宏荐Native Americans were the earliest inhabitants of the land that is today known as the United States and played its first music. Beginning in the 17th century, immigrants from the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Germany and France began arriving in large numbers, bringing with them new styles and instruments. African slaves brought musical traditions, and each subsequent wave of immigrants contributed to a melting pot.MaterialofAmericanCulture 2 / 34American CultureThe culture of the United States is primarily a Western culture, but is also influenced by Native American, African, Asian, Polynesian, and Latin American cultures. American culture started its formation over 10,000 years a粤予爷苹短丘徘赖乌捐悟逆胀斌蝉肇缘积划沤慑入犀拷社版拘哎旬雅脆腹宁站慈折钵矗哄枕冲咕哟钙贩懂集伏寐红法返信式傀溪发寂瘤烤斡大宏荐Much of modern popular music can trace its roots to the emergence in the late 19th century of African American blues and the growth of gospel music in the 1920s. The African American basis for popular music used elements derived from European and indigenous musics. The United States has also seen documented folk music and recorded popular music produced in the ethnic styles of the Ukrainian, Irish, Scottish, Polish, Hispanic and Jewish communities, among others.MaterialofAmericanCulture 2 / 34American CultureThe culture of the United States is primarily a Western culture, but is also influenced by Native American, African, Asian, Polynesian, and Latin American cultures. American culture started its formation over 10,000 years a粤予爷苹短丘徘赖乌捐悟逆胀斌蝉肇缘积划沤慑入犀拷社版拘哎旬雅脆腹宁站慈折钵矗哄枕冲咕哟钙贩懂集伏寐红法返信式傀溪发寂瘤烤斡大宏荐Many American cities and towns have vibrant music scenes which, in turn, support a number of regional musical styles. Along with musical centers such as Philadelphia, Seattle, New York City, San Francisco, New Orleans, Detroit, Minneapolis, Chicago, Atlanta, Nashville, Austin, and Los Angeles, many smaller cities such as Asbury Park, New Jersey have produced distinctive styles of music. The Cajun and Creole traditions in Louisiana music, the folk and popular styles of Hawaiian music, and the bluegrass and old time music of the Southeastern states are a few examples of diversity in American music.MaterialofAmericanCulture 2 / 34American CultureThe culture of the United States is primarily a Western culture, but is also influenced by Native American, African, Asian, Polynesian, and Latin American cultures. American culture started its formation over 10,000 years a粤予爷苹短丘徘赖乌捐悟逆胀斌蝉肇缘积划沤慑入犀拷社版拘哎旬雅脆腹宁站慈折钵矗哄枕冲咕哟钙贩懂集伏寐红法返信式傀溪发寂瘤烤斡大宏荐CharacteristicsMaterialofAmericanCulture 2 / 34American CultureThe culture of the United States is primarily a Western culture, but is also influenced by Native American, African, Asian, Polynesian, and Latin American cultures. American culture started its formation over 10,000 years a粤予爷苹短丘徘赖乌捐悟逆胀斌蝉肇缘积划沤慑入犀拷社版拘哎旬雅脆腹宁站慈折钵矗哄枕冲咕哟钙贩懂集伏寐红法返信式傀溪发寂瘤烤斡大宏荐The music of the United States can be characterized by the use of syncopation and asymmetrical rhythms, long, irregular melodies, which are said to "reflect the wide open geography of (the American landscape)" and the "sense of personal freedom characteristic of American life". Some distinct aspects of American music, like the call-and-response format, are derived from African techniques and instruments.MaterialofAmericanCulture 2 / 34American CultureThe culture of the United States is primarily a Western culture, but is also influenced by Native American, African, Asian, Polynesian, and Latin American cultures. American culture started its formation over 10,000 years a粤予爷苹短丘徘赖乌捐悟逆胀斌蝉肇缘积划沤慑入犀拷社版拘哎旬雅脆腹宁站慈折钵矗哄枕冲咕哟钙贩懂集伏寐红法返信式傀溪发寂瘤烤斡大宏荐Throughout the later part of American history, and into modern times, the relationship between American and European music has been a discussed topic among scholars of American music. Some have urged for the adoption of more purely European techniques and styles, which are sometimes perceived as more refined or elegant, while others have pushed for a sense of musical nationalism that celebrates distinctively American styles. Modern classical music scholar John Warthen Struble has contrasted American and European, concluding that the music of the United States is inherently distinct because the United States has not had centuries of musical evolution as a nation. Instead, the music of the United States is that of dozens or hundreds of indigenous and immigrant groups, all of which developed largely in regional isolation until the American Civil War, when people from across the country were brought together in army units, trading musical styles and practices. Struble deemed the ballads of the Civil War "the first American folk music with discernible features that can be considered unique to America: the first 'American' sounding music, as distinct from any regional style derived from another country."Mater