Fragmentation Reconstruction

Cultural change is a key concern of anthropology. In modern China, our way of life and way of thinking have undergone tremendous changes in the process of globalization. From our view and perception, everything keeps on changing. Anthropologists believe that cultural change is an unending phenomenon. Cultural balance is relative; yet changes and progress are absolute. Since the very birth of anthropology, every school of anthropology deals with cultural change. Many theories have been proposed, ranging from cultural evolution, transmission, acculturation, to reinterpretation. The present researcher argues that during its development and change, culture is bound to lose some components, keep some components, and integrate some components- a process from fragmentization to refactoring."Cultural fragmentization" in this thesis can be construed like this: Culture is an object created with human participation; anything cultural is related to human participation; in fact, it is in part humanization. Culture is both created and defined by man. It has always lacked completeness. Most people conform to a small portion of it, and everyone is prepared to assimilate new elements in his/her own portion. The fragmentization exists in three forms. The first is a conscious morphological form, existing off of academia, transformed into an element of elite academia, and detached from daily life. The second is a subconscious latent form that permeates throughout the depth of ordinary rites, rules, mentality, and even behavioral patterns. Although it has lost its original functions, it has grown into a collective unconsciousness and exerts an influence through common practice, thus still impacting our thinking and judgment. The third is a subconscious external morphological form (a mixture of both old and new); given the fragmentization of the original text, it builds up into new, unacculturated cultural fragments."Refactoring" is a term originally used in computer software design, denoting a process that involves revising the codes to improve the internal structure of the applications, on the condition that the external behaviors of codes are not changed. Refactoring is a disciplined, trainedand steady method for applications coordination. It minimizes the ratio of inadvertently introduced errors during coordination. Similar concepts include reconstruction, re-organization, re-structuring, re-engineering, and re-design; yet they have an element of destruction — a restructuring after an overall deconstruction. Refactoring, on the other hand, is free of this kind of destruction. Indeed, the first component of refactoring is semantic retention, a consideration of improving internal structures on the condition that procedural observable behaviors are not altered. Therefore, refactoring is a more conservative and prudent process compared with the other similar concepts. After refactoring, individual new "lives'" are produced.The economy and culture of the modern society are in the phase of fast-track development; this is an era prone to fragmentization. Meanwhile, modern society is the one in which fragmentization is constantly refactored. In the Oroqen culture of the current research, after the original culture was fragmentized, the Oroqen group made collective efforts to refactor the Oroqen culture, in the midst of their anxiety and failure to adapt to the new culture, under the guidance of the ethnic minority group policies of the Central Government and with the wholehearted support of the Government of the Autonomous Banner. As fieldwork, the researcher lived amongst the Orogen for a period. He has witnessed a vast difference between the Oroqen depicted in books and the local museum on the one hand, and the actual conditions at present on the other. It is very difficult to find the representations of the Oroqen ethnic minority group one would get from books. It is argued that this is a typical case of cultural change. Through this case study, a rule of cultural change can be argued.The thesis consists of five parts, outlined below:Chapter One presents the rationale and significance of the research. Relevant theories and previous research are reviewed and the theoretical hypothesis is offered for the current research.Chapter Two introduces the Orogen ethnic group and the Oroqen Autonomous Banner, and lays the basics for expounding their marginalization during modernization. This chapter mainly discusses howthe Oroqen ethnicity has been constructed and how their identity has changed before and after the construction. It also reflects on the interpretation of history.Chapter Three deconstructs how the changes of the Oroqen culture are inevitable in the process of modernization with under-metaphysical land, metaphysical language and a holiday between metaphysical and under-metaphysical. It explains the governmental role in the process from fragmentization to refactoring.Chapter Four attempts to interpret the first person memory of the Oroqen ethnicity from the point of view of the third-person "other" and demonstrates the connections between the traditional culture of the Oroqen ethnicity and their modern life. Hunting, formerly a symbol of the ethnicity, has been considered the core of the traditional culture by the Oroqen ethnicity; religion is the perch of the human soul; the dining table is another foothold for culture. It is hoped that the active experiences of the Oroqen ethnicity during cultural change can be revealed in this way.Chapter Five first conducts a sideline annotation of the causes and experience of the Oroqen culture from a "third person" standpoint of the researcher and outsiders. A general summary of the whole text then concludes the thesis.This thesis conducts a tentative investigation of cultural change with a view to provide an anthropological fieldwork report for others to follow and review.