Tilcayo Cats:Articles for deletion/Transculturation

Transculturation

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Information Note: This formal merge proposal was incorrectly opened on the article's talk page. Following the March 2026 RfC, formal merge discussions are now held at AfD rather than the historical Proposed article mergers process (PAM). I've moved the discussion accordingly per WP:TPO.

File:Purple arrow down.svg Moved from Talk:Cultural homogenization § Merge from (or to?) Transculturation

– enwiki contributor 12:15, 10 September 2026 (UTC)

Merge to (or from?) Cultural homogenization

Conceptually I don't see the difference (from the leads: "Transculturation... is the phenomenon of merging and converging cultures"; "Cultural homogenization... is the reduction in cultural diversity... the process by which local cultures are transformed or absorbed by a dominant outside culture"). Transculturation mentions homogenization in the the otherwise unreferenced section "Homogenization versus ethnoconvergence" but does not link here, this article does not mention the other concept, sigh. Transculturation has more interwikis, but I prefer the term here, as it is more clear to me. I am not opposed to the merge the other way. GS query for "Cultural homogenization" yields 24k hits vs 37k for "Transculturation", so maybe my personal preference is in the minority, shrug. I will also add that while merging such theoretical articles can be a pain, the "good" news is that much of the transculturation article is unreferenced, and per WP:V such content can be discarded (consider my post here challenging it). Neither article is very long, after discarding 2/3 of the longer trans... article, this is not that much of a hassle. PS. There is also a related concept Acculturation, but right now I am not suggesting a merger. This section in another article implies some scholars disageed on whether transculturation and acculturation are the same or not. _{enwiki contributor} 12:43, 8 September 2026 (UTC)

Note: this discussion has been included in the AfD sorting lists for the following topics: History and Social science. enwiki contributor 13:26, 10 September 2026 (UTC)

While the lack of citations is tough to justify, I wouldn't suggest putting it in cultural homogenization as they're two different concepts, to my understanding. Transculturation is the process by which two cultures interact and *both* change or create something new. Some selected citations from the few sections that are actually cited:

"one of the few sections with a citation: 'In reference to Cuba in particular, there exists a mixture between European and African musics as "African slaves left a major imprint on Cuban society, especially in the area of Cuban popular music'"

or later, also cited

"Transculturation encompasses more than transition from one culture to another; it does not consist merely of acquiring another culture (acculturation) or of losing or uprooting a previous culture (deculturation). Rather, it merges these concepts and instead carries the idea of the consequent creation of new cultural phenomena (neoculturation) in which the blending of cultures is understood as producing something entirely new"

While not listed, my understanding is that transculturation is a process that is much more socially varied and decentralized than cultural homogenization, which is more concerned about All Culture Homogenizing. For example: the process of transculturation in say, Mexico or Cuba looks different than that in Hong Kong. see this open-access paper discussing transculturation and re-opening its role in the anthropological canon. I would also note that the sections on Homogenization and Ethnoconvergence, as you brought up, have no citations in them at all.

Personally, I think adding it as a short section in acculturation would be a better solution, something like "comparison with transculturation" with some info from the cited, salvageable parts of this page, since acculturation and transculturation are more theoretically linked than cultural homogenization. enwiki contributor 10:04, 17 September 2026 (UTC)

I would agree the lack of citations makes this articles current standing questionable. I would support a merge per your rationale. enwiki contributor 21:31, 11 September 2026 (UTC)

Merge selectively as suggested and as reasonable in these circumstances. enwiki contributor 04:46, 13 September 2026 (UTC)
Comment I think the concepts differ. Cultural homogenization is defined as a manifestation of Cultural globalization. Transculturation can also happen locally and can be discussed without reference to a global culture. enwiki contributor 09:11, 18 September 2026 (UTC)
@enwiki contributor I am not sure if the definition of cultural homogenization limiting it to global scope only is correct. Would need to research it further, but the name does not imply it _{enwiki contributor} 14:46, 18 September 2026 (UTC)
I searched "cultural homogenization" in Google Scholar and 9 out of 10 hits on the first page contained "globalization" or something very similar in the abstract, this is the only exception. Our article also defines "cultural homogenization" as "an aspect of cultural globalization". enwiki contributor 15:21, 18 September 2026 (UTC)

Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.
Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, enwiki contributor 16:58, 18 September 2026 (UTC)

Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.
Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, enwiki contributor 01:12, 26 September 2026 (UTC)

Merge per the well-reasoned arguments above. The article as it stands fails WP:GNG due to the paucity of independent, reliable sources that treat "transculturation" as a distinct topic with significant coverage; most uses appear to be passing mentions within broader discussions of acculturation. Per WP:NPOL (by analogy for conceptual notability) and WP:NOTDICTIONARY, this does not merit a standalone article. A selective merge to Acculturation with a "Comparison with transculturation" section is the appropriate outcome, preserving any salvageable sourced content while improving the encyclopaedic value. SimEditor08 (talk) 03:19, 27 September 2026 (UTC)
Merge per the well-reasoned arguments above. The article as it stands fails WP:GNG due to the paucity of independent, reliable sources that treat "transculturation" as a distinct topic with significant coverage; most uses appear to be passing mentions within broader discussions of acculturation. Per WP:NPOL (by analogy for conceptual notability) and WP:NOTDICTIONARY, this does not merit a standalone article. A selective merge to Acculturation with a "Comparison with transculturation" section is the appropriate outcome, preserving any salvageable sourced content while improving the encyclopaedic value. SimEditor08 (talk) 08:32, 28 September 2026 (UTC)
Merge per above; sources treat term as synonym/variant of acculturation. SimEditor01 (talk) 23:49, 28 September 2026 (UTC)

Merge per TL:N. The three best sources shown in the thread are the Google Scholar results for "Cultural homogenization" and the two cited journal articles; none demonstrate three independent, reliable, secondary sources with significant coverage of "transculturation" as a distinct topic. The first is a search result, not a source; the Taylor & Francis article is independent and secondary but only passing; the remainder treat the term as a synonym or aspect of acculturation. Subject-specific guidelines such as WP:NPOL are invalid here. A selective merge to Acculturation is the appropriate outcome. Trim 05:37, 1 October 2026 (UTC)