cultural history

Civilization's recorded past

Cultural history is the study of how people in a given time and place understood their world—their beliefs, values, customs, arts, and daily practices.

Unlike political or economic history, it focuses on mentalities and meanings: how people experienced childhood, death, gender, or nature.

Her book is a cultural history of American dieting.

The field draws on sources beyond official documents—diaries, advertisements, popular songs, material objects—to reconstruct how ordinary people thought and lived.

heritage

artifacts

Human-made historical objects

monumentsStructures commemorating notable achievements
museumsInstitutions preserving cultural artifacts
preservationMaintaining something's condition

archives · genealogy · ancestry · lineage · heirlooms · relics · antiquities · restoration · conservation · memorials

civilization

antiquity

Great age, ancient era

empireDomain under unified control
dynastySuccessive family rulers
renaissancePeriod of renewed vitality

enlightenment · classics · urbanization · philosophy · literature · manuscripts · codices · papyrus · historiography · chronicles

tradition

customs

Traditional practices or import taxes

ritualsCeremonial repeated practices
ceremoniesFormal observances with ritual
folkloreInherited cultural narratives

festivals · cuisine · dance · music · costumes · oral tradition · legends · myths · fables · taboos

anthropology

ethnography

Systematic study of peoples

kinshipState of being related
mythologyBody of traditional tales
ritualCeremonial set of actions

totem · clan · cosmology · shaman · linguistics · animism · ethnocentrism · fieldwork · rites · symbolism

change

modernization

Adoption of current methods

globalizationWorldwide economic and cultural integration
secularizationReligion losing social significance
industrializationTransition to factory-based economy

colonialism · assimilation · syncretism · postcolonialism · migration · diaspora · revivalism · nationalism · decolonization · westernization

Categories

cultural heritagefolklore, traditions, customs, folk music revival, museum collections
humanitiesphilosophy, literature, philosophy class, novels, humanities
historieschronicle, annals, historical record, historical account, historical narrative
history educationhistorian, textbook, primary source, secondary source, lesson plans
art historyRenaissance, Baroque, Impressionism, modern art, Renaissance art
Hispanic StudiesSpanish literature, Spanish language, Cervantes, Don Quixote, Spanish drama

Opposites

historical subject matter

cultural historypolitical history

Study of past governance

military history · economic history · constitutional history · legal history

methodological approach

cultural historyhard science

Empirically rigorous research field

temporal orientation

cultural historyfuturology

Study of coming times

current affairs · futurism · trend forecasting · cultural criticism

Family

history, culture, cultured, cultural, agriculture, cultures, uncultured, histrionic, multicultural

Familiarity: Top 200,000
Profile: Used worldwide · Timeless · Abstract · Rated G