Theory on “Center and Peryphery” in the study of cultural space

Abstract

The article is about the concept of “Spreading theories of Western European countries” (Germany, Austria) on “centers” while studying culture, the concept of “center and periphery” of American and Soviet anthropologists and the concerns on regional researches of Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese researchers. It is a development progress of anthropological theories from the concept of “Spreading cultural theories of Western European countries” in the end of the 19^th century to the concept of “cultural center” in researching on cultural regions of American anthropology  in the early of the 20^th century. It has escaped from the one way  extremeness and more focused on the  morphological attributes of cultural phenomenum. Besides, Soviet anthropologists has reviewed the center and periphery issues of culture through aspects as the establishment practice and the developments of world civilization, for example, East Asia and South Asia.  By applying above theories, the article has clarified the formation and changes of culture in specific cultural regions as East Asian culture case study; the comparison of culture between Vietnam and Korea case study; and Culture of Thang long – Hanoi case study.