ABSTRACT
The discourse of social science apparently came to diverge from the Church discourse. More positive attitude towards the concept of syncretism has prevailed among social scientists. African and New World societies presented quite different political situations, and this made for very different fieldwork experiences for mid-century anthropologists. Africanisms could survive among American Negroes, but they were often matters of unconscious cultural behaviour such as rhythm, or forms of greeting and etiquette which he termed "cultural imponderables". Gunnar Myrdal's central argument was that racial segregation and discrimination stood as large, disturbing contradictions in a nation espousing democracy, freedom and equality for all in short. In contemporary social theory, processes such as globalization, international migration and the formation of diasporas are subjects of great interest. In this body of literature the word "syncretism" has begun to reappear alongside allied concepts such as cultural hybridization and realization as a means of capturing the dynamics of actual global processes.
