By Thérèse Woodcock on work by Dr Margaret Lowenfeld

Through looking at two sets of mosaics from two cultural groups, one from Malayan Chinese subjects, the other from mainly Tanzanian Moslems, this paper attempts to identify common features in the mosaics that distinguish the groups from each other and to relate these to known cultural elements within each group. In so doing it shows the value of the Lowenfeld mosaic test in cross cultural studies.

It is common knowledge that culture, and cultural differences exist. Indeed, it seems obvious. People dress differently: they prepare food differently, they have different social customs, they have distinctive styles of architecture and plan their towns from different perspectives, they place different values on the various aspects of life, in fact, they hold different views of the world and the meaning of life.