What Is Your Own Definition Of Culture?

[Estellehow]

Hi! I am working on a school project about culture and it would be great if you could answer these questions. Thanks a lot!

[TWR]

Has it occurred Lyn, that some may find it hard to get to grips with Culture?

[Peter Pedant]

locked up with a Boasian anthropologist in Southern Egypt for six months with a boasian anthropologist
Boas Big Idea was the people coming in took up the culture most suitable for that environment - plains culture for example

Dart was my fathers prof of anatomy for his first degree ( 1930) - and described australopithecus. It was about him that Prof whitenead soid " Prof Dart was right and I was wrong" You dont hear that often I cant tell you. Boas admitted that his e effect was defintitely NOT observed in the Zulu/Bantu settlements in southern africa . Clearly my father passed on a lot of Darts idea

Renfrew was the Prof of Arch and Anth when I was a student - I had to choose someone .....

[Peter Pedant]

// Has it occurred Lyn, that some may find it hard to get to grips with Culture?//

anthropologists quarrel about it constantly they say

[Peter Pedant]

was the answer removed any good ?...

[jourdain2]

Nearest I can get is that it is that which, when all ideas around are come and gone, you adhere to as an absolute to your understanding and being. This may help.

[Khandro]

P.P. Isn't all that anthropology stuff a bit passé? I mean doesn't anyone who wrote a book entitled "The Mind of Primitive Man" seem today slightly patronising?
Not only do I not understand the mind of a 'primitive man', I don't even understand the mind of my neighbour, or for that matter, even certain members of my own family!!
To 'understand' say, the British culture, don't you think we need to embrace the whole enchilada, not only Shakespeare and Newton, but the Kray twins as well?

[vetuste_ennemi]

Alien v Predator

[vetuste_ennemi]

Pierre contre Allemand.

[Peter Pedant]

o vetuste I was expecting at least a comment ( in latin of course ) about the culture of the Roman Empire

( what about 'vae victis' ? )

Khandro - is anthropology dead ? erm no I dont think so ....
Do anthropological theories go in cycles ?
yeah that was one of the things Dart taught....

[Peter Pedant]

// To 'understand' British culture, don't you think we need to embrace the whole subject, not only Shakespeare and Newton, but the Kray twins as well?//

Khandro you are saying what is IN british culture ( Shakespeare and Krays ) and not making observations ABOUT culture


the young lady wants to be able to point at something and say O that is a culture
and O look at that - that isnt

[jomifl]

It's what we do..

[Khandro]

PP; //Khandro you are saying what is IN british culture ( Shakespeare and Krays ) and not making observations ABOUT culture//

Yer can't have one without t'other dear boy.
Regard the Saudis for example; along with the beautiful architecture and caligraphy, you must take in the fact that burying women (often innocent victims of rape) up to their waists in the ground and throwing rocks at them until they're dead is all part of the wonderfully rich Islamic culture.

[Peter Pedant]

// Yer can't have one without t'other dear boy. //

yes you can - you can make statements about what a culture is without making references to events you dont like ( stoning women or robbing banks ) and that may be what estelle is asking

[Khandro]

PP, When you hear the word, culture, you don't reach for your gun then?

[Estellehow]

Just to clear things out- by culture, I meant the society we live in such as the Indian culture, chinese culture, etc..

[Khandro]

Yes Estelle, that's what I thought too, - the whole enchilada

[Peter Pedant]

um

society doesnt equal culture

I think defining society is probably easier .....

[Mosaic]

The word 'culture' has different meanings depending on the context it arises in. In biology it can mean a specially grown bacteria. In archaeology it means a identifiable artefacts or structures, such as distinctive pottery, tools or adornment. Anthropology takes the archaeological definition further, and adds distinctive behaviours and practices, such as bride-price or dowry, inheritance patterns or religious adherence.
When applied to society culture then becomes much less easy to define, and in fact is easier to express by the way that it's used to exclude 'others'. That might be from your gang, from your golf club, or from your art gallery.
So really Estelle we need to know more about the background to your question, to answer it in any greater depth.

[Mosaic]

Ah Estelle we crossed each other!
The thing about China and India is their sheer size means that they are really a series of groups, or cultures, and that for the time being they are under the government of one central administration. Indians from Mysore and Gujarat are very different to each other.

[Peter Pedant]

Thx moze I knew you would come up trumps


when I was being driven from Beijing to the Capital airport ( 100 km ) we stopped on the motorway and a car pulled up with three men pubic beards and white jellabias and I thought 'o Pakistani immigrants'

they had of course identified their culture by dress

my chinese interpreter said ' you must be surprised'
and I went like whaaaaa?
and she said they are 'Uigurs' a minority protected by chinese law
and I didnt say o god yeah like the Tibetans

that was just a fr'instance
a bit of the enchilada as Khandro might say