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Post by dianaholberg on Sept 22, 2005 10:03:55 GMT -5
Some of the responses on other threads make me curious. What is culture?
(As usual I have my own view, but I'm interested in hearing others before posting my own.)
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Post by dianaholberg on Sept 22, 2005 21:21:06 GMT -5
What... no one has an answer?? How come?
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Post by Tigress on Sept 23, 2005 0:31:53 GMT -5
...since I define culture as a set of shared goals, practices, social forms, and material traits particular to a certain group or groups of people. It may be a bit too broad of an assumption for some, but aren't our countries, provinces/states, cities/towns/villages/locales like cultures unto themselves in a sense?
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Post by Mestemia on Sept 23, 2005 10:00:08 GMT -5
Isn't a culture a growing of cells in a petrie dish?
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Post by littlepea on Sept 23, 2005 11:47:07 GMT -5
Now I have heard before that Nova Scotia has kept alive scottish culture more than Scotland has, not sure if that one is true. it may be true that nova scotia has kept traditional scottish culture alive more than scotalnd has, but of course modern scottish culture is defined by what scotland is today, so we hold the trump card on that one i'm finding it hard to think of what traditional scottish culture actually is, maybe: haggis, kilts, ceilidhs (ie. scottish country dancing - great fun too , rabbie burns, william wallace, being constantly pessimistic and perpetual underdogs, and of course celebrating english failure. all of those are still around in modern day scotland (particularly the last 3) but it's hard to keep your own culture alive and well when you have a neighbour to the south constantly trying to suppress anything that celebrates being scottish in case we decide that we want to be an independant nation again. modern day scottish culture includes: binge drinking, unhealthy eating, football (which in itself includes unparalleled levels of religious bigotry, and also complete failure at a national level), violence (a recent study found that scotland is the most violent developed nation in the world), cigarettes, heroin, low self-esteem, depression and of course celebrating english failure. still, we're getting better, slowly, and in the end, you've got to laugh PS. i may have completely misunderstood what culture is really about, but i enjoyed writing this so i'm going to hit the "post reply" button anyway
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Post by Tara on Sept 23, 2005 14:25:27 GMT -5
PS. i may have completely misunderstood what culture is really about, but i enjoyed writing this so i'm going to hit the "post reply" button anyway My definition of culture has to do with the customs and traditions that are shared amongst a group of people. What else could it be?
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Post by littlepea on Sept 23, 2005 15:45:10 GMT -5
i just wrote down basically what i think scotland's about and what other people see in us.
for example, if we were to talk about france we'd probably mention wine, onions and art, if we were talking about holland we might mention cheese, cloggs and marajuana, germany we could mention beer gardens, porn and lederhosen.
i guess stereotypes are based on culture, aren't they? like the stereotypical frenchman riding his bike with his beret, silly moustache, ring of onions round his neck and hooped jumper (horizontal stripes, that is) etc.
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Post by dianaholberg on Sept 23, 2005 18:26:53 GMT -5
My definition of culture has to do with the customs and traditions that are shared amongst a group of people. What else could it be? Well, here's a question, Tara... if you leave the group of people, do you leave behind the culture?
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Post by dianaholberg on Sept 23, 2005 18:34:23 GMT -5
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Post by littlepea on Sept 23, 2005 21:45:44 GMT -5
oh, and i forgot to mention golf and whiskey for scottish culture as well. golf is the national sport of scotland, and even though scotland draws relatively the biggest crowds in europe for football (proportional to our overall population), so so many people play golf, it's unbelievable. there's about 15 golf courses within a 20 mile radius of my home town, public and privately owned clubs, it's crazy ... i don't like golf, personally, it's boring, even though i'm pretty good at it
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Post by Tara on Sept 24, 2005 12:07:04 GMT -5
My definition of culture has to do with the customs and traditions that are shared amongst a group of people. What else could it be? Well, here's a question, Tara... if you leave the group of people, do you leave behind the culture? Not always. Especially if you grew up in it, it will be instilled into you one way or another.
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Post by dianaholberg on Sept 24, 2005 12:25:50 GMT -5
I ask because the folks I am around are very far from home (I've worked with folks from India, Pakistan, Burma, Russia, and of course Canada) and (with the exception of the Canadians) have to work at being true to their cultural identity while here in the States. They have to seek out places to gather, entertainment that doesn't offend, etc. In many ways, their culture determines their day-to-day choices even while far from the "group" that established the cultural norms.
The same was true back in school... I remember fellow students devoting a lot of time and energy to similar efforts.
The saddest thing to me is that they do it mostly secretly -- or at least, without discussing it with Americans... because in general we are a pretty intolerant bunch, in spite of what we say.
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Post by Tara on Sept 25, 2005 20:37:52 GMT -5
I agree. When I'm around people of other cultures, I let them know in sublte ways that it's okay to be who you are around me. I don't bite, and I'm in fact, very curious. I think it's an honor to get a feel for another culture first hand.
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