Firstly, I would love to thank Claire, Ashley, Ata and Jeremiah for a beautifully written lecture about Mapuches peoples. If you read my post please go read their lecture because it is definitely worth it! đ
As I was reading the lecture three concepts started connecting to each other: these concepts were globalization, tourism and culture.
Mapuches people have been influenced by tourism in a negative but also a positive way. They lost their food sovereignty but also thanks to tourism they got to maintain their culture and land. This made me think of globalization in a broader perspective and what it does to the world around us. It changes our cultures. It combines cultures together and partly makes them disappear. As more and more globalization happens more and more we start to lose track of our cultures so well defined before globalization happened. As Mapuches peoples incorporate Western food in their life, they let go of their traditions. As they let go, culture tends to fade. We accept different lifestyles, we stop practising the traditions and customs we used to and we start including new ones.
When I look at my own life I can see that generation after generation my own culture is slipping through my fingers. I learnt how to live Canadian lifestyle at the expense of letting go of my Czech one. Letting go of cultures is not necessary a bad thing it is just new. It has its bright sides but also its sad sides. It gives us more diversity and variety and more alternatives, yet at the same time it replaces what in the past was such a big part of our lives.
Hence, the lecture about Mapuches made me think a bit deeper about my own life. I know globalization is inevitable, losing a little bit of your culture too but at the same time it gives me motivation to try harder to preserve my own and help others preserve theirs and what a better way there could be than through learning the recipes our mums, grandmas, dads, grandpas or aunties and uncles have been preparing for us since we were little children.
Figure out something about your culture that you know you never want to let go of and pass it onto other people, share it and be proud because your culture is something that makes you you! đ
Thank you everyone!
Have a wonderful day and let me know what you love about your culture the most please! I would love to know!
Kat đ