Oct
1
What is Culture?
Posted by: Alex Monegro | October 1, 2012 | Leave a Comment
Summary of What is culture? by Petrina, S. (2009).
In order to understand how culture is related to educational technology and anthropology, we must attempt to understand what is meant by culture itself. According to Petrina (2008), ancient societies had various meanings for the word culture which referred to the cultivation of agriculture and then of the connection of people with nature, and eventually cultivating the mind. There are many definitions of culture which Petrina describes in his article and Sociologists and Anthropologists have differing perspectives about the definition of culture. There are many components to all views of culture that Clifford Geertz compares to patterns or webs of meaning. Cultural studies deal with the production and circulation of meaning. Petrina includes a piece by Alan Gordon describing the new cultural history where the focus is on the meaning of things and events rather on causation. New cultural historians look to understand the past through ways that competing groups construct meaning. New cultural historians see the everyday actions of ordinary people as “important to the understanding of power relations in human societies.”, Gordon, in Petrina, 2009. It is important to note that Cultural studies are not neutral and have political action at their base.
By clicking on the following tag cloud, you will see an interactive summary of the key terms in the articles.
Key Words
Culture has many definitions within and between disciplines. A common definition put forward by Bates and Plog (1990) states that culture is the system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviours, and artifacts that the members of society use to cope with their world and with one another, and that are transmitted from generation to generation through learning. Petrina combines the three disciplinary definitions to conceptulaize culture:
- Learning
- Aesthetic development
- Socialization or acculturation
- Patterns
- Worldviews
- Symbolic acts
Cultural History refers to both an academic discipline and its subject matter. It combines anthropology and history. It records history in social, cultural and political ways.
Multiculturalism is the doctrine that several different cultures (rather than one national culture) can coexist peacefully and equitably in a single country.
Secondary Material
- TEDxNYED – Mike Wesch – 03/06/10 This Kansas State University cultural anthropologist is exploring the effects of new media on society and culture. Watch his TEDTalk video here http://youtu.be/DwyCAtyNYHw.
- Then watch the famous video his students created about learning today. http://youtu.be/dGCJ46vyR9o
Reflection Questions for post- viewing:
- How do you think his culture shock in New Guinea, and the effect of technology on the people of his village, affected his approach to teaching at Kansas state University?
- How did he respond to the culture in his classroom? How can you incorporate some of his approaches into your own practice?
References:
Bates, D. & Plog, F. (1990). Cultural anthropology. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Petrina, S. (2009). What is culture? Vancouver, BC: Tech no-Printing Press.
Wesch, M. (2010, March 6). TEDx Michael Wesch [Video File]. Retrieved from http://youtu.be/DwyCAtyNYHw
Wesch, M. (2007, October 12). A Vision of Students Today [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_history