Let's Talk About Culture

"Men and women are not only themselves; they are also the region in which they were born, the city apartment or the farm in which they learnt to walk, the games they played as children, the tales they overheard, the food they ate, the schools they attended, the sports they followed, the poets they read and the God they believed in"

(W. Somerset Maugham. The Razor's Edge)

What does the word culture mean to you?

Hundreds of definitions of culture exist, each one longer and more difficult than the last. It has even become common to talk about organisational cultures, especially when considering transnational corporations.

• The first thing that comes to mind may be what you would find in the cultural pages of a newspaper: ballet, opera, music, books and other intellectual or artistic activities.

• Here we view culture from a much wider perspective. We are looking at the values and systems of behaviour that allow groups of people to make sense of the world. This is complex stuff and trying to understand cultures, including your own, will mean examining many aspects of life. Some of them are immediately visible, for others you may have to dig deeper:

• What is defined as "good" and "bad"?

• How are families structured?

• What is the relationship between men and women?

• How is time perceived?

• Which traditions are important?

• What languages are spoken?

• Which rules govern the consumption of food and drink?

• How is information shared?

• Who has the power and how do they get it?

• What are the reactions to other cultures?

• What is funny?

• What role does the religion play?

The list could be much longer and you can find other aspects to add. It is important to stress here that the answers to such questions are, to a great extent, shared by the members of a culture - it's obvious, it's normal, that's the way it is. They behave in similar ways, they share similar references and they judge things in similar ways. Such an observation is more obvious when you are confronted with a different culture or go abroad. Cultures are not static, they change and so the answers and even the questions themselves change over time.

Take one of the questions listed above. How might your grandparents have ­answered?

The existing differences between cultures reflect the effort each society has had to make in order to survive within a particular reality. This reality is made up of: a) the geographical background, b) the social background, that is to say, the other human groups with which it has had contact and exchange; and c) the "metaphysical" background, looking for a sense to life.

If there are different cultures, does this mean that some are better than others?

Even within cultures there are those who do not comply with all the usual norms and they may find themselves identified as sub-cultures. Members of sub-cultures are often the victims of intolerance within our societies. Examples include people with disabilities, gay and lesbian people, certain religious groups and the wide spectrum of youth sub-cultures. Their distinguishing features may involve use of language, choice of clothes, music and celebration.

Which sub-culture(s) are you part of?

You may like to put this question, 'what does the word culture mean to you?' to the group. You could do a brainstorm or you may like to use the technique 'silent floor discussion' as described in section 8.3 of Domino.

After the discussion you could go on to explore participants' images of different cultures through the activity 'Antonio and Ali', which involves storytelling or to 'The island', which is a simulation game. Both these activities are in part 2 of this Education pack.

If you want to go deeper into issues about cultural difference and human rights there is a level 3 simulation activity in Compass called 'Makah whaling', which explores issues about respect for different cultural values.

Learning Your Own Culture: Something as Natural as Breathing

We are born within a culture, and during the first stages of life we learn our culture. This process is sometimes referred to as our socialisation. Each society transfers to its members the value system underlying its culture. Children learn how to understand and use signs and symbols whose meanings change arbitrary from one culture to another. Without this process the child would be unable to exist within a given culture. To take a banal example, imagine what would happen if your children could not understand the meaning of a red traffic light. There is no objective reason for red to mean 'stop', or green to mean 'go'. Parents and family, school, friends and the mass media, particularly television - all of them contribute to the socialisation of children and, often, we are not even aware that we are part of this process.

What have been the biggest influences in your socialisation?

Culture is lived in a different way by each of us. Each person is a mixture of their culture, their own individual characteristics and their experience. This process is further enriched if you are living with two or more cultures at the same time. For instance, as a second-generation immigrant, you may be learning your culture of origin within the family and the culture of the country where you live at school and through the media.

Identity

Who am I? What am I? Identity is like culture, there are many aspects to it, some hidden some visible. One way of looking at this could be to imagine yourself as an onion (even if you don't like to eat them). Each layer corresponds to a different part of your identity.

 

What are the most important things which make up your identity? Write them next to the numbers 1 -5, with number 1 being the most important to you.

Some of these will be related to:

• the roles you play in life: a daughter, a friend, a school student, a baker, a banker;

• the parts of your identity you may be able to choose: fan of a certain type of music, member of a political party, style of clothes;

• where you were born, where you now live;

• belonging to a minority or not;

• your gender and your sexuality;

• your religion

and, perhaps strangely,

• what you are not or don't want to be: not a woman, not a socialist, not French, not an alcoholic.

Identity is not only a question of how we perceive ourselves.

The onion of identity

Others identify us, and we may not like the label they give us. Continuing the vegetable analogy, what happens if one onion calls another a tulip bulb? To return to one of the major subjects of the last chapter: the labelling of some people as a "minority group" may be done by others. Who are we? And who are they? Our social identity has to do with values an symbols. We divide people into groups because there seems to be a need to be different from others. We need to give values to our group (class, family, friends) which give us a positive value of ourselves. The danger lies in putting negative values on those who do not form part of our group. Putting people in boxes denies them the possibility of being anything else.

In section 4 of Domino you will find several 'Stories told by young people' in which they reflect on identity and cultural difference. These can be very useful as starting points for discussion or role play.

You may wish to get the group to consider their own ethnocentricity and to focus on how others see them and their culture. If so have a look at the activity, 'Letter from an Arab/Black/Gypsy/Southerner/...', C/20 in Alien 93.

If you want to look at identity and human rights issues, then you may like to do the activity, 'Who are I?' in Compass.

You may like to follow up the discussion about people's personal 'onion of identity' with either the activity 'Me too' or 'Dominoes'. These are lively activities that help people to get to know each other and to explore their differences and what they have in common. Alternatively the group may like to do some research to identify the 'foreign footprints', the evidence of other cultures in the locality; see 'Trailing diversity'.

In section 4 of Domino you will find several 'Stories told by young people' in which they reflect on identity and cultural difference. These can be very useful as starting points for discussion or role- play.
You may wish to get the group to consider their own ethnocentricity and to focus on how others see them and their culture. If so have a look at the activity, 'Letter from an Arab/Black/Gypsy/Southerner/….', C/20 in Alien 93.

If you want to look at identity and human rights issues, then you may like to do the activity, 'Who are I?' in Compass.

Name two simple (or silly!) characteristics which a foreigner might associate with the country you live in, for example, Switzerland = watches and banking, Russia = vodka and fur hats. Are these things an important part of your identity? You could call this a Word Association game.

If people in you group enjoyed the spontaneity of the word association game, then they may also enjoy using their wits to talk 'off the top of their head'. 'Just a minute' in Compass is an activity that provokes participants to think about issues relating to sport and human rights; but the method can easily be adapted to any topic

If you want to work more on the way people make associations and stereotypes then your group may enjoy the activity, 'Cultionary', a team game that involves drawing and guessing.

Alternatively, the group may like to do the 'First impressions' activity, which involves giving a snap judgement about people based on their appearance. It is interesting to see how varied different people's 'first impressions' can be and where their associations come from!

Is a nation a culture?