Walking Between Worlds: Episode III

A summary from the podcast Walking Between Worlds. Listen now from your favorite podcast app.

Where does culture come from?

Guests: Natalie Kim, Business Program Director, Terry Steele, Academic Director

While culture is heavily influenced by geographic area there are many other facets that figure into the development of culture. Clifford Geertz defined culture as a historically transmitted pattern of meanings embedded and expressed in symbols that are used to communicate, perpetuate and develop knowledge about the attitudes toward life.

As mentioned in episode II: attitudes, products, and ideas can differ between cultures. If you want to know where a culture is going or what it is about, look to the artists. For example, while American and Japanese cultures both have cartoons, Japanese Anime differs vastly in meaning from traditional American animation. American cartoons are fairly straight forward while Japanese Anime is much more complex in meaning and subtext, much like Kabuki is a highly expressive form of Japanese theater, complete with history, cultural values, and ideals of Japanese culture.

Culture is never static.

It never stays still. It is never rigid. Some of the reasons culture is expressed in certain ways might be traditions, language, religion, ethnicity, generation, education, or nationality. As said before, even where someone is from can shape culture. The environment of a region can affect culture because nature affects human activity. When the weather is extremely cold humans tend to stay inside and seek warmth away from the frigid elements outside. When the climate is raining and wet human activity tends to seek water repellent clothing and utensils, like an umbrella or parka. In agricultural regions planting season and harvest tend to curtail leisure activities as work hours are lengthened. Islanders tend to eat more seafood while those who live in forested areas tend to have wood houses. An example from South Korea is during the winter months all the women get together and make Kimchi. This is the Kimchi making season. That's how they connect with one another and build relationships.

There are some scholars who believe that climate affects the effectiveness of a culture. For example, some of them believe that temperate climates, those areas that are nice weather year-round, tend to be more inclined to be successful conquerors. Rome, Egypt, Ancient Syria, or Greece, Alexander the Great, are some examples they site. However, they admit that there are exceptions, like the Mongols under Genghis Khan, or the former U.S.S.R. In addition, nice climates do not always give way to successful expansion. Other natural elements can stunt conquerings, such as Jamaica, or Hawaii. While climate might be a factor in a culture's success or expansion it certainly is not the sole factor. Other factors like population density, which tend to huddle in temperate zones or available resources, or food supplies can affect culture.

In addressing how cultures develop sometime a culture comparison can help to find similar development factors. One example of this is the comparison of Australia to the United States. Geert Hofstede noted that both nations are almost identical in cultural profile. Both were heavily influenced by the UK. When examining who settled these nations, we note that Australia's eastern half was used as a penal colony by Great Britain. The US was settled by those seeking religious refuge, mostly from Great Britain.

So why would a set of colonies seeking religious freedom be similar in development to a penal colony?

First, they were both established as nations in similar times, the United States in 1776 and Australia in 1788. Second, those seeking independence for all sorts of reasons settled in the US, not just religious dissidents. By the late 1700s, the US was led by those who were particularly resistant to the top-down rule of Great Britain. A number of years ago an informal poll was taken in the UK of who the most hated villain in their history was. George Washington was the person who was considered the worst villain in their history. The US considered George Washington to be a hero, one of the founding fathers, and an icon of true American leadership. Would it not be safe to say that a nation being led by rebels and villains against the British crown might have a lot in common with British prisoners cast onto the shores of a distant land? Even now, the rebel, can-do attitude can be found in both nations. There are other factors that affect the similarity between the two nations but the type of people who developed Australia and the US were very similar, therefore the foundations of the nations are similar.

There are layers of culture.

When the universal commonness of humans is examined, we can see that every human being is social and relational. There is a system of family, how they create community. Humans use language to communicate with one another. On a narrower level, there is national culture, the city culture, and family culture. When examining traditions, which indicate what is important, and family, individual personality can also be included in the development of each sub-culture. The narrower you go the more differences arise.

There are factors that unite us as people from the same general culture or geographical culture so also there are individual factors that differentiate between individuals. Culture is not a hard and fast rule that locks everyone in that cultural region into identical behavior or thoughts. There is a level of flexibility that is allowed in each culture. Just because people live in the same city, they do not necessarily share the exact same culture. Culture can be seen as a bell curve, a line that starts low and rises to a peak or hill before dropping down again. A majority of the people will act, think, and believe in a similar area, which would be the tallest point of the bell curve, but in every culture, there are those anomalies that are at the low point of the bell. We're not all the same but there is a general trend.

One example of this is how slang phrases are picked up by one group, like students from a particular college, and then passed on to teachers, tutors, and parents. This kind of trend can develop through immersion in the culture, almost like someone is born with it. This is part of how children learn the culture, through observation and trial and error. As a child, it is not possible to change or control what is absorbed culturally. It is experiential. Yet as a child develops there are other factors about general culture or family culture that can be deliberately rejected or accepted. In seeking to develop relationships or be accepted into new friendships there are cultural factors that can be learned in order to be a member of that group. This is part of the adaptability of culture. The process of learning culture can be linked with elements of deviant behavior, which is considered contrary to a culture, and socialization, how one learns the accepted and expected behavior of a people group. Deviant activities are usually spoken out against, but there are some forms of deviance that are allowed because it is not expressly prohibited by culture.

Some artists play in that area that might be considered acceptable deviance which can lead to a culture being nudged in a slightly different area or social rules challenged.

You can choose how much of the cultural traditions you want to pass down to the next generation. Within that choice is also parts of traditions and culture that are not passed down and are either rejected or forgotten. Many times, people are unaware of cultural beliefs and perpetuate them without even recognizing their presence. These are very difficult to challenge or change even when made aware of such deep beliefs, also called a worldview. While these ideas are deep within a culture when compared to other cultures many times these elements of deep culture can rise to the surface in contrast to another culture. The differences between cultures can be seen as barriers or opportunities to learn from. People who tend to be insecure about or unaware of cultural differences tend to reject different cultures unconsciously. When someone is aware of not only what the cultural differences are but why there is such discomfort with the cultural differences, they might be able to accept the different culture and learn from it.

Cultures can also recognize key markers, gender, race, gender for example, that are unchangeable that indicate a person's place in society. In addition, key markers that are changeable, level of education, learned skills, attitudes, and gifts, tend to affect the position in society, but not in all cultures. Caste, every human being is born to a certain status in society that is unchangeable, cultures tend to see human beings as being more unchangeable than achievement cultures that view success and failure on the basis of what a person does rather than who they are born to. These systems are unique to each culture and cannot be forced upon other people groups as the norm, even though many cultures have tried to do so.

Culture is always changing. It is not static.

When encountering other cultures, a natural tendency of all humans is to react to differences and at times even be threatened by them. We can choose what to do with cultural differences. If we choose to reject the differences, then we self-isolate and reject potential relationships with those who are different. If we accept those who are different culturally then we can be enriched by different ways of doing things and different ideas.

What is Walking Between Worlds?

Walking Between Worlds is a podcast hosted by CultureBound. CultureBound is a training organization that specializes in Culture and Language. This podcast focuses on the secrets of culture to enrich our interactions with others. The topics covered relate to culture and building connections with people across cultural differences, specifically as it relates to American culture in a world that is globalizing. Walking Between Worlds is about how to navigate relationships in a cross-cultural context. This is a sneak peek into the material that CultureBound covers. We also have premium content and training on our website CultureBound.org that you can take today!