229 lecture 3

• Culture is not something exclusive to Africans, nor is it merely tradition or a collection of customs
• Culture is not solely about the past or public performances, nor is it the opposite of science, modernity, or modernization

Lord Macaulay on Culture and Colonization

• In 1835, Lord Macaulay told the British Parliament they would not conquer India unless they broke the nation's spiritual and cultural heritage
• Macaulay proposed replacing the Indian education system and culture with a foreign, English one
• His aim was for Indians to lose self-esteem and become a dominated nation by thinking everything foreign and English was better than their own

Popular Views and Definition of Culture

• Some view culture as old traditions and customs, but it encompasses more
• Understanding society requires considering its history
• Culture involves the past, present, and future components of society
• Culture is not exclusive to any one group

Standard Definitions of Culture

• E.B. Tylor defines culture as a complex whole inclusive of knowledge, morals, religion, customs, habits, and capabilities acquired by humans as members of society
• The World Conference on Cultural Policies (MONDIACULT, 1998) defines culture as the complex of spiritual, material, intellectual, and emotional features characterizing a society or social group
• It includes arts, letters, modes of life, fundamental human rights, value systems, traditions, and beliefs

Various Definitions of Culture

• Amos N. Wilson defines culture as a set of rules and procedures developed by a group from life experiences to meet their needs, supported by ideas and values
• Steve Biko defines culture as essentially the society's composite answer to life's varied problems
• Amilcar Cabral defines culture as simultaneously the fruit and determinant of a people's history, influencing relationships between humans and their environment; national liberation is an act of culture

Components of Culture

• Frantz Fanon defines national culture as the efforts made by a people in thought to describe, justify, and praise action that has created and maintains their existence
• Culture is the way a people think, feel, and believe; it is a shorthand for way of life
• It encompasses the distinctive achievements, identities, and aspirations of communities and people

Culture as a Totality or a Complex Whole

• Culture involves all socially important components of a society and they are inter-linked like threads of a fabric
• Traditional African communities have many aspects, including social, moral, linguistic, religious, political, and economic factors

Identifiable Components of Culture

• The economy which includes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services and the predominant mode of livelihood can identify people culturally as pastoralists, agriculturalists, hunter-gatherers, or traders
• A society's religion must be included as a component in order to fully comprehend African culture
• A society's political norms and behaviors are also key

Other Identifiable Components of Culture

• Forms of entertainment like dances, music, games, and drama play a large role
• Language is crucial to definition and identification of a culture
• Technology and sciences, alongside material culture, contribute

Culture includes Implications and Aspects

• Knowledge, belief, behavior, and practice systems are all implied
• It is incorrect to assume that culture is disconnected from economics, politics, or science
• Culture includes both material and non-material components which include norms, beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions

Environment and Culture

• Societies use environmental resources for their livelihoods and, while they may not be wholly dependent, they are influenced by the environment
• Culture can influence the environment, highlighting the importance of addressing environmental degradation
• The environment is more influential upon traditional African cultures than it is on European and so called developed countries

Culture Versus Nature

• Culture is man-made and distinct from nature
• Culture is not a natural product, and people are not born with it; they acquire it as members of their society

Culture is Composed of Patterns

• Culture is described by the patterns of thinking, feeling, and believing
• These are consisting of explicit and implicit patterns which are acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievement of human groups

Collective Learning and Sharing

• Culture refers to patterns that apply to a society, community, or group
• Culture enables people to live together as a society, where a society needs its culture in order to endure
• The individual characteristics of individuals can be adopted by a wider society which makes them cultural

Learning and Sharing Culture

• The transmission of culture can be done through participant observation and structured learning
• Culture is vertically transmitted from one generation to another (inter-generation)
• Within the same grouping culture is also shared (intra-generation)
• Cultural intermixing also happens during borrowing

Sanctions and Cultural Transmission

• Sanctions help in the transmission of culture and conformity to norms
• Society can make actions positive and negative, rewarding behavior or penalizing others

Dynamic Nature of Culture

• Culture changes and is not static, due to shifts in demographics, environmental factors, economic changes, and contact with other societies
• Globalization further influences changes in societies