GST LECTURE NOTE 1.docx

**GST LECTURE NOTE** **CONCEPT OF CULTURE, EPISTEMOLOGY AND COSMOLOGY** The concept culture has no universally acceptable definition. Many scholars have defined the concept from different perspectives. The term culture is derived from the Latin word, "colere," meaning "to cultivate." It is a socia...

**GST LECTURE NOTE** **CONCEPT OF CULTURE, EPISTEMOLOGY AND COSMOLOGY** The concept culture has no universally acceptable definition. Many scholars have defined the concept from different perspectives. The term culture is derived from the Latin word, "colere," meaning "to cultivate." It is a social behaviour and norms found in human societies. Culture is considered a central concept in anthropology, encompassing the range of phenomena that are transmitted through social learning in human societies (Agbe, 2012). According to Nigerian National Cultural Policy (1988), culture is the totality of the way of life evolved by a people in their attempt to meet the challenges in their environment which gives order and meaning to their social, political, economic, aesthetic and religious norms and modes of organization, thus distinguishing a people from their neighbours. Culture is fundamental to human existence and human civilization. It is dynamic and it embodies the totality of a people\'s response to the challenges of life and living. It offers meaning, purpose, and value to the socio-economic, religious, political and aesthetic ethos of society (Obafemi, 2011). Scholars have been discussing and debating definitions of culture since the origin of the discipline in the 19^th^ century. The classic definition of culture is given by E.B. Tylor in his book *Primitive Culture* in 1871. He stated "Culture or Civilization, is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, customs, and any capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society." Culture is something individuals acquire as a member of society, meaning that people obtain their culture from growing up with and living among a particular group. The acquisition of culture is not through biological heredity but through socialization which is called enculturation*.* Enculturation is specifically defined as the process by which an individual learns the rules and values of one's culture which begins at the family level right from the moment a child is born. Terry Eagleton maintains that, culture is said to be one of the two or three most complex words in English language. A good working definition, though, is offered by the anthropologist Clifford Geertz, who argued that culture is a historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols, a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms by means of which men communicate, perpetuate and develop their knowledge of and attitudes toward life. Kazi (2008) defines culture as a total or sum total of a people's way of life which is transmitted from generation to generation via the instrument of learning. This means the way people or members of a particular society behave, their ideas, habits that they learn, share and transfer from one era to another. Uche (2006) citing Menle (1965) identified one characteristic of culture as that of human product of social interaction which provides socially acceptable pattern for meeting biological and social needs. It is cumulative as it is handed down from generation to generation. It is meaningful to human beings because of its symbolic quality. It is learned by each person in the course of his development. **Emmanuel Williams Udoh argued that** culture can be considered as the entire social custom of humanity; it is the convention of a certain people, a way of live acquired and transmitted by members of that particular group or people. Understanding the concept of culture is the key to understanding human behaviour. The phenomenon comprises objects such as artefacts, buildings and house hold crafts, and so on. People live in natural environments and must adapt or mould it for their own purposes. Most traditional societies live in an environment largely formed by nature. In complex industrial societies, much of the human environment is culturally moulded. Culture should therefore be understood as shared principles, social heritage that make up the people's way of life. Every human society functions effectively as propelled by various elements of culture. It is the peculiarities of a people of particular geographical locations. Culture is so complex that defining it becomes an arduous task for a scholar. According to Ojetayo, "if it is taken to mean the way of thinking and behaviour shared by a substantial social grouping which gives them identify in relation to others, then it is obvious that all persons participate in one culture or another." **Characteristic of Culture** From the definitions of culture given above, certain characteristics or features of culture are noticeable. Culture as the distinctive generality or totality of a people\'s way of life is historically created and it is shared by all members of a society. It is not genetically transmitted but learnt and transmitted through socialization process. It is universal, variable and dynamic. **Culture is historically design for living**. Generation after generation new things are added to it and this is accountable for the development and change in culture. The culture we have at present combines what has been first created by our ancestors with what has been added to it by subsequent generations. To be brief, culture is dynamic in that, as time goes by, new items are added to those already existing. **Culture is unique to the human species**. No species has ability like human beings in its complexity, meaning, to learn, to communicate and to store, process and use information to the same extent. Culture has moral force which serves as a guide for human action how to behave in a society. Neither monkeys nor apes have moral force in their life. Morality is a part of culture. Therefore human culture has moral foundation, but primate life has no moral basis. Culture is a product of social learning rather than biological heredity which means **Culture is non-genetic**. It cannot be inherited by offspring from parents, but it can be transmitted socially from parents to children. Like animals, human cannot inherit behaviour. Animal behaviour is inborn. Animals inherit behaviour or at most, proto-culture, but humans acquire culture. All people have culture, though not similar. Different groups of humans or societies have different cultures. **Culture has unity as well as diversity**. All humans have culture, but all cultures are not alike. In this context, it is necessary to draw a distinction between "a culture" and culture". The term culture signifies the way of life of human societies as a whole and the term "a culture" signifies the way of life of specific part of human society which is technically called a society. **Culture is socially learned** Culture is a natural outgrowth of the social interactions that constitute human groups whether in societies or organisations. Whenever and wherever people come together over time, culture develops. Culture is learned from our parents, surroundings, and friends and others through enculturation. And the learned behaviour is communicated in the group through forms of socialization such as observation, instruction, reward, punishment and experience. The learning takes place in individual situation of experiences, social situation of imitating others and cultural situation of symbolic communication. **Culture is symbolic** Symbolic thought is unique and crucial to humans and to culture. It is human ability to give a thing or event an arbitrary meaning and grasp and appreciate that meaning. Symbols are the central components of culture. Symbols refer to anything to which people attach meaning and which one uses to communicate with others. More specifically, symbols are words, objects, gestures, sounds or images that represent something else rather than themselves. There is no obvious natural or necessary connection between a symbol and what it symbolizes. Culture thus works in the symbolic domain emphasizing meaning, rather than the technical or practical rational side of human behaviour. **Culture is integrated** Elements or traits that make up a culture are not just a random assortment of customs but are mostly adjusted to or consistent with one another. *Traits* of a culture are attitudes, values, ideals, and rules for behaviour. All aspects of culture function as an inter-related whole. If one part of a culture changes it tends to affect another part. **Culture is adaptive and maladaptive** People adapt themselves to the environment using culture. The ability to adapt themselves to practically any ecological condition, unlike other animals, makes humans unique. This ability is attributed to human's capacity for creating and using culture. Culture has also maladaptive dimensions. That is, the very cultural creations and achievements of people may turn out to threaten their survival. When we see the contemporary problems of the environments, the side effects of rapid growth and in science and technology, thus, culture is also maladaptive. **Elements of Culture** A culture is more than the sum of its parts. A mere listing of customs and norms and the material objects associated with them would by no means give a true picture of the culture. For the sake of anthropological analysis, culture may be broken down into the following main elements. These elements or components are: types of norms, sanctions, values, culture trait, culture complex and culture pattern. **Values** What is considered as good, proper and desirable, or bad, improper or undesirable, in a culture can be called as values. It influence people's behaviour and serve as a benchmark for evaluating the actions of others. There is often a direct relationship between the values, norms, and sanctions of a culture. **Norms** Norms refers to a standard pattern of behaviour that is accepted by a society. Norms may differ from society to society. Generally there are two types of norms formal norms and informal norms. Norms that are written down and violation of which can lead to punishment is referred to as formal norms. By contrast, informal norms are generally understood and followed by a society though not recorded in black and white. **Sanctions** S*anctions* consist of both rewards and penalties. It includes rewards for conducting the norms of the society as prescribed or penalties for defying the concerned social norms. Adherence to a norm can lead to positive sanctions such as a medal, a word of gratitude, or a pat on the back. Negative sanctions include fines, threats, imprisonment, and even unpleasant stares for contempt. The most cherished values of a culture will be most heavily sanctioned, whereas matters regarded as less critical will carry light and informal sanctions. **Culture Traits** Culture traits are the smallest units of a particular culture. They are the building blocks of culture. Each trait can be material or non-material and it is analogous to the unit of the human body, the cell. Each cultural trait has a form, use, function and meaning. As several cells form a tissue, several traits form a complex culture. Culture varies from place to place and country to country. Its development is based on the historical process operating in a local, regional or national context. Nathan Nunn (2012) in his analysis of culture and historical process argued that historical events could have persistent impacts if they alter the relative costs and benefits of different cultural traits, affecting their prevalence in a society. In turn, if cultural traits are transmitted vertically from parents to children, then the impacts will persist through time. **Dimensions of Culture** Culture has two distinct dimensions. These are enculturation and acculturation. Enculturation is the process by which a person is introduced into the culture of his birth. It is a process by which the values, norms, beliefs and attitudes shared by members of one's society are transmitted from one person to another and from one generation to another. Acculturation is the coming into contact of different cultures. It is the process by which cultural elements pass over from one culture to another and which gives rise to new cultural traits in the cultures that meet. For instance, the penetration of European cultural values with traditional African cultures during the colonial led to the emergence of new cultural behavior in the various colonial territories. According to Madison 1998 acculturation cultivates a global vision without losing sight of local differences or complexities. It purveys that global thought and local action as well as local thought and global action can be harmonized giving rise to the local assimilation of global trends. **Cultural Epistemologies and Cosmology** Epistemology can also be regarded as the theory of knowledge and a core branch of philosophical metaphysics that deals with limits, sources and methods of knowledge. Epistemic knowledge is not about what we know, but about what it means to know. Epistemology seeks to answer basic questions about how human beings perceive the world and gain knowledge about it. Three main components of epistemology are Knowledge, Belief and Truth. Epistemology focuses on answering four core questions: What are sources of information about general existence of man? How are details collected? What do people know? Why do people know? How do we know what we know and what do we think? Cultural epistemology is especially concerned with the ways and means culture is produced and expressed. Culture is epistemological because it makes human experience understandable, and makes them feel as if they know their world and places. If culture were purely normative and morally bounded we would enjoy only \"the good,\" but even \"bad\" events are appreciated when they are epistemologically satisfying. When bad event does a good job of illustrating a shared meaning, we respond to it positively we are not personally involved in the event. In later discussions of the event, we opine upon it, and thereby collaborate in making culture. Thus, good stories are just as often about something bad as they are about something good. Underlying the above is a key premise of this theory: the desire to know our environment motivates us to create and maintain culture. The following are identified as sources of knowledge for culture: Traditional Knowledge Historical Knowledge Archaeological Knowledge Scientific Knowledge Local, National and International Regulations Community Consultations These sources of knowledge could be used by proponents and other stakeholders during the screening, scoping and impact assessment phases of a development project. They could also be used during the mitigation and monitoring processes for educational, training and other management purposes. According to a foremost cultural scholar, Loren Demerath, there are three basic dimensions of cultural production: \"articulate," \"typify, "and \"orient\". For example, as human beings reiterate their experience with a group while using a stereotype, and contextualizing it within an ideology, they articulate, typify, and orient the group such that it becomes more comprehensible. These variables are wrapped up in Knowledge-Based Affect Theory (KBAT) as propounded by Demerath in 1993. The KABT theory of culture explains how individuals enhance their sense of security in the world by creating and maintaining culture as knowledge of the world. Based on cognitive and affective processes, the theory posits three dimensions of cultural production: we articulate, typify, and orientation of human experiences. The theory asserts that people produce culture because it allows them to feel as if they understand their world, and to perceive it as ordered; this in turn triggers an aesthetic response of knowledge-based affect. The theory explains how cultural production is motivated by the pursuit of meaningfulness as well as material interests. The theory describes how\' an oppressive culture can be reproduced unintentionally, even by the groups it oppresses. The theory also identifies connections between social structure and culture where conditions of ambiguity or control have implications for how meaning can be created. Cultural cosmologies are based on the proposition that ideas about the cosmos are integral part of human cultural and social systems. For example, the archaeologist Timothy Darvill talks of a cosmology as being, '"the world view and belief system of a community based upon their understanding of order in the universe." George Gumerman and Miranda Warburton argued that "... to truly comprehend a culture we must have some sense of its cosmology the group's conception of themselves in relation to the heavens. A renowned anthropologist Clifford Geertz, argued that if culture is an historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols, a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms by means of which men communicate, perpetuate and develop their knowledge of and attitudes toward life, then, the influence of cosmology on culture then becomes a matter of exploring its impact on political and religious ideas, and its use in the arts, perhaps mainly in literature, painting and film. A culture's worldview helps its members make sense of their reality. The worldview contributes to the collective body of ideas that members of a culture generally share concerning the ultimate shape and substance of their reality. In addition, it is a culture's worldview that members of each culture use in constructing, populating and anticipating social worlds". These "social worlds" are linked directly to social perception. World is an "inside view" of the way things are colored, shaped, and arranged according to personal cultural perceptions. Worldview provides some of the unexamined underpinnings for perception and the nature of reality as experienced by individuals who share a common culture. The worldview of a culture functions to make sense of life experiences that might otherwise be construed as chaotic, random and meaningless. Worldview is imposed by collective wisdom as a basis for sanctioned actions that enable survival and adaptation. In essence, every social group has a worldview a set of more or less systematized beliefs and values in terms of which the group evaluates and attaches meaning to the reality that surrounds it. Virtually all cultures in Nigeria have their word view an avenue through which they define the guiding principles of their cultural practice. These word views revolved round the way different ethnic groups sees the dead, marriage, child birth, festivals, seasons, family life among others. Proper understanding and knowledge of these cultural practices defines peace and harmony in various communities. It creates uniqueness and appreciation in practice of each culture.