Culture And Society - Abu Dhabi University

Culture And Society  Session Objectives Discuss the key concepts of culture and diverse cultural practices. Power of objects in interacting with us. Analyse culture change and the factors affecting culture change. Reflect upon the layers of culture. Explore U...

Culture And Society  Session Objectives Discuss the key concepts of culture and diverse cultural practices. Power of objects in interacting with us. Analyse culture change and the factors affecting culture change. Reflect upon the layers of culture. Explore UAE’s efforts in cultural preservation. A culture is a way of life of a group of people--the behaviors, beliefs, values, and symbols that they accept, generally without thinking about them, and that are passed along by communication and imitation from one generation to the next. What is Culture? Defining Culture Is culture What is always culture? visible?  Can materiality come to the rescue? Where is culture? Understanding material culture. Best not to look at culture directly! It will blind you. Look at it obliquely by trapping some objects/things in your net and see what they tell you. “Objects have power to interact with us…” “Objects have power to interact with us…” “Objects have power to interact with us…” Origin of the chili pepper is ancient Mexico “Objects have power to interact with us…”  Materiality can help us see some attributes of culture CULTURE IS FLUID CULTURE IS ADAPTIVE Materiality Culture is always in flux and Culture responds to changes in subtle and tangible tools, innovations, to ways. The meanings we give to CULTURE ARISES FROM physical, social, things shift over time. ENCOUNTERS, environmental NETWORKS & TRANSITS contexts of the time Culture arises from interactions and circulations of power, ideas, resources, images, words, languages  Key Terms Cultural Change: the altering of a society's culture, whether it is slowly, or quickly due to influence from different cultures Cultural Diversity: The cultural variety and cultural differences that exist in the world or in a society Multiculturalism: The preservation of different cultures or cultural identities within a unified society, as a state or nation. Assimilation: the process of adapting or adjusting to the culture of a group or nation, or the state of being so adapted.  Key Concepts Diffusion: The spreading out of culture, culture traits, or a cultural pattern from a central point. Culture Relativism: All cultural values and beliefs must be understood relative to their cultural context, and not judged based on outside norms and values. Ethnocentrism: Ethnocentrism is the tendency to look at the world primarily from the perspective of one's own culture. This results in a tendency to think our culture is superior to other cultures Cultural shock: Culture shock is an experience a person may have when one moves to a cultural environment which is different from one's own  UAE Culture How and why has culture changed in the UAE (e.g. music, language etc.)? What are some UAE government efforts to preserve local culture?  Group work Should culture be preserved?