Dar’ya Hidulyak
Culture and Identity
The word 'culture' stems from the Latin "cultura", translatable as to build on, to cultivate,
and to foster. Leibniz, Voltaire, Hegel, von
Humboldt, Kant, Freud, Adorno, Marcuse...
all have reflected on the meaning of the word in different versions of its use.
In the early stages of the philosophical debate about what is 'culture', the
term often refers to the opposite of 'nature', whereas 'culture' was referring
to something constructed willingly by men, while 'nature' was given in itself.
Since the 18th century, the
word 'culture' emerged more in the sense of 'products that are worthy':
somewhat reduced to Dürer, Goethe and Beethoven,
the term was used to describe Elite and high-culture
concepts, particularly in continental
Equally, during the mid-nineteenth century, the
concept of mass culture and popular culture emerged, fueling
the critical theory of the
Another view of culture,
focuses on culture as a set of values and attributes of a given group, and the
relation of the individual to the culture, and the individual's acquisition of
those values and attributes. Fisher, quoted in the same work, defines culture
as : "It is shared behavior, which is important
because it systematizes the way people do things, thus avoiding confusion and
allowing co-operation so that groups of people can accomplish what no single
individual could do alone. And it is behavior imposed
by sanctions, rewards and punishments for those who are part of the group"
[2, p. 17].
In the context of this paper, we will adopt the
definition of culture as the totality of the following attributes of a given
group (or subgroup): shared values, believes and basic assumptions, as well as
any behavior arising from those, of a given group.
Culture is understood, in this context, as collectively held set of attributes,
which is dynamic and changing over time.
A group can thereby be various forms of social
constructions: it is not merely any nation, but also supranational and
international groups are possible, and often clearly distinguishable.
The individual and the culture in which he lives is a
complex set of relationships. On the one side, the individual determines his
culture, on the other, he is determined by his
culture. By contributing to the culture around him, the individual is part of
the cultural change.
The notion ‘identity’ has several
meanings, but they add something to the notion of ‘cultural identity’.
According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
(2001) identity has the following meanings:
1. someone’s identity – who someone is, someone’s name
2. the qualities and attitudes you have that make you
feel you have your own character and are different from other people
cultural/ethnic/social identity ( = a strong feeling of belonging to a
particular group, race, etc.).
Cultural identity can be
studied at different levels and its different features can be taken into consideration . Studying manifestations of cultural identity
ethnography and cultural anthropology deal with ‘markers’, i.e. specific ethnic
features associated with a particular form of culture products: clothes, dance,
rituals, etc. They are easily defined and labeled as belonging to a particular
ethnic group or social group. More complex subjects for description are
festivities. Celebrations involve many people or the whole community and make
them feel a part of their community or culture.
Complex forms of mass or group
communication appear in all spheres of social interchange. They appear to be a
part of daily routine and can be assigned to social institutions. Defining the
scope of the notion ‘identity’ it is vital to study these less noticeable
aspects of the issue: usually
disregarded complex forms of communication in society.
There are at least two dimensions of
the study:
1) Complex communicative events as connected with
elementary culturally significant signs (e.g. ethnic and religious).
2) Complex speech events of different communicative
spheres where ethnic or religious signs are not that vivid.
Culturally significant features are
demonstrated and understood in the process of interpersonal and group
communication. Whatever means of communication may be, still a considerable
part of human interaction is performed by means of speech communication [82, p.
310].
Communication
is structured in a particular way. Communicative units represent a hierarchy.
The biggest unit is communicative situation. It comprises communicative and
speech events. The speech pattern of each event is presented in the form of a
certain speech genre. To a great extent forms of communication as well as
speech genres are predetermined by culture [3, p.75]
Literature
1.
2.
Hymes
D. Models of the interaction of language and social life. //John J. Gumperz & D. Hymes, eds.
Directions in Sociolinguistics: Ethnography of
Communication. -
3.
Saville-Troike
M. The Ethnography of
Communication. Blackwell,