Culture…

 This post is specifically geared toward my Anth 101 students, but it is meant to be informative to a broader audience.

What is culture?

This is a pervasive question faced by anthropologists daily because it is what all of us study in some way.  Cultural anthropologists, in particular, but even archaeologists, physical anthropologists, and linguistics anthropologists study culture in some, albeit individually unique, way.  But what exactly is culture?  That is a question that I have received from time to time, both from students and the public at large, and I always bulk at the question because answering it is pretty difficult.  Culture is not one simple thing, but it is not nearly as complex as we, anthropologists, make it out to be.  Culture is both symbolic and intangible but material and tangible.  Culture is both inclusive and exclusive at the same time.  Culture is learned but also unconsciously carried out.  And culture is both helpful and harmful.  So as you may already be beginning to see, culture is not something that is easily definable or studied, which makes it both scary and exciting at the same time. 

But let us break this broad definition that I just provided down a bit, starting with a more substantive definition of culture:

“Culture…is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, arts, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.”  -Gezon and Kottak, 2011

This definition highlights the symbolic nature of culture.  Knowledge, belief, arts, morals, laws, and many customs can be and often times are very symbolic.  This definition, however, is not all encompassing and misses out on some very important aspects of culture, such as language, which is one of the key elements of culture and also is very much symbolic.  There is no material object one can point at and say, “Yes, this is a belief.  This is a moral.  This is language.”  One can point at material items, such as a cross, and say that object represents a belief in culture, but as the pictures below demonstrate, that same picture can represent many different ideas:

(Left to Right) Christian Cross (religion), Addition Symbol (math), Red Cross (organization), Upside down cross (religion)

  

The interpretation that one has of the above objects is largely based on their own cultural background.  Individuals who share the same cultural background will see an object and reach the same or extremely similar conclusion.  For example, those who grew up in American culture will quickly recognize the symbol representing the “Red Cross”, an organization dedicated to the health and well being of those in need.  Those who did not grow up in American culture may recognize the Red Cross symbol, but it will not hold the same meaning to them as it does to the Americans.  Just as those who grew up in a non-Christian culture, such as Jews or Muslims, will recognize the Christian cross but will not hold it in the same regard as Christians.  This does not mean one culture is better than the other.  It merely demonstrates that the shared nature of culture allows some people to share in cultural understandings versus others, which unites and divides at the same time.      

Now this cultural understanding is not as innate and natural as one may think, although as a member of several cultures (and even more so as an anthropologist) even I forget this sometimes.  Culture is actually learned, and this learning happens primarily early in life but continues every day.  For example, members of American culture learn to enter a home without removing one’s shoes unless dictated by the host/home owner, but in Canadian culture, it is expected that shoes are automatically removed upon entry into the home.  As an individual who identifies as a member of two different cultures (one of which is American), I learned this lesson quickly when I lived in Canada for several years.  Canadians were very quick to inform me that shoes had to be removed.  They did not tell me outright that this was a cultural tradition/standard, but it was one that I caught on to as I visited several friends at their places and was continually asked to remove my shoes.  Even my Canadian roommate made a point of telling me to remove my shoes in our apartment. 

Finally, culture can be both accommodating and damaging, particularly in the natural environment around us.  Cultural adaptations, such as the creation and use of tools, has allowed us as a human species evolve both biologically and culturally, and without culture, we may not be able to reside in certain environments.  For example, cultural adaptations such as air conditioners allow individuals to reside in some of the hottest places on earth, while heaters allow us to reside in some of the coldest.  The internet, telephone, email, text message, Facebook, Twitter, and many more technological advancements allow us to be more connected while at the same time further apart.  I currently reside in the Western United States, but my family is scattered across the Midwestern and Eastern United States as well as Europe.  And I have friends scattered throughout the United States, Canada, South America, and Europe.  Several years ago, even as a Military Brat, it would have been incredibly difficult (and in many cases impossible) for me to sustain these relationships, but today I can and do.  Several of us do it daily.

But culture can also be damaging.  Take for instance cultural beauty standards, which often times demand that people of all sorts of cultures manipulate the natural form of their bodies in order to meet the criteria of beauty as defined by the culture.  In American and many Western cultures, there is an expectation that women be thin and men be buff.  There are all sorts of “medicines”, beauty products, protein supplementsand shakes, and more that can be used to reach that beauty ideal but can also be incredibly harmful to one’s health.  In East Asia, the desire to lighten one’s skin and undergo blepharoplasty, plastic surgery of the eye undertaken by many Asians to appear to have more “Caucasoid” eyes, have inherent risks to one’s health, including but not limited to dry eyes, protruding eyes, blindness, hypertension, increased blood sugar levels, and more.  The use of skin lightening creams is also a profuse problem among African Americans who feel that having lighter skin is more beautiful and provides them several social advantages in American society.  So in these and many other ways, culture can be very harmful.

Culture is a very complex entity that is difficult to pinpoint yet broad enough to understand, albeit not fully.  Culture is the tie that binds but is also responsible for the fragmentation of peoples and groups.  Culture is not as natural as it appears to be but is something that individuals are continually catching on to and understanding.  Finally, culture has allowed the human species to grow and expand exponentially but at some pretty great costs in many cases.  Culture is an intricate yet unique entity and one that all anthropologists dedicate their time and energy to understanding even though a full and complete understanding may never be reached.  But what would be the fun in completely understanding culture?  It is about the journey, not the destination, after all.  

Reference: Gezon, Lisa and Kottak, Conrad.  2011.  Culture.  Mc-Graw Hill.