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Losing Culture Identity, Essay Example

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Introduction

Everyone on earth breaths the same air, requires food, water, and shelter. We are all made with two eyes, a nose and hair on our head. We all have the same organs and are made of the same chemical compounds. Everyone experiences the same type of emotions such as fear, happiness, among others. We all have blood sweat and tears. Every woman on earth has about a 9 month pregnancy term. Every child starts teething around the same age in their development. However, even with all of these similarities, there are enough societal differences to throw you off balance if immersed into a new culture. Humans have always found a way to adapt, and it is still true today. Therefore, when a person is surrounded by a completely new culture, they may learn to adapt some of the habits of that society in order to better fit in. However, by doing so, he or she may lose some of their cultural identity.

According to Ennaji, culture is that which characterizes a society into an identifiable community. These include religion, tradition, folklore, history, the political system, language, beliefs, literature, and geography (24). The mode by which these immigrants try to settle down is by biculturalism and assimilation. Language is viewed in terms of mother tongues since they are the most important aspects that build on one’s identity by defining groups or person’s culture, ideology, and specificity. Furthermore, children use their mother tongue for early socialization. Child rearing patterns also change, and this contributes to the values instilled in the child. In addition, they shape the personalities of people and their way of thinking. For the case of Moroccans born in France, majority have become constant speakers of French, and not their mother tongue. This is because they have adopted a different culture and language by adopting new cultural habits, social membership, and ethnic practices. Therefore, cultural identity is closely related to individuals’ cultural, linguistic, and historical backgrounds (Ennaji 25).

In the African setting, globalization has affected their identity because many of people have adopted the new cultures and identities of the American people. It is evident by the way they dress, live, and even communicate and socialize with other people. Africans are known to be preservers of culture, but having a mindset of the “American dream” has left their cultures diluted and even extinct in some instances. On the roadside, young people are urged by signs to use condoms. This is a sign and extent of cultural identity loss because long ago, such things were not mentioned or discussed in public due to their strict core values and beliefs (Foner 43). Adults and older generations are finding it difficult to interact and communicate with the younger generation because of attrition. In other parts of the world also, individuals have lost their cultural identities due to the influence of outside pressures into engaging in activities common in that country. For instance, the Chinese people have made other people use their dishes in restaurants within their country. Majority of restaurant entrepreneurs have adapted to the dishes and the way of living of the Chinese people in order to be in common grounds with other members of the society. The Japanese also started to wear European-style accessories and clothing, and for the women, they began to wear European dressing styles and corsets (Foner 109). According to the Japanese mindset, by wearing the European clothing and looking good in them, the symbols of progress, enlightenment, and modernity are displayed. Radical cultural change is evident in simple things like in town; the food shelves of supermarkets or Internet contact through satellite dishes that connect with the outside world carry the seeds of change.

As a people, we have become increasingly sensitive to culture difference. U.S. society has moved from a perspective that endorsed cultural assimilation (people should leave their native culture behind and adapt to their new culture) to a view that values cultural diversity (people should retain their native cultural way). And with some notable exceptions – hate speech, racism, sexism, and classism come quickly in mind. The “Global Age” has made many people lose their cultural identities due to the mass migration experienced between the 20th and 21st centuries. The unprecedented moves have left people exposed to incredible landscape and ideas diversity. This has transpired through learning about other cultures from TV, books, and the Internet, living in multi-ethnic communities, and travelling to different countries. This has left cultural distinctions blurred, and barriers have been broken down. For most individuals migrating to the U.S., the “American Dream” has stirred them to changing their cultural values, beliefs, and language and this have contributed to the loss of cultural identity among many individuals around the globe.

In America, many of immigrants have lost their cultural identities due to peer group influence. For example, the “sea people”, Re Mataw, are from the Central Carolines in Micronesia (Hezel 2). Today, their way of life has been eroded, and they are now cooking with the iron pots and also, in their local diet, they have blended some goods that are store-bought. They have resorted to drinking vodka shots that are passed around the circle with local brew or tuba. Cultural attrition is bound to continue, and this might lead to the distinction of these people. However, their moves have eroded their cultural values and beliefs and has left them adapting to the cultures of the American people (Hezel, 10). This move was geared towards maintaining their social status and image in society at the expense of their cultural identity that has made them whom they are today, adults.

Cultural identities of immigrants in America have been lost due to the pressure of fitting in the society, which has been a problem for many because of the existence of the “Global Age”. Globalization has brought about both positive and negative aspects that need to be investigated further in order to maintain their cultural identities that dictate their way of living and dressing among other aspects (Br Med 132). Having an eroded culture dictates negative results because morals and values are lost in the process of fitting in. Hence, communities and societies need to have cultural centers and programs that foster different culture preservation because their contribution in society is vital for the growth and progress of their communities around the globe. They will also share ideas, knowledge and experiences that help in nurturing good conduct within the society (Br Med 134).

All over the world, loss of cultural identity is experienced, and older generations are trying to preserve their culture by bringing communities together. However, this is not possible because the younger generations are striving hard to adapt to the new systems upholding the political systems. Embracing new cultures is not a bad thing, but having to lose your own cultural identity is bad because it will mean that when one visits their home country, they will do what they did in the other country. As a result, they will have thrown away their societies beliefs, traditions and cultures, yet it contributed a lot in their upbringing. Culture is seen to be in different forms and should be upheld at all times because it is an important part in forming the society. As a result, it is necessary for nations to promote their cultures in times of migration because losing identity is a defensive way to survive in new cultures.

Works Cited

Br Med, Bull. “Migration, distress and cultural identity.” Oxford Journals 69.1 (2004): 129-141. Print.

Ennaji, Moha. Multilingualism, Cultural Identity, and Education in Morocco . New York: Springer, 2005. Print.

Foner, Nancy. In a New Land: A Comparative View of Immigration . New York: NYU Press, 2005. Print.

Hezel, Francis. “Cultural Loss: How Real is the Threat?” Micronesian Counselor 56, 2005.Print.

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September 1, 2010

Last of Their Kind: What Is Lost When Cultures Die?

The world's cultures have been disappearing, taking valuable knowledge with them, but there is reason to hope

By Wade Davis

Over the past decade geneticists have proved that all people alive today are descendants of a relatively small number of individuals who walked out of Africa some 60,000 years ago and carried the human spirit and imagination to every corner of the habitable world. Our shared heritage implies that all cultures share essentially the same potential, drawing on similar reserves of raw genius. Whether they exercise this intellectual capacity to produce stunning works of technological innovation (as has been the great achievement of the West) or to maintain an incredibly elaborate network of kin relationships (a primary concern, for example, of the Aborigines of Australia) is simply a matter of choice and orientation, adaptive benefits and cultural priorities. Each of the planet’s cultures is a unique answer to the question of what it means to be human. And together they make up our repertoire for dealing with the challenges that will confront us as a species in the millennia to come.

But these global voices are being silenced at a frightening rate. The key indicator of this decline in cultural diversity is language loss. A language, of course, is not merely a set of grammatical rules or a vocabulary. It is the vehicle by which the soul of each particular culture comes into the material world. Each one is an old-growth forest of the mind. Linguists agree, however, that 50 percent of the world’s 7,000 languages are endangered. Every fortnight an elder dies and carries with him or her into the grave the last syllables of an ancient tongue. Within a generation or two, then, we may be witnessing the loss of fully half of humanity’s social, cultural and intellectual legacy. This is the hidden backdrop of our age.

People often ask why it matters if these exotic cultures and their belief systems and rituals disappear. What does a family in New York care if some distant tribe in Africa is extinguished? In truth it probably matters little, no more than the loss of New York would directly affect a tribe in Africa. I would argue that the loss of either way of life does matter to humanity as a whole.

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Consider the achievements of the Polynesians. Ten centuries before Christ—at a time when European sailors, incapable of measuring longitude and fearful of the open ocean, hugged the shores of continents—the Polynesians set sail across the Pacific, a diaspora that would eventually bring them to every island from Hawaii to Rapa Nui, the Marquesas to New Zealand. They had no written word. They only knew where they were by remembering how they had got there. Over the length of a long voyage the navigator had to remember every shift of wind, every change of current and speed, every impression from sea, sky and cloud. Even today Polynesian sailors, with whom I have voyaged, readily name 250 stars in the night sky. Their navigators can sense the presence of distant atolls of islands beyond the visible horizon by watching the reverberation of waves across the hull of their vessels, knowing that every island group had its own reflective pattern that can be read with the ease with which a forensic scientist reads a fingerprint. In the darkness they can discern five distinct ocean swells, distinguishing those caused by local weather disturbances from the deep currents that pulsate across the Pacific and can be followed as readily as a terrestrial explorer would follow a river to the sea.

There are many such examples of ancient wisdom. Among the Barasana people of the northwest Amazon in Colombia, for whom all the elements of the natural world are inextricably linked, complex mythologies about the land and its plants and animals have given rise to highly effective land-management practices that serve as a model for how humans can live in the Amazon basin without destroying its forests. The Buddhists of Tibet spend their lives preparing for a moment that we spend most of our lives pretending does not exist: death. Surely their science of the mind—informed by 2,500 years of empirical observation—has something meaningful to contribute to the human patrimony.

This is not to say that cultures should be forced to remain static, that they cannot maintain their identity while changing some of their ways. The Haida did not stop being Native American when they gave up the dugout canoe for the motorboat any more than ranchers in Montana ceased being Americans when they put aside the horse and buggy in favor of the automobile. It is not change or technology that threatens culture; it is domination.

The ultimate tragedy is not that archaic societies are disappearing but rather that avertible forces are driving vibrant peoples and languages out of existence. These external threats take many forms. They may be industrial, as in the case of the egregious forestry practices that have destroyed the subsistence base of the nomadic Penan in the rain forests of Borneo, or the toxic effluents of the petrochemical industry that have compromised the once fertile soils that the Ogoni people of the Niger Delta farmed. Epidemic disease is another menace to culture—to wit, the ­Yanomamï of the Amazon have suffered dreadful mortality as a result of exotic pathogens brought in­to their lives by the gold miners who have invaded their lands. Or the threat may be ideology, as in the domination of ­Tibetan Buddhists by the Communist Chinese.

That cultures do not always fade away but rather may be casualties of other societies’ priorities is actually an optimistic observation, because it suggests that if humans are the agents of cultural decline, we can foster cultural survival. Following the Colombian government’s 1991 decision to grant land rights to the Indians of the northwest Amazon, for example, the Barasana are now flourishing. Our goal should not be to freeze people in time. Instead we must find ways to ensure that in a pluralistic, interconnected world all peoples may benefit from modernity without that engagement demanding the sacrifice of their ethnicity.

How to ride a horse. Photo by Guy le Querrec/Magnum

Your body is an archive

If human knowledge can disappear so easily, why have so many cultural practices survived without written records.

by Helena Miton   + BIO

You can’t speak like they spoke. You can’t farm like they farmed. You can’t dance, or heal wounds, or greet people like they did. In fact, most of the cultural practices your distant ancestors learned have not reached you. They were lost somewhere along the way – failed transmissions that never crossed the generational chains of knowledge that connect us to our past. Those chains, it turns out, can be incredibly brittle. Without physical records, cultural knowledge can easily break down and disappear.

Think of the music of Mesopotamia, from around 2000 BCE. The only reason we can still attempt to play it today is because ancient Sumerians inscribed the notation for their songs into stone tablets. Think of the hunting techniques of our Palaeolithic ancestors. The only reason we have an idea about what these techniques involved is because we unearthed their carved weapons and tools. Museums are filled with these enduring messages about past cultural practices, coded into artefacts and ruins, or written onto parchment, papyrus and other kinds of media.

These messages can leave us lamenting the uncountable broken chains that separate us from the past: what might we know if more had been recorded? Surely, if our ancestors had just given us written instructions on how to speak, farm, cook, dance, and make music, we could have also learned and transmitted that knowledge. And imagine if they had the recording devices we have today. With a smartphone, they might have recorded the mundane details of their lives, describing their skills in a way that could be easily mastered and shared. The problem, however, is that culture doesn’t always work that way. Not everything can be put into words. Who hasn’t been frustrated when confronted with recipes instructing you to ‘cook until done’, ‘simmer until thickened’ or any other equally ambiguous instruction? And who hasn’t been frustrated when trying to imitate someone demonstrating a skill that requires some previous experience, some tacit knowledge? Not everything can be understood simply by watching someone else do it. Some cultural practices can be learned only by doing. They must be felt.

This is what makes cultural chains so brittle. It is why instrument makers in Europe can no longer produce violins like Antonio Stradivarius despite having closely studied the instruments he made, why builders can no longer replicate the stone-fitting techniques of the Inca despite having the necessary tools, and why perfume makers can no longer produce ancient perfumes, despite having the recipes. It is also why I, a French cognitive scientist in my early 30s, am unable to do many of the things that my ancestors once did, including illuminating manuscripts with immaculate handwriting, preparing herbal remedies, hunting with a bow, or making flint tools.

Though our collective forgetting is enormous, it is mostly unremarkable to those who study the transmission of culture. What puzzles me, and others who study transmission, is why so much unwritten knowledge has survived. Despite the brittleness of cultural practices, skills proliferate with and without records, chaining generation to generation, and binding us to our ancestors in deep time. So how do these practices persist if the paths of transmission are so brittle? How has anything at all been transmitted without physical records?

Answering these questions will help us understand how much of our current culture could be transmitted to the future. Though we are living in a time in which cultural knowledge is being recorded and stored at a higher rate than ever before, there is no guarantee this information will be effectively transmitted. Optimising cultural transmission, I believe, involves more than new technologies, massive digital repositories and artificial intelligences. It involves learning how knowledge is archived in human bodies.

T hough culture can be brittle, it is often imagined in ways that make it appear solid and enduring. It is portrayed as an expansive sea, an iceberg, a solid ratchet. When imagined as a kind of sea, culture appears everywhere, surrounding us. In the 1960s, the media theorist Marshall McLuhan portrayed culture as a vast and all-encompassing medium. In such a ‘sea’, we can absorb information and practices by osmosis, even unknowingly. In the 1970s, the anthropologist Edward T Hall suggested that culture was more like an iceberg: we can see only a small portion of it, the deeper parts lie hidden. And in the 1990s, the psychologist Michael Tomasello explained the ‘cultural ratchet effect’ in which human learning accumulates over time, like a metal ratchet that moves forward only as we build on knowledge from the past. Imagined in these disparate ways, culture appears as something solid and enduring that moves forward and expands. What is a spacecraft, Stanley Kubrick speculated in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), but the distant outcome of the first tools used by our hominin ancestors?

A less stable view of culture begins to emerge when we consider some of the problems that bedevil archaeologists and anthropologists. Though they can look at rediscovered Mesopotamian bread moulds or ancient Egyptian dancing wands or Chinese oracle bones, they can’t bake Mesopotamian bread or dance like ancient Egyptians or consult the Chinese oracle. The knowledge possessed by the people who used these items is gone, most likely forever. And this loss isn’t simply because the relevant knowledge wasn’t written down. These and other findings represent forms of culture that likely can’t be recorded.

Though practised for millions of years, stone-knapping remains a remarkably difficult skill to learn

Around the world, teams of researchers have been engaging with these forms of culture by attempting to learn the methods that people once used to make craft objects. Their work shows just how difficult the task of recreating cultural practices can be. The Making and Knowing Project at Columbia University in New York City has attempted to recreate the techniques described in an anonymous 16th-century French manuscript, catalogued as ‘Ms. Fr. 640’. Between 2014 and 2020, the team tackled techniques described in the manuscript, including mouldmaking and metalworking, colour making, optics and mechanics, ephemeral art, printmaking, inscriptions, and impressions. At the Stone Age Institute, an independent research centre in Indiana, a team is trying to understand stone-knapping techniques used to produce hunting technologies such as arrowheads and spear tips. Though practised for millions of years, stone-knapping remains a remarkably difficult skill to learn, requiring extensive training.

The Making and Knowing Project at Columbia University in New York City has attempted to recreate techniques described in an anonymous 16th-century French manuscript, catalogued as ‘Ms. Fr. 640’. Courtesy the BnF, Paris

Recognising how difficult it is to transmit cultural practices, UNESCO has been working to preserve ‘intangible cultural heritage’, which includes many traditions that might become extinct as the last remaining practitioners die. Languages also fall within this category: around 3,000 remain endangered. Some, like Aka-Cari spoken in the Andaman Islands, India, have gone extinct only recently. The last living native speaker, named Licho, died on 4 April 2020. But what about cultural practices that are less connected to reading, writing and speaking? What about forms of knowledge that are more tacit and embodied?

C ultural transmission is a term used by researchers to describe the process through which certain forms of knowledge are passed between people. When this knowledge is exchanged, even through passive observation, a ‘transmission event’ has occurred and another link is made in the chain. To understand this process in action, think of something you know how to do but would struggle to explain to someone else. Perhaps it is a specific movement in a sport you play, or a craft technique, or a social skill like knowing the right way to greet another person.

Now, try to think about how long this cultural practice has been around. Think about how many transmission events might link its first occurrence to the moment when you first learned how to do it. How many generations have passed since the practice started? How many people had to learn it, and learn it well enough to pass it on to the next person, for the chain to keep extending? In some cases, the chain of knowledge might be incredibly long – so long that thinking about the sequence of transmission events might induce vertigo. This extended sequence can also make the chain appear incredibly delicate. It could have broken at any one of its many transmission events. This is what makes knowledge chains paradoxical for researchers: if they are so brittle, how have so many forms of cultural knowledge survived?

Some solutions to this problem have been elegantly synthesised in How Traditions Live and Die (2015) by Olivier Morin, an expert in cultural evolution. Morin argues that surviving cultural practices were never that brittle to begin with because they have one or both of the following features: redundancy and repetition. Both ensure that if a transmission event doesn’t occur (or fails), another transmission is still possible. Redundancy ensures that a person can learn something from multiple people in different contexts. Your aunt, for example, might pass on some of the knitting and tailoring skills your grandmother failed to teach you. Repetition, on the other hand, ensures that even if one transmission fails, other events will help you learn the things you missed. For example, you might not have fully acquired your grandmother’s knitting skills on the first try, but you master them as she demonstrates and teaches them to you over and over.

Is it how hard the master blows, or the way they move the molten glass, or something you can’t even see?

An alternative way of explaining the paradox between brittle transmission chains and the ubiquity of surviving cultural knowledge involves focusing on how knowledge is stored, not just transmitted. Cultural knowledge is held not only in records written on stone tablets, papyrus or other media. It also exists in bodies and nervous systems. At first glance, this may appear to make things more challenging for cultural transmission, since this kind of knowledge typically requires learning how a practice feels , which can’t be conveyed through words alone. This is tacit knowledge, or, as the polymath Michael Polanyi describes it, what we know but cannot say.

Neither imitation nor language are much help when it comes to learning this kind of knowledge. For it to be transmitted, you can’t simply watch someone, or read some instructions. Language is perfectly suited to convey all kinds of cultural things that are mainly language to start with, such as stories, but many things need to be experienced firsthand. And what about imitation? Though it can be helpful to learn by watching someone else doing something, the same rule applies: ultimately, you need to do it yourself.

Suppose that you’re watching a master glassblower in order to learn how to make a hand-blown cup. What should you pay attention to for you to be able to make a cup using the same technique? Is it how hard the master blows, or how they position their feet, or their hands, or the way they move the molten glass, or something you can’t even see, or all of the above? The gap between seeing someone do something skilfully and performing it yourself is often enormous. To reduce this gap, you would first need to have enough knowledge to know what part of the action to observe exactly. You would already need to know what to pay attention to. Then you would face another, even harder problem: how should you use what you can see (such as the molten glass’s appearance) to infer things you cannot see (such as its temperature, or how hard the glassblower is blowing).

Furthermore, the correct action in each situation depends on the context, and this is an important part of transmission, too. In football, for example, a skilful player’s moves will depend on the position and velocity of the ball, of their teammates and of their opponents . You could write 10,000 words about how a goal was scored and still not convey enough information for someone to replicate the kick. So how do we successfully transmit ‘what we know but cannot say’ through our bodies, especially when they are physically limited in so many ways?

T hink about an embodied or tacit form of cultural knowledge you are familiar with, such as knowing how to make the right facial expression to communicate an emotion, knowing how to ride a horse or make a tennis serve, or knowing how to hold your cup correctly during a Japanese tea ceremony. Now try to break down this practice into bits. In the case of riding horses – a cultural practice that has been around since 3500 BCE – relevant bits might include things such as the location of your hands, the angle between your elbow and your wrist, or the position of your back and the distribution of your weight on the horse’s back.

Now, consider how these different bits relate to one another. As Simon DeDeo and I showed in our article ‘The Cultural Transmission of Tacit Knowledge’ (2022), a crucial feature of these relationships is constraint: each separate movement or position is limited by our physical bodies and abilities. Embodied knowledge is strongly constrained . Not all combinations of states for the different bits are possible because there are always physical and anatomical boundaries to what you can and can’t do in any given moment. While riding a horse, for example, if your posture is very straight or you are leaning back slightly, your hands can be only in a limited range of positions; for example, your arms will likely not be long enough to rest high on the horse’s neck. And if your body position changes, and your hands go up, the angle formed by your elbow will shift. Embodied cultural practices always involve physical constraints.

In other words, you can start to think of embodied cultural knowledge as a network of interacting bits that influence one another. Not all bits are necessarily influencing one another in all cases. The position of your hands on the reins may not be related to how hard you are gripping. This is important because it suggests that embodied forms of cultural knowledge might not be as difficult to transmit as we assume. They don’t need to be fully explained because our bodies are constrained.

Imagine each bit in the network like a switch that can be turned on and off. When one turns ‘on’ (say, your hands are high on the horse’s neck), others will also turn ‘on’ (your back will be angled forward) because they are connected. In other words, you need only to fix a few bits to determine the state of every other bit in the network. So, if a learner focuses only on mastering those particular traits that matter to a practice, everything else may suddenly click into place more easily. This echoes something else we observe in real life: experts sharing their embodied knowledge need only home in on those few key bits that are essential. For a learner, the interactions between the bits, as determined by the network, will then influence the remaining bits, ideally creating a cultural practice that is close to that of their teachers. This means we don’t need to know everything to learn new embodied knowledge. We need only some of the bits to have a whole, ‘correct’ practice.

Sometimes, changing a tool can shift the network of ‘bits’, facilitating entirely different movement

For teachers, the skill of sharing knowledge involves knowing which bits to focus on. In his description of the pedagogical practices used by capoeira teachers, the neuroanthropologist Greg Downey describes their use of ‘reducing degrees of freedom’. These teachers can create exercises that, Downey explains , ‘place a student’s body into particular starting positions, force them to go only one direction, or otherwise eliminate options for motion’. Such restrictions involve fixing certain bits, at least temporarily, so that other bits will ‘click’ into place, which allows students to feel what it is like to perform a given movement correctly.

To help reveal the network of bits to new learners, and to generate a transmission event, teachers commonly use metaphors as short-cuts: ‘follow through’ in tennis; ‘move your whole weight’ in salsa dancing; ‘throw your elbow, not your fist’ in boxing. None of these metaphors make literal sense. ‘Following through’ has no impact on the trajectory of the ball in tennis, since the ball has already left the racquet; ‘moving your whole weight’ happens naturally in salsa with each movement you make; and your fist, not your elbow, is what hits when boxing. However, these instructions are still helpful because they allow learners to fix some parts of their movements. By telling you to ‘throw your elbow’ when throwing a hook, a boxing coach is helping you align your wrist and your elbow, ensuring your body rotates properly and that you are generating a powerful punch. Good teaching often requires metaphors or creative exercises that go beyond the practice itself.

Sometimes, teachers may engineer constraints or use metaphors, but artefacts and materials might also exploit the networked relationships between ‘bits’ to transmit cultural practices. These artefacts are usually designed to fulfil a specific function or enable a specific use. Scissors, for instance, are easy to use if you’re right-handed and much more difficult if you try to use them with your left hand. More specialised tools and objects act in the same way. When horse-riding, a dressage saddle, for example, allows for specific positions of the pelvis and legs that are different from those allowed by a jumping saddle – sometimes, changing a tool can shift the network of ‘bits’, facilitating entirely different movement. Materials, like different kinds of wood, earth or stone, also make different actions possible and can help ‘fix’ some part of the network. Think of the early stone knives and arrowheads that our distant ancestors made from flint and obsidian. These minerals were chosen because they could be reliably worked into sharp edges and points.

Seeing cultural knowledge as a network of bits that can switch each other on and off means that successful cultural transmission can be achieved even when transmitting only relatively little information. In such cases, transmission exploits how movements are constrained. The unexpected outcome of this is that there can be many ways of doing something, and some learners may even develop unique versions of practices. In the history of sports, this has happened many times, where examples of unusual or unorthodox techniques abound. Take Sadaharu Oh’s distinctive ‘flamingo’ leg kick in baseball, or Donald ‘the Don’ Bradman’s batting technique (and exaggerated follow-through) in cricket. They show that new variants can still be effective, even if they don’t become the dominant style.

Sadaharu Oh’s ‘flamingo’ leg kick in baseball

Donald ‘the Don’ Bradman’s batting technique in cricket

However, in some cases, unusual techniques become innovations that alter future transmissions. One example, again in the domain of sports, is Dick Fosbury’s backwards flop in high jump. After this new technique helped him win gold at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, the Fosbury Flop became popular among high-jumpers, who until then prefered techniques that allowed them to land on their feet.

Dick Fosbury’s backwards flop in high jump

Understanding how cultural transmission exploits relationships in a network of ‘bits’ doesn’t only help with the preservation of current knowledge. It can also give us an insight into new cultural practices that might be discovered in the future.

I n our age of information, more cultural practices than ever are being recorded. As server farms bulge with data and archives swell with books and artefacts, it may seem obvious that our knowledge will be preserved and passed down. But putting our faith in this mountain of data may be a mistake. It is a misunderstanding of the embodied nature of many cultural practices, a misunderstanding of how our ancestors were able to successfully pass practices from generation to generation, despite the inherent brittleness of long cultural chains.

Much of our cultural knowledge simply can’t be put into words or recorded. It can, however, be stored in the constrained movements of our bodies. Optimising the transmission of a cultural practice doesn’t always require a larger amount of information. It can be achieved by leveraging how some bits influence others in a network, by learning how some objects and materials exploit those networks, and by understanding how teachers use pedagogical techniques.

It is hard to say what forms of culture will exist in another 1,000 or 10,000 years. But if tacit knowledge is still around, then it will likely have been transmitted from body to body, by exploiting our physical constraints. This is how ‘what we know but cannot say’ might someday link our age with the cultures of the deep future.

Published in association with the Santa Fe Institute, an Aeon Strategic Partner.

Political philosophy

C L R James and America

The brilliant Trinidadian thinker is remembered as an admirer of the US but he also warned of its dark political future

Harvey Neptune

Progress and modernity

The great wealth wave

The tide has turned – evidence shows ordinary citizens in the Western world are now richer and more equal than ever before

Daniel Waldenström

Neuroscience

The melting brain

It’s not just the planet and not just our health – the impact of a warming climate extends deep into our cortical fissures

Clayton Page Aldern

Falling for suburbia

Modernists and historians alike loathed the millions of new houses built in interwar Britain. But their owners loved them

Michael Gilson

Thinkers and theories

Rawls the redeemer

For John Rawls, liberalism was more than a political project: it is the best way to fashion a life that is worthy of happiness

Alexandre Lefebvre

Computing and artificial intelligence

Mere imitation

Generative AI has lately set off public euphoria: the machines have learned to think! But just how intelligent is AI?

• Where Heritage Meets Violence

The Deliberate Destruction of Cultural Heritage and How (Not) to Repair It

The reconstruction of cultural heritage after conflict often focuses on rebuilding structures and repairing material. Dacia Viejo Rose, however, contends that a more appropriate postconflict response is reparations. She suggests that heritage is not collections of static objects but rather an evolving process of meaning-making within society. Considering the full range of heritage’s social entanglements, then, she argues that new modalities of repair are required after heritage destruction: from processes of justice to restitutions to the revitalization of cultural life.

Since February 24, 2022, UNESCO has verified the damage or destruction of nearly 100 culturally important sites in Ukraine. This has happened despite the UN Security Council, of which the Russia is a permanent member, issuing a resolution (2347) in 2017 that “condemns the unlawful destruction of cultural heritage.” 1 S/RES/2347 , March 24, 2017. Ukrainian museum and heritage professionals have been joining forces to do what they can to protect heritage and put in place emergency evacuations where possible. This most recent wave of heritage destruction is shocking but unfortunately also something we have become familiar with.

The deliberate destruction of cultural heritage during wartime has always grabbed headlines worldwide, particularly in recent years, spurred by the highly mediatized targeting of iconic sites. In response, the rhetoric used to denounce such acts became increasingly fiery, labeling them as acts of “barbarism,” “cultural cleansing,” and declaring heritage “extremism’s new target” 2 See speeches and press releases by Irina Bokova on the UNESCO website, e.g., “ Director-General denounces cultural cleansing during visit to Iraq ,” UNESCO, November 2, 2016. —terms that in the case of Ukraine sound rather hollow as so much of the heritage being destroyed is connected to Russian culture. This linguistic hyperbole masks a complex underbelly, however, for the motivations, immediate consequences, and medium-term impacts of this destruction, which are far from straightforward. In order to better grasp what is at stake when cultural heritage becomes overtly engaged in violence, this essay draws on illustrative examples from a number of conflicts to briefly address two questions: Why and how does heritage become a target in armed conflicts? What is the potential of reparations as a post destruction response?

By shifting how we understand heritage to an analysis of the complex underlying motivations for destruction and, consequentially, the diverse forms of repair that might best respond to it, we can shed light on the relationship between cultural heritage and violent conflict. Overlooking how heritage is embedded in cultural/social/political networks and neglecting to take into account how overt violence is part of an ongoing process of damage, rather than an explosive expression of it, has meant that past responses have often fallen short of repairing the harm caused. Drawing on the reparations work done by international courts, here I argue that we need to consider new modalities of repair.

Why heritage becomes the target of destruction in conflict

Cultural heritage is not just a resource to be protected: It is a central element in the stories that society tells itself about itself—its origins, character, future projects, its values, and aspirations. Little wonder then that it becomes a target when tensions break out.

Today heritage is understood by critical heritage scholars as a process of meaning-making with constantly evolving associative values that make it highly political. 3 See, for example, Laurajane Smith, Emotional Heritage: Visitor Engagement at Museums and Heritage Sites (London: Routledge, 2020). The political nature of heritage is intertwined with its associative value and surfaces at a variety of scales. If we accept that heritage is a function of social life, used by collectives to define and distinguish themselves from other groups, it surfaces at the microscale of family heritage, the intercommunal level ranging from villages and cities to sports clubs, professional associations, and cultural groups, for example, and at the macroscale of state politics and international relations. The implications of understanding heritage as a process of meaning-making, rather than artifact, are that it is a highly political and continuously evolving; in the process, the relational and associative value of heritage—how people relate to, derive meaning from, and engage emotionally with it—has come to the fore.

Understanding heritage to be a constructive, discursive, and inherently political process has opened new avenues for investigating the (ab)uses of heritage. As a crystallization of content loaded with powerful emotions, stories, and symbols, cultural heritage is often in the crosshairs of opposing sides in any conflict in their attempts to instrumentalize this content to discredit enemies and radicalize binaries.

The relationship between cultural heritage and conflict is an old one, but one that has given rise to new questions. 7 Dacia Viejo Rose and Marie Louise Stig Sørensen, “ Cultural Heritage and Conflict: New Questions for an Old Relationship ” in The Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary Heritage Research , eds. Emma Waterton and Steve Watson (Basingstoke & NY: Palgrave McMillan, 2015), 281–296. Until now, this relationship has been studied largely in terms of how treasured objects and sites are physically destroyed and looted during wars, and the measures employed to mitigate this damage. These approaches focus on the materiality of heritage and treat it as a passive resource to be protected. Recent changes in our conceptualization of heritage and powerful statements from communities such as those cited above, however, challenge previous understandings of how it is affected by war. They suggest that, in focusing only on the materiality of heritage reconstruction, we miss important aspects of heritage’s meaning and value; instead, we should move toward more diverse forms of reparation that seek to restore heritage’s immaterial features.

An assessment of reparations as a post destruction response

Heritage sites can be rebuilt—restoration experts brought in, original building materials sourced, archival information found and used to inform the process—culminating with a postcard-perfect image of the reconstructed site. Yet, this does not mean that the heritage site has been recovered. As the evolution of ICOMOS Charters, UNESCO Conventions, and even the categories used to nominate sites for official heritage designation shows, 8 See the ICOMOS Charters that have over the last 20 years charted a growing awareness of the importance of intangible and associative values—The Nara Document on Authenticity (1994), The Quebec Declaration on the Preservation of the Spirit of Place (2008), The Australian ICOMOS Charter for the Conservation of Places of Cultural Significance (Burra Charter, 1981, updated in 2013), Charter for the Conservation of Places of Cultural Value (New Zealand 2010)—and the increased use of criteria (vi) in nominations for World Heritage sites. authenticity, significance, and social value of heritage do not lie exclusively or even primarily in the materiality of an object or site. They lie in people’s relationships with it, in the emotions, stories, meanings, and values ascribed to it, and these are much harder to recover after a site has been destroyed, because the destruction does not occur in a vacuum but in a cycle of cultural violence with a long history and long-term consequences.

In comparison to reconstruction, reparations for cultural destruction have been under-researched and have only recently begun attracting attention because of recent proceedings at the ICC. 9 The Al Mahdi trial at the ICC was the first time that a case was brought before an international tribunal exclusively on the grounds of destruction of cultural heritage. As Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi pleaded and was found guilty, both the ICC and the Trust Fund for Victims (TFV) then had to develop a Reparations Order corresponding with the crimes that he was found guilty of. Both the ICC and TFV consulted with legal experts and researchers on heritage destruction who were thus spurred to pursue work on this particular topic. Until the Al Mahdi trial reparations for cultural destruction had only been discussed in the context of larger peace treaties. For instance, German reparations for the destruction of Belgium’s Louvain Library in the Treaty of Versailles, Articles 247, and the return of two works removed from Belgian Churches to German museums. Another example is the Peace Treaty between Eritrea and Ethiopia that was accompanied by a Damages Claim that included reparations orders for a number of heritage sites destroyed, including Eritrea’s Stela of Matara. Reparations stem from legal responses to violence and come in different forms, such as restitution, compensation, or justice. In the case of violence directed at cultural heritage, the reparations ordered by the ICC in the case of Al Mahdi were framed according to three categories “…damage to the attacked historic and religious buildings, consequential economic loss and moral harm” (ICC-CPI-20170817-PR1329). Tribunals are not the only means by which attempts have been made to redress the damage of cultural violence; other approaches include the return of heritage objects, such as the Axum Stele from Italy to Ethiopia, and the proactive work on reconciliation efforts by many museums and NGOs around the world. The criminalization of cultural heritage destruction and the attempt to develop meaningful reparations is, however, a contemporary challenge that demands more research, and a first step in this is a deeper understanding of the harm caused by violence.

Considering the multiple scales of harm caused by the destruction of cultural heritage, delivering reparation that remedies past violence is no small task. In the case of The Prosecutor vs Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi , the ICC found the defendant guilty, and the Reparations Order found him liable for 2.7 million euros, to compensate the community according to three categories of harm identified by the Court: damages to buildings, resulting economic loss, and moral harm. Reparations for the third category were identified as symbolic measures exemplified as memorialization, commemoration, and ceremonies. 11 International Criminal Court, Al Mahdi . The Trust Fund for Victims (TFV) subsequently consulted with a number of experts to try and understand what concrete forms such symbolic measures might take. If a memorial were to be built, for instance, it was not clear what exactly it should memorialize—the original shrines, their destruction, or their reconstruction.

That memorialization is posited as the form of repair by courts, and the panoply of political and economic agencies involved in post-conflict recovery is problematic. 12 Kris Brown, “ Commemoration as Symbolic Reparation: New Narratives or Spaces of Conflict? ” Human Rights Review 14, no. 3 (2013): 273–289. Within the transitional justice literature there have increasingly been calls to attend to the dangers of privileging certain voices and approaches favored by authoritative experts over those of affected communities. 13 Tshepo Madlingozi, “ On Transitional Justice Entrepreneurs and the Production of Victims ,” Journal of Human Rights Practice 2, no. 2 (2010): 208–228. How to do this was explored in the project “Restoring Cultural Property to Communities after Conflict,” which aimed at assessing the impact of the destruction of cultural heritage on the Cham community in Cambodia. 14 An AHRC-funded [AH/P007929/1] collaboration between the author and Professor Robin Hickey, Dr. Luke Moffett, and Dr. Rachel Killean of Queen’s University Belfast. In 1975, the Cham were Cambodia’s largest minority group; the Khmer Rouge targeted their cultural markers, from buildings to traditional dress, and deliberately dispersed their communities. The project’s fieldwork and consultations indicated that the community didn’t see memorials as a desired form of repair for cultural heritage loss. Instead, they wanted to recover elements of their intangible heritage that could in turn be transmitted to younger generations, recover places of worship where they could communicate their religious and cultural traditions, and be rewritten back into the national narrative of Cambodia. This research showed that telling the story of events can be the point at which to redistribute power and the resources needed by communities to build in their own way.

Where the violence of cultural heritage destruction was about erasing communities, the desired repair was about their reappearing. Importantly, however, the community did not want to be singled out as victims but to be rewritten into the historical narrative of Cambodia through exhibitions, textbooks, and education programs that relate how the Cham have been a part of Cambodia’s cultural landscape and the contributions they have made to its rich diversity, including initiatives to expand the use of the Cham language—in textbooks, children’s books, and poetry. 15 Rachel Killean et al., Cham: Culture & History Story of Cambodia (Phnom Penh, Cambodia: Documentation Centre of Cambodia, 2018). See also the “Cham Heritage Extension Program” run by Seton Hall University. These modes of repair make sense in the context of how the harm was experienced and is still felt today. The commemorative “solutions” that are so often proposed and come entwined with the promise of development funding, however, did not offer a satisfactory measure of repair. The example of the Cham highlights that, while the cultural heritage destruction that is often the focus of international attention is the highly performative attacks on monumental sites, this destruction is only one of many modalities of cultural violence.

The physical destruction of heritage can rupture social connections between the individuals within communities, and between these and the rest of society. The more nebulous intangible violence against cultural manifestations when communities are prohibited from practicing their religions, speaking their languages, or transmitting their stories and values to younger generations can have even more long-lasting effects. Recovery is complicated by the dispersal of communities, the direct targeting of particular cultural groups and holders of traditional knowledge, and the loss of performance spaces. Both forms of heritage destruction can be viewed as collective and intergenerational harms to a community, since tangible and intangible heritage are the principal means by which collective memory and shared identity are preserved. Focusing on the reconstruction of material heritage while excluding the repair of the intangible fails to appreciate the full range of heritage’s meanings, roles, and capacities in society.

Far from being the end result of creative development, cultural heritage is itself a creative process of meaning construction, constantly changing and multifaceted. This active dimension of cultural heritage requires further understanding, particularly if we are to develop more effective means for its protection during conflict and for its use as a resource in reparative justice efforts. In the words of the poet Amanda Gorman, as expressed in her poem “The Hill We Climb,” written and performed at the Presidential inauguration of Joe Biden on January 20, 2021:

“[…] more than a pride we inherit. It’s the past we step into and how we repair it.”

This piece is a shortened version of an essay published in Experiencing Violence (London: The British Academy, 2021).

Banner photo: United Nations Photo/ Flickr .

References:

Dacia Viejo Rose

Dacia Viejo Rose is associate professor in heritage and the politics of the past, Department of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge, and director of the Cambridge Heritage Research Centre. She first became interested in the role of heritage in conflicts and peacebuilding while working briefly at UNESCO and observing the organization’s projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Her books include Reconstructing Spain: Cultural Heritage and Memory after Civil War (Sussex Academic Press, 2013) and the coedited volumes War and Cultural Heritage (with Marie Louise Stig Sørensen; Cambridge University Press, 2015) and Memorials in the Aftermath of War (with Marie Louise... Read more

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Cultural Assimilation—How It Affects Mental Health

Kelvin Murray / Getty Images

Voluntary vs. Forced Cultural Assimilation

• Is It a Good or Bad Thing?

Forced Cultural Assimilation and Its Impact on Mental Health

• Things to Consider

Cultural assimilation refers to the process in which a minority group or culture assumes the behaviors, values, rituals, and beliefs of their host nation’s majority group.

The term cultural assimilation is often used to describe immigrants who have migrated to new locations; however, it is also used to discuss Indigenous groups. As a result, it comes in two forms:

• Forced assimilation
• Full assimilation

People are often encouraged or pressured to culturally assimilate, but these changes are often forced. Indigenous, immigrant and ethnic minority groups often change or hide elements of their own culture, including their language, food, clothing, and spiritual practices, in order to adopt the values and social behaviors of the dominant culture. 

Those who advocate for cultural assimilation believe that it decreased conflict, contributes to a more cohesive national identity, and improves the social and economic opportunities for minority individuals.

Not everyone agrees, however, and suggests that cultural assimilation contributes to the loss of culture and history, increased discrimination and violence, and damage to people's self-esteem and confidence.

While cultural assimilation is often presented as an easy solution, it contributes to other problems and difficulties.

Evolution of the Term

Initially referred to as assimilation, cultural assimilation was defined as the economic, social and political integration of an ethnic minority group into mainstream society. Since then, the assimilation process has been elaborated upon and split into several subprocesses.

Melting Pot Theory

Modern references to cultural assimilation state that it occurs when minority groups take on the culture of the majority group in order to integrate into society. Often, you’ll hear people state that their country or city is a “melting pot.”

What Does the Term "Melting Pot" Mean?

This melting pot theory is a common analogy used to describe cultural assimilation. It is used to describe how different cultures "melt" together to form a new culture, just as metals are heated together to form a new, stronger compound.

While the melting pot theory can be applied to any country, it is usually used to describe the American context. As a result, the melting pot theory has become synonymous with the process of Americanization.

While the melting pot theory suggests that people will integrate into the dominant society, critics suggest that this process harms diversity and leads to cultural loss. Instead, some people promote the idea of multiculturalism, utilizing metaphors such as a mosaic or puzzle in which people are able to come together yet retain their unique culture.

As stated above, cultural assimilation comes in two primary forms:

Integration into the dominant culture over generations

Occurs over time

Often in response to pressure from a more predominant culture, and conformity is a solution for people to remain in safety

Minority groups are forced to give up their identities

Involves a threat of violence

Occurs quickly

Non-consensual

Example: The residential school system in the USA and Canada

• Voluntary assimilation: This is when members of the minority group become indistinguishable from those of the dominant group. This form of assimilation occurs in stages or over the course of generations. In this form, assimilation is usually easier for the children of immigrants as they are either born, socialized, or educated in the dominant culture from a young age. It is important to remain mindful that voluntary assimilation is often in response to pressure from a more predominant culture, and conformity is a solution for people to stay safe and survive.
• Forced assimilation: This is when a minority or Indigenous group is forced to give up their cultural identity, language, norms, and customs to fit into the dominant group. As a result, forced assimilation tends to occur much quicker due to the threat of violence. This process was conducted after an area changed nationality after a war; however, it has had other applications throughout history, such as the forced assimilation and traumatization of Native Americans for centuries, with residential schools operating as recently as 1996.

Acculturation can also occur. This is a form of assimilation in which people from a minority group accept some of the beliefs, customs, or behaviors of the dominant group, but still keep some of their own cultural traditions and customs.

History of Cultural Assimilation

Even though cultural assimilation has taken place throughout history, most academic research into it focuses on the U.S. context and race relations due to its history of immigration.

That said, while it is a common process attributed to the States, it is still a divisive political issue—with some politicians and the public holding the view that European immigrants assimilated quicker in the past than minority groups are doing in the present.

The United States has struggled with steady and significant hostility toward immigrants, indigenous communities, and anyone perceived as an " other ." Today and historically, many White Americans in this country have viewed immigrants and ethnic minorities as a threat to the nation’s culture, fearing differences among us and putting direct and indirect pressure on those who do not conform to do so, including through threats and violence.

Some immigrants, ethnic minorities, and their children may have a desire to assimilate, but lack knowledge or resources regarding how to do so. Others may not have cared about assimilating, but eventually felt the urge or pressure to blend in. Regardless of their attitude, the pressure of cultural assimilation is ever-present.

Cultural Assimilation Was Meant to Limit Self-Segregation

However, during this period of time, immigrants were encouraged to assimilate as a means to achieve social stability and economic success. It was thought that by “Americanizing,” these individuals would minimize instances of “self-segregation.” It was assumed that having everyone under one uniform belief system would eradicate intergroup rivalry for jobs and resources.

However, this point of view was eventually seen as problematic for various reasons. For example, scholars argued that this idea created a hierarchy of citizenship whereby those able to integrate fully were afforded more capital.

The Concept of "Passing"

In addition, those able to "pass" (meaning someone of a minority group whose physical appearance looks like the dominant group, e.g., a Latino person who looks White) as the dominant culture would be rewarded with greater benefits, while those of other ethnicities would be penalized — even though this isn’t something under their control.

"Passing" is a complex phenomenon as it perpetuates racism and emotional distress as many folks who realize they may benefit from the advantages of "passing" have made them complicit in a system that oppresses and harms others.

Is Cultural Assimilation a Good or Bad Thing?

While cultural assimilation may help immigrants and ethnic minorities feel safer or more accepted by the dominant culture, research into its effects has been mixed.

For example, a 2011 study into the effects of assimilation on immigrant adolescents found that those living in non-poverty areas experienced increased educational achievements and better psychological well-being. However, there was also an increase in at-risk behavior. In contrast, they found that it negatively impacted immigrant children living in poorer locations.

A different study into immigrant households found that brothers with more foreign names faced higher unemployment rates, completed fewer years of school, earned less, and were more likely to marry foreign-born spouses. As for current discussions around cultural assimilation, they tend to focus on the psychological welfare of immigrants.

Cultural assimilation can lead to a loss of identity and cause significant psychological stress for immigrants. These can range from homesickness to depression and severe mental illness.

In addition, the act of migration can cause an individual to experience cultural bereavement — a form of grief caused by the loss of one’s culture and, thus, a core aspect of their identity. This can be further exacerbated by the loss of key cultural markers such as language, traditions, customs, and food, which can also intensify the alienation felt by an individual when trying to relate to someone (or a family member) from the country of their origin.

Effects of Cultural Assimilation

Cultural assimilation can lead to both positive and negative outcomes:

• Immigrants may feel safer and a greater sense of belonging to the dominant culture
• Immigrants who assimilate may experience a higher quality of living and better mental health
• Those belonging to minority groups may feel a loss of identity
• Minority groups may experience mental health struggles as a result of losing or becoming distant from their cultural strengths

Things to Consider When Discussing Cultural Assimilation

Cultural assimilation occurring voluntarily over time can be neutral as assimilation following migration can be helpful in connecting to and navigating a new culture.

Forced Assimilation Is a Form of Violence

However, forcing minority groups to adopt cultural practices that are not their own is problematic at best and violent at worst. After all, while cultural assimilation has been beneficial for some minority groups and the dominant cultures they come in contact with, forced assimilation has caused the violent extinction of many others. Therefore, it is vital to be as nuanced as possible when discussing cultural assimilation.

Furthermore, it is essential to reconcile with the pressures minority groups face to assimilate into host nations. For some of these individuals, assimilation may be the only means they see to succeed in society.

Therefore, it is critical for those part of the dominant group in a particular society to recognize and fight back against any attempts to force individuals to give up their culture. After all, cultural diversity can bring positive psychological and behavioral benefits.

A Word From Verywell

Cultural assimilation is a complex subject, so it is important to maintain sensitivity and consideration when reflecting upon it. Indigenous people, ethnic minorities, and immigrants often experience assimilation in different ways, so it is essential to use care when discussing and reflecting on how it occurs and the impact it may have.

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Abramitzky R, Platt Boustan L, Eriksson K. Cultural assimilation during the age of mass migration . National Bureau of Economic Research.

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Abramitzky R, Boustan LP, Eriksson K. Cultural Assimilation during the Age of Mass Migration . Social Science Research Network; 2016.

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By Zuva Seven Zuva Seven is a freelance writer, editor, and founder of An Injustice!—an intersectional publication based on Medium—who writes along the intersections of race, sexuality, mental health, and politics. She has a Diploma in Health Sciences from the University of Leeds and has written for several publications, including Business Insider, Refinery29, Black Ballad, Huffington Post, Stylist, ZORA, Greatist, and many more.

Transtext(e)s Transcultures 跨文本跨文化

Journal of Global Cultural Studies

Accueil Numéros 4 Why do Cultures Change? The Chall...

Why do Cultures Change? The Challenges of Globalization

This essay explores cultural change in the context of the economic globalization currently underway. It aims at analysing the role that theoretical inventiveness and ethical value play in fashioning broader cultural representation and responsibility, and shall explore issues of cultural disunity and conflict, while assessing the influence that leading intellectuals may have in promoting a finer perception of value worldwide. The role of higher education as an asset in the defence of democracy and individual self-development shall be discussed with a view to evaluating its potential for an altered course of globalization.

Texte intégral

• 1  Ralph Waldo Emerson “Napoleon; or, the man of the world” in Joel Porte, Essays and Lectures , New Y (...)

2  Emerson, p. 731.

1 We are always in need of definitions whenever we want to explore why cultures change. We are pressed to come up with answers as to what culture might be and how the idea of culture might fit into a nutshell. The general applicability of the answer we struggle to devise invites theoretical formulas and abstraction from specific historical developments. It also, as a result, cautions us to choose fields from which to cull situations and conflicts that may help deliver the concepts we want to grasp, and invites to understand the theory of culture as shaped by how events unfold, and how society moves along. In particular, one may have in mind what the American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote about Napoleon (our favourite dictator, to us French people) in a book he devoted to figures of historical importance ( Representative Men ): “Such a man was wanted, and such a man was born” 1 . This strikes a negative note, as does a quote from Napoleon himself that Emerson has unearthed from the vast body of memoirs the Napoleon era has handed down to us. Emerson is reported to have once declared: “My hand of iron […] was not at the extremity of my arm; it was immediately connected with my head” 2 . The remark and the quote hold a tentative definition of culture. Culture begins when sheer force is mitigated by intellect, intellect itself being shaped by a response to facts, and, we hope, as Emerson hopes, abstracted from fact by ethical imperative. On top of this, we feel Emerson’s attempt at rationality is run through by doubt: what if one might never discriminate between intellect and action? What if one might never grasp how ethics can disengage us from the cogs of history and were incapable of controlling an ongoing process that leads to disaster and apocalypse? Whenever one tries to define culture, culture breaks down into its many components: it splinters into action and responsibility, and we feel there might never be a connection between them. There lies Emerson’s historical pessimism, which it is hard to tone down.

• 3  Hubert Damisch, “A Crisis of Values, or Crisis Value ?”, in Daniel S. Hamilton (ed.), Which Values (...)

2 In recent years, a debate has been brought to the foreground, for reasons that have to do with our increasingly globalized world. Are there any values left? If such a thing as culture exists, then, there might be precise contents of an ethical sort that we want to pin down. Might not this sense of emptiness be the result of a crisis of value, as if the very idea of value had been swept away? This is what the French cultural critic Hubert Damisch thinks has happened, in a recent contribution to a volume aptly titled Which Values for our Time , published by the Gulbenkian Foundation of Lisbon. Damisch rounds up his interrogation as follows: “Crisis of values, or crisis value?” 3 The suggestion is of course that value is no longer visible on the horizon of our history to be, that the trend should be resisted, and that intellectual resistance is what we need. It is by no means new to be aware, among philosophers and cultural critics alike, that values are hard to come by. In Plato’s Republic , book seven, humankind is looking at the walls of a cave, noting the shadows dancing there, and being taught that our poor sight precludes the perception of good and evil, and the difference between them. Now that the walls of the cave have turned into television screens, one image is chased away by the next one, while our sense of global responsibility dissolves into thin air even though all the fields of human action hold perspectives of responsibility within them. Culture, like values, is a plenum and a void, a constant expectation and in the end something impossible when one looks at results and facts.

• 4  Peter Fenves, (ed.), Raising the Tone of Philosophy  ; Late Essays by Immanuel Kant, Transformative (...)

3 We should keep in mind Jacques Derrida’s anthropology of culture, and the degree to which it identifies conflict as the prime-mover within our cultural narratives. In a major contribution at a Cerisy conference in Normandy in 1980, titled “On a Newly Arisen Superior Tone in Philosophy” 4 , Jacques Derrida opposes two sets of attitudes: seeking rationality, and seeking mystery. Derrida views culture as the competition between the Aüfklarer and the mystics, and suggests there are possibilities that the two trends in cultural discourse might eventually reach some kind of truce achieved as a result of an interaction between them. No doubt he was trying to hold historical pessimism at a distance by suggesting gain might be reached in the historical development of cultures if rationality were capable of reading through the language of mysticism, and curb the influence of those he chose to call the mystagogues, in whom he saw a danger for democracy and human dignity. Cultures change, and when they do, they are pulled in opposite directions if we abide by Derrida’s critical thinking. They change to eliminate reason, even, as Derrida puts it, to emasculate it, and we must, as a result, apply pressure to preserve amity, and to uphold the values of democracy. To be sure, Derrida’s onslaught upon mystery is no onslaught upon religious values: there are many other targets we might think of in the current context of globalized liberal economies and environmental overuse, such as religious fundamentalism, terrorism, and the emergence of a global self-appointed elite, although Derrida’s inquiry was started some thirty years ago, and he never gets that precise about what should be indicted.

Disaster and Apocalypse

• 5  See in particular Making Globalization Work , New York, Norton, 2007, chapter 7, “The Multinational (...)
• 6  Richard Rorty, “Globalization, the politics of identity and Social Hope” in Philosophy and Social (...)

4 Our globalizing societies offer alternatives to an ideal world. In particular, market mechanisms and the rise of global capital have impoverished some non-European nations, while Europe has, in recent years, worked to thin the immigration flux while downsizing out of their jobs the low-skilled workers of a once predominantly industrial economy that has now turned to services. As a result, local communities have been struck, either in Europe or the United States, by being impoverished within the more glitzy context of affluence. In China as elsewhere, industrial activity has surged, while working conditions have never been worse among the former peasants driven to urban areas. Globalization may well pass for an agenda of disaster and social apocalypse, as Joseph Stiglitz has demonstrated 5 . Welfare and human rights have hardly benefited from the promise economic liberalism keeps harping on, and human development has been restricted to the rising middle-classes of China, or India, if we look at the most significant examples. Richard Rorty, meditating on social hope, has brought home the idea that globalization has been a blow to democracy. He wrote the following in an essay published in 1993: “We now have a global overclass which makes all the major economic decisions, and makes them entirely independently from the legislatures, and a fortiori of the will of the voters, of any given country” 6 . Rorty’s remark comes as an apposite reminder that there is no such thing as a world government, a fact that we all tend to overlook. The ideology of economic growth heralds human development, but delivers little in terms of the strengthening of local communities, both in rising nations as well as in Western ones. Might not this ideology form the most recent embodiment of some pseudo-thinking the mystagogues parade as rationality for us to kneel to?

5 Communities, we hear, have gone global, which means they are now glocal. The portmanteau word means more than it seems to say. On the one hand, the buzzword suggests that local communities may be strengthened by globalization; on the other, it suggests that local communities are shaped, in ways that cannot all be positive, by the advance of global liberalism. However, one of the unsought effects of glocalization may well be that cultural interference with distant or unknown communities might emerge from the pressure of global liberalism, by dissolving national, or even nationalist perspectives, and favouring international contacts. Let us be cautious in this: international interaction, in the context of globalizing economic exchange, may well be no other than buying and selling, and one more version of materialism without national values being cross-fertilized.

• 7  Jürgen Habermas, The New Conservatism: Cultural Criticism and the Historian’s debate , Cambridge, M (...)

6 Globalization cannot control the rise of a new conservatism, in spite of the surge in optimism that comes with it in some areas, if we look at the poor condition of welfare systems across developed countries and elsewhere. As Habermas has pointed out, “modernity sees itself as dependent exclusively upon itself” 7 , and utopian ideals are increasingly wiped out of the Zeitgeist. Globalization is in dire need of strengthening, not exhausting, utopian energies. If it proves incapable of effecting this, renewing utopian energies, the road down globalization may well be what one supposes it to be from recent evidence: a hurdle-race, with one winner, a few good athletes, and vast crowds of anonymous losers. Jacques Derrida has pointed out that we need peace in culture, and that peace can be achieved when the mystagogues accept to interact with rationality. Rationality however, to him, is not an empty bottle, or an instrument by which societies may solve practical questions. Rationality involves moral choice, and one may well suggest that the Habermas notion that utopian ideals have to be upheld is the best way to reorder, and refashion global liberalism. No doubt, the culture wars must go on, to stay the current backlash and its related traumas, terrorism East and West, the political violence within national borders and without, the religious fundamentalism which has found in globalization its ecotope, in Israel, in the Arab world, in the United States, and elsewhere, while environmental disasters from North to South take their toll upon communities. Cultures, as a result of globalization, change, for reasons that have to do with the innate systemic risks that globalization runs through them, risks which are supra-human, but which, for that very reason, have to be identified, deconstructed, and eliminated, although we do know that this process cannot be the work of one sole generation. Indifference as well as naïveté ought to be avoided. If, as Habermas thinks they are, utopian values are used-up, because they are targeted, then, they must be invigorated.

• 8  Emery Roe and Michel J.G. Van Eeten, “Three – Not Two – Major Environmental Counternarratives to G (...)

7 No doubt any such invigoration, if we want it to have pragmatic efficiency, we need specific measures, and precautions. Intellectual clarity can help. And meditation upon what is and what is not scientific can be an asset. It is true odium has been cast on the precautionary principle by some scholars of environmental studies. In a fairly recent issue (2004) of the M.I.T. Press quarterly Global Environmental Politics, scholars Emery Roe and Michel Van Eeten have condemned the precautionary principle in matters of environmental policy on the grounds that scientific evidence is not sufficient, calling for empirical knowledge, supposed to be an index to what is and what is not scientific 8 . Is it that globalization has reshaped the image of science in academia, making us wistful once again, and inviting us to find peace of mind in a belated version of science which is reminiscent of the nineteenth century, when science was largely considered to rely on empirical observation, whatever this might mean? Empiricism and dogmatic thinking are birds of a feather flocking together. More open intellectual attitudes are necessary to face the risks of globalization upon our environment. Doubt, in particular, may be protective, in this respect. Without it, scientific thinking can be stultified. Science cannot be independent of general interest and social respect, and requires critical detachment to shelter us from the systemic dangers inherent in its objects of inquiry and the applicability of its fundamental findings. In scientific knowledge as well, the culture wars loom large, though they tend to be overlooked. These wars may lead both ways: to cultural changes that will crush social hope, and to cultural changes that will uplift a sense of community and cooperation.

The Secularization of Value

9  Jean-Pierre Dupuy, Petite Métaphysique des Tsunamis , Paris, Seuil, 2005, p. 85.

8 The values of science, therefore, should be secularized, and scientists should avoid generating systems which hold dangers in them that might express their potential for destruction. The French philosopher and Stanford scholar Jean-Pierre Dupuy has pointed out that the atomic bombing of Japan was the result of systemic danger, in an amazing remark: “Why was the bomb ever used? Because it existed, quite simply” 9 . The implication of what he says is that science too, and what was at one point presented as an advance of the civilized mind, may lead to pragmatic consequences that reshape thinking and emasculate it, if we want to harp on the Derrida proposition that the mystagogues are able to emasculate rationality (let us pardon Derrida’s male chauvinism if we can). Human thinking involves systemic dangers, and one therefore has to rethink thinking in different terms, which has been the task of modern philosophy. Perhaps we might suggest at this point that cultural change involves the thinking of rationality in secularized terms. This means that technology may well lead us astray, tethered as it is to scientific knowledge which we tend to view as total, whereas any inquiry into the results of science tends to demonstrate that science is provisional, and that its propositions will sooner or later be refined, or redefined, and that intellectual inquiry, whatever its field, rarely comes to conclusions that will never be reworded, or revised. Knowledge is an ongoing process, and if we keep this in mind, we secularize science, instead of projecting it onto the higher plane of superior frozen truths. Science, like any other human adventure, unfolds through time, and taking this into consideration helps science respond to social needs.

9 Political scientists are struggling for secular views, as John Rawls has amply demonstrated. Behind his eulogy of democracy as a condition and an effect of economic and political liberalism, one finds an attempt to define the nature of rationality as the mainspring of social hope. It is striking, when reading John Rawls, to realize the extent to which rationality is assessed in conjunction with its effects upon social organization, which yields workable political conceptions of justice. John Rawls, in his second major opus, Political Liberalism , defines political rationality as outcome-centered, and this leads to a list of primary goods, which reads as follows:

basic rights and liberties […];

freedom of movement and free choice of occupation against a background of diverse opportunities;

powers and prerogatives of offices and positions of responsibility in the political and economic institutions of the basic structure;

income and wealth;

• 10  John Rawls, Political Liberalism , New York, Columbia University Press, 1993, p. 181. Joseph Stigli (...)

and finally, the social bases of self-respect. 10

• 11  Slavoj Zizek, “Le Tibet pris dans le rêve de l’autre”, Le Monde Diplomatique , n° 650, mai 2008, p. (...)

10 Rawls’ agenda relies on the traditions of the common-sense philosophy of the English-speaking world and the theoretical culture of pragmatism, which he found ready for use in his New-England intellectual environment. Nowhere do we find perspectives that would be disconnected from and independent from day-to-day preoccupations. Rawls wants to harness human development to democracy, to wring democracy out of economic growth, while there is an increasing belief, in this century, that our globalized economies hold a promise of democracy as an expectation which will always be contradicted by fact. Just recently, in a major contribution to the debate, the Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek has pointed out that China allies a vicious use of the Asian bludgeon in Tibet with the logics of the European stock-market, and that this betrays the belief that democracy is an obstacle to economic growth. As a result of this, Zizek’s assumption is that our global culture might be brought to understand that democracy is no longer needed to back human development, which might lead global cultural change in the wrong direction 11 . Democracy has to be maintained as a horizon of belief, and as the sole teleology worthy of respect. Rawls helps us understand that teleology should be one version of practicality, though we tend to think that any political teleology is an empty promise. His contribution to political philosophy views rationality not just as a belated version of theology, but as a tool that may help deliver collective results, following in the footsteps of American intellectual traditions which assess value in terms of their pragmatic consequences rather than in terms of otherworldly conceptual exploration.

• 12  Samuel Huntington, “Foreword” in Lawrence E. Harrison & Samuel Huntington (eds.), Culture Matters: (...)

11 What if, beyond this sound conception of political values, and the organic laws that go to frame them, human culture was unresponsive, thus precluding cultural change, and sustainable development? It is this situation that Samuel Huntington examines, leaving little room for hope, suggesting that cultures cannot change, or will change slowly or with difficulty, on the grounds that society will not change and that there is no connection between assumptions, beliefs, and the economic and political opportunities that the modern liberal state offers if we are willing to grasp them. Huntington’s dream is to get rid of cultural obstacles to economic development, while it is yet unclear whether there is any strong belief in the virtues of democracy in what he has to say. Huntington’s answer does not intend to demonstrate that it is democracy which has to be left out of his global picture. In his case, if progress is not fast enough, it is because those cultures which resist progress as seen from Massachusetts are obstacles which one must remove, but Huntington is no clear analyst of how culture and democracy might hinge. “[…] We define culture, Huntington writes, in purely subjective terms as the values, attitudes, beliefs, orientations, and underlying assumptions prevalent among people in a society” 12 . His vision of culture has left one notion unmentioned: what about solidarity, the cornerstone of Richard Rorty’s vision of social hope? It may well be that this is one value that the modern liberal state has eroded, and that solidarity is a basic asset to those communities forming the lesser developed countries of Africa, Latin America and parts of the Asian world, where welfare is weak, and institutionalized education poorly developed, where, for political reasons, states are not ready to reach out to populations and areas left to their own resources and inventiveness in terms of welfare. Huntington’s discourse, as a result, is a perfect illustration of the New Conservatism that Habermas has targeted. Modernity, in Huntington’s world-view, is seen as totally dependent on itself. Beliefs, in particular, are taken to task, in Huntington’s definition of culture. What if beliefs were an adequate instrument of the progress Huntington has in mind, one notion which is empty enough, and which Huntington parades to conceal his conservative views? Inherited ideas and attitudes are more of a survival-kit than an obstacle to social cohesiveness. One hardly knows, when reading Huntington, whether progress, the norm of his perspective, is one serious academic case of mystagogic thinking, or whether it may have practical applicability. It is arguable that progress, with Samuel Huntington, is an abstract notion.

13  Lucian W. Pye, “’Asian Values’: from dynamos to dominoes?”, Culture Matters , p. 249 .  

• 14  On this consider Françoise Lemoine, L’Economie de la Chine , Paris, La Découverte, 2006, esp. pp. 6 (...)

12 Asian culture turns out to be an epistemological obstacle to many political scientists. Once considered incapable of generating economic growth, Asian values are seen as an asset in the ongoing economic race, with growth rates that belittle Europe and the United States alike in some quarters of the Asian world. Can one blame economic stagnation on them yesterday, and now say that some basic values of Asian cultures are the leverage of change helping those so-called miracle economies make some headway? There may well be an emphasis on hard work in Chinese culture, but one cannot see how this is specifically Chinese, or American, or British. Lucian Pye, one prominent M.I.T. scholar in Chinese studies, has suggested that Taoism and the belief in good fortune, supposed to be specific to Chinese culture (although I am aware this might be challenged), has produced outgoing dynamic character in the Chinese people, which makes them ready to grasp any opportunity likely to turn to their advantage. Pye’s view of Chinese culture may easily be taken to task, as he implies that Chinese culture leaves no room for introspection. This is most probably a typical misconception such as New-England protestant culture wants to bring home. Lucian Pye, in particular, writes the following when considering the reasons for China’s rapid expansion: “This stress of the role of fortune makes for an outward-looking and highly reality-oriented approach to life, not an introspective one” 13 . This is, we guess, one academic version of prejudice insisting that the Chinese have no soul, and no interest for an inner life. Economists, on the other hand, go for a more mundane vision of China’s development, insisting on the capacity to attract foreign investors 14 . This is also quite true of many other rising Asian economies besides China.

13 However, these observations lead us to want to extend our definition of culture. Culture is not just simply a cluster of beliefs and attitudes outside the realm of economic and political development. Culture is probably much more than beliefs and attitudes. It encompasses what we might call material culture, in the sense that attitudes matter in economic development, which is no big news, if we refer to Max Weber’s understanding of the ethic of capitalism, shaped as it is by the sense of insecurity that goes with the necessity to devise for oneself advancement in this world, the better to advance in the next one, or the higher or more sophisticated one in the rich oriental spiritual heritage. No wonder then that Derrida should suggest that between rationality and mystery, there is one connection to be established. And, in Derrida’s view of how rationality and mystery interact, one finds an abiding agreement occurring, and this is of course desirable to establish peace in what he calls culture, which to him is more of a socially encompassing substance than a mere individual determinant of behaviour.

15  Pye, “’Asian Values’: from dynamos to dominoes?”, p. 250.

16  Pye, p. 250.

14 Lucian Pye is interesting as an analyst of Chinese social development, not for what certainties he may have in store for us, but for the scepticism which his propositions will cause in most areas of the academic world, and across disciplines. Examining the reasons for China’s economic advance, he writes that “[...] the driving force in Chinese capitalism has always been to find out who needs what and to satisfy that market need” 15 . One might meditate for quite a while to determine whether markets are out there for anyone to grab, or whether one should shape markets, create needs, and respond to one’s ambition to grow by being inventive. Nevertheless, Lucian Pye views Chinese economy as a simplistic answer to world needs, and the capacity to adapt to them, whereas the West is seen as technology-driven, and culturally more sophisticated: “Western firms seek to improve their products, strengthen their organizational structures, and work hard to achieve name recognition” 16 . We wonder whether Chinese firms have not always tried to do precisely this, which can only be generalized with a vast highly educated workforce, which China is trying to obtain by adequate investment in higher education. This path is promising, from what we can judge when considering our Chinese students in our higher learning European institutions.

Cultural Change and Universities

17  Habermas, The New Conservatism , p. 104.

18  Jacques Derrida, L’Université sans condition , Paris, Galilée, 2001, p. 16.

19  See “The Idea of the University”, The New Conservatism , pp. 100-127.

15 If therefore, cultures change, not just private cultures, but also public ones, as we increasingly suspect cultures to be collective assets, university education has a major role to play in this process. We, as academics, either experienced or aspiring ones, must address the issue of what a university education ought to be like. So far in this discussion, we have acknowledged that academics should avoid voicing social prejudice, and this has not always been accomplished, to say the least. Jacques Derrida has meditated extensively on this, with a view to promoting the role education might play in defending the values of democracy, no doubt because Derrida’s understanding of the effects of academic training is combined with the idea of a political education for youth. This may be easily understood when one looks at the moral paralysis of the German university system and its many graduates embracing Nazism and providing the Nazi regime with its most destructive propagandists and functionaries. However, Habermas is clear on this point. German universities cannot be blamed for what befell. Habermas, in particular, points out that the number of students was halved during Nazism in Germany, dropping from 121 000 in 1933 to below 60 000 right before the Second World War 17 . One reason why this happened, although Derrida is not explicit on this point, is that universities tend to over-specialize knowledge. This has caused the decline of humanistic study. Habermas offers similar views, though they are cast in a more sociological mould. To Derrida, higher education should be critical of whatever rationality wants to assess. He calls this “the university without conditions”, which to him involves an ambitious agenda thus defined: “the primal right to say anything, be it in the name of fiction and of knowledge as experiment, and the right to speak publicly, and to publish this” 18 . Habermas offers a more accurate version of what ought to be done, and has been insufficiently accomplished so far: integrating humanistic study and technical expertise to curb the specialization of knowledge 19 .

20  Derrida, L’Université sans condition , p. 69.

16 This may sound vague enough, and we wonder where it might lead, because one doubts whether knowledge, in various disciplines, might efficiently refrain from becoming specialized. This is why Derrida comes up with more practical propositions as to the contents and orientations of higher education in the book he published in 2001, L’Université sans condition . There are seven such propositions, all having to do with what one might call the architecture of knowledge, all answering the need to redefine humanistic study, which should come alongside more specialized training, either in established scholarly disciplines, or the training of students towards professions outside the academic world. The new humanities should, according to Derrida, deal with what he calls “the history of man”, which calls us to devote more attention than has so far been devoted to human rights, be they for men or women. To him, these rights are “legal performatives” 20 , which sounds otherworldly owing to the weight of abstraction in the phrase. However, this might basically mean that these rights are to be upheld because they can be applied to the various fields of human activity. Furthermore we must bear in mind that these so-called “legal performatives” are performatives because they hold within them an applicability that may be constantly expanded, in practical terms, to various areas of cultural practice, among which of course science and business, two areas of higher education that are growing to meet the social needs of human development.

17 The idea of democracy comes second in Derrida’s architecture of the new humanities. It comes second for reasons of clarity in the presentation of the programme he has in mind. Yet the idea of democracy is not a second-thought, because it runs, let us be reminded, through all his oeuvre as a philosopher. Let us note that democracy, as far as what Derrida has to say about it, is not tethered to nationhood. Nationhood is dangerous, and one may easily understand this in the light of European history, and also of Asia. From this, we can easily infer that cultural change in the future should not rely on national traditions, and that, in this respect, globalization offers opportunities for positive cross-fertilization. Derrida’s meditation on this hinges on the concept of sovereignty. While sovereignty is a desirable goal for each and every one of us; the idea is viewed as misleading, as it has often been a concept without practical consequences, while we may still hope that sovereignty will remain a horizon of belief for individuals, and a value that will guide collective decisions. Yet, if Derrida invites us to abide by this concept (sovereignty), he also believes that any collective formalization of the idea of sovereignty should avoid reliance on the nation-state, which may too easily lead to a betrayal of individual dignity.

21  Derrida, p. 72.

18 Derrida then focuses on the necessity to recuperate the authority of teaching, and of literature, whose proposals cannot be easily understood. One suspects, when reading Derrida’s proposals, that teaching as well as literature have to do with amity, a concept that emerges from Derrida’s body of works. This is not a norm, neither is it prescriptive, nor can it be strictly defined as a doctrine or a set of mandatory rules. We gather this is to be understood as an opening to otherness on the part of the teacher, and a eulogy of respect for the other person, which involves inventiveness and the by-passing of any sort of regulation that defines the other person in some way or other that might lead to a position of authority of a colonial or exploitative nature. It certainly is an attitude of respect, which elbows aside the very notion of authority, “routs it”, as Derrida says 21 . Universities, therefore, should constitute an idea that transcends any specialized discourse on the technicalities of education; it consists in letting the other reach out for his or her potential towards self-development. The institutional strength of higher education springs, in Derrida’s view of it, from the interaction of the person who teaches and the one being taught, to live to the full his or her aspirations. Derrida’s ideal is so elevated that it transcends any definition one might come up with. It certainly is a call to confront the normative nature of higher education in order to recuperate a lost sense of human warmth that has been eliminated by the technocratic complexities of institutions seeking intellectual identity in the measurement of student skills and their willingness to comply to them. One also cannot rule out that a backlash has been underway in higher education itself owing to the rising number of first-generation graduates from the less educated groups of our national cultures. This has been more of an opportunity for universities to fulfil their cultural mission from the sixties onwards than a serious obstacle to the growth of higher education, and one can argue that Derrida was balking away from the pessimistic discourse one hears in most academic circles today – ill-grounded as it is on the relative accessibility to higher education.

• 22  On this, consider Daniel Parrochia, La Forme des crises : logique et épistémologie , Seyssel, Champ (...)

19 The challenges that higher education has to face, in the context of an ever-increasing cross-fertilization of cultures, points to one underlying question that surfaces from an examination of current economic and social trends. Is what we call culture tethered to social and economic factors? The question is by no means new, and was handed down to us by the industrial revolutions of the nineteenth century, and by Marxist theory. We now tend to believe that culture is one mode of collective representation that one may disengage from submission to social and economic facts. On this point, the French sociologist Emile Durkheim referred to real structures , that he saw as disconnected from institutions or working facts . 22 There is still much thought to be devoted to whether the degree of autonomy of culture as collective representation involves radical or relative autonomy from economic factors. We are also hard pressed to determine whether, in this framework of analytical thinking, autonomy is or is not hampered by the necessities of those real structures and the institutions that shape them, and even perhaps discreetly justify them. Hence, Stiglitz’s view that one must respond to a democratic deficit, and Derrida’s view that one must face the serious issue of a democratic deficit in higher education. The question is not benign, and it calls forth an autonomy of the mind to bend social realities and economic factors to purposes that do not derive from them.

1  Ralph Waldo Emerson “Napoleon; or, the man of the world” in Joel Porte, Essays and Lectures , New York, The Library of America, 1983, p. 731.

3  Hubert Damisch, “A Crisis of Values, or Crisis Value ?”, in Daniel S. Hamilton (ed.), Which Values for our Time, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Center for Transatlantic Relations, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007, p. 57.

4  Peter Fenves, (ed.), Raising the Tone of Philosophy  ; Late Essays by Immanuel Kant, Transformative Critique by Jacques Derrida , Baltimore and London, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993, pp. 117-171; French edition : « D’un ton apocalyptique adopté naguère en philosophie » in Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe et Jean-Luc Nancy (ed.), Les Fins de l’Homme: à partir du travail de Jacques Derrida , Paris, Galilée, 1981, pp. 445-479.

5  See in particular Making Globalization Work , New York, Norton, 2007, chapter 7, “The Multinational Corporation”.

6  Richard Rorty, “Globalization, the politics of identity and Social Hope” in Philosophy and Social Hope , London, Penguin, 1999, p. 233.

7  Jürgen Habermas, The New Conservatism: Cultural Criticism and the Historian’s debate , Cambridge, Mass., The M.I.T. Press, (1989) 1997, p. 48.

8  Emery Roe and Michel J.G. Van Eeten, “Three – Not Two – Major Environmental Counternarratives to Globalization”, Global Environmental Politics , 4:4, November 2004; see in particular pp. 36-39.

10  John Rawls, Political Liberalism , New York, Columbia University Press, 1993, p. 181. Joseph Stiglitz follows suits with a set of more technical criteria in Making Globalization Work; s ee the section“Responding to the Democratic Deficit”, pp. 280-285.

11  Slavoj Zizek, “Le Tibet pris dans le rêve de l’autre”, Le Monde Diplomatique , n° 650, mai 2008, p. 32.

12  Samuel Huntington, “Foreword” in Lawrence E. Harrison & Samuel Huntington (eds.), Culture Matters: How Values Shape Human Progress , New York, Basic Books, 2000, XV.

14  On this consider Françoise Lemoine, L’Economie de la Chine , Paris, La Découverte, 2006, esp. pp. 67-68.

22  On this, consider Daniel Parrochia, La Forme des crises : logique et épistémologie , Seyssel, Champ Vallon, 2008, esp. pp. 104-128.

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Alain Suberchicot , « Why do Cultures Change? The Challenges of Globalization » ,  Transtext(e)s Transcultures 跨文本跨文化 , 4 | 2008, 5-17.

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Alain Suberchicot , « Why do Cultures Change? The Challenges of Globalization » ,  Transtext(e)s Transcultures 跨文本跨文化 [En ligne], 4 | 2008, mis en ligne le 20 septembre 2009 , consulté le 23 août 2024 . URL  : http://journals.openedition.org/transtexts/237 ; DOI  : https://doi.org/10.4000/transtexts.237

Alain Suberchicot

Professor , American Studies, University of Lyon (Jean-Moulin)

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• World Psychiatry
• v.4(1); 2005 Feb

Migration, cultural bereavement and cultural identity

Dinesh bhugra.

1 Section of Cultural Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London, UK

MATTHEW A BECKER

2 Department of Psychiatry, Southern California Permanente Medical Group, San Diego, CA, USA

Migration has contributed to the richness in diversity of cultures, ethnicities and races in developed countries. Individuals who migrate experience multiple stresses that can impact their mental well being, including the loss of cultural norms, religious customs, and social support systems, adjustment to a new culture and changes in identity and concept of self. Indeed, the rates of mental illness are increased in some migrant groups. Mental health practitioners need to be attuned to the unique stresses and cultural aspects that affect immigrants and refugees in order to best address the needs of this increasing and vulnerable population. This paper will review the concepts of migration, cultural bereavement and cultural identity, and explore the interrelationship between these three aspects of the migrant's experience and cultural congruity. The complex interplay of the migration process, cultural bereavement, cultural identity, and cultural congruity, along with biological, psychological and social factors, is hypothesized as playing a major role in the increased rates of mental illness in affected migrant groups.

Mental health practitioners work in an increasingly multicultural world, shaped by the migrations of people of many different cultural, racial and ethnic backgrounds. People migrate for many reasons, including broadly political, socioeconomic and educational. The richness of this diversity of cultures, ethnicity, races and reasons for migration can make understanding experiences and diagnosis of illness challenging in people whose background and experience differ significantly from the clinician. Culture has an important role in the presentation of illness, and cultural differences impact upon the diagnosis and treatment of migrant populations in part due to linguistic, religious and social variation from the clinician providing care. Additionally, it appears that the incidence and prevalence of psychiatric disorders varies among people of different cultural backgrounds due to an interplay of biological, psychological and social factors.

The provision of healthcare is necessarily influenced by the demands of people of many different cultures, but relies on economic, social and political factors, and it is important that cultural differences be appreciated and understood to arrive at a correct diagnostic impression and treatment plan. The migration process itself can be stressful, depending upon the type and cause of migration, and can affect the mental health of migrating individuals and their families. Issues of cultural bereavement and identity occur with increased frequency among migrants and their families. This paper will review these concepts and how they impinge upon mental health and psychiatric care and, by so doing, help the clinician to identify and address these issues in a culturally sensitive way.

Migration can be defined as the process of going from one country, region or place of residence to settle in another. The duration of this new settlement varies, but for the purposes of this paper the focus is on individuals who relocate either semi-permanently or permanently to another country. Also, urban-rural migration within the same country is not being discussed here. Migrants may move en masse or singly. For example, people who migrate for economic or educational reasons may move singly and at a latter date be joined by their families, whereas people who move due to political reasons may move en masse but with or without their families ( 1 ). Although not all people who migrate are from ethnic minority groups, it is of note that a significant proportion is. The multicultural nature of British society is supported by the 1991 census. Ethnic categories were first used in the UK in the 1991 census, at which time over three million people, or approximately 5.5% of the general population, were from ethnic minority (non-white) groups ( 2 ). Of these, 30% described themselves as black, black African or other and 28% described themselves as Indian; however, by the 2001 census the categories of ethnic ascription had increased and the proportion of ethnic minorities had increased to 7.9%. The minority ethnic population in the UK grew by 53% between 1991 and 2001, from 3 million people to 4.6 million people respectively. Indians were the largest minority group, followed by Pakistanis, people of mixed ethnic backgrounds, black Caribbeans, black Africans and Bangladeshis ( 3 ).

The history of migration to Britain highlights some of the reasons why people migrate. Significant migration to Britain started in the nineteenth century. Irish immigration has been marked by periods of influx and efflux to and from Britain, as people have come to either settle permanently or work temporarily with ultimate return to Ireland as a goal. Eastern European Jews came at the latter part of the nineteenth century to escape both religious persecution and poverty, with additional numbers arriving in Britain both before and after World War II. In the 1960s, employers, especially in urban areas, recruited people from the West Indies to fill low paying jobs which were less attractive to the local population. People from the Indian subcontinent migrated to Britain for educational and economic reasons, the peak of which occurred about the same time as the West Indian migration. Asian people expelled by Idi Amin's government came from Uganda in the late 1970s. The 1980s saw a change in the immigration laws limiting the numbers of people allowed to relocate to Britain ( 4 ). Today, people from around the globe choose to migrate to the UK as well as other developed countries, both legally and illegally, for better educational and employment opportunities, to escape persecution, to relocate after catastrophic events, including terrorism, disasters and war, and/or to join relatives who migrated at an earlier time.

Migration can be classified in a number of ways; e.g., by the reasons for the migration, the social class and education of the migrating people, the duration of relocation and the geographic distribution of the resettlement. Further, a distinction can be made in the classification of migrants according to whether their contact with the 'majority' or 'dominant' culture is deemed voluntary. Migrants can be classified as immigrants and sojourners when the change in their location results in contact voluntarily, whereas refugees are deemed to change their location involuntarily ( 5 ). For example, immigrants choose to migrate, and thus be in increased and regular contact with the 'majority' culture in preparation for migration, for potential economic and/or educational advancement, whereas refugees are forced to migrate, and thus be in contact with the 'majority' population involuntarily, to escape persecution. Additionally, rural-urban migration has been associated with economic and educational reasons for relocation, whereas migration across nations has been associated with economic, educational, social and political reasons ( 6 ).

The process of migration has been described as occurring in broadly three stages. The first stage is pre-migration, involving the decision and preparation to move. The second stage, migration, is the physical relocation of individuals from one place to another. The third stage, postmigration, is defined as the "absorption of the immigrant within the social and cultural framework of the new society". Social and cultural rules and new roles may be learnt at this stage ( 4 ). The initial stage of migration may have comparatively lower rates of mental illness and health problems than the latter stages, due to the younger age at the initial stage of migration and the problems with acculturation and the potential discrepancy between attainment of goals and actual achievement in the latter stages ( 7 ). It is worth noting that the stages are often not discrete and merge into one another.

It has been hypothesized that social adjustment and the prevalence of mental illness in migrants may be influenced by the duration of the relocation, the similarity or dissimilarity between the culture of origin and the culture of settlement, language and social support systems, acceptance by the 'majority' culture, access and acceptance by the expatriate community, employment, and housing ( 4 ). If the individual feels isolated from his or her culture, unaccepted by the 'majority culture' and has a lack of social support, a consequent sense of rejection, alienation and poor selfesteem may occur. During the stages of migration, there may be factors that predispose individuals to mental disorders. Pre-migration factors include the personality structure of an individual, forced migration, and persecution, among others. Migration factors include bereavement, culture shock, a discrepancy between expectations and achievement, and acceptance by the new nation are potential post-migration factors ( 8 , 9 ). These factors can be thought of as vulnerability factors along with biological, social and psychological variables. For example, personality structure can be thought of as a biological factor as well as in cultural terms. Personality is influenced by cultural factors and influences patterns of child rearing, responding to stress and accepting social support. National character and personality factors are interlinked.

Bhugra ( 6 ) reviewed four hypotheses explaining the relationship between migration and mental illness, specifically the higher rates of schizophrenia among some migrant groups in the UK, and proposed a fifth hypothesis. His hypothesis argues for an ethnic density effect on the rates of mental illness in migrant groups. Additionally, individuals who migrate from collectivistic or socio-centric societies, who themselves are socio-centric, into individualist or egocentric societies may experience feelings of alienation and mental distress, with consequent difficulty in settling into the new society. Social change, assimilation and cultural identity may be significant factors in the relationship between migration and mental illness ( 6 , 7 ).

CULTURAL BEREAVEMENT

The loss of one's social structure and culture can cause a grief reaction, as has been described by Eisenbruch ( 10 , 11 ). Migration involves the loss of the familiar, including language (especially colloquial and dialect), attitudes, values, social structures and support networks. Grieving for this loss can be viewed as a healthy reaction and a natural consequence of migration; however, if the symptoms cause significant distress or impairment and last for a specified period of time, psychiatric intervention may be warranted. Eisenbruch ( 11 ) has defined cultural bereavement as "the experience of the uprooted person - or group - resulting from loss of social structures, cultural values and self-identity: the person - or group - continues to live in the past, is visited by supernatural forces from the past while asleep or awake, suffers feelings of guilt over abandoning culture and homeland, feels pain if memories of the past begin to fade, but finds constant images of the past (including traumatic images) intruding into daily life, yearns to complete obligations to the dead, and feels stricken by anxieties, morbid thoughts, and anger that mar the ability to get on with daily life".

The expression of such bereavement is influenced by many factors, among which are social, cultural and economic. In a study of the palliative care experience of Bangladeshi patients and their carers in east London, recent migration, linguistic barriers, religious beliefs and financial issues impacted the ability to optimise pain control in patients and the grieving process of family members; burial of the deceased in Bangladesh and social support from family and friends were potentially helpful in the grieving process ( 12 ). The importance of culture in the expression of grief was highlighted by a case report of bereavement in an Ethiopian female refugee. Her symptoms of grief were complicated by her inability to perform her culturally sanctioned purification rituals because of her relocation. Compounding her problem, she was erroneously diagnosed at various times due to the use of Western derived diagnostic criteria and a lack of appreciation of the cultural differences in the presentation of grief by clinicians ( 13 ). The symptoms of cultural bereavement may be misdiagnosed due to problems with language, culture and the use of Western diagnostic criteria in non- Western peoples. Schreiber ( 13 ) noted that traditional healing and purification rituals as well as supportive psychotherapy, after the correct diagnosis was made, were essential in the treatment of this patient's syndrome.

Western constructs of bereavement may prove to be of only partial or limited value in explaining expressions of grief when applied to people from other cultures; however, this is an area worth further study. All human beings get bereaved, but the cultural norms are essential in dealing with bereavement. Western views of bereavement include the progression through stages of grief, psychoanalytic theories of loss, and behavioural theories. Davies and Bhugra ( 14 ) refer to Bowlby's contribution to the understanding of loss and the function and course of grief. In application of his attachment theory, Bowlby described four phases of mourning, including numbing, yearning and anger, disorganization and despair, and reorganization. Psychoanalytic theorists have described the role of the unconscious and ambivalence in grief; abnormal grief reactions are felt to be unconsciously driven and involve ambivalent feelings to the lost object with resultant depressive symptoms including significant decline in self-esteem ( 15 , 16 ).

The DSM-IV notes that the "duration and expression of 'normal' bereavement vary considerably among different cultural groups". A major depressive episode is diagnosed, instead of bereavement, if symptoms of depression are present two or more months after the loss or the following symptoms are present: a) guilt about things other than actions taken or not taken by the survivor at the time of the death; b) thoughts of death other than the survivor feeling that he or she would be better off dead or should have died with the deceased person; c) morbid preoccupation with worthlessness; d) marked psychomotor retardation; e) prolonged and marked functional impairment; and f) hallucinatory experiences other than thinking that he or she hears the voice of, or transiently sees the image of, the deceased person. These symptoms are based on a Western construct for the diagnosis of abnormal grief and as such do not take into account different cultural expressions of grief. In many cultures, it is normal to be visited by spirits and ghosts, and people of non-Western culture may describe conversations with supernatural spirits. The importance of placing these expressions of grief in the appropriate cultural context is essential in differentiating between abnormal and normal reactions to loss. Inappropriate diagnoses of psychotic disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and mood disorders have been made in people of non-Western backgrounds when clinicians ignore cultural differences in the expression of grief. The misdiagnosis and subsequent inappropriate treatment will at best not address the issue for the affected person and, at worst, cause harm.

Eisenbruch ( 10 ), in his work with Southeast Asian refugees, devised a cultural bereavement interview as a means to help with the validity of the diagnostic interview, clarify the "structure" of the grief reaction, and start the process of healing for the affected individuals. The interview takes into account the language and cultural constructs of the bereaved individual. During the interview, the clinician explores the following: a) memories of family, based on the construct of thoughts and perceptions of the past; b) continuing experience of family and the past, including ghosts and spirits, based on the construct of communication with the past; c) dreams, guilt, clarity of recall of the past and structuring of the past in the homeland, based on the construct of survivor guilt; d) experiences of death, based on the construct of the violence of separation or death and the absence of leave-taking; and e) response to separation from homeland, based on the construct of anger and ambivalence ( 10 ). The cultural bereavement interview incorporates exploration of religious belief and practice, stressing the importance of 'traditional' treatments in the bereaved immigrant population. As noted above and continuing Schreiber's ( 13 ) notion, the collaboration of the Western psychiatrist with a traditional healer can represent for affected individuals the best treatment approach, which is one that embraces and integrates the non-Western belief system when using Western psychiatric approaches.

Bereavement has been associated with psychotic, anxiety and mood disorders; however, this association is complicated due to the misinterpretation of the cultural expressions of grief by Western trained clinicians and the Western diagnostic criteria of psychiatric disorders that may not be applicable in people of different cultural backgrounds. Undoubtedly, people who have migrated due to political upheaval or war may have witnessed or participated in combat and torture; thus, affected individuals may have PTSD and bereavement, as these diagnoses are not mutually exclusive. Culturally appropriate mani- festations and expressions of bereavement may include Western constructs of PTSD and psychosis, including hearing voices, seeing ghosts and feeling the presence of the dead; therefore, it is important to recognize the symptoms of bereavement within the cultural constructs of the affected individual and be open to the possibility of additional psychiatric disorders. Cultural bereavement is an important aspect in the understanding of the migrant's experience. Our hypothesis is that such an experience will be mediated through and influenced by cultural identity. The concepts of individual identity are likely to affect the understanding as well as working through the bereavement process.

CULTURAL IDENTITY

It is important to define basic sociologic terms of identity to understand cultural identity. Culture is learned and passed through generations and includes the beliefs and value system of a society. Culture has been described as features that are shared and bind people together into a community ( 17 ). Identity is the totality of one's perception of self, or how we as individuals view ourselves as unique from others. Bhugra ( 6 , 7 ) notes that racial, cultural and ethnic identities form part of one's identity, and identity will change with development at a personal as well as at a social level along with migration and acculturation. Social identity can be thought of as the culturally defined personality characteristics, which are ascribed to social roles, such as the role of being a father, mother, friend, employer, employee, etc. Ethnicity is a source of social identity. Ethnic groups are composed of people who may or may not share the same race but do share common cultural characteristics, including history, beliefs, values, food and entertainment preferences, religion and language. Ethnicity typically incorporates both race and culture ( 17 ). Race is based on biologic constructs, such as sharing certain physical attributes; it may or not be also a social and political construct ( 17 ). For example, people from the West Indies, Africa and parts of North and South America may share the same race but have different beliefs, value systems, social norms and idioms of distress.

Bhugra ( 6 ) notes that components of cultural identity include religion, rites of passage, language, dietary habits and leisure activities. Religious rituals and beliefs, even if not followed as an adult, make up a key component of an individual's cultural identity. Religion can preserve values within the community and foster a sense of belonging. Rites of passage are important in the development of an individual's cultural identity; following these rites or rituals is bound to influence the degree to which an individual will be accepted within the cultural group. Language, both written and spoken, is a cultural marker. Bhugra ( 7 ) writes of the importance of linguistic competence and economic stability as determinant factors prompting individuals to eventually leave their non-dominant cultural group, which typically is geographically bound, and venture into the dominant culture. Attitudes to food and food preparation, including religiously driven taboos and the symbolism of food, are a component of cultural identity that can be influenced by religious teachings. Leisure activities, including music, movies, sports, and literature, are important components, along with language and religion, in allowing an individual to feel part of their culture while living in a place with a different culture and may or may not change during the acculturation process. Social and cultural qualities and attitudes are typically more resistant to change and are usually last to adjust during acculturation ( 18 ).

Psychosocial changes experienced by immigrants include assimilation, which can be viewed as a process by which cultural differences disappear as immigrant communities adapt to the majority or host culture and value system. An individual's cultural identity may be lost during the assimilation process as he or she moves within the host society. Acculturation, a process that may be voluntary or forced, requires contact between culturally divergent groups of people and results in the assimilation of cultural values, customs, beliefs and language by a minority group within a majority community ( 8 ). During the acculturation process, both the immigrant and host cultures may change. Changes in attitudes, family values, generational status and social affiliations can occur in both the majority and minority cultures as the two interact; however, typically one culture dominates ( 7 ).

Cultural changes in identity can be stressful and result in problems with self-esteem and mental health. Contact between the immigrant, or minority, community with the dominant or host community may lead to assimilation, rejection, integration or deculturation ( 8 ). Rejection, in which the individual or minority group withdraws from the majority group, can lead to apartheid or segregation in extreme cases. Deculturation, in which the individual or minority group experiences a loss of cultural identity, alienation and acculturative stress, can lead to ethnocide ( 6 ). Post-migration stresses include culture shock and conflict, both of which may lead to a sense of cultural confusion, feelings of alienation and isolation, and depression ( 8 ). Host societies' attitudes, including racism, compounded by stresses of unemployment, a discrepancy between achievement and expectations, financial hardships, legal concerns, poor housing and a general lack of opportunities for advancement within the host society, can lead to mental health problems in vulnerable individuals.

Acculturation may help the culturally bereaved individual to gain a semblance of equilibrium. Migrants who experience the loss of their culture and guilt over leaving their homeland may find that, as the acculturation process proceeds, a sense of belonging in their new homeland occurs. The majority culture may seem less threatening and more inviting as the individual becomes more linguistically and socially fluent in this new culture. Social sup- port can ensue in the forms of friendships, employment opportunities, and medical care. Integration and assimilation can help reduce feelings of loss and grief as the migrant starts to incorporate aspects of the majority culture. In acculturation, the interaction of the migrant's culture with the majority culture of the new homeland is a dynamic and reciprocal process that can result in changes in the broader cultural group, enhancing the ability of people of the dominant culture to better appreciate and understand aspects of the immigrant's culture and recognize some of the needs of those who have migrated.

CULTURAL CONGRUITY

Migrating people come from diverse cultural backgrounds, with already formed cultural identities. As noted above, cultural identity is influenced by various factors both during and after the migration process, and cultural bereavement is a potential inherent consequence in people who have migrated. Cultural identities interact, as people who have migrated come into contact not only with people of the majority culture but also with immigrants of both similar and disparate cultures. Resultant feelings of a sense of belonging and comfort or a sense of alienation and distress may occur. Bhugra and Jones ( 9 ) proposed that various personal and relational factors during the migration process impact the mental well being of migrating people. During the post-migration phase, personal factors of importance in coping with adversity include cultural identity, social support networks, self-esteem, and self-concept. Achievement, racism, ethnic density, social isolation and unemployment are among the relational factors of importance in migrants during the post-migration phase ( 7 , 9 ).

Ethnic density, the size of a particular ethnic group in proportion to the total population in a specified area, may be a factor that influences the rates of mental illness in ethnic minorities. Additionally, a sense of alienation may occur if the cultural and social characteristics of an individual differ from those of the surrounding population, whereas a sense of belonging tends to occur if the individual and surrounding population have similar cultural and social characteristics. Bhugra ( 6 ) writes of the importance of ethnic and cultural congruity, interaction patterns and cultural identity in the genesis and maintenance of mental distress in migrants. Cultural congruity may be thought of as the congruence or dissonance of an individual's culture, beliefs and expectations with the surrounding population. The surrounding population may be made up predominantly of people from the same or different cultural background compared to the migrant. An increase in ethnic density may improve the social support and the adjustment of some individuals who have migrated, yet increase distress in others, in particular if there exists a cultural conflict between the individual and his culture of origin ( 9 ). This may account for some of the conflicting results from studies of the relationship between ethnic density and the incidence of mental illness in ethnic minority groups. For example, an inverse correlation between the incidence of schizophrenia in non-white ethnic minorities in London and the proportion of those minorities in the local population was found; it was hypothesized that increased exposure to or a lack of protection from stress may increase the rate of schizophrenia in non-white ethnic minorities ( 19 ); however, a previous study failed to support the ethnic density hypothesis for the increased incidence of schizophrenia in immigrant groups to England ( 20 ).

In a review of multiple studies, Shah ( 17 ) found that common mental disorders were more prevalent in people of ethnic minority groups who lived in areas of low density of their own ethnic group. His findings showed that common mental disorders were at least as prevalent in ethnic minority groups as in the indigenous population and, in some ethnic minority groups, more prevalent. Depression may be more prevalent in the Caribbean and African populations compared to the majority population, with phobias more common in Asian groups. Risk factors for common mental disorders in ethnic minority groups include poverty, unemployment, migration before the age of 11, racism, a perceived lack of social support, social isolation, absence of a confidante and absence of parents in law ( 17 ). The incidence of schizophrenia was higher in an urban area of south-east London compared to rural areas in south-west Scotland, due to the larger proportion of non-white ethnic minority groups living in the urban area compared to the rural area ( 21 ), with an overall increase in the incidence of schizophrenia in south-east London between 1965 and 1997 ( 22 ).

It is important to consider the nature of the society an individual has migrated from and to, and the social characteristics of the individual who has migrated, in determining how well a person will adjust during the migration process. Socio-centric, or collectivistic, societies stress cohesiveness, strong ties between individuals, group solidarity, emotional inter-dependence, traditionalism and a collective identity. Egocentric, or individualistic, societies stress independence, loose ties between individuals, emotional independence, liberalism, self-sufficiency, individual initiative, and autonomy. Bhugra ( 6 ) has hypothesized that individuals who migrate from predominately sociocentric, or collectivistic, societies into a society that is predominately egocentric, or individualistic, are likely to have problems adjusting to the new culture, especially if the individuals are socio-centric in their own belief system. A consequent lack of an adequate social support system, a disparity between expectations and achievements and a low self-esteem may result from this dissonance in culture between the individual and the surrounding population. An increase in ethnic density may help decrease the distress of the individual in this situation, especially by providing a social support system. For example, a person who migrates to the United States, a predominately egocentric society, from Vietnam, a predominately socio-centric society, may feel isolated and alienated, especially if the individual is socio-centric in outlook. Feelings of isolation and alienation may be decreased, and social support improved, if other people from Vietnam, with socio-centric views, surround this person in the area of resettlement; however, the socio-centric individual may remain on the periphery of his/her new homeland's society since linguistic and social fluency of the dominant culture may not be attained. Cultural bereavement may also be minimized if the immigrant is able to maintain ties to the culture of origin, either through increased ethnic density, improved social support or maintenance of religious beliefs and practice. On the other hand, individuals who migrate from a predominately socio-centric culture into a society that is predominately egocentric in nature may experience little in the way of problems, and a relatively easy transition to the new culture, if the person who has migrated is mostly egocentric, or individualistic, in his/her outlook. In this case, an increase in ethnic density may be disadvantageous and exacerbate or cause cultural conflict and mental distress.

CONCLUSIONS

The proportion of ethnic minorities in the UK has been increasing at least in part due to the migration of individuals from all over the world. Migration is a complex process, involving a heterogeneity of causes, experiences, cultural adjustment and stages, that influence the mental health of migrants. The stresses of the migration process itself combined with a lack of social support, a discrepancy between achievement and expectations, economic hardships, racial discrimination and harassment, and a lack of access to proper housing, medical care, and religious practice can lead to poor self-esteem, an inability to adjust, and poor physical and mental health. Social and cultural factors have been implicated in the aetiology of mental illness in immigrants and refugees, and further study is needed to better understand the role of culture as pathogenic or patho-protective ( 7 ).

Cultural bereavement, a paramount aspect of the migrant's experience, is influenced by, and mediated through, the interplay of the migration process, cultural identity and cultural congruity, along with biological and psychological factors. To appropriately guide diagnosis and treatment interventions, mental health practitioners must appreciate and recognize the socio-cultural factors that influence the manifestation of grief in people who have migrated. Cultural identity and congruity will affect the ability of the affected person to understand and work through the grieving process, and disturbances of identity and congruity are likely to lead to a pathologic, or complicated, bereavement.

Rates of depression, phobias and schizophrenia are elevated in some migrant groups. The understanding of race, ethnicity, social isolation and a lack of social support, racism, unemployment and poverty, poor housing and a lack of access to appropriate medical care is important in explaining the increased rates of mental illness in ethnic minority groups. Additionally, cultural congruity and ethnic density, cultural identity, and biological and psychological factors are likely important influences in the development of mental illness in migrants. With further study, a better understanding of the complex interplay of these potential vulnerability factors may eventually lead to preventative measures and lessen the burden of mental illness in this growing population.

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By Michelle LeBaron

July 2003  

Culture is an essential part of conflict and conflict resolution. Cultures are like underground rivers that run through our lives and relationships, giving us messages that shape our perceptions, attributions, judgments, and ideas of self and other. Though cultures are powerful, they are often unconscious, influencing conflict and attempts to resolve conflict in imperceptible ways.

Cultures are more than language, dress, and food customs. Cultural groups may share race, ethnicity, or nationality, but they also arise from cleavages of generation, socioeconomic class, sexual orientation, ability and disability, political and religious affiliation, language, and gender -- to name only a few.

Two things are essential to remember about cultures: they are always changing, and they relate to the symbolic dimension of life. The symbolic dimension is the place where we are constantly making meaning and enacting our identities. Cultural messages from the groups we belong to give us information about what is meaningful or important, and who we are in the world and in relation to others -- our identities.

Cultural messages, simply, are what everyone in a group knows that outsiders do not know. They are the water fish swim in, unaware of its effect on their vision. They are a series of lenses that shape what we see and don't see, how we perceive and interpret, and where we draw boundaries. In shaping our values, cultures contain starting points and currencies[1]. Starting points are those places it is natural to begin, whether with individual or group concerns, with the big picture or particularities. Currencies are those things we care about that influence and shape our interactions with others.

How Cultures Work

Though largely below the surface, cultures are a shifting, dynamic set of starting points that orient us in particular ways and away from other directions. Each of us belongs to multiple cultures that give us messages about what is normal, appropriate, and expected. When others do not meet our expectations, it is often a cue that our cultural expectations are different. We may mistake differences between others and us for evidence of bad faith or lack of common sense on the part of others, not realizing that common sense is also cultural. What is common to one group may seem strange, counterintuitive, or wrong to another.

Cultural messages shape our understandings of relationships, and of how to deal with the conflict and harmony that are always present whenever two or more people come together. Writing about or working across cultures is complicated, but not impossible. Here are some complications in working with cultural dimensions of conflict, and the implications that flow from them:

Culture is multi-layered -- what you see on the surface may mask differences below the surface.

Therefore, cultural generalizations are not the whole story, and there is no substitute for building relationships and sharing experiences, coming to know others more deeply over time.

Culture is constantly in flux -- as conditions change, cultural groups adapt in dynamic and sometimes unpredictable ways.

Therefore, no comprehensive description can ever be formulated about a particular group. Any attempt to understand a group must take the dimensions of time, context, and individual differences into account.

Culture is elastic -- knowing the cultural norms of a given group does not predict the behavior of a member of that group, who may not conform to norms for individual or contextual reasons.

Therefore, taxonomies (e.g. "Italians think this way," or "Buddhists prefer that") have limited use, and can lead to error if not checked with experience.

Culture is largely below the surface, influencing identities and meaning-making, or who we believe ourselves to be and what we care about -- it is not easy to access these symbolic levels since they are largely outside our awareness.

Therefore, it is important to use many ways of learning about the cultural dimensions of those involved in a conflict, especially indirect ways, including stories, metaphors, and rituals.

Cultural influences and identities become important depending on context. When an aspect of cultural identity is threatened or misunderstood, it may become relatively more important than other cultural identities and this fixed, narrow identity may become the focus of stereotyping , negative projection, and conflict. This is a very common situation in intractable conflicts.

Therefore, it is useful for people in conflict to have interactive experiences that help them see each other as broadly as possible, experiences that foster the recognition of shared identities as well as those that are different.

Since culture is so closely related to our identities (who we think we are), and the ways we make meaning (what is important to us and how), it is always a factor in conflict. Cultural awareness leads us to apply the Platinum Rule in place of the Golden Rule. Rather than the maxim "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," the Platinum Rule advises: "Do unto others as they would have you do unto them."

Culture and Conflict: Connections

Cultures are embedded in every conflict because conflicts arise in human relationships. Cultures affect the ways we name, frame, blame, and attempt to tame conflicts. Whether a conflict exists at all is a cultural question. In an interview conducted in Canada, an elderly Chinese man indicated he had experienced no conflict at all for the previous 40 years.[2] Among the possible reasons for his denial was a cultural preference to see the world through lenses of harmony rather than conflict, as encouraged by his Confucian upbringing. Labeling some of our interactions as conflicts and analyzing them into smaller component parts is a distinctly Western approach that may obscure other aspects of relationships.

Culture is always a factor in conflict, whether it plays a central role or influences it subtly and gently. For any conflict that touches us where it matters, where we make meaning and hold our identities, there is always a cultural component. Intractable conflicts like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or the India-Pakistan conflict over Kashmir are not just about territorial, boundary, and sovereignty issues -- they are also about acknowledgement, representation, and legitimization of different identities and ways of living, being, and making meaning.

Conflicts between teenagers and parents are shaped by generational culture, and conflicts between spouses or partners are influenced by gender culture. In organizations, conflicts arising from different disciplinary cultures escalate tensions between co-workers, creating strained or inaccurate communication and stressed relationships. Culture permeates conflict no matter what -- sometimes pushing forth with intensity, other times quietly snaking along, hardly announcing its presence until surprised people nearly stumble on it.

Culture is inextricable from conflict, though it does not cause it. When differences surface in families, organizations, or communities, culture is always present, shaping perceptions, attitudes, behaviors, and outcomes.

When the cultural groups we belong to are a large majority in our community or nation, we are less likely to be aware of the content of the messages they send us. Cultures shared by dominant groups often seem to be "natural," "normal" -- "the way things are done." We only notice the effect of cultures that are different from our own, attending to behaviors that we label exotic or strange.

Though culture is intertwined with conflict, some approaches to conflict resolution minimize cultural issues and influences. Since culture is like an iceberg -- largely submerged -- it is important to include it in our analyses and interventions. Icebergs unacknowledged can be dangerous, and it is impossible to make choices about them if we don't know their size or place. Acknowledging culture and bringing cultural fluency to conflicts can help all kinds of people make more intentional, adaptive choices.

Culture and Conflict: How to Respond

Given culture's important role in conflicts, what should be done to keep it in mind and include it in response plans? Cultures may act like temperamental children: complicated, elusive, and difficult to predict. Unless we develop comfort with culture as an integral part of conflict, we may find ourselves tangled in its net of complexity, limited by our own cultural lenses. Cultural fluency is a key tool for disentangling and managing multilayered, cultural conflicts.

Cultural fluency means familiarity with cultures: their natures, how they work, and ways they intertwine with our relationships in times of conflict and harmony. Cultural fluency means awareness of several dimensions of culture, including

• Communication,
• Ways of naming, framing, and taming conflict,
• Approaches to meaning making,
• Identities and roles.

Each of these is described in more detail below.

Communication refers to different starting points about how to relate to and with others. There are many variations on these starting points, and they are outlined in detail in the topic Communication, Culture, and Conflict . Some of the major variations relate to the division between high- and low-context communications, a classification devised by Edward T. Hall.[3]

In high-context communication, most of a message is conveyed by the context surrounding it, rather than being named explicitly in words. The physical setting, the way things are said, and shared understandings are relied upon to give communication meaning. Interactions feature formalized and stylized rituals, telegraphing ideas without spelling them out. Nonverbal cues and signals are essential to comprehension of the message. The context is trusted to communicate in the absence of verbal expressions, or sometimes in addition to them. High-context communication may help save face because it is less direct than low-context communication, but it may increase the possibilities of miscommunication because much of the intended message is unstated.

Low-context communication emphasizes directness rather than relying on the context to communicate. From this starting point, verbal communication is specific and literal, and less is conveyed in implied, indirect signals. Low-context communicators tend to "say what they mean and mean what they say." Low-context communication may help prevent misunderstandings , but it can also escalate conflict because it is more confrontational than high-context communication.

As people communicate, they move along a continuum between high- and low-context. Depending on the kind of relationship, the context, and the purpose of communication, they may be more or less explicit and direct. In close relationships, communication shorthand is often used, which makes communication opaque to outsiders but perfectly clear to the parties. With strangers, the same people may choose low-context communication.

Low- and high-context communication refers not only to individual communication strategies, but may be used to understand cultural groups. Generally, Western cultures tend to gravitate toward low-context starting points, while Eastern and Southern cultures tend to high-context communication. Within these huge categories, there are important differences and many variations. Where high-context communication tends to be featured, it is useful to pay specific attention to nonverbal cues and the behavior of others who may know more of the unstated rules governing the communication. Where low-context communication is the norm, directness is likely to be expected in return.

There are many other ways that communication varies across cultures. High- and low-context communication and several other dimensions are explored in Communication, Culture, and Conflict .

Ways of naming, framing, and taming conflict vary across cultural boundaries. As the example of the elderly Chinese interviewee illustrates, not everyone agrees on what constitutes a conflict. For those accustomed to subdued, calm discussion, an emotional exchange among family members may seem a threatening conflict. The family members themselves may look at their exchange as a normal and desirable airing of differing views. Intractable conflicts are also subject to different interpretations. Is an event a skirmish, a provocation, an escalation, or a mere trifle, hardly worth noticing? The answer depends on perspective, context, and how identity relates to the situation.

Just as there is no consensus across cultures or situations on what constitutes a conflict or how events in the interaction should be framed, so there are many different ways of thinking about how to tame it. Should those involved meet face to face, sharing their perspectives and stories with or without the help of an outside mediator? Or should a trusted friend talk with each of those involved and try to help smooth the waters? Should a third party be known to the parties or a stranger to those involved?

John Paul Lederach, in his book Preparing for Peace: Conflict Transformation Across Cultures, identifies two third-party roles that exist in U.S. and Somali settings, respectively -- the formal mediator and the traditional elder.[4] The formal mediator is generally not known to those involved, and he or she tries to act without favoritism or investment in any particular outcome. Traditional elders are revered for their local knowledge and relationships, and are relied upon for direction and advice, as well as for their skills in helping parties communicate with each other. The roles of insider partial (someone known to the parties who is familiar with the history of the situation and the webs of relationships) and outsider neutral (someone unknown to the parties who has no stake in the outcome or continuing relationship with the parties) appear in a range of cultural contexts. Generally, insider partials tend to be preferred in traditional, high-context settings, while outside neutrals are more common in low-context settings.

These are just some of the ways that taming conflict varies across cultures. Third parties may use different strategies with quite different goals, depending on their cultural sense of what is needed. In multicultural contexts, parties' expectations of how conflict should be addressed may vary, further escalating an existing conflict.

Approaches to meaning-making also vary across cultures. Hampden-Turner and Trompenaars suggest that people have a range of starting points for making sense of their lives, including:

• universalist (favoring rules, laws, and generalizations) and particularist (favoring exceptions, relations, and contextual evaluation)
• specificity (preferring explicit definitions, breaking down wholes into component parts, and measurable results) and diffuseness (focusing on patterns, the big picture, and process over outcome)
• inner direction (sees virtue in individuals who strive to realize their conscious purpose) and outer direction (where virtue is outside each of us in natural rhythms, nature, beauty, and relationships)
• synchronous time (cyclical and spiraling) and sequential time (linear and unidirectional).[5]

When we don't understand that others may have quite different starting points, conflict is more likely to occur and to escalate. Even though the starting points themselves are neutral, negative motives are easily attributed to someone who begins from a different end of the continuum.[6]

For example, when First Nations people sit down with government representatives to negotiate land claims in Canada or Australia, different ideas of time may make it difficult to establish rapport and make progress. First Nations people tend to see time as stretching forward and back, binding them in relationship with seven generations in both directions. Their actions and choices in the present are thus relevant to history and to their progeny. Government negotiators acculturated to Western European ideas of time may find the telling of historical tales and the consideration of projections generations into the future tedious and irrelevant unless they understand the variations in the way time is understood by First Nations people.

Of course, this example draws on generalizations that may or may not apply in a particular situation. There are many different Aboriginal peoples in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and elsewhere. Each has a distinct culture, and these cultures have different relationships to time, different ideas about negotiation, and unique identities. Government negotiators may also have a range of ethno cultural identities, and may not fit the stereotype of the woman or man in a hurry, with a measured, pressured orientation toward time.

Examples can also be drawn from the other three dimensions identified by Hampden-Turner and Trompenaars. When an intractable conflict has been ongoing for years or even generations, should there be recourse to international standards and interveners, or local rules and practices? Those favoring a universalist starting point are more likely to prefer international intervention and the setting of international standards. Particularlists will be more comfortable with a tailor-made, home-grown approach than with the imposition of general rules that may or may not fit their needs and context.

Specificity and diffuseness also lead to conflict and conflict escalation in many instances. People, who speak in specifics, looking for practical solutions to challenges that can be implemented and measured, may find those who focus on process, feelings, and the big picture obstructionist and frustrating. On the other hand, those whose starting points are diffuse are more apt to catch the flaw in the sum that is not easy to detect by looking at the component parts, and to see the context into which specific ideas must fit.

Inner-directed people tend to feel confident that they can affect change, believing that they are "the masters of their fate, the captains of their souls."[7] They focus more on product than process. Imagine their frustration when faced with outer-directed people, whose attention goes to nurturing relationships, living in harmony with nature, going with the flow, and paying attention to processes rather than products. As with each of the above sets of starting points, neither is right or wrong; they are simply different. A focus on process is helpful, but not if it completely fails to ignore outcomes. A focus on outcomes is useful, but it is also important to monitor the tone and direction of the process. Cultural fluency means being aware of different sets of starting points, and having a way to speak in both dialects, helping translate between them when they are making conflict worse.

These continua are not absolute, nor do they explain human relations broadly. They are clues to what might be happening when people are in conflict over long periods of time. We are meaning-making creatures, telling stories and creating understandings that preserve our sense of self and relate to our purpose. As we come to realize this, we can look into the process of meaning making for those in a conflict and find ways to help them make their meaning-making processes and conclusions more apparent to each other.

This can be done by storytelling and by the creation of shared stories, stories that are co-constructed to make room for multiple points of view within them. Often, people in conflict tell stories that sound as though both cannot be true. Narrative conflict-resolution approaches help them leave their concern with truth and being right on the sideline for a time, turning their attention instead to stories in which they can both see themselves.

Another way to explore meaning making is through metaphors. Metaphors are compact, tightly packaged word pictures that convey a great deal of information in shorthand form. For example, in exploring how a conflict began, one side may talk about its origins being buried in the mists of time before there were boundaries and roads and written laws. The other may see it as the offspring of a vexatious lawsuit begun in 1946. Neither is wrong -- the issue may well have deep roots, and the lawsuit was surely a part of the evolution of the conflict. As the two sides talk about their metaphors, the more diffuse starting point wrapped up in the mists of time meets the more specific one, attached to a particular legal action. As the two talk, they deepen their understanding of each other in context, and learn more about their respective roles and identities.

Identities and roles refer to conceptions of the self. Am I an individual unit, autonomous, a free agent, ultimately responsible for myself? Or am I first and foremost a member of a group, weighing choices and actions by how the group will perceive them and be affected by them? Those who see themselves as separate individuals likely come from societies anthropologists call individualist. Those for whom group allegiance is primary usually come from settings anthropologists call collectivist, or communitarian.

In collectivist settings, the following values tend to be privileged:

• cooperation
• filial piety (respect for and deference toward elders)
• participation in shared progress
• reputation of the group
• interdependence

In individualist settings, the following values tend to be privileged:

• competition
• independence
• individual achievement
• personal growth and fulfillment
• self-reliance

When individualist and communitarian starting points influence those on either side of a conflict, escalation may result. Individualists may see no problem with "no holds barred" confrontation, while communitarian counterparts shrink from bringing dishonor or face-loss to their group by behaving in unseemly ways. Individualists may expect to make agreements with communitarians, and may feel betrayed when the latter indicate that they have to take their understandings back to a larger public or group before they can come to closure. In the end, one should remember that, as with other patterns described, most people are not purely individualist or communitarian. Rather, people tend to have individualist or communitarian starting points, depending on one's upbringing, experience, and the context of the situation.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to conflict resolution, since culture is always a factor. Cultural fluency is therefore a core competency for those who intervene in conflicts or simply want to function more effectively in their own lives and situations. Cultural fluency involves recognizing and acting respectfully from the knowledge that communication, ways of naming, framing, and taming conflict, approaches to meaning-making, and identities and roles vary across cultures.

[1] See also the essays on Cultural and Worldview Frames and Communication Tools for Understanding Cultural Differences .

[2] LeBaron, Michelle and Bruce Grundison. 1993. Conflict and Culture: Research in Five Communities in British Columbia, Canada . Victoria, British Columbia: University of Victoria Institute for Dispute Resolution.

[3] Hall, Edward T. 1976. Beyond Culture . Garden City, NY: Doubleday.

[4] Lederach, John Paul. 1995. Preparing for Peace. Conflict Transformation Across Cultures . Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, pp. 94.

[5] Hampden-Turner, Charles and Fons Trompenaars. 2000. Building Cross Cultural Competence. How to Create Wealth from Conflicting Values. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.

[6] There is also the set of essays on framing which is closely related to the idea of meaning making.

[7] Ibid., 244.

Use the following to cite this article: LeBaron, Michelle. "Culture and Conflict." Beyond Intractability . Eds. Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess. Conflict Information Consortium, University of Colorado, Boulder. Posted: July 2003 < http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/culture-conflict >.

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Four Things That Happen When a Language Dies

This World Mother Language Day, read about why many say we should be fighting to preserve linguistic diversity

Kat Eschner

Languages around the world are dying, and dying fast. Today is International Mother Language Day , started by UNESCO to promote the world's linguistic diversity.

The grimmest predictions have 90 percent of the world's languages dying out by the end of this century. Although this might not seem important in the day-to-day life of an English speaker with no personal ties to the culture in which they’re spoken, language loss matters. Here’s what we all lose:

1.  We lose “The expression of a unique vision of what it means to be human”

That’s what academic David Crystal told Paroma Basu for National Geographic in 2009. Basu was writing about India, a country with hundreds of languages , at least seven major language families and rapid language loss.   

The effects of that language loss could be “culturally devastating,” Basu wrote. “Each language is a key that can unlock local knowledge about medicinal secrets, ecological wisdom, weather and climate patterns, spiritual attitudes and artistic and mythological histories.”

Languages have naturally risen and fallen in prominence throughout history, she wrote. What makes this different in India as well as throughout the world is the rate at which it’s happening and the number of languages disappearing.

2. We lose memory of the planet’s many histories and cultures.

The official language of Greenland, wrote Kate Yoder for Grist , is fascinating and unique. It’s “made up of extremely long words that can be customized to any occasion,” she writes. And there are as many of those words as there are sentences in English, one linguist who specializes in Greenlandic told her. Some of those, like words for different kinds of wind, are disappearing before linguists get the chance to explore them. And that disappearance has broader implications for the understanding of how humans process language, linguist Lenore Grenoble told Yoder. “There’s a lot we don’t know about how it works, or how the mind works when it does this,” she said.

Yoder’s article dealt with the effect of climate change on language loss. In sum: it hastens language loss as people migrate to more central, “safe” ground when their own land is threatened by intense storms, sea level rise, drought and other things caused by climate change. “When people settle in a new place, they begin a new life, complete with new surroundings, new traditions, and, yes, a new language,” she wrote.  

3. We lose some of the best local resources for combatting environmental threats

As Nancy Rivenburgh wrote for the International Association of Conference Interpreters, what’s happening with today’s language loss is actually quite different from anything that happened before. Languages in the past disappeared and were born anew, she writes, but “they did so in a state of what linguists call ‘linguistic equilibrium.’ In the last 500 years, however, the equilibrium that characterized much of human history is now gone. And the world’s dominant languages—or what are often called ‘metropolitan’ languages—are all now rapidly expanding at the expense of ‘peripheral’ indigenous languages. Those peripheral languages are not being replaced.”

That means that out of the around 7000 languages that most reputable sources estimate are spoken globally, only the top 100 are widely spoken. And it isn’t just our understanding of the human mind that’s impaired, she writes. In many places, indigenous languages and their speakers are rich sources of information about the world around them and the plants and animals in the area where they live. In a time of mass extinction, that knowledge is especially precious.

“Medical science loses potential cures,” she writes. “Resource planners and national governments lose accumulated wisdom regarding the management of marine and land resources in fragile ecosystems.”

4. Some people lose their mother tongue.

The real tragedy of all this might just be all of the people who find themselves unable to speak their first language, the language they learned how to describe the world in. Some find themselves in the unenviable position of being one of the few (or the only ) speakers of their mother tongue. And some, like many of Canada’s indigenous peoples, find their language in grave danger as the result of a campaign by government to stamp out their cultures.  

This loss is something beyond all the other losses, linguist John Lipski told Lisa Duchene for Penn State News: “Imagine being told you can’t use your language and you’ll see what that undefinable ‘more’ is,” he said.

What can you do about all this? Educate yourself, to start with. The Smithsonian's annual Mother Tongue Film Festival takes place every February in Washington, D.C. And projects like  National Geographic 's " Enduring Voices " are a great place to learn about endangered languages and their many speakers, and UNESCO's own website is another resource.  There's still hope for some of these languages if we pay attention. 

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Kat Eschner is a freelance science and culture journalist based in Toronto.

Cultural Diversity Essay & Community Essay Examples

If you’ve started to research college application requirements for the schools on your list, you might have come across the “cultural diversity essay.” In this guide, we’ll explore the cultural diversity essay in depth. We will compare the cultural diversity essay to the community essay and discuss how to approach these kinds of supplements. We’ll also provide examples of diversity essays and community essay examples. But first, let’s discuss exactly what a cultural diversity essay is. 

The purpose of the cultural diversity essay in college applications is to show the admissions committee what makes you unique. The cultural diversity essay also lets you describe what type of “ diversity ” you would bring to campus.

We’ll also highlight a diversity essay sample for three college applications. These include the Georgetown application essay , Rice application essay , and Williams application essay . We’ll provide examples of diversity essays for each college. Then, for each of these college essays that worked, we will analyze their strengths to help you craft your own essays. 

Finally, we’ll give you some tips on how to write a cultural diversity essay that will make your applications shine. 

But first, let’s explore the types of college essays you might encounter on your college applications. 

Types of College Essays

College application requirements will differ among schools. However, you’ll submit one piece of writing to nearly every school on your list—the personal statement . A strong personal statement can help you stand out in the admissions process. 

So, how do you know what to write about? That depends on the type of college essay included in your college application requirements. 

There are a few main types of college essays that you might encounter in the college admissions process. Theese include the “Why School ” essay, the “Why Major ” essay, and the extracurricular activity essay. This also includes the type of essay we will focus on in this guide—the cultural diversity essay. 

“Why School” essay

The “Why School ” essay is exactly what it sounds like. For this type of college essay, you’ll need to underscore why you want to go to this particular school. 

However, don’t make the mistake of just listing off what you like about the school. Additionally, don’t just reiterate information you can find on their admissions website. Instead, you’ll want to make connections between what the school offers and how you are a great fit for that college community. 

“Why Major” essay

The idea behind the “Why Major ” essay is similar to that of the “Why School ” essay above. However, instead of writing about the school at large, this essay should highlight why you plan to study your chosen major.

There are plenty of directions you could take with this type of essay. For instance, you might describe how you chose this major, what career you plan to pursue upon graduation, or other details.

Extracurricular Activity essay

The extracurricular activity essay asks you to elaborate on one of the activities that you participated in outside of the classroom. 

For this type of college essay, you’ll need to select an extracurricular activity that you pursued while you were in high school. Bonus points if you can tie your extracurricular activity into your future major, career goals, or other extracurricular activities for college. Overall, your extracurricular activity essay should go beyond your activities list. In doing so, it should highlight why your chosen activity matters to you.

Cultural Diversity essay

The cultural diversity essay is your chance to expound upon diversity in all its forms. Before you write your cultural diversity essay, you should ask yourself some key questions. These questions can include: How will you bring diversity to your future college campus? What unique perspective do you bring to the table? 

Another sub-category of the cultural diversity essay is the gender diversity essay. As its name suggests, this essay would center around the author’s gender. This essay would highlight how gender shapes the way the writer understands the world around them. 

Later, we’ll look at examples of diversity essays and other college essays that worked. But before we do, let’s figure out how to identify a cultural diversity essay in the first place. 

How to identify a ‘cultural diversity’ essay

So, you’re wondering how you’ll be able to identify a cultural diversity essay as you review your college application requirements. 

Aside from the major giveaway of having the word “diversity” in the prompt, a cultural diversity essay will ask you to describe what makes you different from other applicants. In other words, what aspects of your unique culture(s) have influenced your perspective and shaped you into who you are today?

Diversity can refer to race, ethnicity, first-generation status, gender, or anything in between. You can write about a myriad of things in a cultural diversity essay. For instance, you might discuss your personal background, identity, values, experiences, or how you’ve overcome challenges in your life. 

However, don’t feel limited in what you can address in a cultural diversity essay. The words “culture” and “diversity” mean different things to different people. Above all, you’ll want your diversity essays for college to be personal and sincere. 

How is a ‘community’ essay different? 

A community essay can also be considered a cultural diversity essay. In fact, you can think of the community essay as a subcategory of the cultural diversity essay. However, there is a key difference between a community essay and a cultural diversity essay, which we will illustrate below. 

You might have already seen some community essay examples while you were researching college application requirements. But how exactly is a community essay different from a cultural diversity essay?

One way to tell the difference between community essay examples and cultural diversity essay examples is by the prompt. A community essay will highlight, well, community . This means it will focus on how your identity will shape your interactions on campus—not just how it informs your own experiences.

Two common forms to look out for

Community essay examples can take two forms. First, you’ll find community essay examples about your past experiences. These let you show the admissions team how you have positively influenced your own community. 

Other community essay examples, however, will focus on the future. These community essay examples will ask you to detail how you will contribute to your future college community. We refer to these as college community essay examples.

In college community essay examples, you’ll see applicants detail how they might interact with their fellow students. These essays may also discuss how students plan to positively contribute to the campus community. 

As we mentioned above, the community essay, along with community essay examples and college community essay examples, fit into the larger category of the cultural diversity essay. Although we do not have specific community essay examples or college community essay examples in this guide, we will continue to highlight the subtle differences between the two. 

Before we continue the discussion of community essay examples and college community essay examples, let’s start with some examples of cultural diversity essay prompts. For each of the cultural diversity essay prompts, we’ll name the institutions that include these diversity essays for college as part of their college application requirements. 

What are some examples of ‘cultural diversity’ essays? 

Now, you have a better understanding of the similarities and differences between the cultural diversity essay and the community essay. So, next, let’s look at some examples of cultural diversity essay prompts.

The prompts below are from the Georgetown application, Rice application, and Williams application, respectively. As we discuss the similarities and differences between prompts, remember the framework we provided above for what constitutes a cultural diversity essay and a community essay. 

Later in this guide, we’ll provide real examples of diversity essays, including Georgetown essay examples, Rice University essay examples, and Williams supplemental essays examples. These are all considered college essays that worked—meaning that the author was accepted into that particular institution. 

Georgetown Supplementals Essays

Later, we’ll look at Georgetown supplemental essay examples. Diversity essays for Georgetown are a product of this prompt: 

As Georgetown is a diverse community, the Admissions Committee would like to know more about you in your own words. Please submit a brief essay, either personal or creative, which you feel best describes you. 

You might have noticed two keywords in this prompt right away: “diverse” and “community.” These buzzwords indicate that this prompt is a cultural diversity essay. You could even argue that responses to this prompt would result in college community essay examples. After all, the prompt refers to the Georgetown community. 

For this prompt, you’ll want to produce a diversity essay sample that highlights who you are. In order to do that successfully, you’ll need to self-reflect before putting pen to paper. What aspects of your background, personality, or values best describe who you are? How might your presence at Georgetown influence or contribute to their diverse community? 

Additionally, this cultural diversity essay can be personal or creative. So, you have more flexibility with the Georgetown supplemental essays than with other similar diversity essay prompts. Depending on the direction you go, your response to this prompt could be considered a cultural diversity essay, gender diversity essay, or a college community essay. 

Rice University Essays

The current Rice acceptance rate is just 9% , making it a highly selective school. Because the Rice acceptance rate is so low, your personal statement and supplemental essays can make a huge difference. 

The Rice University essay examples we’ll provide below are based on this prompt: 

The quality of Rice’s academic life and the Residential College System are heavily influenced by the unique life experiences and cultural traditions each student brings. What personal perspective would you contribute to life at Rice? 

Breaking down the prompt.

Like the prompt above, this cultural diversity essay asks about your “life experiences,” “cultural traditions,” and personal “perspectives.” These phrases indicate a cultural diversity essay. Keep in mind this may not be the exact prompt you’ll have to answer in your own Rice application. However, future Rice prompts will likely follow a similar framework as this diversity essay sample.

Although this prompt is not as flexible as the Georgetown prompt, it does let you discuss aspects of Rice’s academic life and Residential College System that appeal to you. You can also highlight how your experiences have influenced your personal perspective. 

The prompt also asks about how you would contribute to life at Rice. So, your response could also fall in line with college community essay examples. Remember, college community essay examples are another sub-category of community essay examples. Successful college community essay examples will illustrate the ways in which students would contribute to their future campus community. 

Williams Supplemental Essays

Like the Rice acceptance rate, the Williams acceptance rate is also 9% . Because the Williams acceptance rate is so low, you’ll want to pay close attention to the Williams supplemental essays examples as you begin the writing process. 

The Williams supplemental essays examples below are based on this prompt: 

Every first-year student at Williams lives in an Entry – a thoughtfully constructed microcosm of the student community that’s a defining part of the Williams experience. From the moment they arrive, students find themselves in what’s likely the most diverse collection of backgrounds, perspectives, and interests they’ve ever encountered. What might differentiate you from the 19 other first-year students in an Entry? What perspective would you add to the conversation with your peer(s)?

Reflecting on the prompt.

Immediately, words like “diverse,” “backgrounds,” “perspectives,” “interests,” and “differentiate” should stand out to you. These keywords highlight the fact that this is a cultural diversity essay. Similar to the Rice essay, this may not be the exact prompt you’ll face on your Williams application. However, we can still learn from it.

Like the Georgetown essay, this prompt requires you to put in some self-reflection before you start writing. What aspects of your background differentiate you from other people? How would these differences impact your interactions with peers? 

This prompt also touches on the “student community” and how you would “add to the conversation with your peer(s).” By extension, any strong responses to this prompt could also be considered as college community essay examples. 

Community Essays

All of the prompts above mention campus community. So, you could argue that they are also examples of community essays. 

Like we mentioned above, you can think of community essays as a subcategory of the cultural diversity essay. If the prompt alludes to the campus community, or if your response is centered on how you would interact within that community, your essay likely falls into the world of college community essay examples. 

Regardless of what you would classify the essay as, all successful essays will be thoughtful, personal, and rich with details. We’ll show you examples of this in our “college essays that worked” section below. 

Which schools require a cultural diversity or community essay? 

Besides Georgetown, Rice, and Williams, many other college applications require a cultural diversity essay or community essay. In fact, from the Ivy League to HBCUs and state schools, the cultural diversity essay is a staple across college applications. 

Although we will not provide a diversity essay sample for each of the colleges below, it is helpful to read the prompts. This will build your familiarity with other college applications that require a cultural diversity essay or community essay. Some schools that require a cultural diversity essay or community essay include New York University , Duke University , Harvard University , Johns Hopkins University , and University of Michigan . 

New York University

NYU listed a cultural diversity essay as part of its 2022-2023 college application requirements. Here is the prompt:

NYU was founded on the belief that a student’s identity should not dictate the ability for them to access higher education. That sense of opportunity for all students, of all backgrounds, remains a part of who we are today and a critical part of what makes us a world class university. Our community embraces diversity, in all its forms, as a cornerstone of the NYU experience. We would like to better understand how your experiences would help us to shape and grow our diverse community.

Duke university.

Duke is well-known for its community essay: 

What is your sense of Duke as a university and a community, and why do you consider it a good match for you? If there’s something in particular about our offerings that attracts you, feel free to share that as well.

A top-ranked Ivy League institution, Harvard University also has a cultural diversity essay as part of its college application requirements: 

Harvard has long recognized the importance of student body diversity of all kinds. We welcome you to write about distinctive aspects of your background, personal development, or the intellectual interests you might bring to your Harvard classmates.

Johns hopkins university.

The Johns Hopkins supplement is another example of a cultural diversity essay: 

Founded in the spirit of exploration and discovery, Johns Hopkins University encourages students to share their perspectives, develop their interests, and pursue new experiences. Use this space to share something you’d like the admissions committee to know about you (your interests, your background, your identity, or your community), and how it has shaped what you want to get out of your college experience at Hopkins. 

University of michigan.

The University of Michigan requires a community essay for its application: 

Everyone belongs to many different communities and/or groups defined by (among other things) shared geography, religion, ethnicity, income, cuisine, interest, race, ideology, or intellectual heritage. Choose one of the communities to which you belong and describe that community and your place within it. 

Community essay examples.

The Duke and Michigan prompts are perfect illustrations of community essay examples. However, they have some critical differences. So, if you apply to both of these schools, you’ll have to change the way you approach either of these community essays. 

The Duke prompt asks you to highlight why you are a good match for the Duke community. You’ll also see this prompt in other community essay examples. To write a successful response to this prompt, you’ll need to reference offerings specific to Duke (or whichever college requires this essay). In order to know what to reference, you’ll need to do your research before you start writing. 

Consider the following questions as you write your diversity essay sample if the prompt is similar to Duke University’s

• What values does this college community have? 
• How do these tie in with what you value? 
• Is there something that this college offers that matches your interests, personality, or background?  

On the other hand, the Michigan essay prompt asks you to describe a community that you belong to as well as your place within that community. This is another variation of the prompt for community essay examples. 

To write a successful response to this prompt, you’ll need to identify a community that you belong to. Then, you’ll need to think critically about how you interact with that community. 

Below are some questions to consider as you write your diversity essay sample for colleges like Michigan: 

• Out of all the communities you belong to, which can you highlight in your response? 
• How have you impacted this community? 
• How has this community impacted you?

Now, in the next few sections, we’ll dive into the Georgetown supplemental essay examples, the Rice university essay examples, and the Williams supplemental essays examples. After each diversity essay sample, we’ll include a breakdown of why these are considered college essays that worked. 

Georgetown Essay Examples

As a reminder, the Georgetown essay examples respond to this prompt: 

As Georgetown is a diverse community, the Admissions Committee would like to know more about you in your own words. Please submit a brief essay, either personal or creative, which you feel best describes you.

Here is the excerpt of the diversity essay sample from our Georgetown essay examples: 

Georgetown University Essay Example

The best thing I ever did was skip eight days of school in a row. Despite the protests of teachers over missed class time, I told them that the world is my classroom. The lessons I remember most are those that took place during my annual family vacation to coastal Maine. That rural world is the most authentic and incredible classroom where learning simply happens and becomes exponential. 

Years ago, as I hunted through the rocks and seaweed for seaglass and mussels, I befriended a Maine local hauling her battered kayak on the shore. Though I didn’t realize it at the time, I had found a kindred spirit in Jeanne. Jeanne is a year-round resident who is more than the hard working, rugged Mainer that meets the eye; reserved and humble in nature, she is a wealth of knowledge and is self-taught through necessity. With thoughtful attention to detail, I engineered a primitive ramp made of driftwood and a pulley system to haul her kayak up the cliff. We diligently figured out complex problems and developed solutions through trial and error.

After running out of conventional materials, I recycled and reimagined items that had washed ashore. We expected to succeed, but were not afraid to fail. Working with Jeanne has been the best classroom in the world; without textbooks or technology, she has made a difference in my life. Whether building a basic irrigation system for her organic garden or installing solar panels to harness the sun’s energy, every project has shown me the value of taking action and making an impact. Each year brings a different project with new excitement and unique challenges. My resourcefulness, problem solving ability, and innovative thinking have advanced under her tutelage. 

While exploring the rocky coast of Maine, I embrace every experience as an unparalleled educational opportunity that transcends any classroom environment. I discovered that firsthand experience and real-world application of science are my best teachers. In school, applications of complex calculations and abstract theories are sometimes obscured by grades and structure. In Maine, I expand my love of science and renourish my curious spirit. I am a highly independent, frugal, resilient Mainer living as a southern girl in NC. 

Why this essay worked

This is one of the Georgetown supplemental essay examples that works, and here’s why. The author starts the essay with an interesting hook, which makes the reader want to learn more about this person and their perspective. 

Throughout the essay, the author illustrates their intellectual curiosity. From befriending Jeanne and creating a pulley system to engineering other projects on the rocky coast of Maine, the author demonstrates how they welcome challenges and work to solve problems. 

Further, the author mentions values that matter to them—taking action and making an impact. Both facets are also part of Georgetown’s core values . By making these connections in their essay, the author shows the admissions committee exactly how they would be a great fit for the Georgetown community. 

Finally, the author uses their experience in Maine to showcase their love of science, which is likely the field they will study at Georgetown. Like this writer, you should try to include most important parts of your identity into your essay. This includes things like life experiences, passions, majors, extracurricular activities for college, and more. 

Rice University Essay Examples

The Rice University essay examples are from this prompt: 

The quality of Rice’s academic life and the Residential College System are heavily influenced by the unique life experiences and cultural traditions each student brings. What personal perspective would you contribute to life at Rice? (500-word limit)

Rice university essay example.

Like every applicant, I also have a story to share. A story that makes me who I am and consists of chapters about my life experiences and adventures. Having been born in a different country, my journey to America was one of the most difficult things I had ever experienced. Everything felt different. The atmosphere, the places, the food, and especially the people. Everywhere I looked, I saw something new. Although it was a bit overwhelming, one thing had not changed.

The caring nature of the people was still prevalent in everyday interactions. I was overwhelmed by how supportive and understanding people were of one another. Whether it is race, religion, or culture, everyone was accepted and appreciated. I knew that I could be whoever I wanted to be and that the only limitation was my imagination. Through hard work and persistence I put my all in everything that I did. I get this work ethic from my father since he is living proof that anything can be accomplished with continued determination. Listening to the childhood stories he told me, my dad would reminisce about how he was born in an impoverished area in a third world country during a turbulent and unpredictable time.

Even with a passion for learning, he had to work a laborious job in an attempt to help his parents make ends meet. He talked about how he would study under the street lights when the power went out at home. His parents wanted something better for him, as did he. Not living in America changed nothing about their work ethic. His parents continued to work hard daily, in an attempt to provide for their son. My dad worked and studied countless hours, paying his way through school with jobs and scholarships. His efforts paid off when he finally moved to America and opened his own business. None of it would have been possible without tremendous effort and dedication needed for a better life, values that are instilled within me as well, and this is the perspective that I wish to bring to Rice. 

This diversity essay sample references the author’s unique life experiences and personal perspective, which makes it one example of college essays that worked. The author begins the essay by alluding to their unique story—they were born in a different country and then came to America. Instead of facing this change as a challenge, the author shows how this new experience helped them to feel comfortable with all kinds of people. They also highlight how their diversity was accepted and appreciated. 

Additionally, the author incorporates information about their father’s story, which helps to frame their own values and where those values came from. The values that they chose to highlight also fall in line with the values of the Rice community. 

Williams Supplemental Essay Examples

Let’s read the prompt that inspired so many strong Williams supplemental essays examples again: 

Every first-year student at Williams lives in an Entry—a thoughtfully constructed microcosm of the student community that’s a defining part of the Williams experience. From the moment they arrive, students find themselves in what’s likely the most diverse collection of backgrounds, perspectives and interests they’ve ever encountered. What might differentiate you from the 19 other first-year students in an entry? What perspective(s) would you add to the conversation with your peers?

Williams college essay example.

Through the flow in my head

See you clad in red

But not just the clothes

It’s your whole being

Covering in this sickening blanket

Of heat and pain

Are you in agony, I wonder?

Is this the hell they told me about?

Have we been condemned?

Reduced to nothing but pain

At least we have each other

In our envelopes of crimson

I try in vain

“Take my hands” I shriek

“Let’s protect each other, 

You and me, through this hell”

My body contorts

And deforms into nothingness

You remain the same

Clad in red

With faraway eyes

You, like a statue

Your eyes fixed somewhere else

You never see me

Just the red briefcase in your heart

We aren’t together

It’s always been me alone

While you stand there, aloof, with the briefcase in your heart.

I wrote this poem the day my prayer request for the Uighur Muslims got denied at school. At the time, I was stunned. I was taught to have empathy for those around me. Yet, that empathy disappears when told to extend it to someone different. I can’t comprehend this contradiction and I refuse to. 

At Williams, I hope to become a Community Engagement Fellow at the Davis Center. I hope to use Williams’ support for social justice and advocacy to educate my fellow classmates on social issues around the world. Williams students are not just scholars but also leaders and changemakers. Together, we can strive to better the world through advocacy.

Human’s capability for love is endless. We just need to open our hearts to everyone. 

It’s time to let the briefcase go and look at those around us with our real human eyes.

We see you now. Please forgive us.

As we mentioned above, the Williams acceptance rate is incredibly low. This makes the supplemental essay that much more important. 

This diversity essay sample works because it is personal and memorable. The author chooses to start the essay off with a poem. Which, if done right, will immediately grab the reader’s attention. 

Further, the author contextualizes the poem by explaining the circumstances surrounding it—they wrote it in response to a prayer request that was denied at school. In doing so, they also highlight their own values of empathy and embracing diversity. 

Finally, the author ends their cultural diversity essay by describing what excites them about Williams. They also discuss how they see themselves interacting within the Williams community. This is a key piece of the essay, as it helps the reader understand how the author would be a good fit for Williams. 

The examples provided within this essay also touch on issues that are important to the author, which provides a glimpse into the type of student the author would be on campus. Additionally, this response shows what potential extracurricular activities for college the author might be interested in pursuing while at Williams. 

How to Write a Cultural Diversity Essay

You want your diversity essay to stand out from any other diversity essay sample. But how do you write a successful cultural diversity essay? 

First, consider what pieces of your identity you want to highlight in your essay. Of course, race and ethnicity are important facets of diversity. However, there are plenty of other factors to consider. 

As you brainstorm, think outside the box to figure out what aspects of your identity help make up who you are. Because identity and diversity fall on a spectrum, there is no right or wrong answer here. 

Fit your ideas to the specific school

Once you’ve decided on what you want to represent in your cultural diversity essay, think about how that fits into the college of your choice. Use your cultural diversity essay to make connections to the school. If your college has specific values or programs that align with your identity, then include them in your cultural diversity essay! 

Above all, you should write about something that is important to you. Your cultural diversity essay, gender diversity essay, or community essay will succeed if you are passionate about your topic and willing to get personal. 

Additional Tips for Community & Cultural Diversity Essays

1. start early.

In order to create the strongest diversity essay possible, you’ll want to start early. Filling out college applications is already a time-consuming process. So, you can cut back on additional stress and anxiety by writing your cultural diversity essay as early as possible. 

2. Brainstorm

Writing a cultural diversity essay or community essay is a personal process. To set yourself up for success, take time to brainstorm and reflect on your topic. Overall, you want your cultural diversity essay to be a good indication of who you are and what makes you a unique applicant. 

3. Proofread

We can’t stress this final tip enough. Be sure to proofread your cultural diversity essay before you hit the submit button. Additionally, you can read your essay aloud to hear how it flows. You can also can ask someone you trust, like your college advisor or a teacher, to help proofread your essay as well.

Other CollegeAdvisor Essay Resources to Explore

Looking for additional resources on supplemental essays for the colleges we mentioned above? Do you need help with incorporating extracurricular activities for college into your essays or crafting a strong diversity essay sample? We’ve got you covered. 

Our how to get into Georgetown guide covers additional tips on how to approach the supplemental diversity essay. If you’re wondering how to write about community in your essay, check out our campus community article for an insider’s perspective on Williams College.

Want to learn strategies for writing compelling cultural diversity essays? Check out this Q&A webinar, featuring a former Georgetown admissions officer. And, if you’re still unsure of what to highlight in your community essay, try getting inspiration from a virtual college tour . 

Cultural Diversity Essay & Community Essay Examples – Final Thoughts

Your supplemental essays are an important piece of the college application puzzle. With colleges becoming more competitive than ever, you’ll want to do everything you can to create a strong candidate profile. This includes writing well-crafted responses for a cultural diversity essay, gender diversity essay, or community essay. 

We hope our cultural diversity essay guide helped you learn more about this common type of supplemental essay. As you are writing your own cultural diversity essay or community essay, use the essay examples from Georgetown, Rice, and Williams above as your guide. 

Getting into top schools takes a lot more than a strong resume. Writing specific, thoughtful, and personal responses for a cultural diversity essay, gender diversity essay, or community essay will put you one step closer to maximizing your chances of admission. Good luck!

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News and Articles

“i lost my talk”: fostering indigenous language and cultural identity through art.

February 24, 2016

Researcher Claire Owen emphasizes that the connection between language and cultural identity is part of a more recent “broader overall mobilisation” involving Indigenous rights, increased political autonomy, and self-determination. This mobilisation is part of a strong movement to reclaim identity, because for more than a century, the Canadian government “discouraged and suppressed thousands of years of linguistic diversity and knowledge.”

Yet it is not only language that is lost during assimilation – beliefs, values, and culture disappear with it. Indigenous languages are oral traditions and Indigenous communities must have the tools and support necessary to prevent further loss.

The National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health’s (NCCAH) report entitled Art and Wellness: The Importance For Aboriginal Peoples Health and Healing. summarized the importance of art in fostering integrity and happiness. The report emphasized a direct link between artistic expression and “the vitality of individual and collective identity, strength, resilience, and overall well-being.”

Projects that foster ancestral language development, cultural identity and artistic expression are desperately needed, and the Rita Joe Song Project is one such initiative aimed at encouraging Indigenous youth to seek out and share their unique linguistic histories with the world.

Rita Joe was a renowned Mi’kmaw poet from Nova Scotia, referred to often as the “poet laureate” of the Mi’kmaq people. Her poem “I lost my Talk” details the loss felt by Joe when she was forced to abandon her language while attending a residential school as a young girl.

The acclaimed poem reads : I lost my talk The talk you took away. When I was a little girl At Shubenacadie school. You snatched it away: I speak like you I think like you I create like you The scrambled ballad, about my world. Two ways I talk Both ways I say, Your way is more powerful. So gently I offer my hand and ask, Let me find my talk So I can teach you about me.

In her autobiography, “Song of Rita Joe: Autobiography of a Mi’kmaq Poet” , Joe calls on Indigenous youth to “find their voices, share their stories and celebrate their talents.” It is this call to action that inspired a group from the Eskakoni First Nation in Nova Scotia, including Joe’s own daughters, to spearhead the Rita Joe Song Project with support from the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.

The project asked teachers and students in five Indigenous communities to create and record a song about their own interpretation of “I Lost My Talk.” The finished products, including a music video showcasing the song, were shared with the audience at the NAC’s Indigenous showcase in January.

The project’s headlining video demonstrates the importance of language preservation and cultural identity using both traditional Indigenous singing and modern lyrical approaches, including a rap interlude, to connect with a wider and younger audience. The six creative music videos that resulted from the project are featured on NAC’s website.

The song project is one of a number of artistic initiatives inspired by Joe’s poem, and NAC’s involvement in the concept involved collaborations with world-renowned artists in hopes of honing a truly unforgettable experience. One of the biggest highlights of the showcase was the world premiere of an original composition from Canadian composer John Estascio, inspired by Joe’s poem and commissioned for the NAC Orchestra.

Columnist Martin Knelman predicted the power of such a culmination of performances in a piece for the Toronto Star, stating “When it comes to truth and reconciliation, the arts may have a more profound impact than any government inquiry.”

The more we share Indigenous history, the more we, as an entire country, gain in cultivating collective cultural identity and fostering greater social connectedness. By supporting Indigenous artistic projects that showcase cultural identity and linguistic tradition, we are opening new avenues for discussion and acceptance. But most importantly, by involving Indigenous youth in projects that encourage the conservation of cultural traditions, we are tapping into, and engaging, a younger demographic to begin a new narrative that will, hopefully, lead to community healing and connection. After centuries of assimilation, it is time to undo the damage and encourage this revival.

Bravo to the Rita Joe Song Project and the NCO for their outstanding work in bringing these histories and traditions to life.

“Without the language, we are warm bodies without a spirit.” – Mary Lou Fox, Ojibwe Elder

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Can We Lose Our Identity Because of Globalization? Essay

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

It is no secret that the 21st century is a time of globalization. People can now move freely all around the world, and because of this, there is more interaction between different cultures and nations. Although some fear that globalization will have a negative effect on cultural identity, I believe that certain aspects of human psychology could help to preserve cultural identities within multi-cultural communities, while globalization itself could be beneficial for the modern world.

Like any other socio-economic trend, globalization has raised a lot of concerns in different countries. For example, Mike Collins discusses the effects that globalization has on local communities, the economy, and nature. He states, “Multinational corporations are accused of social injustice, unfair working conditions (including slave labor wages, living and working conditions), as well as the lack of concern for the environment, mismanagement of natural resources, and ecological damage” (Collins sec. 3). Other cons of globalization that he notes include a lack of jobs in developed countries, the risk of technology stealing, increased child labor, and the spreading of diseases such as HIV/AIDS (Collins). Valadbigi and Ghobadi argue that “globalization is a new version of colonialism which not only increases vulnerability and interdependency of the developing world but also widens the existing gaps between the rich and poor countries” (sec. 1 par. 13). However, they also describe that whereas national identities get weaker due to migration, “The individuals try to adopt creative lifestyles and succumb to the traditional tools of identity-making to get rid of the crises of identity” (sec. 6, par. 3), meaning that cultural identities become more important and valued.

From my experience, I can confirm that this is true. I know a few people who moved to live or to study in other countries. In each case, they soon felt nostalgic for their native communities and tried to address their feelings by celebrating traditional holidays, finding other immigrants from their countries, spreading awareness of their native cultures across their new community, and so on. They became a lot more involved in their country’s traditions than the majority of people who still lived there. In this way, globalization indeed supports cultural identity instead of destroying it. But this does not mean that immigrant communities are alienated from local people. For example, it is a common practice in many European universities to hold culture-themed celebrations and events, where people from different cultural backgrounds can connect with one another. Such a cultural exchange is one of the benefits of globalization. As Turkey and Rudmin explain, globalization has “opened physical as well as social borders” (63), creating “new sociocultural environments” (64). Other advantages include the possibility to share technological advances, increased tolerance to other nations and cultures, circulation of information, and working on global ecological issues together (Collins sec. 2).

In my opinion, globalization is not only beneficial but also natural. It is logical for this process to happen in the world we live in now as some of the present issues (e.g., terrorism, poverty, and global warming) need different nations to come together and find a way to solve them. Some scholars claim that this cooperation would be impossible due to the difficulties surrounding cultural exchange (Papademetriou 41). Mark Pagel, on the other hand, argues that the ability to form large intercultural groups is in our DNA: “We have taken cooperation and sociality beyond the good relations among family members that dominate the rest of the animal kingdom, to making cooperation work among wider groups of people” (par. 8).

In general, there is clearly some truth behind the concerns about the impact of globalization on cultural identity: “Globalization, through its conspicuous promotion of consumerism, embraces a form of uniformity that dissolves cultural attachments, dissociates people, and induces isolation” (Hindi 533). However, in reality, most people can integrate with other cultures without losing their identity. Moreover, as I know from my experience, moving to live abroad can help some of us to develop a stronger bond to our native identity. To sum up, there are numerous benefits of globalization for the modern world, and I believe that people are flexible enough to allow for cultural exchange and cooperation without damaging their own cultural identity.

Collins, Mike. “The Pros and Cons of Globalization.” Forbes . 2015. Web.

Ghobadi, Shahab and Valadbigi, Akbar. “Ups and Downs of Ethnic Identity in the Era of Globalization (Focusing on the Middle East Region).” N ew Knowledge in a New Era of Globalization . Ed. Piotr Pachura. InTech Online Library, 2011. Web.

Hindi, Gizel, Ed. D. The Effects of Globalization on Identity. European Scientific Journal. Special edition vol. 1 (2014): 531-538. Web.

Pagel, Mark. “Does Globalization Mean We Will Become One Culture?” BBC Future. 2014. Web.

Papademetriou, Demetrios G. “Rethinking National Identity in the Age of Migration.” Challenges of a Multicultural World and Global Approaches to Coexistence: Realities, Visions, and Actions. Washington DC: Migration Policy Institute (2012). Web.

Türken, Salman, and Rudmin, Floyd W. “On Psychological Effects of Globalization: Development of a Scale of Global Identity.” Psychology & Society. 5.2 (2013): 63-89. Web.

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• The Effects of Globalization on the World
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• Globalization: The Pros and Cons
• The Global Markets: Mexico
• Globalization Phenomenon: Development and Social Change
• "It Is a Flat World" by Thomas L. Friedman
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• International Change and Social World
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

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Home — Essay Samples — Sociology — Cultural Identity — The Theme of Sruggling with Cultural Identity: The Inheritance of Loss by Karen Desi

The Theme of Sruggling with Cultural Identity: The Inheritance of Loss by Karen Desi

• Categories: Cultural Identity Novel

About this sample

Words: 918 |

Published: Jul 17, 2018

Words: 918 | Page: 1 | 5 min read

Table of contents

Introduction, works cited.

• Desai, Kiran. The Inheritance of Loss . New York: Grove, 2006. Print.
• Tyson, Lois. Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide . 2nd ed. New York: Routledge, 2006. Print.

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Clear Light of Day

Cultural transcendence in the inheritance of loss and clear light of day justin frey college.

Both The Inheritance of Loss and Clear Light of Day feature characters who either identify with cultures other than their own, or attempt to cope with cultural differences while living abroad. Using themes such as education and migration, Kiran and Anita Desai demonstrate how an individual can feel displaced as a migrant or within one’s own country. However, both authors also explain how culture and the concept of home can transcend geographic boundaries.

The loss of culture is depicted early in The Inheritance of Loss. It’s revealed in the opening chapter that Sai has “no idea how to properly make tea… the Indian way,” since she only knows “the English way” (Desai 6). Sai inherits this loss from her grandfather, Jemubahi who becomes isolated from his own cultural heritage through education. As a young man, he leaves India to attend Cambridge University, where he attempts to fit in with the British students. Although Jemubahi grew up in the 1930’s when Gandhi held his salt marches, these protests against imperialism had no lasting impact on him during his formative years. At Cambridge, he feels humiliated that his English “still had the rhythm and the form of Gujerati” (112) when asked to recite poetry.

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Latest update August 24th, 2024 12:59 AM

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Cayman National Cultural Foundation Mourns the Loss of Cultural Icon Dave Martins

Aug 24, 2024 Letters

Dear Editor,

The Cayman National Cultural Foundation (CNCF) expresses deep sorrow at the passing of Dave Martins, a towering figure in the Caribbean and a visionary leader whose contributions have left an indelible mark on the region.

Best known as the leader of the renowned Tradewinds band, Dave Martins captivated audiences with his dynamic rhythms and poignant social commentary. Beyond his musical legacy, Dave Martins played a pivotal role in shaping the artistic landscape of the Cayman Islands. His influence extended far beyond the stage, as he initiated and produced the Batabano carnival in collaboration with Rotary, designed the national arts festival Cayfest, and created the beloved satirical revue Rundown working closely with CNCF Artistic Director Henry Muttoo who co-designed, directed and then later took over the writing of the production.  Dave’s leadership was also evident in his roles as Chairman of the Cultural Foundation, Executive Director of the Pirates Week National Festival, and President of the Cayman Music & Entertainment Association. “Dave Martins’ loss is felt not only in Canada, Guyana, and the Cayman Islands but throughout the world. His legacy will live on in his music, his writings, and the many cultural institutions he helped build. Speaking on behalf of the CNCF Board and Staff, we extend our sincerest condolences to his family and our gratitude for his remarkable contributions to CNCF, and Caymanian culture, over many years.” said Lorna Reid, Chairperson of the Cayman National Cultural Foundation.

Former CNCF Chairperson, Martyn Bould MBE, shared his reflections: “I am saddened to hear of the passing of Dave Martins but in turn wish to celebrate his life as a mighty cultural icon with whom I had the privilege of serving as Deputy Chairman when he was the Chairman of CNCF. My journey at CNCF over the past 40 years has enriched my life beyond measure, and Dave’s contribution to understanding the delicate nuances of our Caymanian culture and its recognition and development are well illustrated in his foreword to Miss Lassie’s book ‘My Markings’ in 1994: ‘This book has another purpose in the work of cultural retention because it demonstrates that, in the face of massive external influences, the essence of Cayman, albeit under threat, is not completely overwhelmed. The evidence is there. It is not immense and not always visible—sometimes, as in the case of Miss Lassie, we have to go behind the breadfruit trees to find it—but it is there.’ Rest in Peace, Dave—you are sadly missed.”

Dr. Henry Muttoo OBE, former Artistic Director of CNCF, also paid tribute: “Dave did his work and passed away, peacefully, at the age of 90, with his wife, Annette, at his bedside. He was an artist of tremendous vision and deceptive simplicity, whose work reached both paupers and princes. I was very fortunate to have him as CNCF Chair when I started in 1989. Indeed, it was he who wrote to me in New York to ask whether I would consider returning to Cayman to build the work of CNCF. Over the 40 years I knew him, I learned a lot and will be forever grateful that he eventually counted me among his closest and most trusted friends.” The CNCF extends its deepest condolences to Dave Martins’ family and to all who were touched by his remarkable life and work.

Cayman National Cultural Foundation

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• Caribbean , Cayman National Cultural Foundation , Cultural Icon , Dave Martins , Region

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