1、CultureCultureAn IntroductionTodays Class What is culture?-Different ideas What makes up a culture?How does culture form and develop?Why study Culture?The connection between culture and language.Todays Class(continued)What will we study in this course?How will we study it?What is Culture?What is Cul
2、ture?Ideas about Culture“Culture is basically anything we do and the monkeys dont.”Lord Raglan,British Military General in the 19th Century“Culture is the sum of all art,love and thought which over the centuries have enabled man to be less enslaved.”Andre Malraux,French WriterIdeas about Culture“An
3、army without culture is a dull-witted army,and a dull-witted army cannot defeat the enemy.”Chairman Mao.A Different Idea about Culture“Whenever I hear the word culture I reach for my gun.”-Hanns Johst,Artist and Nazi.A Useful Definition of Culture For This Course The set of distinctive spiritual,mat
4、erial,intellectual and emotional features of a society or a social group.It includes art,literature,lifestyles,ways of living together,value systems,traditions and beliefs.(This is how UNESCO defines Culture)The Elements of Culture History Religion Values Social Organisation LanguageHistory Stories
5、of the past are passed from generation to generation These stories help to form the identities of the members of the culture.They highlight the origins of the culture,the important parts of history and the proud achievements.For example.How does the history of the Great Wall influence the Chinese cu
6、ltural identity?Religion&Beliefs Influence every aspect of society,both consciously and unconsciously E.g.the Protestant work ethic,Islam,Confucianism.Strongly influences individual behaviour.Values Every culture has its own standard for goodness,beauty,etc.These standards guide how people live.For
7、example,the value of the elderly members of society.Social Organisation Every culture divides into various social units within the culture,e.g.family,government,schools etc.E.g.Some societies have kings,some have presidents,some have military leaders.Each player in the social structure has a role to
8、 play.This can determine what they do,what they think,even how they dress.Language Unique to every culture.Is very strongly connected to the culture,as we will see later.Examining Culture To make things easy,we can talk about Culture by separating it into 3 parts:Values:The ideas about what things i
9、n life are important.e.g.Going to college Norms:The way people behave.e.g.Crossing the road Artifacts:The material things of a culture.e.g Clothes.In this course we will need to examine all of these.A QUESTIONA QUESTIONCan you think of another example of a A Cultural Value A Cultural Norm A Cultural
10、 Artifactthat is different between Chinese culture and British or American culture?Some ideas Values:Studying,Saving Money,National Pride.Norms:Studying(again!),Standing in Line,Taking a long lunch break.Artifacts:Too many!Temples,Paintings,Music,etc.How are Cultural Ideas Formed and How are Cultura
11、l Ideas Formed and Communicated?Communicated?A QUESTION:A QUESTION:Where do we get our cultural values and norms?Many MANY things influence us.These are just a few:Parents,teachers,friends,peers,neighbours,etc.The media TV,Newspapers,Pop Stars,etc.The government and the economy of the country Big bu
12、sinesses and companies.The geography of the country.Lets look at 2 examples of how cultural ideas are communicated.How Cultural Ideas are Communicated(1):Tommy Hilfiger In the early 90s Tommy Hilfiger clothes became very fashionable among young urban working-class black people in America.Soon,the ri
13、cher people began to imitate this style so the Hilfiger company became very successfulHow did Tommy Hilfiger do this?The heads of the company knew that young rich people liked to copy street culture.So they decided to influence the street culture They“allowed”young black kids to steal from their sho
14、ps.Tommy Hilfiger:SO WHAT?!?SO WHAT?!?This example shows us one way in which cultural ideas are communicated.Big companies can(and often do)influence popular culture.But popular culture is also influenced by what is happening in the subcultures.How Cultural Ideas are Communicated(2):How Cultural Ide
15、as are Communicated(2):Dancing Hamsters!Dancing Hamsters!In 2000,a website called became extremely popular in many parts of the world.The only thing you could see on this website were cartoon hamsters dancing to disco music.Yet,the website received millions of visitors.By 2002 the dancing hamsters h
16、ad become so popular that they were featured in television advertisements.Dancing Hamsters!Dancing Hamsters!Dancing Hamsters!It didnt become popular because it had the support of a big company It became popular by“word of mouth”.People told their friends And then those friends told more friends And
17、those people told more friends And so on People were influenced by their friends and peers to visit the website.Dancing HamstersSO WHAT?!?SO WHAT?!?The examples of the Dancing Hamsters and Tommy Hilfiger shows that that cultural habits can be created in many different ways and for many different rea
18、sons.And sometimes.cultural habits are not very sensible and they are very difficult to understand!Why Should You Study Culture?Why Should You Study Culture?Why Should You Study Culture?Working with foreigners avoiding cultural misunderstandings!Living in a foreign country easier to settle in.Broade
19、ning your mind!But also Language and Culture are very closely related.To know the language well you must know the culture.To know the culture well you must know the language.Culture and LanguageCulture and LanguageCulture and Language Cultural ideas are spread through communication Our main tool of
20、communication is language.Therefore,our culture influences our language and our language influences our culture.Lets look at an exampleCulture and Language:A Simple Example drizzle,Pissing Lashing Spitting raining cats and dogs Pelting Pouring bucketing soft day misty,dirty manky These are all diffe
21、rent ways to say“rain”in English.We have dozens more.Culture and Language:More Advanced Examples Some scientists believe that language heavily influences culture.Benjamin Whorf was a famous American linguist.He believed that sometimes peoples culture was“trapped”by their language.He examined the lan
22、guage of the Hopi people,a Native American tribe.Their language had no nouns for time.(e.g.minute,hour,etc.)Culture and Language So,he argued,their culture was deeply affected by this.Before the Hopi people went anywhere or did anything they always did lots of preparation.Their language,according to
23、 Whorf,influenced their culture.Culture and Language The Piraha language used by some tribes in Brazil.It only has words for“one”“two”and“many”.Recently,scientists have found that the people who use this language have difficulty telling the difference between four,five,six,etc.Culture and Language B
24、ut!This kind of theory is VERY controversial!Many people think that language does not influence culture as much as Whorf thinks.Nonetheless,we can be sure that culture influences language and language influences culture.So Culture and language are very strongly linked.Culture is the“key”to fully und
25、erstanding a language.How Do We Study Culture?How Do We Study Culture?How do we study Culture?In order to fully understand a culture,we need to understand many aspects of that culture:Its politics,history,pop culture etc.It is not enough to know what people do.You need to know why they do what they
26、do and why they think the way they do.Otherwise the information is useless.Consider the example of the Cargo Cults.The Cargo Cults Can you guess what these people are doing?The Cargo CultsThe Cargo Cults Cargo(n):goods carried on a ship or aircraft Cult(n):a system of religious worship,especially wo
27、rshipping one person or thing.The Cargo Cults Aboriginal religions that appeared in the cultures of the people living on remote islands in the South Pacific.After World War II During the war these islands were used as supply bases by the Allies fighting against Japan Huge amounts of supplies were de
28、livered to the islands by plane,making life easier for the islandersThe Cargo Cults But after the war,no more supplies were delivered to the islands,even though planes continued to fly over the islands.The islanders believed that the foreigners had a special relationship with the gods so the gods de
29、livered supplies to them from the sky.So the islanders decided to copy the customs of the foreigners in order to make the gods deliver more supplies.The Cargo Cults They built models of planes,airports and even communications equipment from wood and straw.They performed the“rituals”they had seen the
30、 foreigners performing,hoping that they could make contact with the gods.The Cargo Cults:Why did they do this?The islanders had rarely met foreigners before the war but during the war thousands of foreign soldiers came there The islanders were very poor and the delivery of supplies changed their eco
31、nomic and social life completely.But after the war they found themselves without supplies and poor again.The Cargo Cults:SO WHAT?!?SO WHAT?!?The importance of context when studying culture.Having an in-depth knowledge of many aspects of the culture is very important.We cannot understand this Cargo C
32、ult custom without understanding the context of the war and the poverty of the islanders They didnt understand the context of the deliveries of supplies and so they misunderstood the“rituals”of the foreigners.The Cargo Cults:SO WHAT?!?!SO WHAT?!?!In this course we will attempt to gain an understandi
33、ng what people do in English speaking countries.But We will also try to understand why they do what they do.What do they believe?How do they think?And how does this influence what they do?The Structure of the CourseThe Structure of the CourseThe Structure of the Course We will study the cultures of
34、the major English speaking countries The UK The United States Australia If there is time we will also look at the Republic of Ireland.How will we examine these cultures?We will look at:History Politics Arts&Literature Pop Culture Peoples Daily Lives Social Makeup Etc.,etc,etc.We will examine:Photogr
35、aphs Films and TV Shows Music CDs Extracts from books,magazines and newspapers The Internet Etc.,etc.,etc.Questions Will this course be difficult?No!Will this course be interesting?I hope so!How will we be examined?2 Quizes during the semester,plus an Exam at the end.Any Questions?!?!?Getting in tou
36、ch with me:You can ask me questions during the class or after class or during the break.You can email me:A quick reviewToday we looked at:The meaning of culture.We need to study many different areas in order to fully understand a culture.How culture is created and communicated.Language is a vital to
37、ol for communicating culture.Knowing more about a culture can help you to better understand its language.Valentines DayValentines Day February 14th is Valentines Day,a festival for lovers.The Festival was first celebrated some time around the 15th century,but its origins lie much further back in his
38、tory.The tradition of Valentines Day is a combination of old traditions Christian and RomanSaint ValentineSaint Valentine He was a holy Christian man He lived some time around the 3rd century AD.Not much is known about his life.His bones are now in Dublin,Ireland.RomansRomans On February 15th every
39、year,the Romans held a festival celebrating Spring.Priests would sacrifice a goat.Then the skin of the goat would be cut into pieces.Young men would take a piece of the skin,and run through the streets,slapping women with the piece of skin.Later in the day,the young women put their names in a big po
40、t.Each man then drew a name from the pot and these two people were paired together for the year.Later,around 500 AD,the Christians decided that this practice was illegal.February 14th was dedicated to celebrating Saint Valentine.In the 14th century,it was believed that February 14th was the day on w
41、hich birds chose their partner for the new year.So,people began to celebrate this day as a festival for lovers.They would send letters and gifts to their lovers.By the 18th century,the tradition spread to America Every year,over 1 billion Valentines Day cards are sent,making it the second biggest ca
42、rd-giving holiday.(Christmas is the biggest.)Christmas!Christmas!ChristmasChristmas Its the most important festival in the Western calendar The name means Mass of Christ.The festival celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ.But nowadays it is more connected with Santa Claus,giving gifts and commercialis
43、m than with religion.The Story of ChristmasThe Story of Christmas There are several versions of the Christmas story.The most common legend is as follows:Mary,the mother of Jesus,found that she was pregnant with the child of God as a result of a miracle.She and her husband traveled to a town called B
44、ethlehem.But when they arrived they discovered that there was nowhere to stay in the town.All the hotels were full.So they had to stay in a stable(a small building where horses,cows,etc.would stay).So Jesus was born in this stable.A very bright star appeared in the sky when he was born,guiding many
45、people to visit him.Three Wise Men came from the east and declared that he was the Son of God.As a result,it became very dangerous for the family to stay in that town.They fled to Egypt.The Christmas TreeThe Christmas Tree Like many other Christmas traditions,this idea was“borrowed”from older pagan
46、religions.The pagans believed that the evergreen tree represented a celebration of a renewal of life and also a continuation of life.So they would hold celebrations near these trees in the winter time.Christians in northern Europe continued these traditions.Why do we put trees in our house?Although
47、celebrating near evergreen trees was popular for more than one thousand years,the idea of putting a tree inside ones house wasnt popular until the 1850s when magazines in Britain showed members of the Royal Family with trees inside their house.Why do we put decorations on the trees?Again,this tradit
48、ion comes from pagan religions.The pagans would place small cakes and other gifts on the evergreen trees as a“sacrifice”for the gods.In the 16th century,Christians began putting lights on the trees to represent God.Nowadays,some people not only put decorations on the tree but also all over their hou
49、se.Santa ClausSanta ClausSanta ClausSanta Claus According to tradition Santa Claus is a jolly fat man wearing red and white,who delivers gifts to the children of the world on Christmas Eve.He lives at the North Pole where he and his staff of elves(little magic men)build Christmas presents during the
50、 year and get ready to deliver them.On Christmas Eve he comes down the chimney of each house and leaves gifts under the Christmas tree for all the children who have been good during the year!Children often leave milk and cookies for him to eat!The tradition comes from a holy man in Turkey,Saint Nich
