What is culture?

By: Kim Ann Zimmermann and Stephanie Pappas

By the term culture we usually mean the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, including language, religion, cuisine, social customs, music and arts. The Center for Advanced Research in Language Acquisition goes a step further, defining culture as shared patterns of behavior and interaction, as cognitive and understanding constructs that are learned through socialization.

Thus, culture can be seen as the growth of a group identity, driven by social patterns unique to the group. "Culture includes religion, food, what we wear, how we wear it, the language we speak, marriage, music, what we believe is right or wrong, how we sit at the table, how we greet visitors, how we treat people. beloved, and a million other things," says Cristina De Rossi, an anthropologist at Barnet and Southgate College in London.

The word "culture" is derived from a French term, which in turn derives from the Latin term "colere" - which means to care for the earth, to cultivate. The term "Western culture" refers to the culture of European countries, as well as those that have been heavily influenced by European immigration, such as the United States of America.

Western culture has its roots in the classical period of the Greco-Roman era (4th and 5th centuries BC) and the rise of Christianity in the 14th century. Other elements of Western culture include Latin, Celtic, Germanic, and Hellenic ethnic and linguistic groups.

Any number of historical events have helped shape Western culture over the past 2500 years. The fall of the Roman Empire, often associated with 476, paved the way for the creation of a series of states in Europe, often warring with each other, says Stanford University historian Walter Scheidel.

The Black Death (plague pandemic) of the 1300s reduced the population of Europe by a third, rapidly rebuilding European society. Ohio State University historian John L. Brooke says that as a result of that pandemic, Christianity as a religion became stronger in Europe, with a greater focus on apocalyptic themes.

The survivors in the working class gained more power as the elites were forced to pay them more due to the greatly reduced labor force. And the disruption of trade routes between East and West led to new explorations and, ultimately, European incursions into North and South America.

Eastern culture refers, generally, to the social norms of countries in Far East Asia (including China, Japan, Vietnam, North and South Korea), and the Indian subcontinent. Like Western culture, Eastern culture was heavily influenced by religion during its early development, but also by rice cultivation.

In Eastern culture there is, in general, less distinction between secular society and religious philosophy than in the West. However, it encompasses a wide range of traditions and histories. For example, Buddhism has its origins in India, but it was largely overtaken by Hinduism after the 12th century.

Thus, Hinduism became a major driver of culture in India, while Buddhism continued to exert influence in China and Japan. Preexisting cultural ideas in these areas also influenced religious beliefs. For example, Chinese Buddhism borrows from the philosophy of Taoism which emphasizes compassion and humility.

Centuries of interaction in this region – both peaceful and aggressive – led to the influence of these cultures on each other. For example, Japan controlled or occupied Korea in some form between 1876–1945. During that time, many Koreans were pressured or forced to give up their names in order to adopt Japanese surnames.

Many of the Spanish-speaking nations are considered part of the Latin culture, while the geographic region is very large. Latin America is typically defined as a large territory spanning parts of Central America, South America, and Mexico where the dominant languages ​​are Spanish or Portuguese.

At first, the term "Latin America" ​​was used by French geographers to distinguish between Anglo-Saxon and Romance (Latin-based) languages. Latino cultures are very different from each other, and many of them mix indigenous traditions with the Spanish language, and Catholicism brought by the Spanish and Portuguese colonizers.

Many of these cultures were also influenced by African cultures, due to enslaved Africans brought to the Americas beginning in the 1600s. These influences are particularly strong in Brazil and the Caribbean island countries. Latin culture continues to develop and spread.

An example is Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, a holiday dedicated to the memory of the dead that is celebrated on November 1st and 2nd. The Day of the Dead dates back to before Christopher Columbus landed in North America. But the actual date was decided by the Spanish colonizers who merged it with the Catholic All Saints Day.

However, the term "Middle Eastern culture" encompasses a wide variety of cultural practices, religious beliefs, and daily customs. The region is the birthplace of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and is home to dozens of languages ​​– from Arabic to Hebrew, Turkish to Pashto. While there is great religious diversity in the Middle East, the dominant religion by numbers is Islam. It has played a major role in the cultural development of the region. Islam has its origins in what is now Saudi Arabia at the beginning of the 632th century. But its great expansion began after the death of the prophet Muhammad in XNUMX. Some followers believed that the next leader should be one of Muhammad's friends and confidants. Others believed that leadership should pass through Muhammad's bloodline. This led to a rift between Shia Muslims - those who believed in the importance of bloodline, and Sunni Muslims who believed that leadership should not pass through the family.

Today, about 85 percent of the world's Muslims are Sunni. Their rituals and traditions differ somewhat, and divisions between the two groups often lead to conflict. The culture of the Middle East is influenced not a little by the Ottoman Empire, which ruled the region between the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries.

Africa has the longest history of human settlement. In fact, modern humans originated there, from where they began to migrate to other parts of the world about 60 years ago. But, some researchers believe that the first migration may have happened much earlier, 120 thousand years ago. They arrive at these conclusions by studying human genomes from different cultures, to trace their DNA back to common ancestors. One of the main features of African culture is the large number of ethnic groups in all 54 countries of this continent. For example, Nigeria alone has more than 300 tribes. Africa has imported and exported its culture over the centuries. East African trading ports formed an essential link between East and West as early as the XNUMXth century. Northwest Africa has strong ties to the Middle East, while sub-Saharan Africa has different historical, physical and social characteristics.

Regardless of what a culture looks like, one thing is certain: cultures vary, so it is difficult to define them in a single way. /Taken with abbreviations from "Livescience"/In Albanian from: Bota.al/