We learn and develop in lots of different contexts simultaneously and 'culture' is often an important aspect of the context. For example, our family, place of work or the educational institution in which we are studying all have their unique cultural characteristics and ways of doing things. Mostly we inhabit contexts that are familiar and culture is taken for granted as we understand what is expected of us and how people are likely to behave in these circumstances: nevertheless we soon know if we do something that runs counter to the prevailing culture. But there are points in our life where we move outside the cultural comfort zone we normally inhabit and encounter an unfamiliar culture or perhaps socialise or work with people who have a different cultural heritage to our own. In such circumstances the normal rules and principles we apply in our familiar cultural settings don't fit very well or not at all and we may well become confused and uncertain as to what is expected or how to behave. Learning in order to understand the new culture becomes a priority and an important goal for our learning ecology. Learning how to be/behave in a culture which we do not know is perhaps the most important way in which we develop our sense of what culture means in a social, symbolic and practical sense, and develop the confidence to live, work and socialise in other cultural contexts that are not familiar. Over a lifetime we may accumulate many such experiences and develop a broad understanding and sense of what culture means. Alternatively, if we rarely venture out of our own cultural settings our understandings will be limited and unchallenged.
There is no doubt that humanity has benefited from the sharing and mixing of cultures throughout the history of our existence. As this remarkable animation shows, we owe much to the people who have taken it upon themselves, for a whole host of reasons, to move themselves from their familiar cultural setting to another and in the process carry with them the ideas, symbols, behaviours and ways of perceiving the world, mixing them with what they discover in their new cultural settings to create entirely new meanings.
There is no doubt that humanity has benefited from the sharing and mixing of cultures throughout the history of our existence. As this remarkable animation shows, we owe much to the people who have taken it upon themselves, for a whole host of reasons, to move themselves from their familiar cultural setting to another and in the process carry with them the ideas, symbols, behaviours and ways of perceiving the world, mixing them with what they discover in their new cultural settings to create entirely new meanings.
Lifewide Magazine #17
In the July issue of Lifewide Magazine we have explored the idea that our ecologies for learning, developing and achieving are the means by which we adapt to new cultural contexts and situations we encounter, where achievement means learning to function and perform in a cultural context that is not our own and we are seen as an 'outsider'. Articles do not focus on culture per se, but on our encounters with cultures that are different to our own and how we learn to adapt our thinking, our attitudes and behaviours within a new cultural context.
Readers might also be interested in the new Google + Forum we have created for discussion of issues raised in the magazine. To join the conversation click here.
Video - posted 11th September 2014 by Marcos Hung
Location: The University of Texas at Dallas, TX, USA
http://www.trendguardian.com/2014/09/ut-dallas-humanitys-cultural-history.html
In the July issue of Lifewide Magazine we have explored the idea that our ecologies for learning, developing and achieving are the means by which we adapt to new cultural contexts and situations we encounter, where achievement means learning to function and perform in a cultural context that is not our own and we are seen as an 'outsider'. Articles do not focus on culture per se, but on our encounters with cultures that are different to our own and how we learn to adapt our thinking, our attitudes and behaviours within a new cultural context.
Readers might also be interested in the new Google + Forum we have created for discussion of issues raised in the magazine. To join the conversation click here.
Video - posted 11th September 2014 by Marcos Hung
Location: The University of Texas at Dallas, TX, USA
http://www.trendguardian.com/2014/09/ut-dallas-humanitys-cultural-history.html
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