Caribbean Culture

Presenter: Ms. N. Lewis

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The pattern of living that directs human social life.

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Everything that humans learn and the things they learn to use.

◦ language, religions, science, art, notions of right and wrong, explanations of the meaning of life 

According to Ralph Linton ( 1945) “ the culture of the society is the way of life of its members; the collection of ideas and habits which they learn, share and transmit from generation to generation"

 According

to Jennifer Mohammad (2007) the culture being

the “Way of life of a people” is limited and must be

deconstructed. This is so because culture imbues all patterns and processes in which people engage. For example, the way of life could be worshipping, voting, earning a living and interacting with different social groups. However, if we should look at worshipping this is not the way of life for all.

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Values - standards for assessing good and bad

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Norms – behavioral expectations

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Role – norms associated with a particular

position

 Culture

is shared among a group. It is not

peculiar to one or a few persons, but it is

common to all members of society.  Culture

is learnt- learning plays a key role in

transmission of culture from one generation to the other.

 Culture

is transmittable- culture comes down

from the past, is not created by any one

person or generation, and continues beyond the individuals lifespan.  Culture

is dynamic- it varies overtime and

place.  Culture

is symbolic- it is meaningful to

people. Symbols are things or behaviours to

 Culture

is adaptive- in order to survive, culture must adapt to changes in societies.  Culture is dynamic- it is varies over time and place. It is not static

CULTURE

MATERIAL CULTURE

Music, dance festivals, food, artefacts,

r

technology, places of worship, architecture

NON MATERIAL

Norms , values, beliefs, languages

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Popular Culture, high culture, mass culture and global culture are examples of cultural products. Popular Culture- refers to music, visual and performing arts, literature, festivals, cuisine, poetry, artistic and designer creations that are promoted through the efforts of the mass media and foreign media. Mass culture- refers to the lifestyle and values promoted through the mass media.

 Global

Culture- this refers to culture which

has become popular with the use of ICTs

during the era of globalization.  Cyberculture-

refers to the culture that has

emerged or emerging, from the use of computer networks for communication network entertainment and business.

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This view of culture was put forward by Raymond Williams in 1958. He opposed the notion of the “ way of life” and “cultural products” and argued that culture is the process by which common meanings come to be accepted, debated and modified by people in society.

Culture is ordinary because it develops in every individual according to his or her experience. It is not something that has a tangible existence.

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Culture is the meaning people have for something are those meaning are represented in ordinary life through behaviours, acts rituals and norms and so on. Thus, one can say culture is symbolic.

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It focuses not on the specific patterns of behaviour but on how people come to develop those sense of behaviour in the first place. People live together and develop symbols which have significant meaning. Languages, gestures, habits, religion, marriage, aspirations act as symbols for a set of shared meaning and values.

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Culture is created and maintained through communication. For a society cultural reproduction becomes a major goal and this ensured through different ways of teaching the culture to members so that the shared values and norms are constantly reproduced. Culture is learnt through the process of socialization which is part of Enculturation.

Culture is learnt via cultural diffusion that is the culture is spread from one society to the other.

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A popular way of using culture is to refer to a characteristic set of values and attitudes shared by a specific group or subculture within a larger group.

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Complete activities 2.8 & 2.15 on pages 43 and 54.