An Invitation Into My Mind

The meaning of words constantly change depending of the context. Don’t believe me? Well here is an example: FUCK. Now we can talk about how the word fuck can mean many things depending on how it is said but I have not summoned you to talk about that. You see I have an itch- no not a literal itch – a figurative itch and that itch cannot be satisfied until I answer this question.

What is culture?

*crickets chirp*

Ok I have realised that no one will actually answer and I am practically talking to a screen, so to avoid any awkwardness let me just answer it.

The word culture has many definitions but I want to look at the anthropological definition of culture.

According to Kenneth J. Guest culture “is a system of knowledge, beliefs, patterns of behaviours, artifacts and institutions that are created, learned, shared and contested by a group of people.”

The word culture has gone through a major semantic shift. (for those who don’t know what a semantic shift is I will tell you now). A semantic shift is a linguistic phenomenon where a word’s meaning gradually changes overtime.

Here is a little random fact culture is derived from the Latin word cultus which means both tilling the soil and worshiping the divine. I wonder if the Romans got confused when using the word since the word had multiple meanings.

In modern day society culture is the way we live our lives. It allows you to connect to your roots and links you to family. It is a community where we find our sense of belonging and identity as we are surrounded by like-minded individuals, something that almost everyone desires the opportunity to be seen and have their existence validated and culture does exactly that, if not more.

Now my nuggets it is time for us to depart and instead of a toodla-loo I will gift you with a question.

Does culture take away our ability to establish our own sense of self or is it an important part when trying to find out who you are?