Formation of Culture: From Lucy to Postmodernism

1. Formation of Culture:From Lucy to Postmodernism Ancient World History

2. Ontology Realism: Reality is “Real” Idealism: Reality is Our “Idea” of What’s Real 2

3. Is Reality “Real”? Metaphysical Question: “Is Reality Real?” • Reality is defined/limited by our sensory experience • Limits to sensory information (infrared & high frequency) • Alternative sensory experience (sonar & taste) • Distortions in sensory experience (brain interpretation) • “If a tree falls in the woods andno one is there to hear it…. • “…does it make a sound?”

4. Is Reality a Matter of Choice? At macro level, the table is solid, persistent, and predictable. At molecular level, the table is fluid, more than 99% empty space, and predictable. At subatomic level, table is fluid, chaotic, and exists only as a function of probability.

5. Language and Reality • Many animals have language skills. • Symbolic language emerged approx. 125K years ago in humans. • Language enables collective memory. • Language comes to “define reality”(Without a word for it, it literally doesn’t exist for us) • Inuit Eskimos and “snow” • The French and “love” • Reality is subtle, nuanced, and always evolving, while language is fixed and meanings change slowly. • This is hard with nouns – but it’s REALLY hard with adjectives.

6. Contextualization • Human brains always jumps to conclusions with incomplete information -- depending on the context. “It was a long hard winter… but it was a beautiful spring.”

7. My “Spring” is a Slinky!

8. What is “Culture?” “Patterned behaviors, beliefs, and practices, including technology, that enable a civilization to adapt and survive in it’s environment.”

9. Culture vs. Evolution Culture =Social Adaptations Evolution =Biological Adaptations • Stone Tools • Manipulation of Fire • Clothing • Symbolic Language • Upright Walking • Opposable Thumbs • Small Jaw/Growing Brain • Skin Coloration

10. Culture & Collective Memory • Pre-language: Pointing and Grunting • Language Enabled Culture to be Passed Along Orally • Detailed Instructions • Allows Learned Information to be Passed Down • Oral Histories Enable Intergenerational Communication • Can Build Upon Accomplishments of Past Generations • Writing Turbocharged Collective Memory • More Detailed Information • Information Can be Stored & Recalled When Needed • Freed Human Brain to Discover New Knowledge, Rather than Remember Old Memories

11. The Power of Collective Memory

12. Early Culture Stone Tools

13. Modern Culture

14. Is Culture “Good” or “True?” • Like Evolution, Cultural Adaptations are“Value Neutral” • Culture Can Be a Powerful Force for Survival • Culture Can Confer Benefits, But Still be Immoral • Slavery • Knowledge of Looting and Pillaging • Culture Can Be Harmless, But Factually Wrong • Saying “Bless You” after a Sneeze • Culture Can Be Harmless, But Obsolete • Shaking Hands with Right Hand • Culture Can be Factually Wrong, Obsolete, and Destructive

15. Oppositional Binaries Centered/Preferred Binary Marginalized Binary • Definitions Tend to be Binary • Makes a complex reality simpler (more manageable) • Maintains a manageable vocabulary • Helps in the process of establishing “identity” • Male • Strong • Large • Hard • Individualistic • Rational • Competitive • Female • Weak • Small • Soft • Community/Family • Emotional/Intuitive • Cooperative Socially Constructed Gender Norms

16. Socially Constructed Norms • Thin is beautiful • Sun tans are attractive • Wealth / consumption is desirable • Honesty is valued • Conformity is expected

17. Societal Enforcementof Cultural Norms • Ignore violations • Trivialize violations • Co-opt the subversive message of violations • Attack violations of the norm • Ostracize • Banish from the tribe • Punish or criminalize

18. Self-Enforcementof Cultural Norms • Closeted Gays/Lesbians • Girls “Acting Stupid” in Math Class • Stopping at Red Lights at 3:30am • Self Enforcement as “The Panopticon” Coined by Jeremy Bentham in 1796 Michel Foucault made famous in 1950’s

19. The Tool of Deconstruction • Defines/clarifies binaries • Exposes assumptions • Helps identify implications of change Marginalized Binary Female Male Female Male Centered Binary

20. Summary (How culture works) • “Culture:” social adaptations that aid “survival” • “Culture” is as old as humanity itself • “Culture” is a social construction, and is not “real” in any absolute or objective sense. • Dependent on the geography/environment & social context • Tendency to generalize with incomplete information • Limits/uncertainties to sensory perception & processing • Culture became far more powerful with language, but language also introduced limits to culture. • Tendency to define complex realities as simple binaries • Tendency to assign value judgments to simple binaries

21. Summary (The Power of Culture) • Cultural Norms Define Our Social Reality • What is the meaning of life? • What is proper behavior? (notions of good and bad) • Culture Can be a Powerful Positive Force • Rules against murder, theft, and lying • Technological advances improve quality of life (and lifespan) • Culture Can Also be a Powerful Negative Force • Definition and enforcement of gender/racial/religious stereotypes • Perpetuation of outdated values (overconsumption, violence, war, defining self in terms of “the other,” etc.) • “Deconstruction” as a Diagnostic Technique

22. Formation of Culture:From Lucy to Postmodernism Ancient World History