The Winkiness of Culture

Theories of Cultural Change ANTH 2301 The Winkiness of Culture We defined culture as a conglomeration of objects, social structures, common beliefs, daily routines, and technology in the previous section. Culture is "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society," according to British anthropologist Edward Burnett Tylor (1873, 1:1). That's a lot to put into one idea! What aspects of human experience and action are not cultural, if everything mentioned above is? Think about this situation. One day, a student shows up for class, and the teacher declares, "I'm failing the entire class because I've decided that you're all failures." Imagine then that following that pronouncement, the teacher just stands there, calmly blinking, while the class shouts in outrage. Imagine the identical situation now, but with one very small modification. "I've decided that you're all a bunch of failures and I'm flunking the entire class," declares the instructor. The teacher then calmly blinks one eye while keeping the other open while the class explodes in outrage. What had just taken place there? Humans worldwide have an inherent desire to blink. Blinking helps humans keep their eyes moist and free of particles. No one has to teach us how to blink; it comes naturally to humans. Humans blink 15 to 20 times each minute on average. People blink without even realising it during every daytime discussion, social encounter, or activity. We converse and engage with folks who blink so frequently that it has been ingrained in everyone's mind. Blinking has no effect on how words or actions are understood. That's a whole other story, though, if someone purposefully closes one eye while opening the other. Actually, a blink becomes a wink when one eye is open. It is not biologically necessary to wink. It takes work to learn how to wink; humans do not know how to do it from birth. In social situations, winking can take on particular significance as it takes conscious effort and isn't done all the time. A wink is commonly used in American culture, among many others, to convey humour and the idea that whatever said or done shouldn't be taken seriously. Naturally, the meaning of a wink varies depending on the society. Furthermore, within the same civilization, a wink might have several meanings. When a date grabs their partner's hand and winks cutesy little, the recipient may have cause to believe the winker is serious. The example of winking was used by American cultural anthropologist Clifford Geertz (1973) to highlight two significant facets of culture. Culture is first acquired. Human innate behaviours, or those that a person is born with, are biological in nature rather than cultural. It's biological for humans to blink. Human behaviours that are learned, or acquired behaviours, are cultural. It's cultural to wink. This indicates that cultural behaviours must be transmitted from older to younger members of a community, as they are not genetically carried from one generation to the next. Certain facets of enculturation are methodical and intentional, such picking up a language's written punctuation norms. An English speaker may have been specifically taught the distinction between an exclamation point and a question mark at some time in their early years. They most likely picked up on this distinction at school, which is a vital enculturation institution in many cultures. Another prevalent source of enculturation is religious organisations, which offer clear guidance on social norms and morals within the culture. Children learn cultural norms and conventions through extracurricular activities including athletics, dance, and music training. Although a significant portion of very significant cultural knowledge is purposefully taught in these structured environments, the majority of culture is picked up unintentionally by chance—that is, no one intentionally attempted to learn it or planned to be taught it. Children who are raised in a culture pick up on the meanings of things and behaviours, the workings of their society, and the standards of proper conduct. Returning to the cultural concept of home, have you ever had an explanation given to you for the arrangement of your childhood house? Has anybody ever brought up the societal presumptions on gender and family that are ingrained in your home? Most likely not. Imagine for a moment if you were removed from your parents when you were a newborn and placed for adoption by a distant family that lived in a completely different environment and had a very different way of life. It's possible that you were raised in a completely different type of home with your adopted family. Growing up, the layout of that home would have influenced your daily routine, pursuits, and aspirations. You would have silently internalised a set of presumptions about gender, work, family, leisure, hospitality, and property if you had lived in that house. You would find it all to be very natural. A variety of intentional and unintentional activities combine to transmit several types of culture. Maybe someone explained what a wink was to you as a youngster and demonstrated how to make one. Maybe you merely saw a few winks, deduced their meaning from their surroundings, and eventually found out how to make one by trial and error. Geertz noted that winking has two crucial components: the message and the behaviour. Both are cultural in that they are learnt. What's maybe even more significant is that winking is a typical movement, and members of the group are generally aware of the significance associated with it. Meaning that culture is communal. Think about dreaming as an additional facet of human biology. Every society has its share of dreamers, and nobody needs to educate them how to dream. Dreaming is a natural and instinctive biological function. According to biological experts, dreaming facilitates the human brain's processing of everyday events and the formation of long-term memories from recent experiences. Dreaming is natural, not cultural, as it is a basic requirement for the functioning of the brain. Nevertheless, why do individuals dream about stories? And why do those tales seem to be so perplexing, sometimes even unsettling? People in many cultures are confused by their dreams, never fully understanding the significance behind the things and circumstances they dream about, if any at all. However, dreams are acknowledged as channels for spiritual connection with otherworldly entities in some civilizations. It is believed among the Ojibwa that fasting for up to a week can induce unique, visionary dreams in young individuals (Hallowell 1992; PetersGolden 2002, 188–189). In these kind of dreams, a young person can be addressed by a guardian spirit who gives advice on how to hunt, fight, or heal. While it is undesirable for individuals to discuss the significance of these dreams, young people are trained to anticipate and expect this type of dream and are capable of interpreting its content without the need for conversation. Dreaming is deeply cultural among the Ojibwa because of the widespread capacity to have these kinds of dreams and the common knowledge to comprehend the meaning they have. In summary, we may identify a component of human experience or behaviour as cultural when it is acquired and propagated. That defines culture in a somewhat defined way. Even still, Tylor's long list of things that people learn and share in groups shows that there is still a vast amount of diversity (knowledge, religion, art, morals, law, tradition, etc.). It's important to divide culture into three fundamental components rather than viewing it as a single, enormous jumble of stuff. It is recognised that these fundamental components of culture occur in more expansive combinations, or aggregates.