In recent times, there have been many arguments on what is Malaysian culture. There have been attempts to highlight that many parts of what we cherish as Malaysian culture is actually borrowed from other people. Well, I am not here to identify what consists of our culture vs their culture but to discuss the 'nature' of culture itself.
Culture is generally divided into material and non-material culture. Material culture refers to things like food, clothes, tools that we use etc. Non-material culture refers to intangible ideas by members of a society.
Culture is not something that is carved in stone. Culture is something that evolves. Something which is considered as a tradition today may not be 20 years from now if people stop practising it. Therefore, some elements of 'our' culture which we have today may not be there in future. When people meet and interact there are possibilities that some elements of culture are borrowed or shared. In addition to this, cultural boundaries is not the same as political boundaries. People who culturally same may be divided by political boundaries, that does not mean group A which lives in country A can claim ownership of certain cultural elements.
I guess the point I am trying to make is that, culture evolves and elements of culture can be borrowed and shared and that is what makes human interaction something fascinating.
Culture is generally divided into material and non-material culture. Material culture refers to things like food, clothes, tools that we use etc. Non-material culture refers to intangible ideas by members of a society.
Culture is not something that is carved in stone. Culture is something that evolves. Something which is considered as a tradition today may not be 20 years from now if people stop practising it. Therefore, some elements of 'our' culture which we have today may not be there in future. When people meet and interact there are possibilities that some elements of culture are borrowed or shared. In addition to this, cultural boundaries is not the same as political boundaries. People who culturally same may be divided by political boundaries, that does not mean group A which lives in country A can claim ownership of certain cultural elements.
I guess the point I am trying to make is that, culture evolves and elements of culture can be borrowed and shared and that is what makes human interaction something fascinating.
No comments:
Post a Comment