drcuriosity (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
drcuriosity) wrote2011-01-08 11:30 pm
drcuriosity) wrote2011-01-08 11:30 pm
Culture is a complex thing.
This came up in the context of a conversation about NZ culture, and what it is to be a New Zealander or an "NZ European". As sometimes happens when I get to thinking about stuff, it got long. For anyone who's interested, here's what I wrote. Rough though it may be.
Oh, and do feel free to ask if there's any terms I use that you'd like to know and can't figure out from context.
Nationally, I identify as a New Zealander. It'll continue to be my identity when I emigrate, and not just because it's what's on the birth certificate and passport. It's the country where I was born and grew up.
In heritage, I'm European: English, Cornish, Welsh Romnichal. First ancestor got here in the 1830s: jumped ship up in Kororareka, and the local Maori tribe helped to hide him until the ship was out of port. I don't have a full whakapapa, but I've read enough that I know where my family's roots are in both land and values.
In social class, probably middle class/professional. I've mixed with the rich and the poor while I was growing up, so I can be pretty mobile when I want. I find it hard to look at society in terms of "us" and "them" because I'm so used to recognising some "us" in everyone I meet.
Subculturally, a mix of academic, geek, gamer, goth/rivethead, steampunk. Those are "my people" wherever I go in the world.
Culturally, largely "Pakeha" but really a mix of a things. I grew up in Christchurch, as did my dad and his. Mum was born in Fiji, grew up on a mine site and went to boarding school with a whole bunch of different kinds of people from all over. Her family's spread liberally around the South Pacific. Some things I don't feel comfortable doing because they're tabua(tapu), regardless of the fact that I'm not ethnically Kai Viti or Maori.
I went to a school with mostly Pakeha kids, but had Maori language and culture classes in primary, intermediate and high school - it was a hard decision to drop Maori after Third Form because I didn't have enough slots for everything I wanted to do. I'm not Kai Tahu, but I still feel like Aoraki's my mountain and Waimakariri's my river, and I feel a responsibility to treat the land right and see it protected for future generations.
I think it's damned hard to draw a line around a culture and say this is "us", even when it's your own. Maybe especially if it's your own. Things that someone else might see as essential might be something you don't embrace, or directly reject. Culture seems less of a clearly-defined territory, and more of a collection of landmarks that you can illustrate your position by.
What I express and how I feel about stuff isn't any kind of "political correctness" affectation, despite what some people may think. It's a product of who I am and where I come from. I can't un-see the blurry edges, and I can't paint it black and white.
Oh, and do feel free to ask if there's any terms I use that you'd like to know and can't figure out from context.
Nationally, I identify as a New Zealander. It'll continue to be my identity when I emigrate, and not just because it's what's on the birth certificate and passport. It's the country where I was born and grew up.
In heritage, I'm European: English, Cornish, Welsh Romnichal. First ancestor got here in the 1830s: jumped ship up in Kororareka, and the local Maori tribe helped to hide him until the ship was out of port. I don't have a full whakapapa, but I've read enough that I know where my family's roots are in both land and values.
In social class, probably middle class/professional. I've mixed with the rich and the poor while I was growing up, so I can be pretty mobile when I want. I find it hard to look at society in terms of "us" and "them" because I'm so used to recognising some "us" in everyone I meet.
Subculturally, a mix of academic, geek, gamer, goth/rivethead, steampunk. Those are "my people" wherever I go in the world.
Culturally, largely "Pakeha" but really a mix of a things. I grew up in Christchurch, as did my dad and his. Mum was born in Fiji, grew up on a mine site and went to boarding school with a whole bunch of different kinds of people from all over. Her family's spread liberally around the South Pacific. Some things I don't feel comfortable doing because they're tabua(tapu), regardless of the fact that I'm not ethnically Kai Viti or Maori.
I went to a school with mostly Pakeha kids, but had Maori language and culture classes in primary, intermediate and high school - it was a hard decision to drop Maori after Third Form because I didn't have enough slots for everything I wanted to do. I'm not Kai Tahu, but I still feel like Aoraki's my mountain and Waimakariri's my river, and I feel a responsibility to treat the land right and see it protected for future generations.
I think it's damned hard to draw a line around a culture and say this is "us", even when it's your own. Maybe especially if it's your own. Things that someone else might see as essential might be something you don't embrace, or directly reject. Culture seems less of a clearly-defined territory, and more of a collection of landmarks that you can illustrate your position by.
What I express and how I feel about stuff isn't any kind of "political correctness" affectation, despite what some people may think. It's a product of who I am and where I come from. I can't un-see the blurry edges, and I can't paint it black and white.
no subject
I like this. ^_^
I wonder, though, if it's not perhaps a more accurate reflection of "Western" or even "contemporary" culture, or rather a recognition that in our multi-cultural society "culture" is much more personal than it might otherwise be, in part because of our exposure to many different cultures/sub-cultures, and also because of the value that we (as "Westerners") place on the individual.
Apologies if this is out of place, but identity and the construction of Self are topics that interest me to no end and I couldn't resist sharing my opinion.
no subject
In Western, contemporary, especially internet-enabled circles I think we tend to be used to cultures, subcultures, values, traditions and everything being a lot more blended and blendable. Influences more eclectic, and less encapsulated and cohesive. It's important to recognise that that's not the only experience, community-concept and self-concept that people will have.
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After building up his assets enough with the dairy, he went on start a clothing retail company, and sold the dairy to a Korean guy with a young family. For the new guy, it was a similar story: he got to work, spend more time with his family and study business so he can make something more for himself down the line.
I told the guy in chat about that, and got an "Oh, guess that makes sense. Hadn't thought about it that way." Just a different context for the balance of work and family, and suddenly a stereotype makes sense :-)
no subject