we is everything

cultural exchange. a long one.

i’m still trying to come to terms with the fact that “culture” is something so integral to human life, so easily identifiable in some situations, yet so hard for so many to define or explain.

culture is something lived before it’s understood, something that always exists but that’s always changing, something broad enough to absorb everyone at some level, but variant enough to embody distinct histories and peoples, a language of action that can welcome a wayward son home, shut out an intruder, or hold a prisoner in chains invisible to the naked eye… or maybe chains only visible to eyes that have learned to see past they way culture can be mobilized by those in power

i’m still trying to come to terms with the fact that every version of “culture” is the accumulation of the past and all the changes it has underwent. It is the language of action stretched over tradition, custom, and iconic reference points, and just as every word has a root every norm and custom and style comes from somewhere (language is such is a good metaphor because culture is basically language- the language of behavior and action).

Yet, culture is continually being created, continually changing and morphing. Most of us are passive to these evolutions. We embody culture and don’t know how we got there or if it’s good or bad, we navigate sub-cultures of which we’re part and sometimes interact with people who are very different from us.. but let’s be honest, that doesn’t usually happen. most of us stick to our own, either because we’re looking to be understood, or because we are avoiding being hurt. We are defined, and we respect those definitions.

i’m still learning how deeply culture has been hijacked, stolen, and appropriated, redefined and resold, and imposed (purposefully, and usually divisively). The ability to control language is powerful because it shapes they way people think and speak, culture is no different than spoken language but includes more of the social.

For most of us we accept cultural domination without question in the sense that as consumers of culture we define nothing. nowadays most culture is taught to us through screens or speakers. the actual content of these projections is determined by the understandings and motivations of those most responsible for their creation (think media elite - mostly rich white men). when we consume culture we internalize it, become it, and then project it back ourselves. 

Respectful cultural exchange doesn’t really happen. Instead, ppl watch (or are subjected to) tv shows and movies about people that look different from them, and the computer screen has only made this process more sophisticated.* Our schools teach relatively the same way, since most history books and social and cultural studies programs are silent about how culture is created, and most teachers don’t know what their doing. In Arizona, there’s not even any classes about ethnic groups any more.

we are comfortable when we’re divided according to cultural identity because this is what we know and how we’ve been taught to live. It’s safer. Cultural exchange can be hurtful - especially because most dominant cultures have no experience with mutually respectful integration. In white culture for example, ppl have no collective history of NOT dominating. The values of the crusader have been nurtured since day one in churches, schools, and other organizations. It’s a culture that has learned to be completely unaware of the harm being caused just by carrying one’s savior complex into a foreign world. as a white cis male, I get it when people are frustrated with the mere presence of a white or hetero or male person, because generally that presence is contaminated a feeling of neutrality that’s not actually neutral, a plank in the eye that even its carrier isn’t able to see.

but even having embodied dominant cultural identities, i’m not content with the parts of them that by definition hurt others. I generally believe that people who are very different from each other can be together in a mutually beneficial way, creating new forms of interaction and culture that edify all involved. However, this can’t happen if people from dominant cultural groups are blind to the ways in which their background has shaped them, or if in this land of dollars and competition they are oblivious to the the privileges that have carried them through tough times.

Cooperation and humility are required by all parties. laughter also helps. The trajectory of any culture is not predetermined. In our efforts to embrace those aspects of our histories that have made us, let us celebrate that which has made us more like the gods - and not to forget that no god looks and acts the same as all the rest - but let us be humble enough to recognize that which has been cunningly grafted onto us during the upbringing of prior generations. Scars can’t be erased, but after all scars are healed wounds, and we ought to reclaim the right to at a minimum stop wounding one another. this isn’t easy. it’s hard to admit it when you’re blind, shame can taste just as good as glory, at least for a minute, and everyone makes mistakes.

worth trying though, I think. the first step is taking back the production of culture from those who would rather see us divided or eliminated altogether. We are more than a vote or our wallets. We can if we’re careful change the inertia of this planet and send it spinning in the right direction.

And that, friends, isn’t easy or simple. but it sounds like fun no?

*although user created content is excitingly new and one way to resist the mass-distribution of culture

changes

to the few followers who haven’t been able to grasp the concept behind this blog, i understand. that’s because it has been torn between me and an idea that I have about showcasing artists who do work centered on how people can come together in complementary ways. I’ve decided that I’m going to take myself out of it, and create a new one where I will focus on featuring my own stuff, returning this blog to it’s original purpose: showing how we is a beautiful thing