Greetings!
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| Pellegrino Riccardi |
Culture, in our opinion, can’t be defined by a strict definition. It rather encompasses many features of our day to day existence and practice in our respective societies as ourselves, as permitted by our respective identities in any given situation. It’s an umbrella under which our individual preferences are collectively organised into a proper system or a code of conduct.
Today, we’re growing, (I’d say, we’ve grown already!) into what is now known as a global village. Our cultures are no longer divided by boundaries or by any strict dividing lines for that matter.
"Where do our individual cultures stand in this melting cauldron of globalization?"
For that question to be answered, we have to understand how exactly is our culture perceived, not by others, but ourselves. According to Pellegrino Riccardi, it’s wiser to question on how we ourselves perceive our own culture initially , rather than attempting to understand a foreign culture. It’s indeed a fact that we tend to see in ourselves what we expect to, not what we may or actually seem to others. Our perception of ourselves is the door that opens up the vista to the wide world. In our shrinking world today, we often find ourselves in situations where lack of proper understanding of any new or unfamiliar practice often leads to petty misunderstandings.
Although we’re on our way to globalizing culture, it’s almost impossible to completely shun our indigenous customs, beliefs, faith, habits etc. While sticking to our own culture, it’s important that we familiarize ourselves with whatever is new. And of course, its practically impossible to learn every single culture of every existing nation or tribe. It’s therefore easier to understand each culture’s underlying values.Values that shaped the culture into what it is today.
A deeper insight into any culture will eventually reveal the intricate designs that shaped any society’s culture. This is true for any given culture, be it the Nordic culture of the West, or the Aboriginal culture of the Australian continent. A simple ingredient in this potion of understanding our fellow human beings around the world is, curiosity.
Curiosity,
we believe, may be one the reasons our species has reached this far, than any other. We’re blessed with this ability to question our surroundings, question our own selves, question what is right and what is wrong. In our era where cultures are colliding across borders, curiosity saves the day by preventing assumed notions and hence misperception of one another.
