How is a culture created?

What factors ensure its continuation/popularity?

How can we create a culture of Self-sufficiency in our communities?

Htp
A

It seems they evolve more than they are created.

It takes something massive and traumatic to change the direction of evolution.

um

How is a culture created?

That's such a massive question, it would take pages and pages to really nail its intricacies.

Individuals, leaders, wise men/women. geniuses, politians all have a direct inflence on culture.

Grouping, are the people tribal, or communal?

Enviroment plays a part. If your live in a cold climate a rocky hilly enviroment or a boggy flat enviromen all this go a long way to how your culture developes.

Neighbours, they tend to import some aspects of culture to other countries.

Cuisine,the variety of food and its nutritional properties has an effect on the populations size,virility energy, life span, inteligence...orientals eat alot of fish! health,ect.

Orientlal people didnt allways eat insects, due to the sudden increas in their population and the inablity of the country to sustain its people, bird nest soup and fried grasshoppers was born.

Fauna and flora, animal and plant life has a direct baring on culture, animals for food and 'emboding spirit' and plant like for health and healing.

Minerals, Is your enviroment 'top heavy' with these, vary good for forgeing weapons.

Attiturde, are the people warrior minded or passive? This will change the general outlook of it's peoples.

Religion, do the people worship a god, what kind. Is he peace loving, or vengeful and blood thristy? Again this will dictate the outlook of its peoples views of and each other their neighbours

Political climate, whats going on in the general population and what going on in the population of their neighbours.

This subject is so huge and there are thousands of things that contribute to a culture. I really could go on about it all day, but I think you get the gist of what I am saying.


What factors ensure its continuation/popularity?

Again another huge question.

This depends on the populations value of tradition. the practicality of the culture, and how sucessful the culture is.

If it {culture} is seen as 'backwards' it will die out, if it's able to addapt to the changing demands of today, it will thrive.

The japanese are vary traditional, yet their traditions can co-exist with their technology.

They manage to keep the the core beliefs and traditions and discard the rest so they retain thei heart of tradition and are still up to date.


How can we create a culture of Self-sufficiency in our communities?

A vary easy question.

By us wanting to do so and doing so!

I agree 1000%. But the problem with Afro-American people is that our culture seems to be evolving in a slightly NEGATIVE direction and there are some of us who believe that by "making up a culture" (mainly the idea is to just go and copy some African custom from one of the popular tribes in Africa) and try to make it our own......

I think its always best to "create a culture" by building on things that the group already uses or have/has in common! Regular public schools won't teach 'black' culture so the best bet would be for it to be spread through local CHURCHES....

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Uh huh, there is on of the NEGATIVES.

I've already payed cash to go to Hell.

umbra

If any group/race of people on the planet are renowned for creating various evolving cultures its us and yet we seem to struggle to create a working culture of self sustainability. Get the impression that Pan Africanism hasn't taken off as it should as it isn't properly, 'packaged' as a culture. Its not alive in that sense and needs to be so to take off amongst the people/us in general. As a culture / a means of survival, Pan Africanism (swap for any other ideology) needs to be something that;

1. Has evolved since the days of Marcus Garvey / its inception to both appeal to the youth (who will further it as a culture proper) and to the working middle class.
2. Can be put into use and benefited from directly, I.e: Be effective as a method and means of survival.

Marcus Garvey had the right idea with the Pan African flag, he was creating a culture out of his ideology, the flag is something people associate to both him and the cause, the person wearing it is obviously a Pan Africanist just as a person wearing baggy jeans, a gold chain and a bottle of liquor is likely to be a fan of Rap music but from there it falls limp, other than the fact that that person likely has a copy of Marcus Garvey's book what else defines the Pan Africanist and his views? What sets him/her apart from a Rasta, a Black Nationalist or any other group/cultured understanding we have created in order to survive in a system of oppression? Malcom X made a, 'mistake' in that he didn't manage to create a culture out of his ideology (or properly form an ideology) thoughts and views aside from the N.O.I, if he did...?

Wouldn't be easy but I totally agreed with the idea that we should revive Swahili as a trading language, that again was part of creating a culture rather than attempting to stick sheets of paper together with blue tack and staples, forming and determining an active culture acts as a binding agent that, once put into proper action and maintained cant be so easily dismantled.

Was going to go into the factors involved and all of that as R.L.B stated but I think I got my point across.

Htp
BL

How much of culture of is the result of the repetition of ideas and attitudes a child encounters in his/her environment. I found it peculiar how often me mother repeated things when I was a kid. I noticed it even more when she repeated things that I had decided to disagree with.

But I didn't have video games and MP3 players. The electronic bombardment was nowhere near as bad when I was young. So how much culture is determined by those who control the electronic barage? What do they care about psychological effects? For them is't just a quick buck.

umbra

See your point, wasn't raised with the flashing light boxes either, people in poverty are sometimes better off than they think at times... we used to run loose in Trent Park, make hide outs and what not until later when we needed money was only then that drugs and crime started getting in the mix. But we weren't into expencive clothing and that culture at all. We had our own. Kids nowadays buy into other cultures so much they can't see their own but its still possible to turn them around if they can see the benifit in being culturally aware of themselves....

At the moment they literally benifit from being bruk pocket get £100 every two weeks for it, negative reinforcement. But that lack of (a real) benifit/gain is the pivot where most fall off... all the books in the world won't do a thing unless that person can see or grasp what is to be gained from that furthered understanding and its a culture that they would otherwise join/form where they'd be likely to experience that benifit. Right now it seems we're at the stage where people are reading the bible to themselves every other night but not going to church which is where a culture would be formed that would weild them together in an understanding to better themselves collectively in some way... or they're going to church but not making anything out of it enough (Ie; Not culturing their experience) to benifit from it, which would be something that others take note of and want to join, seeing what is being reaped and wanting to sow kind of thing.

Its not even a case of, ''Oh I won't see whats to be gained so whats the point'' kind of thing, looking at other nations 50 years ago many were in the same fuedal (sp) kind of state but have worked it out since seeing what is to be gained from working together making a culture out of it (or visa versa, I'm thinking China here) and keeping it going past any problems. Its the same with a Rennaisance... thats just an, ''update'' of past traditions and culture to reside within.

First, I think we can benefit from H.E Sekou Toure's theory that culture is the sum total of a people's experience. By this definition, we cannot create culture. That is, no one person can create culture. It takes a people, a collective effort. It fact, it is created by the people whether we make an effort or not. Culture is un-avoidable. This is why I do not place a great deal of emphaisis on culture as such. Leave that to the anthropologists. What concerns me is politics and economics, the well-being and the best intersts of Africans. By addressing ourselves to these matters, culture in the inevitable result.

Our problems as ASfricans is that we have been brain-washed to avoid politics and economics. This is how and why we were enslaved and colonized. By neglecting politics and economics, we have developed a culture of cowardice and laziness. On the other hand, it is by solving our political and economic problems that we shall develop culturally.

Our major political problem is our lack of Unity. Thus, to creatye culture, good and positive culture, we must work politically to Unify Africa. Unity is dialectiacally linked to Development. We cannot have one without the other. Thus, to acheive African Unity, we must develop economically. Thus, we shall create a culture based on African Unity. Bantus will becaome a part of an African culture, a Continental culture, that includes Somalis, Berbers and Arabs. etc. At the same time, the resources of the Arabs, of the Bantus, of the Berbers, of the Amaharics, etc willbe harnessed and pooled together into a central pot from which the whole of Africa can benefit economically. Be clear about this: Unity is for the purpose of development, and vice versa.

A good place to start, perhaps the best place to start, is to build the All-African People's Revolutionary Army. By looking at this example, we can see that by creating Continental culture we do not destroy any lacal cultures as some would have us believe. For instance, the AAPRA would consist of a western sector, an eastern sector, a northern sector, a sountern sector and perhaps a central sector. Each of these would consist of brigades which in term will be sub-divdided into divisions, regiments, batallions and so on, down to small guerrilla units consisting of two-three individuals.

At the battallion level, for instance, we would have companies and platoons that consist of recruits from all four-five sectors. Thus, each batallion would have formations consisting of Arabs, Berbers, Bantus Amaharics, and so forth. All five sectors would have representation form all over Africa. Therefore, no one tribe or ethnic group could amass military power to dominate or oppression any other group. Every batallion would represent the whole of Africa. Every recruit would take an oath to defend African Unity.

In practical terms, this means that every batallion would be a micocosma of Africa. Thus, each batallion would create a culture that is a mcrocosma of African culture. When the soldiers return home to their families and tribes, they will carry with them the Good News of African Unity. Thus, the tribalism, and racism that we see now in Africa would give way to a culture of Pan-Africanism. Pan-Africasnism is our culture and Pan-Africanism is the culture that we are creating. It exists already, yet it is still coming into existance.