Notes on culture
Is there such a thing as a no-culture culture? and what's love got to do with it?
Hello, friends. I didn’t give you much of a chance to miss me this time. Let’s hope I can keep this lucky and disciplined streak up.
So the last few weeks have been all about culture for me. I’m honestly a bit obsessed with the idea of culture: how we define it, how it differs, how we adapt and change it, etc. so many questions come to mind. Lately the idea of culture has been popping up in my life a lot. Or maybe I’ve been super sensitive to seeing it.
I’ll do my best to take you through my train of thought about this in a mostly chronological order of happenings.
So I was on the plan on my way to a short vacation in Dubai when I decided to watch a movie called What's Love Got to Do With It which came out recently. The movie basically talks about an first generation English man born to Pakistani parents who decides he wants to get into an arranged marriage with another Pakistani girl only to find out in the end *spoiler alert!!* that this girl loves someone else and than he actually loves his childhood best friend and neighbor who - surprise surprise- is a white English woman. Classic and predictable, right? Of course, the way I described it is a bit reductionist because the ending might be seen as a bit naive and too optimistic, however it actually goes into detail about the culture differences, specifically in the UK and interethnic/ interfaith marriages and the rift it can cause in more traditional families.
Now in the back of my mind, there’s a part of me that relates to that because my great-grandparents came from different cultures. My great-grandfather was Egyptian and my great-grandmother is Iranian. Now, some people might think that because Iranian culture is technically still considered Middle Eastern then it’s similar to Egyptian culture. The answer would be yes and no. There are definitely similarities between both cultures but as individuals, my great-grandparents came from two quite different ones. They lived together in Egypt for a long time, however for my great-grandmother, it was always quite the adjustment and she never really got fully acclimated to life here in Egypt. Which brings me to my first thought about culture:
You can technically be part of the same bigger/ general culture, but your “smaller” culture is quite different.
My grandmother always likes to say that basic principles are the same universally; this is definitely not true. There are principles that might be universal, but this still changes from people to people. You’ll often find people that come from the same city that have different cultures, because there are so many influences that affect this: education, faith, beliefs, social class, gender, to name a few. This is what scholars would call “layers of culture.” This brings me to my second thought:
When it comes to relationships, romantic or other, these cultural differences can either break a relationship or enrich the relationship, depending on the people and the relationship. There’s no right or wrong answer.
Only the people in this relationship can determine this. Of course, when it comes to romantic relationships, at least here in Egypt, you always have to factor in families because marriages and relationships here are more of family affairs so if your families aren’t getting along, God help you! I’m a strong believer in the beauty of intercultural relationships because what is more beautiful than sharing your culture with others and even creating your own little culture that is enhanced by the traditions of two or three different cultures?! I mean let’s face it, at this point in time, we’re all an amalgamation of multiple cultures anyway. Maybe I’m saying this because of my love for different cultures, or maybe it’s because I always like to see similarities between cultures and peoples rather than differences. This brings me to my third thought:
Isn’t it super interesting that between almost all cultures, you can always find similarities?
It’s like we’re all connected somehow and that’s the beauty of all of this. Let’s look at some examples: Middle Eastern cuisines are super into herbs, which is very similar to Indian cuisine, although Indian cuisine definitely takes it to the next level. Arabs in Gulf countries have their own versions of biryani which is super similar to Indian biryani. Ancient Egyptians used to build pyramids, and so did the Mayans, although they were miles and an ocean apart. When it comes to family dynamics, Middle Eastern cultures share a lot of commonalities with a lot of Asian and South American cultures, where family is valued and elders are respected (this is not to say that elders aren’t respected in other cultures, but how we look at elders and ancestors is more similar.) The idea of tribes, whether in Native American culture, Bedouin culture (found in the Middle East as well, especially in the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant and North Africa), Sub-saharan African cultures, is existent in so many cultures and despite the vast difference of their traditions, their way of life and principles when it comes to honoring the land, ancestors, and moving around to ensure they only take what they need from the land (a concept we so need to keep in mind now)
Now this brings me to another question culture-related that people tend to mention and discuss a lot: is there such a thing as a place with “no culture?” This was brought up a lot when mentioning that I’m going to Dubai. “But there’s no real culture there,” people would say to which I would respond with “This statement is ridiculous.” (If you’re one of those people, I sincerely apologize but urge you to think more about it.)
Now the reason the previous statement is ridiculous is because of this definition of culture, according to Texas A&M University:
Culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for behavior acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievement of human groups, including their embodiments in artifacts; the essential core of culture consists of traditional ideas and especially their attached values; culture systems may, on the one hand, be considered as products of action, on the other hand, as conditioning influences upon further action.
This, combined with the notion of “layers of culture,” means that you will always find a kind of culture anywhere you go. It’s just a matter of how we define culture per our knowledge or what we’re used to. Culture doesn’t have to mean 7,000 year-old artifacts or art museums displaying different eras of art movements. It can mean present-day modernity and architecture. It can mean football Sundays and tailgating. It can mean people coming together to share a different kind of meal every Friday. It can mean going to the beach every Saturday. It can mean so many things. There’s no “right or wrong”, there’s no “culture” or “no culture.” Wherever there is people, there is culture. It’s just our definition of it that makes it sound like either a good thing or a more derogatory thing, like when we say “this person has no culture” when we think that someone isn’t well-educated enough or doesn’t display the right manners that we’re used to.
I was watching this new Bollywood movie last night called Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani (it’s on Prime if you’re like Bollywood movies like me and want to check it out) and it discusses exactly that. How two people who fall in love come from extremely different cultures and how they dissect this when they each end up living together with the other’s family as a trial period to see how they will cope. It was kind of the trigger and last piece in the inspiration puzzle that brought me to writing this.
So here you have it, my two cents on culture and what it means to me.
Happy weekend and until next time.
xoxo,
Nolly