History of Ukrainian Culture Micro-teaching Vasyl Malikov Academic Teaching Excellence Kyiv 2015

What is culture?

Some aspects of culture

Presentation objectives The aim of this presentation is - to describe the concept of culture; - to explore the structure and features culture has;

Cultural universals The basic layer of culture consists of cultural universals – learned behavior patterns, traits or institutions that are shared by all of humanity collectively: - Language - Family and kinship - Communities - Art - Cooking etc.

Structure of culture material culturespiritual culture

Material culture includes the entire scope of practical human activity and its results. It comprises of  tools and devices,  means of transportation  communications,  buildings,  new kinds of plants and animal breeds etc.

Spiritual culture covers the scope of consciousness, creativity and a set of spiritual values. It includes  art,  religion,  morality,  politics,  law,  philosophy,  mythology.

Culture. Civilization. Ethnicity. Nation.

material, technical, economic, and social facts Civilization spiritual, intellectual and artistic phenomena Culture

The term civilization is widely used to indicate a high state of progress – a certain level of social, cultural, political, economic and technological development of human community.  substantial economy and trade  state form of government  occupational specialization  Urbanism  class stratification  developed transportation system, writing, formal legal system, great art style, monumental architecture and science

Ethnicity is a named human population  with a myth of common origins and ancestry,  shared historical memories,  one or more elements of common culture,  a common territorial association  and a measure of solidarity.

Nation  cultural-political community that has become conscious of its coherence, unity, and particular interests  is formed by one or more ethnicities,  possesses or claims the right to political identity and autonomy as a people  and if it controls a specific territory in a world it becomes one of the nation states

Culture is the whole complex of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features of society or a social group including modes of life, ways of living together, the fundamental rights of the human being, value systems, traditions, beliefs and arts. Mexico City Declaration on Cultural Policies, UNESCO, 1982

Johann Herder postulated that “every nation has its center of happiness within itself” and that it is not “up to us to be their judge, to evaluate or condemn their customs by our own standards.”

Rather than judging other societies negatively because they have different cultural beliefs one should maintain cultural tolerance. This involves neutrally noticing other culture’s practices and the differences of behaviors from the position of our own culture. One may not accept every behavior of other cultures, but one should be open to understanding why the other cultures do so.

Thank you!