I recall a punk, getting a video of himself skiing off the school roof at Trego. When I (then board chair) confronted him about his behavior – specifically not asking permission – the jerk explained “It’s my culture.”
In 19th Century India, a Hindu priest objected to the prohibition of Sati (burning widows alive on a funeral pyre) explaining that it was their culture. Sir Charles Napier -then commanding all British military in India – responded: “Be it so. This burning of widows is your custom; prepare the funeral pile. But my nation has also a custom. When men burn women alive we hang them, and confiscate all their property. My carpenters shall therefore erect gibbets on which to hang all concerned when the widow is consumed. Let us all act according to national customs.”
Culture and custom – and how the two control how we deal with our social interactions. As an academic, I’m culturally conditioned against plagiarism. Memes bother me – I really wish they were published with authors, so I could republish with attribution. One of the concentrations on my diploma is cultural ecology. Science Direct shows this definition: “Cultural ecology is defined as the study of the processes by which a society adapts to its environment, focusing on whether these adaptations lead to internal social transformations or evolutionary change. It encompasses themes such as cultural adaptation, agricultural stability, and the relationships between nature and society.”
It must have been hard for anthropologists to study American Indian culture before Julian Stewart developed the concept (he defined it as a methodology for understanding how human cultures adapt to their environments). The speed with which the Plains Indians incorporated the horse is understandable through the lens of cultural ecology. As the Plains Indians became horsemen, pottery was abandoned. A migratory life style tends to break pots.
The concept suggests that there are cultures that do not, can not, fit well together. History in Texas shows that the Culture of the Comanche was incompatible with Mexican culture (as well as too aggressive for the Apache). Consequently, the Mexican authorities decided to recruit the Scots-Irish from Appalachia to create a buffer between the Comanche and the Mexicans. The battle of San Jacinto took Texas away from Mexico in Spring of 1836. Quanah Parker surrendered in 1875. Not real sure that the Mexican government didn’t just bring in a second incompatible culture – the Comanches were the visible threat, but those rednecks from Appalachia led to the Alamo and then San Jacinto in a dozen years. Sometimes we know not how our plans will be turn out.
I watched “This is the Army”. One of the stars was a young Ronald Reagan. Relatively new actor, and before that a sports announcer. The part I still remember had nothing to do with the movie – it was watching Reagan get Joe Louis past – I won’t call it stage fright, nothing could have frightened Joe Louis – his discomfort with the script and his lines. Later, he got Joe Louis – his long-time friend – into Arlington National Cemetery, based on his service in that movie. The two shared a culture, and I’d like to believe it is also mine.
The big argument on immigration is essentially cultural. Some cultures assimilate easily, others have practices that tend to draw police visits. That isn’t racism. It’s a culture that isn’t compatible.
Back to cultural compatibility – when I taught at TSJC, I lived with Trinidad Housing Authority to one side and Arguello on the other. During our first snow storm I got out and shoveled my walkway and Mrs. Rey’s. After that, for the next 3 years, Arguello plowed the sidewalk, past me to the THA apartments, and I continued to shovel the walk to Mrs. Rey. Gringo or not, I was culturally compatible with Arguello – the folks in Trinidad Housing, despite sharing his hispanic surname weren’t. Looked at historically, Juan Seguin was in the Alamo with a bunch of Scots-Irish.
Trinidad taught me a lot about cultural compatibility – Bowman, Simpson and Carson were Hispanic surnames that had been incorporated during the Fur Trade years. On campus, we had several hundred Palestinians. I have a lot more in common with the Spanish speakers – and even more with the middle class and working class folks.
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