Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Imitation, Social Bonding, Culture

The very way our children learn from us -- and, thus, learn best from us -- has been shown to -promote social bonding. More, such imitation seems to be central to the creation of larger groups, of the extended order we now live in. Such imitation is necessary for people of different cultures to get along. Thus, artists who use ideas and concepts from other cultures are not "appropriating" -- a term created by multiculturalists whose theories are atavistic in nature, wishing to keep us separate from each other just as much as do racial purists -- those ideas and concepts. Rather, such artists are working to create bridges between cultures, to bring us all together. Thus, are we learning from each other.

This is two lessons for educators.

2 comments:

John said...

It's also interesting how people are immediately suspicious others who clumsily or too consciously imitate their gestures, idioms, etc., as well as of any former neighbors who return from abroad having picked up funny habits or accents. I spent a great deal of time with Brits and Aussies when I lived in Brno, and my pronunciation of vowels and question inflections annoyed all my friends at home in Nova Scotia, who thought I was putting on airs.

Troy Camplin said...

I think in the latter case, there was a suspicion that you were trying to separate yourself off from them. Which may be the flip side of the article.