Articoli taggati con ‘culture’
Instability of the imaginary and media power between old new cultural industries
There is a strong perception of insecurity in Italy because of various more or less recent phenomena such as terrorism, immigration, unemployment, and then again, an economic crisis, a pandemic and an unexpected war that never seem to end. Events responsible for serious social instability that, if not well imagined, communicated, and managed distributes cultural and political power to old and new consumer products (re)transforming society into a spectacle perhaps already seen. Faced with this, no institution seems to have the right tools and an adequate political-economic plan to re-establish an acceptable level of social security, or at least to make citizens perceive this. Urban sociology in these cases speaks of ‘social disorganisation’ and this is often followed by ‘individual disorganisation’. The evolution of society, the new electronic and digital media, the phenomenon of globalisation, political-economic changes and the constant and daily representation of crime and violence by the mass media, have strongly influenced human interactions, radically changing the way people relate and communicate, construct and perceive their identity and reality. It is these processes that characterise social transformations and the growth of human egoism, ‘where individuals, in order for violence to be effective, act strategically by striking each other in emotionally favourable conditions’ (Collins, 2014).
Culture and Wellbeing
People’s happiness and wellbeing are undoubtedly at the center of today’s modern life – we could even dare to say that our generation is obsessed with the pursuit of happiness, with finding the perfect balance between our inner desires and the lives that we actually live. Nevertheless, we know very little about what truly makes a human being happy. We read tons of self-help books, we go to courses, and we talk to counselors. But the truth is – we very rarely dig deeper into the scientific causes behind human happiness and wellbeing. We may even be surprised to know that, in fact, there are very solid scientific causes. And among those causes, culture lists as one of the main ones. In order to better understand this, we need first to define what we mean by wellbeing and by culture. What is scientifically defined as psychological wellbeing – and more commonly referred as happiness – is a very complex, subjective feeling, made up by a series of multiple interactions and by a long list of factors: first of all, our physical and mental health, along our age, our yearly income, our profession, our education, the lifestyle that we have, our family life and many others. If we want to make sure that communities and populations thrive, we first need to make sure that the general level of wellbeing is high. To do so, we first need to understand how much every single factor named above contributes to the general wellbeing of individuals. To name a few, we can easily understand how lifestyle is one of the main contributors to psychological wellbeing, since unhealthy lifestyles can deeply influence the quality of our lives and therefore will influence our physical and mental health. Family life is also very important: we bring our own lives into our families, and when even one individual within a household is affected by stress, this can easily be transferred to other family members. We can’t obviously forget about the social sphere – this is where everything converges. We can have happy populations or unhappy populations, with real waves of wellbeing affecting a specific population in a specific time. And what about culture?
Fragmented We Stand
Rephrasing the famous quote can sketches the picture in which Western world has found itself recently, especially Europe and the Americas. Since the end of 2016, a wave of political and social fragmentation has been sweeping at least two of the most important continents in the world, giving way to a culture of populist nationalism. Often people are not aware of the multiple interconnections affecting their lives, impacting on our own happiness and wellbeing. Nor we realise the “butterfly effect” each of these interconnections has on the other around the world. In their restricted landscapes of the last three years, are the people of these continents happier, freer, richer than they used to be? Do they, do we, have a deep understanding of what make us happy or are we functionally illiterate even about it? Few, basic items contributing to our happiness and well-being are: freedom and respect of other people’s freedom, work, healthcare, the outcomes of good politics and the effects of stable and growing economics, the possibility of living in a friendly environment, both on a psychological point of view and where the effects of the climate change are limited. Social and societal interactions, safe and affordable mobility, broad and uncensured communication. To which, finally, it can be added what anyone considers to be good. In an individualistic culture as the Western one has transformed, declaring that anyone can decide what it is good for him/herself can be considered really the base of the fragmentation we are observing recently, the right anyone claims to have not to homologate or not to be submitted to the law and common rules: “one is one” is the claim that anticipate “first my people”. What kind of culture is generated by all this?
What will remain of the Days ?
Free entrance to museums on the first Sundays of each month seems to have been a great success till its launch in July 2014. It has seen the average increase of visitors throughout Italy of some 260thousand units per month in 2016. More or less as half the yearly visitors in region Marche museums for the same year, following the data of the Mibact or as if the same number of population of the Greater Milan area visited museums or archaeological sites and parks during the twelve free Sundays. Surely it looks like a great success. Overall, it demonstrates that museums arise interest and curiosity in a large number of population. But these numbers don’t tell us anything about the people they represent or about the related “visitors’ journey”. What is the level of loyalty to these events? Are the same people traveling throughout the country planning a free visit to the Italian museums or is mainly a locally-based phenomenon? Can the visitors be profiled at least on the basis of the traditional demoscopic categories? Above all, these numbers don’t say anything about the kind of experience the visitors live and what remains of it, to both actors involved: visitors and museums. It should be time for the national cultural policies to clarify the meaning of success pursued, since the investment required for running the Sundays free entrances or similar openings (i.e. last March 8th ) on national or local level is significant for the public administrations and since lately it has been replicated in other sectors of the cultural production. In facts, the trade-off of this kind of operations is highly worthy if they can help defining further cultural strategies in audience development and in cultural production, and if they can collect valuable feedbacks and data on which cultural institutions can improve their cultural offer and develop new creativity.
A Babel for Children
Reflection moves from the analysis on today’s relations between the art field and science. The dialogue between the two cultures, focused on reciprocity and the plurality of explanatory codes, it tries the emergence of a third culture, founded on knowledge consilience. The epistemological premise on the discussion of the person’s development is enriched by contributions of neuroaesthetics and psychoneuroimmunology. The latest scientific fact highlights how exposure to an “enriched environment” prenatally determine the trajectories of the individual and influences the development of those skills and adaptive behavior needed to have a healthy psychological growth. The art and cultural participation, essential cofactors of this enrichment, rise to powerful motor of modulation of the epigenesis of behavior and embryological processes of maturation. Recent disquisition on the perception of the nature dichotomous of aesthetic object guides us in understanding how is essential to our becoming intentional culture subjects experiencing art since the early stages of life . The interaction between art and science is currently experiencing its environmental enrichment, thanks to the contribution of the cultural industries that not only are interpreters of this interaction, but also a vehicle for new motives of investigation and knowledge.
Poets: Born or Made? About the utility to preserve some doubts
Does the prenatal exposure to arts generates love and attitude for the arts? Individuals, that since the very childhood are used to be in harmony with nature, are more incline to become more interested in the environment topics? People living in a sacred context will become religious? Proximity with sciences will generate curiosity […]
Culture and life
Is not possible to start a discussion about culture without mentioning what in these days is scaring Europe: the IS terrorist attack in the heart of Paris is nothing but a menace to all of us. But there is also another reflection that we, as researchers and practitioners of culture, must underline in this act, and is that the choice of the sites point the attention on the very heart of our lifestyle: culture. Since its beginnings IS has attacked with peculiar attention cultural sites: firstly site under the protection of the UNESCO, and then irreverent voices of European Culture (Charlie Hebdo). Now the attack has been addressed versus a theatre, a stadium and versus people who was spending their time in cafès. This should make us consider once more the importance of culture in our lives. The nature of the attack followed the evolution of what has been for centuries intended with the word Culture: first the heritage, then the literature and freedom of expression and ultimately (this is our hope) the music and the sports. I’m not a conflict expert, but to every observer should be clear that IS is fighting its war mainly on two dimensions: the fear and the symbol. Destroying cultural heritage sites has been for century one of the main abused symbols of war, but stadiums, theatres and boulevards are something new. In my opinion it is not only a security level topic, there is something more. There is the importance of our immaterial infrastructure, the knowledge on which we base our lifestyle. Everyone would be pleased to do anything in order to avoid any other attacks.
Participation and cultural industries: drawing a way through collective and collaborative creation
Much has been said about co-creation and participation in cultural projects, but it seems that cultural industry is facing challenges trying to balance social impact and profitability. Participation offers powerful tools to foment development and to weaken individualism in the contemporary society, but many of the so-called participatory cultural projects limit themselves to a certain type of functionality – very similar to marketing campaigns of big corporations – and end up struggling when it comes to develop a community sense or to promote innovation.
Curiosity and contemplation: a geography of culture
Culture is certainly rooted in specific sites. Such a simple feature has been used, often overused or even abused in the attempt at drawing borderlines or highlighting local pride, emphasizing a sense of belonging based upon the refusal of strangers and – symmetrically – the exploitation of foreigners. Despite its evident failure territorial marketing, more a label than a tool, is still adopted as a sort of Troy horse aimed at attracting blockbuster visitors rather than curious and non-prejudicial travellers. A geography of culture can be drafted. Its ancestor is the inevitably euro-centric view that convinced Napoleon to bring an army of archaeologists in Egypt: the aim was the enormous collection of ancient manufacts to be hosted in the new cultural hub, Paris. In such a way the newly born institution of nation state could show a powerful endorsement; while kings were there by grace of God and will of the nation, the bourgeois democracies devoted at keeping the manufacturing economy alive could only rely upon the past, even a stolen past. The golden age needed the sacred authority of grandfathers.
Creative Chaos: How To Feed Ideas
I am always inspired by the ‘art’ of facilitation, a combination of methodologies useful for leading and orientating a complex group in job meetings or workshops, generally used in the learning organization and educational field. So, what if culture makes use of the facilitation techniques?
Communication, Mediation and Culture in the Making of Europe
What is the role of media and communication in European Union integration? Is it the “making of Europe” in danger because of the EU institutions incapacity to communicate with its citizens? Does – and should – exist a European public sphere? And what about the role of culture? Should Europe deal with it?
Future Culture: Back To Normality
Many things are occurring, quite often in the shadow, out of the places and groups where conventions are crafted and consolidated. The only possible reaction to changes and threats is action, not certainly discussion. Action requires thought and interpretation. But simply waiting for someone else’s action is wrong. Things will be never again as they used to be. A galaxy is in danger if it rejects evolution. Do we want to simply survive? It is time to examine the state of health of what we define culture, a complex set of objects, places, experiences and intuitions whose expansion and variety reject the conventional framework and require new views, effective tools, consistent approaches and versatile action. As in a war report, we can draft a list of the losses. Culture used to be based upon simple, powerful concepts and beliefs that are fading away. Culture, as we know it, was invented within the manufacturing economy: the enjoyment of the arts, an exercise old as humanity, has been standardised as the object of social and economic exchange. It has been special, almost ineffable, physically isolated and accessible only to the initiated. Now the pillars of that wisdom become progressively weaker.
What is soft power if anything but Hollywood, MTV, and Mcdonalds?
Reflections on the political and economic relevance of “soft power” also understood as the level of attractiveness that a country is able to build on the basis of its cultural fruitions. Thus, “soft power” is not only considered in terms of its international connotations but it also refers to the cultural fruitions such as movies or brands. Those build the imaginary of a country, inside and outside its nation’s borders, and they easily circulate internationally at the high speed of the Internet.
Concepts and categories of emotion in East Asia
Inspired on the seventh May Symposia, an annual conference held at the Lecce University to discuss the connections between values and emotions in East Asia, and edited by Giusi Tamburello herself, 14 scholars of distinctive experience and insight contribute to this title, exploring the concept of emotions and the behavioural patterns in the Far East as a definition of the peculiar characteristics of a culture.
