[Xmca-l] Re: Activity Setting

[Andy Blunden]

Oh! I stand corrected, Cliff. In the context of the extreme polysemny of 
"culture" I don't think you could have done better in that definition.

What I am left wondering about is your observation in the context of the 
intervention in the American Indigenous community that "the groups 
(adults on one hand and youth on the other) formed different cultural 
communities." Is the "cultural" qualification to "communities" the 
operative word in this surprising claim? I.e., they belong to the same 
community, but not the same "cultural community"? It is quite the norm, 
isn't it, for such chisms to exist within communities.

Andy

Cliff O'Donnell wrote:
> Andy, regarding your points about material artifacts:
>
>> I note that in Cliff's definition the material artefacts are never 
>> named as part of culture, focussing instead on shared meanings.
>
>     Please see the inclusion of artifacts on page 23 of our article:
>
> "Culture is expressed in language, speech patterns, artifacts,
> music, values, and behavioral norms. Different cultural
> patterns can be considered variations displaying arrays of
> human characteristics (Tharp 2007 –2008). ‘‘Culture, then,
> is not about groups of people…  Rather, the focus should be
> on the implicit and explicit patterns of meanings, practices,
> and artifacts distributed throughout the contexts in which
> people participate, and on how people are engaged,…  or
> changed’’ (Markus and Hamedani 2007 , pp. 11–12). Cultural
> communities, of course, are not static and shared
> meanings evolve with changes in history and social,
> political, and economic systems."
>
>> The material foundation of collaboration is a very important aspect 
>> of activity.
>
>     No one is suggesting an absence of a material foundation in 
> activity settings. They must exist in a physical environment. In the 
> 1990 chapter I referenced earlier, we analyzed activity settings "in 
> terms of six components:  a physical environment, time, funds, 
> positions, people, and symbols.  These components are the resources 
> among which the activity of the setting is generated, maintained, and 
> centered."
>
>> I guess I take "community" as indexing all the people sharing that 
>> culture through shared activities.
>
>     On that point, we agree. We define community by shared activities.
>
>     Cliff
>
> Clifford R. O'Donnell, Ph.D.
> Professor Emeritus
> Past-President, Society for Community Research and Action (APA 
> Division 27)
>
> University of Hawai‘i
> Department of Psychology
> 2530 Dole Street
> Honolulu, HI 96822
>
>
>

-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Andy Blunden*
Home Page: http://home.mira.net/~andy/
Book: http://www.brill.nl/concepts
http://marxists.academia.edu/AndyBlunden