3 Culture as a verb
All of the prior three examples have something in common: their authors understand nationhood as the basic unit for culture. Definite noun phrases such as ‘Brazilian culture’, ‘Chinese culture’, ‘Ecuadorian culture’, ‘Ghanaian culture’ or ‘Russian culture’ trigger what Ingrid Piller refers to as a ‘presupposition of existence’:
A presupposition is a proposition that remains constant under negation. A textbook example in the pragmatics literature is ‘The king of France is bald.’ Even if you challenge this statement by negating it and turn it into ‘The king of France is not bald’, the definite noun phrase continues to presuppose the existence of an entity such as ‘the king of France’. In the same way, even if you were to negate the content of ‘culture’ in the various examples I have quoted (for example, ‘Chinese culture does not include historical sites, a treasured past, etc.’), the status of ‘Chinese etc. culture’ as a real entity remains presupposed.’
In the tourist marketing campaigns or travel advice examples you engaged with, individuals of the same nationality were assumed to be a homogeneous group who share the same views and practices. Applying generic rules like ‘The Catholic Church is an important part of Brazilian society’ and ‘Manicured nails are also considered very important’ to every one of the 211 million people living in Brazil, regardless of their faith, status, age or background might not actually help visitors, but could mislead them.
One approach towards overcoming such presuppositions that lead us to make rather simplistic assumptions is to understand ‘culture’ as a verb. A noun refers to a specific object (the book, the statue, the toothbrush), and a verb refers to an action (to talk, to run, to laugh). A noun is definite and static, whereas a verb is dynamic. When applying this idea to culture, then culture becomes something that people do, instead of something that people have. This difference might seem small and maybe even irrelevant now, but this distinction is in fact very consequential for how we conduct and understand intercultural communication.
Activity 4
Below are three statements. Which ones see culture as a verb, and which see it as a noun?
a.
Noun
b.
Verb
The correct answer is b.
a.
Noun
b.
Verb
The correct answer is a.
a.
Noun
b.
Verb
The correct answer is b.
Answer
Culture is often imagined to be a noun because it is so much easier. It reduces complexity and allows us to predict how people behave. It is also widely assumed that nationality is the one key characteristic which determines cultural values of others. As mentioned above, this is usually misleading and emphasizes differences over similarities. People become caricatures without any agency.
Thinking of culture as a verb is a useful strategy, because it shows that equating nationality with culture will not help with developing intercultural competence. The assumption that one’s nationality is the root of their views and behaviour does not offer any answers to the challenges that minorities in diverse societies face, and brushes over factors like regional differences, social class, multilingualism, mobility or personal experiences and choices, just to name a few. The hope is that this course will allow you to start seeing culture as something that people do, and not as something that is simply ascribed to them.
The second half of this week will give you a little break from the idea of culture. The following seven activities focus on different facets of communication. As a final step in this week you’ll read a text that combines the two concepts – culture and communication – and you’ll have your first opportunity to answer the question: What is intercultural communication all about?