Lecture Reflection
Among all of the lectures talking about all sorts of topics, I feel like the two lectures that got me thinking the most is the lecture on culture and the lecture on cultural sustainability.
What I truly understand from the lecture on culture is that this concept of sustainability is more than just a thought, so people are not thinking about it urgently enough. This sustainability theme is not just an art it is about people recognizing that there are limits to how we can live and operate because there are limits to our natural world and resources. So it is important that people keep this in mind because it is not just about a project, design, or a simple solution but a mindset.
In the lecture talking about cultural sustainability, in the lecture, it is being said that ‘culture, in its most basic form it’s about ideas customs and social behavior. We all have our own culture. We all have a culture. And that’s because. They are innately part of us and what we do where we’ve grown up. It’s part nurture and how we’ve developed as people.’ and which makes me think me about the actual meaning and definition of culture. It is being said in the lecture that the objective culture is what you can see from the outside, from your appearance and your looks. Subjective culture, on the other hand, is invisible like your values, norms, and attitudes. For me personally, culture and the idea of ‘root’ has always been confusing because of my own background. I was born in a country where I know almost nothing about and raised in my parent’s culture but grow up in another environment with peers that hold a different value from my parents. There is a very important point being made in the lecture and that is that all of these culture ‘acts as a filter through which people process experiences’ So there is a clash of culture and when people experience a different culture, we start to process what we have experienced and therefore creates a new culture. Throughout my life I was confused and I don’t really know where I belong and for some of the work that I have produced in the past, I try to make them heavily ‘culture’ based . In the future, that can be less of a purpose.
Then another thing worth noted is the politics of dressing and the cultural elements of politics that it reminded me of how in Taiwan before Japan’s colonization, people are used to wearing clothes from China in the Qing dynasty but after being colonized by Japan, western and Japanese fashion and clothing has been brought into Taiwan. Therefore in a period of time, people wear clothes from all three cultures and what you wear defines your attitude and also sometimes your political values at that time.