10-11-2014, 02:30 PM
Please bear with me while I try to know what I think by seeing what I say...
I am an islander by choice. Have learnt and am learning more of the Hawaiian language and the cultural implications of the same. Words, place, and values all come together in that language, as it does other languages. Is that "culture"?
"Hawaiian culture".
"Traditional Hawaiian culture".
The same?
Would that be "culture" frozen at some given point in time?
It would be my thought that any culture -- that of my own ancestors included, 'Native American'(Muscogee, a.k.a. Creek), Scot, French, Welsh... -- is not static. It changes over time. Culture is dynamic and evolutionary.
What "Hawaiian Culture" (or any culture) was 400 years ago, would not necessarily be the same as 800 or 1,200 years ago.
Certainly, one way to include any culture in to contemporary community planning is through place names.
I am an islander by choice. Have learnt and am learning more of the Hawaiian language and the cultural implications of the same. Words, place, and values all come together in that language, as it does other languages. Is that "culture"?
"Hawaiian culture".
"Traditional Hawaiian culture".
The same?
Would that be "culture" frozen at some given point in time?
It would be my thought that any culture -- that of my own ancestors included, 'Native American'(Muscogee, a.k.a. Creek), Scot, French, Welsh... -- is not static. It changes over time. Culture is dynamic and evolutionary.
What "Hawaiian Culture" (or any culture) was 400 years ago, would not necessarily be the same as 800 or 1,200 years ago.
Certainly, one way to include any culture in to contemporary community planning is through place names.