EMBODIMENT OF CULTURE
Anatolian Civilizations Museum ANKARA - Hittite
Embodiment is the means and beings of the existence
of an identity. It may be dynamic; it
may change / evolve through time. It may
be reflexive/nonreflexive; it may be aware of itself or not. It may be homogenous or heterogenous. It maybe compact or composite. It may be abstract or absolute; it may be a
concept.
Culture has an embodiment. For example İstanbul
Technical University culture is embodied by its buildings, libraries,
classrooms, labrotaries, teachers, students, civil servants but also by the
interactions of its living embodiment wtih themselves and its environments.
Culture
in general is embodied by the customary beliefs, social forms and material
traits of any racial, religious or social group[1]. On the other hand, these beliefs, social
forms and even materials are created thorugh the daily life of people. Culture is also the ‘the characteristic features of everyday
existence shared by people in a place or time’ [1].
Through our bodies we reach other people and the
world. To speak with others, to help
others, to work, to create, to love we use our bodies. We exist with our bodies. We feel our existance through our
bodies… And we create our culture with
our bodies [2] .
“Behind your thoughts and
feelings, my brother, stands a mighty commander, an unknown sage – he is called
Self. He lives in your body, he is your
body.” [3]
We know our body by its abilities. We can turn our hand, open it, make it a
fist, move our fingers one by one etc.
We can also feel every movement our hand does if we listen it. We can feel it as a whole or its parts
separately...
If a human has a hand, he or she feels more or less
the same abilities with his hand and similar basic feelings… But was the hand of Rembrandt the same as
mine? Was the relation of Rembrandt’s hand
with his mind the same as mine?
Merlau-Ponty has written “I do not simply possess a body; I am my
body” in ‘Phenomenology of
Perception’. Rembrandt’s hand was not
simply a hand, it was Rembrandt the painter’s hand… It was Rembrandt the painter himself.
When a master artist teaches his art to a
student he passes the way he holds his
hand to his pupil. Transition of behaviours,
attitudes, sensations, skills, customs and so on creates and evolves the
cultural embodiment. This may be transmitting a skill as simple as a mother
teaching her baby how to drink water [1].
“Embodiment is the process
or state of living in a body.” A person living in a culture
does not necessarily be aware of his being in this sense. He performs the acts and rituals of culture’s
embodiment.
“Phenomenological
theorists distinguish between the subjective body(as lived and experienced) and
the objective body (as observed and scientifically investigated). My lived body is an EMBODIED CONSCIOUSNESS
which fluidly and pre-reflectively engages the world. As we engage in our daily activities, we
tend not to be conscious of our bodies and we take them granted – body that is
passed-by-in-silence” [4].
An
artist may choose to stand up consciously in a certain cultural embodiment, he
may choose to use cultural colors, styles, customs etc. Like in all the uses of embodiment, the use
of cultural embodiment may eleviate the difficulties of creating art works at
the expense of losing the awareness necessary to create something new.
On the other hand, staying a way from the
embodiment of a certain culture, causes the loss of contact with its interfaces
which may cause the artist to lose his nourishment of his own culture’s
embodiment.
Ali Riza SARAL
REFERENCES:
[1] Hahn, Thomie; Sensational Knowledge
[2] Culture, Merriam Webster
1a: the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits
of a racial, religious, or social group also : the characteristic
features of everyday existence shared by people in a place or time
b: the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that
characterizes an institution
c: the set of values, conventions, or social practices
associated with a particular field, activity, or societal characteristic
d: the integrated pattern of human
knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for learning and
transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations
2a: enlightenment and excellence of taste acquired by intellectual
and aesthetic training
b: acquaintance with and taste in fine arts, humanities, and broad
aspects of science as distinguished from vocational and technical skills
[3] Nietzsche, 1883,
‘Thus Spoke Zarathustra’ from Learning Space – OpenLearn – The Open University.
[4] Jean-Paul SARTRE,
1943, Being and Nothingness.
