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加载中…The Meaning of Cultural Preservation
Why think about cultural preservation and what does it have to do with you as you live your day-to-day life? We all operate within a culture.
Sometimes this is the culture we have lived in all of our lives.
Sometimes it is a new culture.
We may move to a new country or another part of the same country. Simply by growing older we find ourselves living in a world that is very different from the one in which we grew up. And yet we carry the understanding of the way things used to be with us at the same time we are living in the world as it is today. We are all always carriers and creators of culture.
Sometimes, though, cultural knowledge from other times and places can be lost if not preserved in some way. One way to preserve this knowledge is through personal narrative. It is our everyday lives that illustrate the way ordinary people live or have lived in a particular time and place. For instance, you may have family traditions regarding food, holidays, birthdays, summer vacations, or any number of other things.
Does your family have treasured recipes that you wish to pass on? The stories about these things are valuable not only from the perspective of family history, but in terms of cultural history as well.
What are your spiritual stories and experiences? These can be valuable for others to hear as we can all learn by listening to the stories of others.
What is your passion? Do you garden, cook, stitch, create? What does this mean to you? How have you made decisions about how to live? You can help others work through this huge question by sharing your stories. We have found that in the process of telling their stories, people actually learn new things about themselves. We don't often have an opportunity to focus on our own stories as we rush through our lives. By stopping to consider where we have been, where we want to go, what is important to us, and what it all means, we get in touch with ourselves in very powerful ways.
For groups, approaching an issue through personal narrative can be very productive. For instance, you may need to have a better understanding of what your group's vision is for the future or even what you stand for right now.
You may need to get a handle on what skills and strengths your members have. Doing story circles can allow people to express themselves uninterrupted and to listen to their fellow group members. Again, we don't always create the space to do this kind of active listening, but we have found that this is a very powerful and productive process.
Engaging in these kinds of community conversations, as we call them is a way to build stronger communities as we listen to each other and learn things about each other-often finding unknown and unexpected similarities between people.
We can help you use personal narrative productively whether you are an individual or a group who wants a new tool to use as you move forward in positive ways.
