History of
Ukrainian
Culture
Micro-teaching
Vasyl Malikov
Academic Teaching
Excellence
Kyiv 2015
What is culture?
Some aspects of culture
Presentation objectives
The aim of this presentation is
- to describe the concept of culture;
- to
explore the structure and
features culture has;
Cultural universals
The basic layer of culture consists of cultural
universals – learned behavior patterns, traits
or institutions that are shared by all of
humanity collectively:
- Language
- Family and kinship
- Communities
- Art
- Cooking etc.
Structure of culture
material culture
spiritual culture
Material culture includes the entire
scope of practical human activity and
its results. It comprises of
 tools
and devices,
 means of transportation
 communications,
 buildings,
 new kinds of plants and animal breeds etc.
Spiritual culture covers the scope of
consciousness, creativity and a set of
spiritual values. It includes
 art,
 religion,
 morality,
 politics,
 law,
 philosophy,
 mythology.
Culture.
Civilization.
Ethnicity.
Nation.
• material,
technical,
Civilization economic, and
social facts
Culture
• spiritual,
intellectual and
artistic
phenomena
The term civilization is widely used to indicate
a high state of progress – a certain level of
social, cultural, political, economic and
technological
development
of
human
community.
 substantial economy and trade
 state form of government
 occupational specialization
 Urbanism
 class stratification
 developed transportation system, writing,
formal legal system, great art style,
monumental architecture and science
Ethnicity is a named human population
 with
a myth of common origins and ancestry,
 shared historical memories,
 one or more elements of common culture,
 a common territorial association
 and a measure of solidarity.
Nation
 cultural-political
community that has
become conscious of its coherence,
unity, and particular interests
 is formed by one or more ethnicities,
 possesses or claims the right to political
identity and autonomy as a people
 and if it controls a specific territory in a
world it becomes one of the nation states
Culture is the whole complex of
distinctive
spiritual,
material,
intellectual
and
emotional
features of society or a social
group including modes of life,
ways of living together, the
fundamental rights of the human
being, value systems, traditions,
beliefs and arts.
Mexico City Declaration on Cultural Policies,
UNESCO, 1982
Johann Herder postulated
that “every nation has its
center of happiness within
itself” and that it is not “up
to us to be their judge, to
evaluate or condemn their
customs
by
our
own
standards.”
Rather than judging
other
societies
negatively
because
they have different
cultural beliefs one
should maintain cultural
tolerance. This involves
neutrally noticing other
culture’s practices and
the
differences
of
behaviors
from
the
position of our own
culture.
One may not accept
every behavior of
other cultures, but
one should be open
to
understanding
why
the
other
cultures do so.
Thank you!