I do think there is a wide streak of common humanity, though, and much misunderstanding can be overcome with mutual generosity of spirit, tolerance and above all humour! Perhaps to seek “full integration” is a false goal, we might instead celebrate our diversity and seek to learn and grow through cultural understanding
]]>Provocative article, Christine. So to answer your question “Does this finding implicate that we lack the ability to fully integrate into a new culture, either when we visit or decide to live in a new place?”, I love to travel and meet people in foreign lands and learn how to get along with them. Hell, I married a foreigner I met while traveling. (We Swedes are known for being tolerant and open-minded.)
But I would never fool myself into thinking that I could “fully integrate,” nor would I want to. Part of the fun of traveling is knowing that you don’t belong and enjoying that ride.
]]>Most of my ancestors came from various parts of Africa (there’s some Native/European in the mix) – but I’m always amazed at how even though I’m far removed from the culture and religion of my ancestors – I can listen to two West African women talking on the train, and the “uh hmms,” laughs, and back and forth seems so familiar… now, this could just be the remnants of culture that survived, but I don’t know, it’s something deeper than that.. like a kinship I share with others of African descent – even though the cultures are distinct. Hard to put a finger on and even describe.
I can also see it in how my dad’s family – also far removed from the Native roots, language and culture, seem to value the silence of so many Native American tribes within the family…
just an observation.
]]>“Birds transmit their songs through social interactions, as humans do for languages, dances, cuisine and other cultural elements…Each bird, then, must learn from his father or uncles, as they learned from their fathers, and so on — but this can only take us so far down the lineage…Learning may explain how the son copies its father’s song, but it doesn’t explain the origin of the father’s song.”
So, they didn’t discuss whether this song, which they considered a “courtship” song, was necessary for mating (and survival), or if it just speeds the mating process along. But I’m assuming that the birds raised in isolation were still able to mate based off of their off-key tunes, because they taught this to their offspring.
Hmm, that doesn’t really answer the question at all, does it?
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]]>What I meant about the song…wouldn’t the ability to differentiate itself from other birds have to do with its survival? I mean, it’s not like it’s just some traditional thing that has been handed down like a ritual (not including mating rituals). I would think it is necessary for, say, finding mates in order to propagate the species.
]]>Carlo, I think what the scientists extracted from this experiment is that something that is a part of one’s culture can be embedded into their genetics–the song is not necessary for its survival, per se, but it is what differentiates this particular bird from another bird. So the idea in this round of nature vs. nurture is that nature has more of a hold on us than nurture, and these cultural genetic aspects will find their way into our lives even if we have lived in a completely different culture.
Interesting though, as I’m finally reading the Tipping Point, which in part is about how much we are affected by environment and can be swayed one way or another based on our surroundings. Debate continues…
]]>I think most things are the product of environment, and given enough time sure, why wouldn’t you be able to fully integrate into another culture?
Free will might be an illusion, especially in the western world where marketers manipulate us on subconscious levels – they’re even going after babies now! *Shudder*
]]>I know, for instance, that despite having staunch atheists for parents, and never having been to church in my life, I’ve somehow managed to pick up decidedly Protestant points of view on a number of issues. Generations of Presbyterian and Methodist code coming out? Who knows.
All purely hypothetical stuff, but fun to ponder!
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