3.1 Elements of Culture
Culture is essentially about how we make
meaning of the world. It involves
beliefs, values, practices, attitudes,
traditions and ways of life. It can be
expressed and passed on through a great
variety of forms of cultural heritage.
A culture of peace involves values,
attitudes, traditions, modes of behaviour
and ways of life that support and promote
peace and non violence. The peoples of
Asia have a vast and richly diverse
cultural heritage which can provide
resources for cultivating a culture of
peace.
3.2 Forms of Cultural Heritage
The notion of cultural heritage has
expanded a lot in recent years. It refers
to much more than monuments. Cultural
heritage may be tangible or intangible.
UNESCO has identified the following
categories of cultural heritage:
Cultural
heritage sites (eg a monument, an
archeological site, or a
religious building)
Historic
cities (eg a city, a village, or
a neighborhood full of history)
Cultural
landscapes (eg a rice field, a
park, a garden, or a road)
Natural
sacred sites (eg a mountain, a
forest, a road with a religious
or spiritual significance)
The
underwater cultural heritage (eg
objects, shipwrecks or sites at
sea, in a lake, or a river)
Museums
(eg a public, private, community,
or outdoor museum)
The
movable cultural heritage (eg an
object, a work of art,
traditional or contemporary
creativity)
Handicrafts
(eg pottery, weaving, basketry,
creations and know-how)
The
documentary and digital heritage
(eg a book, a manuscript, an
archive, a library, text- sound-
image databases)
The
cinematographic heritage (eg a
documentary, fiction, short or
feature film, on video or film)
Oral
traditions (eg a story, a legend,
a genealogy, proverbs)
Languages
(eg a language, a dialect, a
patois)
Festive
events (eg a feast, a festival, a
carnival, or a ceremony)
Rites
and beliefs (eg a ritual, a
liturgy, a prayer, a cosmogony)
Music
and song (eg a piece of folk or
popular music, an opera, a
lullaby, a protest song)
The
performing arts(eg a dance, a
play, or a theatre design)
Traditional
medicine (eg medicinal plants,
recipes, know-how)
Literature
(eg a poem, a novel)
Culinary
traditions (eg a dish,
traditional preparations, new
recipes)
Traditional
sports and games (eg a game of
skill, of chance, sport )
For more information about the
Heritage for a Culture of Peace campaign
which UNESCO is conducting together with
NGOs, see http://www3.unesco.org/iycp/uk/uk_sum_PCP.htm
3.3 Examples of Cultural Heritage
for Peace
3.3.1 East Asia
The cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in
Japan have erected memorials and museums
to ensure that the memory of the atomic
bombings will not be lost. The ACPP
Action Resource for the Commemoration of
the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima &
Nagasaki provides details of many useful
web pages from these sites.
The Japanese Constitution enshrines in
Article 9 the renunciation of the use of
force. The Peace 9 groups are organizing
to defend this 'peace constitution'. See
the ACPP Action
Resource for the
Commemoration of the Atomic Bombing of
Hiroshima & Nagasaki for further
details.
3.3.2 South Asia
South Asia has produced many great
novelists and writers whose contributions
to literature in the English language
constitute part of our cultural heritage.
Authors such as Salman Rushdie (Midnight's
Children), Arundhati Roy (The God of
Small Things), Hanif Kureish (The Black
Album) have helped people around the
world to understand something of the
struggle of people in South Asia for
peace built on respect for human rights.
3.3.3 South East Asia
In the Philippines, the Christian and
Muslim religious leaders of Mindanao have
been instrumental in establishing and
coordinating an annual Mindanao Week of
Peace which is celebrated between the
last Thursday in November up to the first
Wednesday of December each year.
The Mindanao Week of Peace has
the following objectives:
To
elicit an appreciation of
religious diversity within a
common cultural heritage as a
base for unity in the advocacy
for peace.
To
assess and broaden the gains of
the peace process through a
sharing of perspectives on local
peace initiatives
To
involve various sectors of the
local community in the conduct of
the special week long activities
for peace.
To
provide a venue for the
expression of peace aspirations
through various forms: mass
media, art, academic,
professional etc
To serve
as a converging point of the
various peace initiatives in
Mindanao.
Action Ideas:
Examine the
list of forms of cultural
heritage presented in this module.
What items of cultural heritage
from your place promote and
support a culture of peace?
Document these items of cultural
heritage in writing, images or
audio visual form and send the
information to the Asian Center
for the Progress of Peoples so
that these cultural resources for
peace can be shared with others.
Find out about the UNESCO List of
Monuments: Messengers of a
Culture of Peace and make sure
that significant monuments from
your place are listed.
Visit the on line museums in
Hiroshima and Nagaski.
Join the Peace 9 campaign to help
defend the Japanese 'peace
constitution'.
Read one of the novels listed in
3.3.2 and reflect on the human
rights issues raised and their
implications for a culture of
peace. This activity could be
undertaken by a social justice
group or senior secondary school
English or Social Sciences class.
Keep a candle for peace lit
during the Mindanao Week of Peace. |
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