Add Culture to Your Story

Adding Cultureculture is not genetically inherited, it is shared, learned, and dynamic- never static in Autobiographya life story written by one's self, or life history, or memoirs of one's life - or a self-written life story with added cultural information (at this website) takes the common autobiography to places that your readers get to explore with you.  During this course you have been introduced to ethnographya descriptive compilation of a culture based on fieldwork using ethnographic methods such as interviewing and participant observation; it may include research and description of an individual's culture, an entire cultural group, or a business culture and ethnographic methodsmethods used by anthropologists, scientists and/or individuals to discover cultural attributes during research of various venues; ethnographic methods include both informal and formal interviews, fieldwork, participant observation, using key consultants to confirm information, and academic research; in some cases it may also include interdisciplinary research with expert consultants.  Such research methods involve fieldwork, interviews, participant observationa technique of field research used in anthropology disciplines, by which an investigator (participant observer) studies the life of a group by sharing in its activities, key consultants, and academic research.  Adding culture to your autobiography, your story, may include ethnologyan anthropology method of research that studies cultures comparatively More which involves comparisons of cultures.  Comparisons of cultures may arise if you have more than one ethnic identitythe name of a person, along with the qualities, beliefs, etc., that make a particular person or a group different from others in your ancestry.

By incorporating the “ethnography concept” into your autobiography, you will take it to a high level.  In the picture above, Dr. Evans-Anfom who is a scientist, scholar, distinguished surgeon, and founding member of a West African college for surgeons, displays his recent memoir and autobiography.  His autobiography, To the Thirsty Land, is the epitome of an autobiography that is deeply culturally oriented.  He presents ideas and writes about the historical context of the life he lived over 90 plus years.  Flora Trebi-Ollennu writes about his autobiography at ModernGhana.com.  The following is a quote from her article, which illustrates how culture is a huge part of Dr. Emanuel Evans-Anfom’s life story:

“Designed with your life in mind, that’s what a country is to its people.  With a constellation of fantasies, mosaic of values and expectations woven into this relationship between people and their country, it can be romantic, laborious, and tainted with betrayal but in the end opens a unique symbiosis for trust.  The betrayal component is however essential to this adventure, which eventually leads to selfa person's essential being that distinguishes them from others, especially considered as the object of introspection or reflexive action; one's identity, character, abilities, and attitudes, especially towards persons or things outside of oneself note:  reflexive is also in the glossary on this site discovery when the oracles fall silent.”

Emanuel Evans-Anfom was a great pioneer of the medical profession in Ghana, as well as serving as Vice Chancellor for the Kwame Nkrumah University of Sciencesystematic study of structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation, experiments, and testing of theories against evidence obtained More and Technologythe system by which a society provides its members with things needed or desired, along with knowledge for the use and maintenance of the system More in Kumasi.

Her article is very long at https://www.modernghana.com/news/563547/to-the-thirsty-land-revisited-a-dr-evans-anfom-autobiogra.html  but well-worth the time to read her “Revisited” analysis of the autobiography.

The real bottom line of any autobiography, as stated, is that it “leads to self discovery.”

Learning Objectives

After students complete Adding Culture in Autobiography, Lesson 4, they should be able to:

1) Understand why applying ethnographic-methods when writing an autobiography is useful

2) Understand the need for adding significant cultural details to autobiography

3) Understand the concept of “thick description,” as defined in a previous lesson.

4) Understand that writing an autobiography requires using good research methodologies.

5) Identify the need for documentationmaterials or resources that provide official/accurate information or evidence, or materials or resources that serves as a reliable record or serves as reliable data through use of photos, official documents, and input from others

Study Plan for Adding Culture in Autobiography – Lesson 4

Step 1.

Study Learning Objectives above to make sure you understand each one before continuing to Step 2.

Step 2.

Read the Adding Culture in Autobiography Lecture

https://itsallaboutculture.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=22376&action=edit

The lecture prepares you for starting your own autobiography, or writing someone else’s story.

Step 3.

View and Study the Categories of Culture, below, in order to be aware of aspects of culture you may not have thought to include in your writing.

Categories of Culture:

• Material CultureMaterial culture: all tangible objects, which are created, used, kept, and/or left behind by past and present cultures. In other words, the physical evidence of human experience.  Material culture may be dwellings, pottery, tools, furniture, weapons, ornaments, art, and/or complete structures of cities. – physical objects like artthe expressive or application of human creative skill and imagination in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, or in music, literature, or dance; art is created primarily for beauty and emotional power; and "holds art is anything the viewer or listener finds aesthetically pleasing.", technology, and architecture, clothing, tools, furniture, buildings, foodany nutritious substance that people or animals eat or drink, or that plants absorb, in order to maintain life and growth, and computers.
• Immaterial Culture – non-physical aspects like beliefs, values, customs, languagea system of symbols that allow people to communicate with each other, also the MOST symbolic way that culture is passed down, traditions, customs, social norms(cultural) norms are the shared expectations and rules that guide how people behave in a society or group, either formally or informally More, and spiritual practices.
• Further sub-categories – social organization, arts and literature, government, religionbelief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe; a personal or institutionalized system grounded in such belief and worship; a set of beliefs, values, and practices based on the teachings of a spiritual leader, and economic systems within a culture
• Social Organization – familya family is  group of people consisting of parents and children living together in a household; family members can also live away from parents or in a different household structures, social hierarchy, gendergender is culturally constructed; the word may have various meanings in various cultures; generally it is the state of being male or female (biologically), but is more often used with reference to social and cultural differences, which may or may not be biological gender is used in various languages such as Spanish, where nouns are preceded with an article such as la (feminine) or lo (masculine) - many languages have "gendered" speech, including Latin, Greek, Russian, and German, but grammatical gender is very loosely associated with natural distinctions of sex roles
• Art and Literature – music, dance, visual arts, literature, storytellingthe interactive art of using words and/or actions to reveal the elements and images of a story while encouraging the reader's or listener's imagination; an ancient art form, and a valuable form of human expression; storytelling is essential in almost every art form involving a two-way interaction between the art and the observer, reader, or listener
• Government & Politics – political systems, laws, governing structures
• Religion – religious beliefs, practices, and ritualsthe prescribed order of performing a ceremony or act, especially one characteristic of a particular religion or church; rituals are usually collectivistic behaviors and most often include a specialist overseeing the activity or activities
• Economic  Systems – production methods, trade, distribution of goods

Subculturesa cultural group within a larger culture, having beliefs or interests that are contrary to those of the larger culture More:

• Groups – within a larger culture with distinct values and practices, and different from the dominant culture.
• Norms – expected behaviors within a culture including both formal laws and informal laws
• Language – a necessary element of culture, conveying values and facilitating communication – the primary way culture is passed down to generationsthose people that are born and living at about the same time, regarded collectively; usually a generation within families is considered about 20 years.

Countercultures:

• Radical groups – people who reject social norms and practices, and embrace a mode of life opposed to mainstream.
• Countercultures – may arise in the wake of dramatic economic and socialpressures – they share similarities with subcultures, but modify dominant norms
• Disenchanted people – wish to live a nontraditional lifestyle and espousenonconformity, and/or existentialism.

• Communal or nomadic lifestyle – renounce nationalismidentification with one's own nation and support for its interests to the exclusion or detriment of other nations More, embrace drug culture
• Radical political movements – like Black Panthers, Weathermen, and Symbionese Liberation Army, similar to Punks in Britain, Hippies in United States.

• Other radical movements – rejects consumerism, espouses anarchy, and livesIllegally in squats or abandoned buildings.

Step 4.

What do you think are essential and necessary cultural aspects, that all autobiographies should strive to include?  Think about your own culture.  What do you think would be important for others to know about the aspects of your culture, in order to know and understand you better?  Make a list of those aspects.

Step 5.

View this short clip on Writing Your Life Story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9rdvJhkzXE&t=27s

If you don’t want your own autobiography to be a “tell all,” it doesn’t have to be; but you can see how to get started.

Step 6.

Review the Learning Objectives.  Make sure you grasp and understand them well  before continuing to Step 7.

Step 7.

Take the Adding Culture in Autobiography QUIZ.

Step 8.  Optional

Go to Culture in Autobiography – Project — Fun Assignment – https://itsallaboutculture.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=20314&action=edit

Congratulations!  You are on your way to writing your autobiography.  You will be able to add many cultural aspects to your unique story.