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    Benedickt (1934) - Patterns of Culture

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    Benedickt (1934) - Patterns of Culture

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    Jean Briante
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    Benedict

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    Download as pdf
    109 views16 pages

    Benedickt (1934) - Patterns of Culture

    Uploaded by

    Jean Briante
    Benedict

    Copyright:

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    Patterns of Culture Ruth Benedict ithe ne Frond ‘Mary Cerin Ba senda Profey Marg eat ms Boston reed of Dige Idi PATTERNS OF CULTURE 4 romantic return wo the primitive, Tee pot forward inno Sire of pocticsing the simpler peoples. There are many Sein tlh eo gaat ppp {ots stonely in tha era of etergencous geandands an Send mechani tude Bat ot te ‘deals preserved for us by primitive peoples chat our sce will heat fl of fs malades. The romantic Utopianise that reaches out coward the simpler primitive, attractive ‘se sometimes may bei often in ethmolgieal stad a hindrance as a help. = 7 we cateful study of primitive societies i important today rather, 25 we have’ sad, because they prove case ‘material for the ready of cultural forms and proceses They help us to diferentiate between thre responaca thet are specie t local ultra eyes and thove ta ne Ben éral to mankind. Beyond thi they help us to gauge end Understand the immensely immporcnt Fle of eulerally conditioned behaviour. Culture with is proceses and Fanctiong is «subject upon which we ned all the enight- enment we can achieve and thre is no dtction in which ec ck wh greater roned shan in the faces of re I ‘The Diversity of Cultures A cer of the Digger Indians, as the Californians call them, talked co men great deal about the ways of his people in the old days, He was a Christian and a leader Tnong his people in the planting of peaches and apricots fn irigated land, but when he talked of the shamans who had transformed themuelves into bears before his eyes in the bear dance, his hands trembled and his voice broke ‘with excitement. It was. an incomparable hing, the ower his people had had in the old days. He liked best fo talk of the desert foods they had eaten. He brought tach uprooted plane lovingly and with an unfailing sense ‘fies importance. Tn thore days bis people had eaten the health of the desere he said, and knew nothing of the ine fies of tin cans and the things for sale at butcher shops. Te was such innovations that had degraded chem in these lacter days. ‘One day, without transition, Ramon broke in upon his descriptions of grinding mesquite and preparing acorn oup. “In the beginsing," he ead, "God gave to every people a cup, a cup of clay, and from this cup they dranic Their lie" I'do.not know whether the figure occurred in ome traditional ritual of hi people that I never found, oF ‘whether it was his own imagery. Te is hard to imagine thee he had heard it from the whites he had known at PATTERNS OF CULTURE Banning: they were not given to discussing the ethos of different people Ae any rc inthe mind ofthis humble Tran the fgre of speech was cear and ill of meaning ‘They all dipped in the waters he continue, “but thee cups were diferent. Our cup broken now I has passed oy? ‘Our cup is broken. Those things that had given signif cance tothe ile of his peop, the domestic nivale of cat Ing, the obligations ofthe economic eyetem, the succession of aon ithe wl ron nee dane, their standards of Fight and’ wrong these wee gone nd with them the shape and meaning of thet Ie. The ‘1d man was sill vigorous and a leader in relationships wh he whi He dino mean he thre wan any uesdon of the extinction of he peoples But he hed i ‘Mind the loss of something that hal val equal to that of He ite he whole Tsbric of his people's standards and Beli ‘There were other cups of living ley and they Jhekdpeshap the same water, but the loss was ireparable. Te wes no matter of Unketing with an addition her, Jopping off something there. "The modeling had been fandemental, fe wos sonchow all of te. i had bec thetrown, ‘Ramon had had personal experience of the matter of ‘which he spoke, Te straddled two cultures whose values dnd ways of thought mere incommensurable. Tes hard fate."In Wester cvitzation our experiences have been Aierent. ‘We are bred to one coumeplitan clture, and four soil acences, our peychologyy and our thelogy pe Stently ignore the truth expressed in Raron’s igre “The course of fe andthe presute of envionment, not to speak ofthe fertity of human imagination, provide an Incredible numberof posible lead, all of wich ie ap THE DIVERSITY OF CULTURES ey ere ad sere al eos coal ce by ral a ee ae ae a RE tec oe une i fanaa Rie ah ean eee pies eeed peony oath teral eke etn Tage arene fos is alias a eee Bo ceeeepicongse nal Mop er sere ce aie ce nee ee ee ae edo 7 PATTERNS OF CULTURE, the dro and mouth, iinet of vocabulary and of syntax that depend on these ference te imposible to {© until we master thom. We have a aud at ms They Inay have an intermediate sound which, if we ft der tity, we write now d and now »,incroducing distinctions which do noe esse. The clmeneary preequste of in, Eni al i comma othr ere humerous avilable sounds fiom which each languase makes its own selections. eee 4s eleure too we must imagine a great acon which are xanged the posible interests provided eichr by the hua Saceyele or by the environment or by man's various Activites. A culeare that capitalized even considerable Proportion of these would be at uninteligile ss Tans fuage tha wed ll the ck all the glottal stops ll he Inbinls, deneas silanes, and guctoals rom wocless to soiced and from oral to nace Ts Identity as @ exleure depends upon the saestion of some segments of his are Every human society everywhere has made such selection it aleral inaeuions. Each fom the pine of view of nother ignore fundamentals and exploits iwrlevancicn One culate hardly recognizes monetary velucsy another, thas made chem fundamental in every eld of behaviour Tn one soley technology unblicrably slighted even those aspects of life which seem necasary to ensure nur vival in another, equally simple, technclogseal achieve: ‘rents are complex and fited with admirable nicey to the situation. One bulls an enormous cultural soperetacters spon adolescence, one upon death, one upon sere, "The cate of adolncence is parcclarly intresting, be- cause itis in the limelight in our own civilization al be. ‘luse we have plendfl information fom other eultares In cur own civiizaton «-whole library of poyehlogial Pa THE DIVERSITY OF CULTURES Simanomer if we continee to think of ‘ote pee Ee cultrally conditioned as the occupations and oblige Juberty institutions, we do not most need analyses of the rey an eee ‘Adulthood in central North Asstica moans warfare 7 PATTERNS OF CULTURE preparation for the warpath at any age, is = magi ritual for success in war. ‘They torture not one another, but themselves: they cut strips of skin from their arms and legs, they strike off their fingers hey drag heavy weights pinned to thei chest or leg muscles, ‘Their reward is en- hanced prowess ia deeds of warfare Tn Australia on the other hand, adulthood means parti-

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