Exhibition Sample S

Prompt 21: What is the relationship between knowledge and culture?

Object 1: A photo a Swedish midsummer celebrations

Photo: Hito Casavra June 2015

Midsummer in mid-Sweden

My first object is a photo of the midsummer celebrations in Gästrikland in central Sweden. People
are dressed in traditional costumes and are dancing the version of the Polka from this part of
Sweden. The music is also traditional and the tunes played by the fiddlers (out of shot) are special
for this area. Traditional celebrations of this sort require quite a lot of local knowledge. For example,
there are a set of song with words and actions that are performed round the central maypole (which
is in fact a fertility symbol). Originally these celebrations derived from a Pagan festival celebrating
the coming of summer and played a role in marking the seasons. Knowledge of the songs is
necessary to join in – a sign that you are part of the in-group, that you belong to the community.
Culture can be thought of as the set of these customs, and cultural knowledge is perhaps the
knowledge needed to participate and gain acceptance in the community. In this way cultural
knowledge is reinforced and transmitted by these traditional events. It serves as a sort of test
whether people are really assimilated into the community and therefore whether they can be
considered to be possible partners in cooperative projects – where trust is likely to be a key issue.
Interestingly, this particular midsummer celebration was notable for the number of immigrants to
Sweden who were throwing themselves into the dancing and singing. Perhaps they were aware of
the importance of being willing to follow local customs for the reasons above, or perhaps they just
wanted to enjoy themselves.
Object 2: A Sarong Barung from a Javanese Gamelan ensemble

Photo: Hito Casavra 2021

The second object is a Sarong Barung which is one of the smallest instruments in the Indonesian
Gamelan ensemble. The ensemble typically involves up to 20 players playing both melodic
instruments and drums. This instrument is tuned in the slendro equal tone scale. This means that it
has five notes that are tuned an equal distance from each other. I learned to play in a Gamelan
ensemble run by the Indonesian embassy. There I learned about the special rhythms and melodies
that are appropriate for this set of instruments within the Gamelan tradition. So this is a specific kind
of cultural knowledge because it only applies to a particular part of the world and a particular
instrumental ensemble. I also learned that you should not step over the instruments. This is because
each one has an indwelling spirit that is released when one plays a note. It is an insult to the spirit if
you step over the instrument. This extra information gives the instrument another more spiritual
dimension which you do not find in Western music. Certainly, Western musicians respect their
instruments and consider them akin to companions – after all serious musicians spend a long time
interacting with their instruments. But this special spiritual dimension is different and shows an
aspect of cultural knowledge that tells us that when Indonesian musicians perform they are doing
something rather different to what Western musicians do as performance. The music is integrated
into a whole worldview which includes a religious or spiritual dimension. This tells us something
about the structure of knowledge in this culture – that it is part of an integrated whole. Knowing
how to play the Gamelan also includes knowing a bit about this worldview.
Object 3: A cricket ball

Photo: Hito Casavra 2021

My final object is a cricket ball. I play in the school team. Once when we were practicing in a public
park I became aware that we were being watched by some Swedish people who were curious about
the game and asked us many questions about it. It occurred to me that, in their eyes, the game was
highly eccentric and peculiar and that they looked at cricket in much the same way as I looked at
them dancing around pretending to be frogs at Midsummer. All sports are eccentric in a way and are
part of the culture of a community. Cricket is particularly linked to the countries associated with
Britain for example, Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, and
of course England. It never really took off in the US or Canada, and is not the number one sport in
Scotland or Wales either. Like many cultural objects the cricket ball is the result of a complex history.
It is the modern version of a ball that was used in the depths of history to knock a bale of straw off
the top of a wicker gate. The three sticks at which the bowler aims the modern cork in leather ball
are still called a wicket and the pieces of wood balanced at the top are still bails. The game is very
complicated to explain to someone outside the cricket culture. But games are not logical and that is
what makes them interesting. Just like the other two objects, the game involves not only particular
skills, but also a lot of knowledge. Those in the know form an in-group while to those outside it
seems like a strange eccentric cult. Perhaps this applies to any cultural object or activity. They are
only logical and familiar from within the culture – outsiders see them for what they are: accidents of
a historical process. These objects suggest that knowledge of this kind and culture are deeply
interwoven. The knowledge only makes sense within the context of the culture, and yet the
knowledge partially forms the culture.

942 words not including object credits.