How is a culture born? We who are believers in the scriptures believe that from one man and one woman all human beings descend (those who believe in the Bible that this happened twice—with Adam and Eve and then with Noah and his wife at the time of the Flood). And yet around the world there are many thousands of languages spoken, and a huge variety of cultures. For many years I have been very interested in the ways in which cultures are born (a process called ethnogenesis), but it is not an easy thing to find any kind of sustained study into the process, though the ethnogenesis of particular peoples is something that is frequently the subject of study. It is my intent to explore both the ways in which cultures are formed and why this process is so little studied in depth.

The word culture is hard to define. Culture is defined the following way by dictionary.com:

–noun

1. the quality in a person or society that arises from a concern for what is regarded as excellent in arts, letters, manners, scholarly pursuits, etc.

2. that which is excellent in the arts, manners, etc.

3. a particular form or stage of civilization, as that of a certain nation or period: Greek culture.

4. development or improvement of the mind by education or training.

5. the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group: the youth culture; the drug culture.

6. Anthropology . the sum total of ways of living built up by a group of human beings and transmitted from one generation to another.

7. Biology .

a. the cultivation of microorganisms, as bacteria, or of tissues, for scientific study, medicinal use, etc.

b. the product or growth resulting from such cultivation.

8. the act or practice of cultivating the soil; tillage.

9. the raising of plants or animals, esp. with a view to their improvement.

10 the product or growth resulting from such cultivation.

–verb (used with object)

11. to subject to culture; cultivate.

12. Biology .

a. to grow (microorganisms, tissues, etc.) in or on a controlled or defined medium.

b. to introduce (living material) into a culture medium.

The origin of the world culture springs from the Latin word cultus, meaning: habitation, tilling, refinement, worship.  Each of these different aspects of culture speaks to the profound importance of culture on our lives. Broadly speaking, everyone who is a part of a culture shares a certain worldview. They see and understand and relate to the world the same way. In some sense, a culture is inseparable from religion (for any worldview is at the base of it a religion, expressing a stand on ultimate truth and the ultimate reality of the world around). Those who possess different worldviews are members of different cultures, even if they may be members of the same family or citizens of the same political state. Ultimately speaking, though, people cannot walk together unless they share the same worldview, because different worldviews will eventually prevent a tight unity between two people or two groups of people.

Not only are cultures religious matters, though, but they are also cultivated. A worldview is born out of certain habits of thought and action. The earliest cultural conflict we see among humans in the Bible is between Cain and Abel, two brothers who nonetheless possessed very different cultural mindsets. Cain was a farmer, thought by many to represent the agricultural revolution, the growth of cities (the first one of which in the Bible is credited to him), eventually leading to the growth of technology (particularly weapons technology and metallurgy), the growth of aristocracies and inequality among people, and the rampant spread of sin and corruption into the world. Abel was a shepherd, the first of those characteristic individuals (like David or Jesus Christ) who show loving care for human beings or animals, protectively act towards the powerless, and who despise a great gulf between ordinary people and elites. It’s not clear precisely how, but our mental and physical habits profoundly impact the way we see the world around us, and those habits are very difficult to unlearn. What is cultivated over a lifetime, or over generations, is a very hard thing to unlearn. Nonetheless, cultures are not themselves natural, but require education. They are spread not through genes but through behavior.

Additionally, the aspect of cultures as refinement (which is where we get to the idea of culture as being represented by fashion, by an appreciation of literature and the fine arts), also speaks of an important part of how cultures are formed. Refining is the process by which natural ores are purified, a process that takes a lot of energy, and often a great amount of heat or chemical action. Likewise, cultural refinement is not natural, but is rather a taking of that natural (and somewhat savage) human and by the process of diligent education purifying their habits and mindset to something that is civilized and acceptable. However, like the refining of ores, this process is also one of distinguishing. Refinement requires definitions, and separation, and the development of cultures likewise involves a separation of people from others based either on the difference in what habits and approaches have been cultivated or on the fact that some people possess refinement that others lack. The multiplicity of different human behaviors provides an infinite array of how groups of human beings can be divided into cultures by how they accomplish these tasks. Each new definition leads to a possible division over culture, as it provides one more way for two people or two groups of people to disagree.

At the core of ethnogenesis is the development of incomprehensibility where once there was mutual understanding. Whenever two people have trouble understanding where others stand, there is the high likelihood that such a disagreement stems not merely from the absence of facts on the part of one person or another, but rather a disagreement as to how to interpret those facts, which is itself a difference in culture. And since people of the same cultures can tend to recognize each other and coalesce together (both out of appreciation of common identity and to defend themselves and their brethren from common foes), the process of ethnogenesis is greatly conducive to human conflict.

There are at least a few reasons, though, why ethnogenesis is not an easy thing to study. One reason is that the ways in which new cultures can be formed makes it nearly impossible to define in advance just what factors are likely to cause a culture to coalesce. Likewise, cultures can greatly change over time, making prediction either of the formation of new cultures or the change of existing cultures a hazardous and unprofitable experience.

However, sometimes the potentials for conflict and the separation of one people into two cultures is no great mystery. For example, the Founders of the United States properly understood that the issue of slavery was a major threat to the unity of the United States. It was reasonably clear at the time of our nation’s founding that substantial cultural differences existed between areas with slaves and those without slaves. Slavery itself was a human behavior that profoundly influenced (and I would even say corrupted) culture, forming distinct cultures between North and South, and between different regions and peoples (black, white, red, and various mixtures of all of them) even within the South. It should be noted that this is just one issue in one nation with all of these cultural ramifications. The example could be multiplied ad infinitum.

Perhaps more important than our cultural identities (and we usually have many of them, sometimes nested inside of each other), though, is how we deal with them in ourselves and others. Are we able to distinguish between those cultural differences that are matters worth fighting over and those which may simply be a difference of perspective where a proper appreciation of the differences can make things better for all? For such distinctions need to be made. Not all cultural differences are worth fighting over, but at the same time some of them are. Sometimes as well the fight is not over the difference itself but over hostility to the feeling of superiority that comes with certain cultures. To give but one example, I would not dislike the Texan culture so much if I did not feel such an unwarranted superiority attached to that culture by its adherents. Cultural snobbery makes for fierce (and often unnecessary) enemies. On the other hand, humility and appreciation of the culture of others makes for alliances and harmony.

It would appear, in looking at the massive complications involved in the creation of distinct cultures and peoples and groups, that culture is at the foundation of a great deal of very important issues. For one, it is important to recognize the common humanity underneath all of the (sometimes very wide) cultural differences. For another, we must be able to clearly distinguish those cultural aspects that are differences of belief, differences of perspective, or merely differences of opinion and taste. We must also grow to understand our own cultural identities, and the strength of our commitments to them. None of this is easy to do.