Black History : Does History = Culture ?

Destee

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Hello Family,

Are history and culture, one and the same, or two totally different things?

I would imagine that if not exactly the same, then synonymous with each other.

Am i wrong? (now that i've named this forum based on that!) :look:

:heart:

Destee
 
History is simply a recording of events in terms of a time line. Culture is "how and why" people did what they did as it relates to their existence. It contains the core concepts of a people and the reality of who they are. Although History can record these events of culture, if history did not record them, it would still be history. Where history records, culture preserves and passes down.
 
Keita said:
History is simply a recording of events in terms of a time line. Culture is "how and why" people did what they did as it relates to their existence. It contains the core concepts of a people and the reality of who they are. Although History can record these events of culture, if history did not record them, it would still be history. Where history records, culture preserves and passes down.


I agree with this statement, brother Keita, and it is what I've been trying to get across to a couple of my brethren without success... As per the usual, African Americans love to re-define stuff to OUR personal satisfaction... Forget the prevailing rules, regardless of what they mean to the rest of the world, or whether they are good rules or not...

It is clear to me, now, that our culture is NOT important to most of us... We devalue and disrespect it much like we devalue and disrespect ourselves... Hell, we don't even know what it is in the first place, so how can you LOOK AGAIN(RE + SPECTOS = to look again)at what we are neither cognizant of, or understand??? And using your definition of what Culture means, HOW will we ever be able to overcome ourselves and White Supremacy if we don't understand WHY it is we're doing what we're doing??? I leave that to the historians who are posting all the stories of our past greatness to tell us how we will be able to apply that to overcoming our worst enemy, ourselves...



Peace!
Isaiah
 
Isaiah said:
I agree with this statement, brother Keita, and it is what I've been trying to get across to a couple of my brethren without success... As per the usual, African Americans love to re-define stuff to OUR personal satisfaction... Forget the prevailing rules, regardless of what they mean to the rest of the world, or whether they are good rules or not...

It is clear to me, now, that our culture is NOT important to most of us... We devalue and disrespect it much like we devalue and disrespect ourselves... Hell, we don't even know what it is in the first place, so how can you LOOK AGAIN(RE + SPECTOS = to look again)at what we are neither cognizant of, or understand??? And using your definition of what Culture means, HOW will we ever be able to overcome ourselves and White Supremacy if we don't understand WHY it is we're doing what we're doing??? I leave that to the historians who are posting all the stories of our past greatness to tell us how we will be able to apply that to overcoming our worst enemy, ourselves...




Peace!
Isaiah
Brother, I think the reason why knowing our culture may not be important to most of us is because we don't see how knowing the culture helps us to meet our basic needs. For ex. many Blacks are concerned with feeding, sheltering, protecting, educating themselves and their children, and many adults are struggling to get and keep jobs, finding a mate, and such, so how can knowing our culture help people in a practical way to meet these needs? Most of us are operating at a subsistence level and in survival mode 24/7.

It's similar to a question you asked the other day about what is ATR doing to help the community. When a community is not able to meet its basic needs: food, safety, love, belonging etc. most people are not going to be concerned about things like "knowing our culture," which is a higher level need. Are you familiar with Maslow's hierarchy of needs? It has always helped me to understand why some people prioritize or don't prioritize the way they do.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs

As long as so many of us are focused on meeting our basic needs, it's almost guaranteed that the vast majority of us won't care about knowing "culture."
 
Bisabee said:
Brother, I think the reason why knowing our culture may not be important to most of us is because we don't see how knowing the culture helps us to meet our basic needs. For ex. many Blacks are concerned with feeding, sheltering, protecting, educating themselves and their children, and many adults are struggling to get and keep jobs, finding a mate, and such, so how can knowing our culture help people in a practical way to meet these needs? Most of us are operating at a subsistence level and in survival mode 24/7.

It's similar to a question you asked the other day about what is ATR doing to help the community. When a community is not able to meet its basic needs: food, safety, love, belonging etc. most people are not going to be concerned about things like "knowing our culture," which is a higher level need. Are you familiar with Maslow's hierarchy of needs? It has always helped me to understand why some people prioritize or don't prioritize the way they do.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs

As long as so many of us are focused on meeting our basic needs, it's almost guaranteed that the vast majority of us won't care about knowing "culture."


http://destee.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34162
__________________

Sister Bisabee, there are other very practical reasons for KNOWING your culture, but I've given one thread provided by brother Pan Africa that hollers very loud to me about our confusion as a people... Others??? Well, I don't have the time nor energy to search for, and post here, all of the threads in which we debate who and what constitutes our Africaness... I say to you that if Maslow's Hierarchy of needs does not include KNOWING ONE'S SELF, then his hierarchy is meaningless, because if you are confused about whom you are, you will always be embroiled in some kind of perpetual inner-turmoil that precludes you from the success and happiness you seek... You will always FAIL to achieve that which you want, because you will lack the confidence that comes with knowing yourself, your talents, and you value as a person... Does that sound like us as a people??? That is why knowing one's culture is a matter of practical importance... As brother Keita pointed out, it is your CORE(internal knowledge, wisdom, and understanding)beliefs, your psycho-spiritual compass, that gives you direction, and a sense of standing on firm ground...

Hey, sister BisaBee, do you know why African people fry our hair, and dye it blond??? Do you know why we talk like Whites, when being able to articulate oneself has nothing to do with sounding white??? Do you know why we will refuse to support a Black business, and why a Black Business will have what my brother called in one his poems "The Pitbull in The Barbershop???" It is because we are so detached and dissociated from our ownselves, sister...

Do you know why others appreciate the Blues, and we do not??? It is because we feel so devalued and disrespected as a people, that we do not understand it's value - to the tune of billions of dollars going out of our hands into the hands of our enemies... Are those practical reasons for African people seeking a JOB???(smile!) Hell, Sister, many years ago, a White man, Alan Lomax, walked into Parchman Penitentiary, and recorded African American men singing work songs and prison blues, and his children benefit from that, again, to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars - and we're lookin' for a job... What should be at the top of Maslow's Hierarchy of needs, my sister??? We just got to stop seeking the EASY way out, and do the work on ourselves...



Peace!
Isaiah
 

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