Dear all,
1. Read article on NYTimes:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/02/world/asia/once-the-villages-are-gone-the-culture-is-gone.html?hp&_r=0
2. Pick one point made by the writer and respond on the blog (your job is to express your view in relation to one comment made by the writer.)
3. Respond to one other comment on the blog.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/02/world/asia/once-the-villages-are-gone-the-culture-is-gone.html?hp&_r=0
2. Pick one point made by the writer and respond on the blog (your job is to express your view in relation to one comment made by the writer.)
3. Respond to one other comment on the blog.
Thank you.
Mrs Gougeon
Mrs Gougeon
I would have to disagree with the main point you made in your article, which would be that the loss of villages results in the loss of culture. Although the loss and destruction of their village made it less convenient for them to get together and practice, it is still not the reason that their cultures and traditions are slowly dying. As we can see from the article, the children from the former villages lack the dedication to learn these dances. Though it may partly be due to the inconvenience caused by losing their village, it really is up to them whether or not they are willing to put in the necessary effort to practice. One of the main reasons we can see from your article causing children to lack interest is the rapid modernization. Children these days are being kept extremely busy with school and other activities, they’d simply be too tired to make time for practices such as these traditional performances. They also must deal with the distractions that come with modernization, such as all the new age technology being made available to them. The previous generations will not be around forever to continue performing, and as long as children are being distracted by the price of modernization, they will be unable to learn these performances for themselves, and not be able to teach these performances to future generations. This is what is slowly killing their culture, not merely the loss of their villages, though the decrease in convenient does contribute to the problem.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Adam, as people could easily continue with cultures if they wanted to as people are just too engrossed with technology and their own daily life, as well as studies and work. If people found the time for culture as well as the attitude they would, it isnt just saying oh my village is destroyed i cant continue with my culture, because people are just making excuses and they can live on the legacy in their own family!
DeleteI wouldn’t say that it were largely due to the younger generation being uninterested directly, being preoccupied with modernisation, and more due to the isolation of the people who participated in such a community, where culture was shared amongst them in villages, in their communities. In isolated houses still adhering to this culture, it simply does not work, for there are not enough people to maintain it. Of course children are going to be uninterested, and that is because the culture that they would otherwise be taught has lost its relevance. This has happened to the Celtic languages, they have been suppressed, and isolated, and the young people are losing interest, because they have been assimilated into another, larger culture. I would put it mostly down to the dispersal from, or the displacement of villages as being the main cause for the 'loss' of culture, resulting in children disregarding the culture from which their parents came as they join the pertaining society.
DeleteI have to agree with your point that the loss of their villages is not the sole reason that the culture is being destroyed because they can try and be like the musician group and attempt to meet up together in order to continue their tradition. However I believe that the loss of their village is the main reason that they are losing their culture because even if they had all their new technology etc. in their village they would still be actively involved in and surrounded by their cultural music and dance.
DeleteI agree with your point as losing villages does not mainly contribute to the loss of culture. A village is only a materialistic being which can be lost or destroyed over time and can be rebuilt again. However, the knowledge of one's culture cannot be completely destroyed by physical factors. If the people of the villages utilized their knowledge correctly and had a strong will to ensure the survival of their culture, then destroyed villages will not hinder these plans of continuity. It’s just a matter of insight, will, and attitude towards your own culture. Even with the rapid modernization happening, the people could still effectively utilize new technology to enhance their cultural music and dance. The media could be used as a means of promotion if they feel that their existence is being threatened. Furthermore, I also agree that the loss in interest of children towards their culture played a big role towards the loss of cultures. As they are fully engrossed with the media and technology, they would not have the time to practice their traditions. Without the active participation of the younger generation, the old generation would have no body left to pass their cultural knowledge down to ensure its existence leading to cultures to slowly diminish.
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DeleteAlthough I disagree with the point you made, as I believe that the loss of community impacts the loss of culture, but I would now say that after reading your point that the loss of villages is not the sole reason for loss of culture and I agree that the younger generations could if they wanted to learn the traditions if they wanted.
DeleteI would have to agree and disagree with the point you (adam) made. It is true that modernization is playing quite a large role in this loss of cultural music in the village that was destroyed. This is because yonger people are less interested in the cultural music of their parents village. However I think that this is not just because of modernization. The fact that this younger generation never grew up in the village means that they didn't grow up into the cultural in that village. So this must also be taken into consideration.
DeleteI agree with your point that the village being gone only causes a problem for them and is not the real reason that culture is disappearing. Children can learn the culture if they really wanted to but as you said they are to busy doing other things.Technology advancing is the reason why culture is dying.
DeleteI agree with adam that the loss of villages isn't causing the death to the country
DeleteI would agree with the fact that the removal of villages results in the loss of culture, but i would disagree that it is the only reason. Because the loss of the village is only the loss of a convenient place to practice these traditional cultures. People can still practice their various cultures within a town or a city or within any urban enviroment provided they have the will to do it. Most people nowadays focus more on electronics, studies, friends, hangouts and also work. Because lets face it in an urban environemnt if you dont focus on your studies or your work youre gonna go down the gutter in life. However people can still practice these cultures if time is present. Some people do still practice traditional cultures as shown by the statistics provided by the author of the article when he said 80% of cultures present were rural showing that 20% would be urban, which shows that some urban residents do practice their traditional cultures. So in conclusion, i would disagree with the author as there are other factors that lead to the loss of various cultures instead of the destruction of the village itself although that is a factor as well.
ReplyDeleteI believe that your point on how people can still practice various cultures in a city providing that they have a will to do so, is harder than it sounds. Even if they find a place to practice, they may not find many people who believe in the same things as they do therefore the traditional practices would not have the same community feel as it would have in a village. This may not necessarily be due to the lack of interest in the culture, but instead it could be because the villagers, who have been evicted from their homes, have dispersed all over the city. This makes it harder to find people who believe in the same traditions and people outside of the community may find it hard to fully appreciate the culture.
DeleteYour point on corruption prevailing in the municipalities I disapprove of. The fact that the government is not working for the people, when they are under its stewardship is quite disgusting and disappointing, albeit it is not surprising for I have heard of such displacement before in slums of Shanghai. Having the politicians working for themselves helps neither the state, nor the people. I find it blindingly ignorant, though there is little to stop them, so many of them do indeed get away with such acts. Everything equates to money, people are just an obstacle in the path of access to it, it seems. Being driven by capital, much is left to regret in the future, for a lot of what else that people value is neglected. The demolishing of villages in such a way will not be undone, and what once existed in them will not return, and this is largely down to these politicians. Yet it is all part of what they call ‘development’, and is perhaps a ‘necessary’ step.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your point that, in recent years, China has adopted a very elitist and modernization mindset. I believe that this is one of the main reasons culture is being destroyed because the people do not want to be 'farmers' or live in 'villages' instead they want to be modern and use their mobile phones and computers while living in their apartment blocks. If this bias could be rooted, then maybe the cultural heritage of these villages could be preserved. Furthermore this mindset to become increasingly modern has influenced the government and caused them to take short cuts on the road to success, this means that factories are not receiving the proper safety equipment and that corruption is rampant within the government because of the desire for money in order to raise one's social standing.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with your point that once the villages are gone, so is the culture. This is mainly because when a village is destroyed, the community spirit and the close-knit society would have gone with it. People may say that these villagers can always find an alternative place to practice, however, some musicians have downgraded to playing under a highway pass. This is a highly unpleasant atmosphere for performing and can also take away the lively spirit from the group, as well as make them feel out of place. They may have had to practice under a highway pass because modernisation has not allowed them many opportunities to play elsewhere due to money and a lack of facilities that would support these traditions. By being in a village, the people in the community would feel as if they belong and would be accepted as they all practice the same traditions. People outside of these communities may find it hard to understand the basis of their culture and why it is so important to keep it alive. Due to this lack of understanding, people disregard the importance of culture and traditional beliefs. Unfortunately, the growth in modernisation has lead to the destruction of villages in efforts to meet the demands, such as housing, from the growing population. Modernisation makes it easier for people to leave culture behind, as they would have other things to focus on, such as earning money in order to keep up with the standards of living in a city.
ReplyDeleteI may disagree with your main point on how culture is loss however I do agree with the music one. Most Iban people don't practice the the traditional instruments so our music is only played by very few people. This also happened to our traditional dances with one of my family members being the only one who is able to do so. Most of us now want to play other instruments that are more popular in mainstream music such as guitar (me included) as popular music influenced our choices of music and instrumentation. The constant influence of mainstream music from western countries have tarnished the musical culture of the Iban though we still do love dancing, heck I do it sometimes. It does not make us lose our lively spirit when celebrating as some of my family members are terrible at dancing but try very hard to imitate the dances when malay pop music is played which is hilarious to watch making everyone spirit more lively and the time more enjoyable.
DeleteI agree with your point that the universal allures of modern life have siphoned young people away from traditional pursuits. Cultural heritage has been slowly waning out over the years as modernization rapidly progresses. With the aid of new technology, people are now able to perform tasks easier and more efficiently. The media provides people with entertainment and unlimited knowledge with just one press of a button. Manufacturing and tertiary businesses are more popular amongst people as a source of finance rather than hard labor in the fields. With these rapid new developments, it is not surprising that even people from rural areas with a heavy traditional background to come to the city in hopes of experiencing the new modern era.
ReplyDeleteThe younger generation, a beacon of hope to others, has now lost interest in pursuing their traditional backgrounds. They are more attracted to the media and new technology. With a characteristic of ignorance, curiosity would be a natural thing and this forms a sense of attraction. Once they are exposed to the ‘new life,’ people would not be willing to come back to their traditional lives as they find out that the urban life is more interesting and easier. They devote their time in assimilating into the new culture, completely forgetting their old one.
Loss of villages are not the sole reason to the loss of culture. From my perspective, our tribe has kept all of it's culture even when the government has moved most of us out to more urban areas or housing projects. Yes we do no longer have the same number of long houses as we did before, but that does not stop us from celebrating traditional festivals such as Gawai with our family. However through modernization and the current advancements in todays technology, the younger, newer generation of the Iban tribe do not practice these cultures and do so only when told by their parents or family members. However this does not stop our culture to flourish all across Borneo. The main reason for our culture to flourish is because there is a lot of pride being a member of the Iban, a feared warrior race 1 million strong known for being the headhunters and masters of the jungle. This has kept a lot of our younger generations interested in our ways and eager to learn them through the respect of tribe elders. As hunter gatherers one may think that our culture is tarnished due to less forests and having products available for us at supermarkets or stores nearby, but this Christmas me and a couple of my cousins went down the river to get vegetables growing in the river banks…barefoot! Now, hunting is done only by the men and older members of the tribe and this still happens today, so what am I to say about getting free food that people get for you, let alone good food?
ReplyDeleteI agree that the loss of villages is not the sole reason for loss of culture, though it is difficult finding other reasons other than the pressures of urbanisation and the allure of modern technologies, which stunt culture rather than eliminate it. I definitely think that, unlike the Iban tribe which is large in number, the decrease in villages does force people into adapting to a modern culture that is not their own. The traditional pursuits of families like the Lei Family are minorities; few in number, and as there are less villages that allow for them to thrive in an environment that is accustomed to their traditional culture, there is less opportunity to follow their culture in a new environment. The Iban tribe is famous; the publicity that they receive for being the Headhunters of Borneo allows them to be a culture of interest. They bear a historical significance to Borneo and that makes them more appealing to learn about. And of course, where there is interest, there is a larger want to preserve culture. I do not believe that this is the case for minority traditional cultures like those of the Lei Family; who are trying to find means to publicise and gain interest in their culture. For them, in a society like China where urbanisation is so dominant and encouraged, finding people who are interested in practising and preserving their culture - even for social demands - is very difficult. Therefore, I agree that the loss of villages is not the sole reason for loss of culture, but when applied to China, it is a dominant reason.
DeleteI agree with your point that the government plays a massive part in the recently progressive loss of culture in China. China, no doubt, is a superpower and it is understandable that the Chinese government wants their country's economy to continue growing so that it can cement its place in the international market. However, the government should not have a one track mind of improving its economy; the government should be aware that although certain actions, such as selling rural land rights as a substitute for a weak tax base as mentioned in the article, could profit them financially, it could cost the local people their heritage. This is psychologically very damaging to the people and could have a very serious long term damage, such as the permanent loss of a culture or even ethnicity. In the article, many villages have been destroyed due to the government - the loss of villages itself contributes to the loss of culture, and we can see that it is actually the government who has created the environment for this to happen. Although improving the country's economy would theoretically mean that the locals get a higher living standard and better lives, all governments should ensure that they are not getting rid of the country's history and culture in the process, as once this heritage and tradition has been lost, it can never be recovered in its authentic sense again. Money can buy many things to provide comfort and luxury but it cannot buy centuries-old tradition and history.
ReplyDeleteIn general, I do not agree with the point you made in the article, which said that rapid unbanisation means village life, the bedrock of culture, traditions and history are disappearing. However I would agree the point to be made in the case of China because rural culture could be swept away by the wave of urbanization, which makes it significant for the government to take necessary steps to preserve rural culture. This makes your point valid as the Chinese government has not been balancing between modernisation and preserving the culture such as traditional songs and dances, in which about 80% of them are rural. On the other hand, as I have mentioned earlier, I would not be approve of the general idea of it as urbanization is not always linked to loss of culture but also other social problems such as shortage of housing, unemployment due to overpopulation and etc. Nevertheless, it also brings in positive impacts which include increased health care and food for people living in those areas and a decrease in the cost of transportation as settlement tend to be nucleated.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with the statement in the article, that location and short time available prevents people from learning their culture. However it may be inconvenient to them and more troublesome, when a person is determined to learn a culture there is no excuse and they will do anything to learn. The village is something materialistic and can be replaced. This is not the main reason to why there is a loss of culture, without the village they are still able to educate themselves about their culture but it all depends on whether they are willing to put in the effort to be taught or not. In my opinion, one of the main reasons to why culture is gradually fading away is due to modernisation and the progression in technology, which makes everything else easier. Before phones and the internet existed people would meet up and socialise with one another but now people can do the exact same thing without the having to use any effort. Even those who have grown up in rural environments are curious and fascinated by the wonders and capability of new technology.
ReplyDeleteI can agree, to a certain extent, with the point that was made about the "universal allures of life" siphoning young people away from traditional pursuits. It is agreeable that traditional pursuits are generally paid less attention to by the new generation in this ever-advancing modern society, but I would not agree that "siphoned" would be the correct term to describe the relation of today's youths with modern "allures". The young generation, in this society, has grown up during large transitions in technology - pagers became cellular phones which became smartphones; hand-drawn animation became computer-generated-images; computers used for sending digitalised letters became a means to explore the infinite knowledge that the world has to offer - and most of our generation grew up adapting to these changes and learning to evolve and adapt as the tools and technology around us did. This created a fascination with the new products that modern societies kept (and continues) spitting out at us. We were unknowingly taught to keep anticipating each technological advance with an interest that is only growing as we are. It is clear that human beings feel the need to self-educate when they are presented with materials and data that they do not entirely understand. And that is what our generation now focuses on doing - self-educating about these modern society "allures" and manipulating such products to help them self-educate further. These new products can be used to our advantage and further our knowledge, and that is what makes them so "alluring" and prominent in modern societies.
ReplyDeleteHowever, with that being said, I also feel like this point generally applies to more globalised countries. Where there are those living in technologically-advanced nations, there are always individuals that are aware that there is access to a lifestyle that is beyond what they are used to. It also largely depends on a culture's firmness in enforcing certain morals according to their culture. In China, urbanisation is thriving more and more and according to statistics, villages are thriving less and less. The push of a whole nation to move forward and advance leaves less opportunity to enforce cultural beliefs and encourage the preservation of traditional pursuits. On the other hand, with that being said, some individuals like the Lei Family have grown up with different views due to a different, more traditional Chinese lifestyle, and manage to preserve their culture with a firm hand. They continue to take every opportunity to display and educate the people around them of their culture. Those are the kinds of people who prioritise keeping culture rather than trying to change and adapt to the demands of a modern society.
I Agree with your point that the destruction of villages results in the loss of culture, because when the small villages are gone the local and unique traditions are gone because urbanisation and modernisation where people are thrown into new ways of life which are overtaking the old ways of life. I also agree that the loss of villages means that there is a loss of community and without a community there is no pathway for the new generations to learn the aspects of the culture such as the music and so lose there heritage as well as ending there traditions because the new generation don't want to be associated with farmers and would prefer to belong to the urban way of life and if they did belong to a strong local community than they would not have this view.
ReplyDeletei disagree with the main point of the article, that once villages are gone culture is lost. Although i can see it has an impact as less people practice music. They still meet to practice, the culture is not lost just less convenient to maintain. Also loss of culture is not just affected by location, more the lack of interest in younger generations. If loss of culture was just due to the destruction of the village some of the member of the older community would not still meet to play traditional music.
ReplyDeleteyes i agree with your point, it has become less convenient as time goes on and urbanizaation takes effect on the younger generation resulting in loss of interest. That isnt solely down to location or lack there of, its mainly due to inconvenience as opposed to the destruction of their village
DeleteThe main point I feel being made here is that as soon as they lost their village their music and entire culture is gone. I disagree with it strongly because culture isn’t only based on one aspect of tradition.
ReplyDeleteThere are many ways to keep culture and its even said so on the article that they meet up as often as possible to keep the feeling alive.
It is also said that often the younger generations that don’t have time to participate. So it seems like that they try to keep the interest and involvement high, however its difficult as many try to move on and keep up with modernization in a world that’s actively evolving around them.
I do think that the importance of the village and location is wildly exaggerated, it shouldn’t stop you from practicing your tradition, because although yes, their village has been destroyed by corrupt developers, its actually down to the villagers to make the effort to continue their traditions.
So altogether I feel like culture can still be active and practiced regardless of obstacles such as a loss of location or modernization.
I disagree that the once the village is gone the culture is gone because although the village disappearing did effect them losing their culture little by little, but i think that it is really because of the younger generation. This is because although losing the village made it hard and lead them to needing to arrange practice sessions every once in while, it is the younger generation that do not see that culture is important and they would rather focus on their studies or go out with their friends so over time they stopped showing up.
ReplyDeleteAs technology grows, cultures seem to deteriorate and this is because people need to do less things with the coming of technology, people think of culture as a thing of the past and move on from it. The ones who try to keep it alive such as Mr. Lei will eventually die which will cause the group to disband and the culture forgotten.
My main point is that people are the ones who keep culture alive and I think that culture dies when people stop to care for it.
I find it really sad that these villagers have had such misfortune that their homes along with their old lives were destroyed. Their homes were destroyed but this didn’t stop them from continuing the culture of their village even though the villagers had been scattered. It is terrible that they had to lose it all and nothing was even built were their village used to be. However I find it really heart warming that regardless of their hardships they still try to keep their culture from their village alive through their music. It is amazing that they come together in the most unlikely place to play these amazing music pieces. I also find it is so noble that these people that they want to keep their history and their culture alive even though it was almost stamped out. It is a shame that the young people these days cannot or don’t want to continue telling their villages history through these songs. If the village was not demolished it would have been much easier for the younger generation to keep up the traditions of old. But there is also the chance that the younger generation would not be as interesting because of modernization in this day and age.
ReplyDeleteThe writer claims that it is a very bad thing that some older traditions are dying due to modernization. However I disagree with this as many traditions are dying as they are no longer an actions the new generations wishes to do.
ReplyDeleteAfter spending 5 years in Taiwan and my mom being Taiwanese I learned a lot of their traditions and since China has many similar traditions it is very apparent to me that some of the youth just lose interest no matter how much technology they are exposed to.
While this has been said it is important to remember your heritage and relive it however the thousands of traditions that have died off during the advancement of countries has become rather common and this simple truth can be drawn from a quote, "ten thousand year ago everybody knew the earth was the center of the universe, five hundred years ago everybody knew the earth was flat..."-Tommy Lee Jones playing Agent K in MIB. This rather dull seeming movie quote dose however show that as technology advances the things we know become the thing we thought, the traditions that were meant to bring good luck are simply dances and as generations pass people become more independent and begin to realize that they must do somethings for themselves and that a prayer or a dance doesn't mean you can take it easy in life.
I do agree with your point on how the loss of villages has an impact on the loss of culture and traditions. The local villages always seem to be where cultures are practiced and embraced, such as the traditional music in this story. This is because families pass this tradition onto their children and other people living in the village, with urbanization and the loss of villages this seems to be left behind. People would rather keep to themselves as many of them move to apartments in cities or towns from their villages because they feel out of place and do not know many others, the sense of community is lost and they no longer have people to share these traditions and cultures with. The younger people are forced to move away to find money and work, so the culture is left in the hands of the elder people from the village. They are not able to pass these cultures and traditions onto the younger generations as they are now scattered in different areas, I find that the culture seems to slowly fade away due to this and traditions are lost. Although there are always some people who still practice the traditional music, they do so under a bridge and there are only a few of them, this will no doubt lessen their enthusiasm of the traditional music as they feel discouraged and forgotten. Which is sad as they lose a part of where they come from and no longer try to share it with others. It is different when they would play in villages where they would be heard by a happy audience. Overall, I see how the loss of villages affects cultures and how it would be hard for people to keep these traditions alive with modernisation.
ReplyDeleteSorry it's late Mrs Gougeon, I accidentally missed it on the managebac.
I'm sorry to hear that your once beloved villages are diminishing over time, but saying that the culture of the country is dying with them is an extreme point of view. Culture lives in the peoples minds and hearts, so as humanity evolves so does it's culture. What people are losing isn't it's culture but it's strong grips to the past, living in the history instead of leaving it as history
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