Cultural identity

Cultural identity

The right to take part in cultural life is respectful of cultural diversity and serves as a protection against social exclusion. Culture must be understood broadly to mean the shared way of living of a group of people, including their accumulated knowledge and understandings, skills and values, and which is perceived by them to be unique and meaningful. States have a responsibility to take all necessary measures to prevent the poor and other marginalized groups from being socially excluded and to enable them to participate in the social, cultural and political life of their respective communities. Defining a national identity is not simple (Bunschoten,20). Cultural identity is an important contributor to people's wellbeing. Identifying with a particular culture makes people feel they belong and gives them a sense of security. It also provides access to social networks, which provide support and shared values and aspirations. Social networks can help to break down barriers and build a sense of trust between people - a phenomenon sometimes referred to as social capital (Bunschoten,30).

However, strong cultural identity expressed in the wrong way can contribute to barriers between groups. An established cultural identity has also been linked with positive outcomes in areas such as health and education. Some critics of cultural identity argue that the preservation of cultural identity, being based upon difference, is a divisive force in society, and that cosmopolitanism gives individuals a greater sense of shared citizenship (Bunschoten,40). That is not to always be divisive. When considering practical association in international society, states may share an inherent part of their 'make up' that gives common ground, and alternate means of identifying with each other (Tan, 55).

Hellenistic culture

In spite of the political turbulence and chaos of the fourth century BC, Greece was poised on its most triumphant period: the Hellenistic age. The word, Hellenistic, is derived from the word, Hellene, which was the Greek word for the Greeks. The Hellenistic age was the "age of the Greeks; during this time, Greek culture and power extended itself across the known world (Tan, 55). While the classical age of Greece produced great literature, poetry, philosophy, drama, and art, the Hellenistic age "hellenized" the world. At the root of Hellenism were the conquests of Philip of Macedon and his son, Alexander. However, the Macedonians did more than control territory; they actively exported Greek culture: politics, law, literature, philosophy, religion, and art. This was a new idea, exporting culture, and more than anything else this exporting of culture would deeply influence all the civilizations and cultures that would later erupt from this soil: the Romans, the Christians, the Jewish diaspora, and Islam (http://www2.sunysuffolk.edu/westn/essayhellenistic.html).

Hellenistic culture is the legacy of Alexander the Great. He did not spread it (how could he when the Hellenistic era only began with his death?) but it was his conquests that planted the seeds of it.

Of course, the ideas and discoveries - - what amounts to the culture - of the Hellenistic era could not be spread to the rest of ...