What is Culture? 

When I was in primary school, I was taught that “culture is the way of life of the people”. It came to me so easily. I crammed the definition and never hesitated to reproduce it on occasions I was asked “what is culture?” When we got to secondary school, the definition of culture got a little beef up; “culture is the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, and attitudes.” hmmm! That was a little mouthful but I found my way around it. Trust me I was good at cramming. It poured it back to them at my junior WAEC. Little wonder I came out with distinction! (Don’t ask for my result) The definition took another twist when I got into the university. GST (Generation Studies) gave me a rather vague definition of culture “culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for behavior acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievement of human groups, including their embodiment in artifacts; the essential core of culture consists of traditional ideas and especially their attached values; culture systems may, on the one hand, be considered as products of action, on the other hand, as conditioning influences upon further action”. I managed to survive this definition. After several attempts at cramming it, I gave up. I can’t remember though if “what is culture” was asked in the exam, I sure could have told them my primary school definition. Anyways I passed the exam As I immersed myself a little more into studies at post graduate, the definition of culture lost colour. I learnt that “culture is communication; communication is culture”. How do I explain to my little niece that came home with the assignment “what is culture?” How do I communicate to her that “culture is communication and communication is culture?” Maybe if it is broken down, the meaning may come through to us. What is communication? Communication is an exchange of information between a sender and receiver through a channel. If culture is communication, who then is the sender and who is the receiver and what message is being transmitted through what channel? (Oh please don’t loose me; I am trying to make it as simple as I can). Role call- Let make the sender the society which comprises of institutions like, the family, the schools, the church/mosque, etc and then the receiver as You and I. Let’s put the message as the kind of food we eat, our dress code etc which forms our beliefs, taboos, norms and value. They disseminate this message through print, radio, family gatherings, festivals etc… The Aha! Moment- What is culture really? Not many of us have given it a taught. I agree with the later definition that culture is communication. Putting many dots together, I see how it all connects now. The Americans have born and indoctrinated (not in the negative sense) that America is the world. This notion have been communicated to them through institutions like the family, school, Hollywood etc and this belief and value for America have become their way of life. Every developed nation today have that value, belief, norms that have been communicated over and over again through institutions and the feedback that we all se today is seen in their way of life. Lesson- Now I can confidently tell my little niece that “culture is communication and communication is culture”. I will deliberately drive some virtues into her; until those virtues becomes her values and beliefs that she holds dearly and reflects in her way of life; I will not stop until communicating to her until she too becomes a nation builder. I am sure when she gets to school tomorrow and she asked “what is culture” her hands will be flung up high…