Finding “Culture” in Historical Civilizations

 

Studying a society’s culture can provide us with insights about the way people lived and what their values were. Using artifacts such as clothing, art, music, and literature, cultural historians piece together patterns of daily living, and try to answer questions about how people in historical societies viewed each other and themselves. In this activity, you will identify and describe elements of modern culture and think about how they might be interpreted a thousand years from now.

1. Choose one element of culture (clothing, music, food, religion, art, values/morals, language/slang, beauty ideals, dating norms, gender expectations, family patterns, etc.).
2. Create a new post. Include your chosen element of culture within the title of your post.
3. Begin your post by describing your chosen element of culture. Basically, what is it?
4. List and describe three specific and modern examples of your chosen element of culture. Include clickable links, images, etc. when appropriate.
5. Now imagine a researcher a thousand years in the future finds the three pieces of evidence you described in step number four.  Based on the three elements, what might that researcher conclude about our culture and society?