This week, our reading material is “what is art for” by Ellen Dissanayake. In this article, she talks about her own experiences living abroad for about 15 years. Then she has to force herself to understand the exotic cultures, and get involve in the exotic societies. She writes what “Living in another culture also makes you realize that different as other people’s beliefs may be from one’s own, we are all still recognizably people – and so wonder what is universal”(page. 16). I like the quote, “Adopting the species-centered view of art allows us personally to better appreciate the continuity of ourselves and our artmaking with nature” (p. 26). This just means that art connects people and art is beneficial to the betterment of society.
I also have some experiences which are about this topic. When I was a middle school student in China, I had to learn how to speak English. And in that time, I just hated English, because I thought if I want to communicate with someone, I could use Chinese, even when I want to talk to someone who does not speak Chinese, I could use dictionary or translate. However, I changed this thoughts after I went to England. When I came back to China from England, I thought the language is no longer a subject. It is a tool- a tool of communication. I could use different languages to deeply comprehend different cultures. I really want to thank the people who create this diversified world. People are living in many different societies with many different cultures. Then we could feel different life styles. Personal speaking, cultures are arts. One could only deeply understand three or four cultures in his whole life at most. Because cultures should not be read in books or internet, they should be felt or touched.
Hi Houzhi!I like the quote that you picked up from Dissanayake’s article, “Living in another culture also makes you realize that different as other people’s beliefs may be from one’s own, we are all still recognizably people – and so wonder what is universal”. I believe art is associated with many aspects of our society, as you said “art connects people”. Also, I am an international student here at UO, I think language is a window for as to appreciate and understand different cultures. According to your experience, particularly living and studying in different countries, do you consider language as art? You mentioned you used languages to comprehend different cultures. Could you give an example of that? How do you “felt” and “touched” culture in a particular way?
Learning new languages and cultures is a very useful important art form. I had similar problems with learn a new language. I speak both English and Spanish. Though it wasn’t until I studied abroad in Spain that I learn how to speak language. Once I was able to easy communicate with the people around me I was able to understand the culture more. The connections I made me understand the culture as a art. Everyone should experience different cultures because they are truly beautiful. The quote that you used, “Living in another culture also makes you realize that different as other people’s beliefs may be from one’s own, we are all still recognizably people – and so wonder what is universal”(page. 16) is a good way to describe how cultures work.