Worldview

Worldview, Culture and Other Ramblings

While reading Gunther Kress's  Multimodality, Representation and New Media, one thing stuck out to me. Kress used the example of a girl's drawing to express both meaning and perspective. "The difference in meaning depends on the relation of the depicted entities to each other in the frame of the picture-space: the resultant difference in Georgia’s sense of herself and her family is an effect of these spatial relations. In drawing the materiality of sound is not available for making, to indicate just how ‘being’ Georgia’s parents seem to her, instead the affordance of space is used – making things taller or shorter, broader or thinner." Essentially, Georgia's drawing was effected by the relationship she had with her parents and the relationship her parents had with each other. Georgia depicted herself much smaller, because of the dependency she had on her parents and the role they played in her life. She also made her father taller than he actually is, possibly to show the equality between both of her parents.

This idea of worldview effecting our perspectives of ourselves and our culture is carried over in to history. If you look at the people in Mesopotamia, you can see that their world view was troubled. Because of their location between two unpredictable and violent rivers, they too became violent; often making human sacrifices and being involved in wars. Even their religion relied on the mercy of their Gods. These people highly contrast those of the Egyptians, who also lived by a river. However the people of Egypt were much more peaceful. Because of their location and worldview they not only had the free time to develop complicated writing systems and create some of the largest structures of the old world, but they were also able to develop a positive view of the afterlife and their Gods. All of this because of worldview (and perhaps location).

Fast forward to the indigenous people of the Arctic. These people have a multitude of words for just one substance; snow. Their interaction with the environment around has gone so far as to effect their communication and language. Worldview, inner reflection and outward perspective play a huge role in culture, communication and language. Look at society today. Our language is shaped by our values. We are constantly abbreviating words, shortening sentences, and eliminating grammar; all to get our point across in the timeliest manner. We create words that mean the most to our culture, and often times more than just one (the word "butt" is a great example of this). Understanding the way worldview effects our perspective is important in understanding other cultures and people.

This concept can stretch as far as the classroom. I'm not a major in education, but I know that understanding a student and their background can aid in teaching them. In programs like TESOL, it is important to understand where the students come from and their culture in order to help them learn the language of English.