Myrna Cunningham, Former chair and current member of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues article published in (Culture and Development, 2013) by United Nation, Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. Says, Culture, through its various expressions and practices, especially language, represents, links, enriches, mixes, and consolidates the structure that sustains and puts into operation the socio-economic formation of a given society. Cultural values are needed to achieve development, preserve identity and guarantee Living Well. This way, life, coexistence and complementarity harmoniously blend for the benefit of communities and nations. Culture can transform the local context for a balanced economic, environmental and social change. Culture is an active process whereby human groups meet their present collective needs. It involves language, values, behaviours, standards, institutions, human knowledge and capacities, and individual and collective memories that make sense of human existence and without which this existence is not possible. Consequently, the dimensions of culture reveal themselves in politics, economics and social life in general. Living Well cannot, therefore, be linked only with per capita income or economic growth; it should include values, standards, ideas and behaviours that provide for harmony between human beings and Mother Earth. Culture and language are the primary substrates for the current generations to +feel encouraged by the present and renew their ancient legacy.
Posted on: Thu, 27 Jun 2013 20:39:01 +0000
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