The Pleasure of Culture
The Pleasure of Culture
The Pleasure of Culture is a space to critic the issue that a lot of cities are facing today. As urbanization is increasing across the world, how are cities addressing the erasure of culture and livelihoods in the process? “Gradually, the dominant characters of this cityscape became homogenized uniform boxes strongly threatening social diversity and multiculturalism of the contemporary cities.” (Zahiri, Nima, et al., (2017).
As a Cultural worker based in the City of Tucson on the southside, I’m deeply connected with this topic due largely to the erasure and persistence of Dominant Culture. Dominant culture refers to the established set of norms, values, beliefs, and behaviors that are practiced by the most powerful group within a society, organization, or institution. It dictates what is considered "standard" or "normal," often marginalizing minority or subordinate cultures. Within the scope of Dominant Culture, there’s much room particularly concerned with the built environment and how the city around us is communicating the standards and norms of the current society. Since 2019 and even before, cities and urban policy have been transforming to fit a narrative that many of us may be familiar with but we aren’t able to see the definition in the way it’s being shaped around us, therefore entrapping us into confiding into the dominant culture narrative of the future. From tall buildings, long roads, car accidents every week, transportation department budgets are ramping into the billions yet roads are becoming more dangerous, many more issues involving the built environment. Can we preserve culture while urbanizing continues at this rate? Countries across the globe are facing massive and rapid urbanization and it’s costing some cultures and traditions of their pasts that constructed how people are in the present day. What does the future look like because of this?
Since 2019 and even before, cities and urban policy have been transforming to fit a narrative that many of us may be familiar with but we aren’t able to see the definition in the way it’s being shaped around us, therefore entrapping us into confiding into the dominant culture narrative of the future. From tall buildings, long roads, car accidents every week, transportation department budgets are ramping into the billions yet roads are becoming more dangerous, many more issues involving the built environment. Can we preserve culture while urbanizing continues at this rate? Countries across the globe are facing massive and rapid urbanization and it’s costing some cultures and traditions of their pasts that constructed how people are in the present day. What does the future look like because of this?