How Did Culture Show Identity and Values?
- Culture isn’t just something people consume, it’s something they use to express who they are, what they value, and how they see the world.
- When societies experience dramatic changes, conflicts, migrations, or new technologies, their cultural expression shifts with them.
- Art, literature, music, fashion, and performance all become mirrors of identity.
What Do We Mean by Cultural Identity?
- Cultural identity refers to the shared beliefs, traditions, languages, foods, histories, and arts that shape a group of people.
- People express identity through symbols (flags, patterns), rituals, stories, and images.
- Culture gives people a sense of belonging, stability, and meaning.
- When identity feels threatened: by war, colonisation, migration, or rapid change, cultural expression becomes even stronger.
- Culture is like a badge you wear on your coat: it tells others who you are, and reminds you where you come from.
How Does Culture Express Identity?
- Through visual art, which can show pride, resistance, or community.
- Through music and dance, which strengthen group bonds.
- Through literature, which tells stories about values, beliefs, and collective experiences.
- Through fashion, which communicates heritage, belonging, or rebellion.
- Through rituals and ceremonies, which reinforce shared traditions.
- Through language, which carries memory, humour, and worldview.
- Everything from graffiti to poetry to national dress is a cultural statement, a way for people to say, “This is who we are.”
The First World War and Cultural Expression
- WWI reshaped cultural identity on a massive scale. It produced trauma, disillusionment, patriotism, protest and a wave of new cultural expression.
- Soldiers, artists, and writers struggled to convey the horrors of trench warfare.
- Many believed the war shattered old values like honour, heroism, and nationalism.
- Artists like Paul Nash used bleak landscapes and broken machinery to show the destruction.
- Writers questioned authority and expressed grief, anger, and cynicism.
- The war created a divide between pre-war optimism and post-war disbelief, a cultural identity rooted in loss.
- WWI forced people to rethink who they were and what their societies stood for.
Dada: When Identity Is Expressed Through Chaos
- The Dada movement emerged as a direct response to the trauma of WWI.
- It rejected reason, logic, and traditional artistic rules.
- Dada artists saw the war as proof that rational society had failed.
- Their identity was rooted in anti-art, absurdity, and protest.
- Artists like George Grosz and Hannah Höch used satire and collage to attack militarism, nationalism, and hypocrisy.
- Dada valued nonsense and randomness, a symbolic way of expressing a world that no longer made sense.
- Works shocked viewers intentionally; they wanted to disrupt comfort and force reflection.
- Dada is like flipping the table because the game doesn’t make sense anymore.
National and Ethnic Identity Through Culture
- Indigenous art often reflects land, ancestry, and spiritual beliefs.
- Traditional dress (e.g., kimonos, saris, dashikis) communicates pride and belonging.
- Music and storytelling keep histories alive when they aren’t written down.
- Protest art (murals, posters) shows resistance to oppression or colonialism.
- Religious architecture expresses shared values, worldviews, and community strength.
- Language revival movements use poetry, song, and theatre to protect endangered languages.
- Māori tattoos (tā moko) express genealogy, achievements, and personal identity, culture literally written on the body.
Cultural Identity in a Globalised World
- Global media allows cultures to mix and influence each other.
- Pop culture blends styles from multiple countries.
- Migration creates hybrid identities: “third culture kids,” diasporas, multicultural communities.
- Social media allows individuals to curate cultural identity online.
- At the same time, some groups push to preserve their traditions in fear of losing them.
- Today, culture works like a remix: layers of old and new, local and global.
How Culture Shows Values
- Heroic values → epic literature, patriotic songs.
- Spiritual values → religious art, rituals, architecture.
- Equality and justice → protest art, civil rights music.
- Individual freedom → experimental literature, modern art.
- Community and tradition → festivals, folk music, storytelling.
- Culture becomes a canvas where values are painted: sometimes loudly, sometimes subtly.
Case Studies
Paul Nash (WWI)
- British war artist who depicted the battlefield as broken, bleak, and unnatural.
- Rejected heroic depictions of war; shaped a cultural identity of mourning and realism.
George Grosz and Dada
- Used absurdity to protest nationalism and militarism.
- His satirical works reflected German disillusionment and anger after the war.
Indigenous Australian Dot Painting
- Represents ancestral stories (Dreamtime) and cultural memory.
- A form of identity preservation after colonisation.
Mexican Muralism (Diego Rivera)
- After revolution, murals were used to tell national history and promote unity.
- Reflected values of community, struggle, and cultural pride.
- Always link cultural expression to its historical context.
- Ask: What identity is being expressed? Whose values are being shown?
- Use specific art/writing examples to support your points.
- Remember that cultural identity can be positive (pride) or reactive (protest).
- Wars, migrations, and technology all reshape cultural identity.
- Describing art without explaining identity or values.
- Ignoring the emotional impact of historical events on cultural expression.
- Forgetting that movements often emerge as reactions to trauma or change.
- Overgeneralising: not all members of a culture express identity the same way.
- Treating culture as fixed instead of evolving.
- How did the trauma of the First World War influence cultural identity and artistic expression?
- Why was Dada considered “anti-art,” and what values did it challenge?
- In what ways can cultural expression preserve identity during times of change or oppression?
- How does globalisation complicate or enrich cultural identity today?
- Which example of cultural expression (art, music, literature, dress) do you think best communicates identity, and why?