The word culture, from the Latin colo, -ere, with its root meaning "to cultivate", generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance. Different definitions of "culture" reflect different theoretical bases for understanding, or criteria for evaluating, human activity. Anthropologists most commonly use the term "culture" to refer to the universal human capacity to classify, codify and communicate their experiences symbolically. This capacity is long been taken as a defining feature of the genus Homo. However, primatologists such as Jane Goodall have identified aspects of culture among our closest relatives in the animal kingdom.Goodall, J. 1986. The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of Behavior.

Defining "culture"

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Village Voice Theater


Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400
TR Warszawa's Shakespeare made vivid—and almost invisible (By Michael Feingold)

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400
Duck, motherfucker (By GARRETT EISLER)

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400
Had us at "cocksuckaz" (By ROB KENDT)

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400
Masochistically marrying New York (By McCann, Ruth)

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400
Another play featuring Lynndie England (By Alexis Soloski)

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400
A play that should shock–but doesn't (By Alexis Soloski)

NYT > Theater

Theater Review | 'Marko the Prince': Balkan Tale: Blood Ties, and Ties to Home
Thu, 03 Jul 2008 02:06:55 -0000
“Marko the Prince” is an ambitious portrait of a fictional shell-shocked village on the border of Bosnia and Serbia in the summer of 1992.
Arts, Briefly: Springtime for a New Musical
Fri, 04 Jul 2008 02:29:37 -0000
The Tony Award winner Idina Menzel will appear in “Nero” at Vassar College.
Theater Listings
Fri, 04 Jul 2008 02:44:28 -0000
Selective listings from theater critics of The New York Times.
On London Stages, the Devil in Love’s Deep Blue Sea
Tue, 01 Jul 2008 01:24:47 -0000
When lovers meet on London’s stages this summer, the odds are it’s not violins they’re hearing. It’s alarm bells.
Theater Review | 'Superior Donuts': So, How Would You Like Your Culture Clash? Joke-Filled or Sugar-Glazed?
Mon, 30 Jun 2008 04:17:36 -0000
Tracy Letts’s “August: Osage County” is a full theatrical meal. His new play, “Superior Donuts,” is a much less ambitious repast.
Arts, Briefly: Broadway’s Lights Will Stay On
Thu, 03 Jul 2008 06:42:01 -0000
After two and a half months of talks Actors’ Equity Association reached a tentative agreement with the Broadway League, averting a strike.

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