Cultures, communities and adaptatio

Cultures, communities and adaptation It is the premise of this paper that culture has an important role to play in the process of adaptation. Staven hagen (1998) suggests three definitions of culture: as capital, as creativity, or as a total way of life. Here, the third view is assumed in reference to culture, meaning ‘the sum total of the material and spiritual activities and products of a given social group … a coherent and self-contained system of values and symbols as well as a set of practices that a specific group reproduces over time and provides individuals with the signposts and meanings for behaviour’ (Stavenhagen, 1998, p. 5). However, the need to adapt to climate change may pressure individuals and communities into changing livelihoods, lifestyles or patterns of behaviour, potentially challenging existing notions of culture. A series of questions arise: does, and if so how does, a shared culture provide, alter or limit the options for adaptation? How and why do individuals within communities respond to the prospect of changes to their lives and livelihoods? And importantly, what lessons emerge for those working to secure lives and livelihoods in the face of climate change? Stavenhagen’s definition of culture suggests an important interdependence between groups and individuals. The prospect of the autonomy of individuals being limited by the communally held cultural environment has long been of particular interest to political philosophers, as it forms a focus of the disagreement between the liberal and communitarian schools. Will Kymlicka and Joseph Raz in particular have sought to clarify the nature of the relationship between the individual and their cultural community. Raz and Kymlicka are by no means the only philosophers to approach this issue, which is central to the communitarian school, nor are they by any means the first. See, for example, Van Dyke’s earlier work on the liberal approach to group rights (Van Dyke, 1977), or, earlier still, Hegel’s critique of liberalism and the interdependency of the individual and community (Kymlicka, 2002). Their work offers valuable insights for those attempting to understand the role of culture in the life of individuals and how it relates to the challenge of adaptation.