تعاريف ملي از فرهنگ

به دنبال مباحث انتقادي که در پي مباحثي چون امپرياليسم فرهنگي در يونسکو مطرح گرديد، موضوع تعاريف ملي از فرهنگ (National definition of culture) به وجود آمد. کشورهاي مختلف بر اساس سياست‌هاي فرهنگي مختلفي که دارند فرهنگ را براي خود تعريف کرده‌اند که در اين قسمت تعاريف ملي کشورهاي روسيه، فرانسه، آلمان، کانادا، ايتاليا و پرتقال ذکر مي‌گردد. اين امر نشان مي‌دهد که هر يک از کشورها بر مبناي جهان‌بيني خود به يک تعريف اختصاصي از فرهنگ پرداخته و در سياست‌گذاري‌ها وبرنامه‌ريزي‌ها همان را مبناي عمل قرار مي‌دهند.

مروري بر تعاريف ملي برخي کشورها

Russia    

The national definition of culture is based upon the high public esteem for the fundamental social role that national culture plays in the life of the state and society.

Culture is regarded as a basic element of social consciousness; it is believed to be the whole system of values that forms national identity and integrity of the Russian nation, influencing all sectors of state and civil society.

In a secular democratic state, the main objective of culture is the preservation of the spiritual and moral orientations of the people, and thus the formation of a national ideology. In recent documents as well as in the new version of the Basic Law on Culture (under discussion) the stress is put on the role of culture in personal development and self-realisation, on cultural rights, access, and participation.

France

In the context of the French government's cultural policies, culture is defined in a far broader sense than the strict definition of the word would suggest which, if adhered to, would be excluding, elitist and totalitarian. To the contrary, France's cultural policies are based on a far-reaching assignment and a universal vision of cultural phenomena. This is clearly evoked in the Ministry of Culture's brief, which states:

'The Ministry of Culture shall be responsible for making the major works of

humankind accessible to the maximum number of people, with particular emphasis on French works.'

Accordingly, the Ministry administers a policy aimed at 'protecting and developing all facets of cultural heritage, encouraging the creation of works of art and other creative works, and fostering the development of arts training and activities.' (decree of 15 May, 2002, Art.1). Contrary to certain former regimes, France's cultural policies have never claimed to 'contain', 'shape' or a fortiori 'be' culture. They do, however, have fixed aims: to foster creation; protect national heritage; develop cultural industries; broaden access to cultural activities; and to promote cultural diversity.

Germany

Germany has no binding definition of culture that could serve as the basis for cultural programmes and measures. In contrast to the situation in the first two decades after the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany, one can safely say that today the cultural philosophies of the democratic parties at all levels of government no longer significantly differ. One reason for this convergence is the intense cultural policy debate that began in the early 1970s in the context of the "New Cultural Policy". This debate led to a broadening of the narrow concept of culture prevailing in the 1950s and 1960s, which had still been very strongly oriented towards the traditional cultural value system handed down for generations, and the addition of new content and focus. The term "culture" thus encompasses contemporary creative and artistic activity as well as (both inside and outside the framework of the traditional cultural institutes) if not particularly, the culture of everyday life.

Canada

The fact that there is no single all-encompassing definition of culture in Canada is attested to by the observation of the Standing Committee on Heritage (1999) that after two years of deliberations, the Committee was no nearer to a consensus on the definition of culture. The oldest and narrowest definition encompasses only the high professional arts and classical disciplines. The modern definition of culture in Canada comprises not only the arts and heritage but also broadcasting, the cultural industries and new media, and more recently, the UNESCO-inspired "ways of life." This evolving definition corresponds closely to the Council of Europe's four cultural principles: the promotion of identity and diversity, and support for creativity and

participation in cultural life. It should also be noted that successive Quebec governments have also supported what they call 'national cultural policy' in referring to that province's extensive cultural support policies and programmes.

Italy

In Italy there is no official definition of "culture", nor are the boundaries of the cultural field clearly outlined by government action. The rationalisation of cultural competencies under one single ministry was a long and fairly empirical process On the other hand, Italy has always been actively involved in the work of international organisations (first carried out by UNESCO through its Framework for cultural statistics, and subsequently by the EU through the Eurostat working group on cultural statistics) aimed at establishing a common definition of culture in order to pursue statistical harmonisation and comparability among the different countries.

The present Eurostat definition of the cultural sector, agreed upon by the Italian government as well as by the other EU governments, covers the following domains:

• heritage;

• archives;

• libraries;

• visual arts;

• architecture;

• performing arts;

• books and the press;

• cinema and the audiovisual.

It should be noted that, after heated debate, the official definition of culture finally accepted by Eurostat includes radio, television and the press, which often do not fall under the responsibilities of the ministries for culture, but rather - as it is in the Italian case- under the ministries for communications and/or the Prime Minister's offices.

Proposals to include sport in this broad definition of culture - in spite of ministries for culture being also responsible for this domain in many countries - were rejected.

Portugal

By the end of nineties, a new perception of culture has replaced the view of it as

ornamental and of secondary importance. According to the first Ministry of Culture (1995-2000), "what motivates the current policy direction is indeed the idea that culture occupies a key position in a country's development, and that cultural policy must as far as possible be conducted from a transversal perspective." This means that in order to strengthen the status of culture, it must be realised that "instead of blindly applying the logic of the marketplace to culture, it must be recognised that there are certain sectors of culture which are not viable without adequate and deliberate state intervention. Diversification of sources of funding, especially growth in private funding, can increase the number and quality of cultural activities but can not replace state action." The following ministries (during the socialist governments) pursued this concept of culture with more or less emphasis on state intervention.

(اطلاعات از سايت رسمي يونسکو گرفته شده است)

تعريف شوراي عالي انقلاب فرهنگي

جالب است بدانيم شوراي عالي انقلاب فرهنگي نيز فرهنگ را تعريف کرده است:

"شواريعالي انقلاب فرهنگي نيز فرهنگ را به معناي اعم آن، بينش و منش هويت دهنده انسان در حوزه زندگي اجتماعي مي داند كه به عنوان فرآورده عالي ذهن و فرايند پيچيده و پيشرفته فكر آدمي تحت تاثير علل و عوامل موجده و معده دروني و بيروني در تمامي كاركردها و كليه مظاهر مادي و معنوي حيات روي تجلي مي يابد و كليت همتافته و بهم پيوسته اي از باورها، فضايل و ارزش ها، آرمان ها، دانش ها، هنرها و فنون، آداب و اعمال جامعه را شامل شده و مشخص كننده ساخت و تحول كيفيت زندگي هر ملت است" (شوراي عالي انقلاب فرهنگي، 1368)

همانطور که مي‌بينيم که اين تعريف بسيار به تعاريف مردم‌شناختي نزديک بوده و نسبت چنداني با سطح سيات‌گذاري ندارد!