I had the opportunity to attend hip hop artist Raphael Xavier’s work, The Unofficial Guide to Audience Watching, at Columbia College last month. I knew nothing about his work, so the depth of his narrative, physical skill and amazing technique stunned me.
The rap and conversational portion of the performance was about cultural transmission. Wanting to know more about the concept, I researched the term; my take away was that cultural transmission is the method employed by a group of people within a culture use to learn, create, remember and pass on ideas and information within their culture and to others outside of their immediate societal group.
In the question and answer period after the performance, Raphael suggested that audience participation is a desirable and necessary part of cultural transmission. It is not enough to observe mutely and dispassionately; the audience needs to applaud or, in the case of his piece, actually come on stage during the piece and become part of the production. In this way we learn about another’s culture, accumulating information, freeing ourselves from our fears and prejudices, and developing skills that no single individual would be able to perfect on their own.
Razib Khan, in his article, We Stand on the Shoulders of Cultural Giants, suggests that there are no “free riders”; imitators who don’t get their hands dirty are often the weakest link in cultural transmission. When interacting with people sharing cultural ideas, the obstacles to understanding and learning include an economic link. If we want the teen performers in the Move Me Soul spring concert – In Tribute: A Celebration of Life! to successfully transmit the cultural importance of their dance concert, we need to provide the financial support.
In order to build upon our collective knowledge, we need to put some money towards the talent, enthusiasm and joy of these performers. Step up and give to the fund raising campaign now at https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/5hnK2?utm_campaign=share-campaign&utm_medium=email&utm_source=03-2014. Help P3 continue to innovate and craft opportunities for theses teens to participate in cultural transmission, learning and passing on new information to others in the community.
If you have any issues donating please drop me a line at laurieask@gmail.com and I will try to assist you. Otherwise, I expect to see you at the showcase performance on April 11, 2014.
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The only way democracy truly works is if “we the people” are willing to get out in the midst of “we the people” and truly get our hands dirty and our minds stimulated and our souls touched so that we care – really care — enough to understand that without all of us – there is no “we”
Giving is a way of participating in the democratic process – to make a statement about both ourselves and those we are supporting. In the days of the civil rights movement – they said: “if not us, then who?