Cultural Insecurity: Where Lies the Threat?

In Cultural Security conferences and tea party drawing room discussions, there seems to be much concern about two particular issues on the subject: the articulation of an accurate definition of ‘culture’, and identifying the external threats to the same.Extremely complicated definitions are obsessed over, and thus, much time and effort is expended on what seems to be an endless pursuit. The United Nations may defineculture in a particular way, dictionaries in anotherand learned professors in their way, but in the wake of this intellectual wrestling, the bottom line isthat whatever it may entail, culture is, simply put, a way of life. Then, in the twists and turns of the intellectual jousting regarding what aspects of the human existence may be includedin or excluded from it, the issue of security is considered, and the default stress seems toprimarily be placed on the ‘external’ forces as being the greatest threat.It is rare for one to hear participants and others who are concerned about their cultural security, to lay equal, let alonegreater, stress on the factors of theinternal threat to their culture.