Oldest Culture, Emptiest Cliche
Old Cultures
Sir: Am I alone in becoming increasingly irritated by that meaningless, glib phrase, “The oldest living culture”, or its close relative, “The longest continuous culture”? Patrick McCauley skirts around its edges in “The Indigenous Invasion of Aboriginal Australia” (March 2021), without touching upon the core issue. Even Keith Windschuttle, in his brilliant Break-up of Australia, falls for this (page 258: “The world’s oldest living culture”).
“Culture” means different things to different people, but for me its best definition, from an anthropological viewpoint, has been provided by Melvin Konner in The Tangled Wing. It fits nicely under the acronym, STAB-PC: Socially Transmitted, Adjustable Behaviour that becomes a Population Characteristic. Essentially, this distinguishes all aspects of learned behaviour from instinctive behaviour.
Every one of us sits at the leading edge of “the world’s oldest living culture”, embodying an unbroken line…
Madam: Archbishop Fisher (July-August 2024) does not resist the attacks on his church by the political, social or scientific atheists and those who insist on not being told what to do.
Aug 29 2024
6 mins
To claim Aborigines have the world's oldest continuous culture is to misunderstand the meaning of culture, which continuously changes over time and location. For a culture not to change over time would be a reproach and certainly not a cause for celebration, for it would indicate that there had been no capacity to adapt. Clearly this has not been the case
Aug 20 2024
23 mins
A friend and longtime supporter of Quadrant, Clive James sent us a poem in 2010, which we published in our December issue. Like the Taronga Park Aquarium he recalls in its 'mocked-up sandstone cave' it's not to be forgotten
Aug 16 2024
2 mins