Cultural Timepiece - Essay Example

Timepiece Running head: Timepiece Cultural Timepiece Timepiece 2 The presence of time or the consciousness of it comforts me in the singular sense that the world in which I exist thrives and is in constant motion and cumulativeness, and that I am also quite involved in this happenstance, being that I too am part of a whole. Taking into consideration how time is conditioned, it is a thesis worthy of attention since people of this age regard time as highly valuable in order to function in everyday living. How should we perceive time and likewise place value on it By deciphering its characteristics which have previously been presented as contrasting by modern and traditional perceptions, would we then be motivated to approach time with renewed sentiments Is our regard for traditional societies sensationally prejudiced, having been led to believe that theirs is an altogether alien civilization and that they exist in alien time Does not this traditional alien time in some way resemble our own modern time in earlier form and before the invention of the industrial clock Does traditional culture not reflect modern culture in earlier form, thus, to conclude that our conceptions of time are motivated by similar conditions To get a feel on time, it is best for us to first be oriented with the conventional perspectives at hand and the countering approaches of contemporary analyses. For quite a period since the study of time began, it was emphasized by convention that modern and traditional societies perceive time in contrasts. Anthropologists suggested, more in favor of modern time, that traditional time is "cyclical rather than linear, qualitative rather than quantitative, reversible rather than irreversible, encapsulated in tradition rather than constituting the motor of history, organized by routine and practical tasks rather than by the clock, oriented to stability rather than change, geared to natural rather than calendrical rhythms, and reckoned ecologically rather than by an abstract scale" (Adam 1994, 504). With similar theories on traditional time, Whorf singled out the Hopi concept of time and suggested that its distinct difference from the Western concept was of time perceived as not being made up of discrete instances that follow each other but is characterized by a cumulative getting later (1956, 151). And likened to Whorf's analysis, Evans-Pritchard proposed that the movement of their time must be recognized as an illusion, unlike Western time which passes and progresses, because the tribal time structure stays constant, meaning that their perception of time is no more than the movement of persons through the structure. He further propose that the span of their tradition is limited compared to modern Timepiece 3 time, and that in their myth, the events do not have relative succession (1940, 107-8). These notions has provided us with an impression that the time of traditional societies were found by a radically obscure consciousness driven by primitive conditions. Somehow these model theories would, it seems, have us drift farther away instead of closer to understanding other cultures through their behavior towards time, and in a way convince us that our evolutionary relationship with these societies is incomprehensible. Moreover, if we are to consider these analyses as unanimously true and ideal, our alienation would be fueled by an assumption that these other people are actually molded with an alien makeup by some source alien from our world. And by the same exaggeration have us wonder whether our own civilized consciousness was in fact innate and there was never any need for it to have to grow out of evolution. Closer to home, Ingold presented a different set of dichotomies which is more in regard to industrialism and the household. He contrasted perspectives such that there is free time and clock time as opposed to all time is task-oriented; that there is work and leisure against the notion that all life consists of tasks; that there is creative art and the operation of technology in contrast to skilled practices; that there are pure gifts and market contracts contrary to socially situated prestations (2000, 333). According to his analysis, for Ingold time at home is more oriented to tasks whereas time at the workplace is more oriented to the clock. Moreover, Ingold's analysis included gender distinctions attached to his time orientation. And the differing time orientation amount to scheduling conflicts which ultimately affects the household: domestic and community routine cater to local environmental conditions, while industries follow universal time standards which often overrides local time (2000, 331). Ingold compliments that "the ability to coordinate one's movements with the passage of time as measured by the clock is an acquired skill, and the coordination is itself a task that is carried on alongside all the other tasks of social life (2000, 332-3). Through these statements, Ingold tries to justify that the major reason time exists is because we see it as a necessity to distinguish preoccupations. Time becomes a meridian between the varying scales of tasks. A way of life is being evaluated in terms of a standard that measures work in hours, and that imposes a clearcut division between work Timepiece 4 and leisure. To those accustomed to work timed by the clock, the attitudes to wok and time of traditional folk are almost bound to appear 'wasteful and lacking in urgency' (2000, 336). If we are to sum up all the arguments of time's conventional study, the common denominator on the comparison between modern/Western/ industrial time and traditional/tribal/primitive time is found on unlikeness and exclusiveness. Ultimately, the conventional notion of time proposes that the world has born two extremely different types of societies in two extremely different timeframes with both quite alien to each other. Yet though these approaches has provided us with safety - in the sense that we can protect ourselves from taboo through conformity of model theories - and drama - since assumptions about worlds created in alter-reality can divert us from monotonous consciousness, time is actually the totality of its argued contradictions, and not bound by contrasts, as proved by contemporary theories. For time is attributed different meanings and entailed with diverse qualities (Adam 1994, 508). One key to a successful comparison without the conventional biases is by approaching Western time with a stranger's objectivity (Adam 1994, 507). We have to strip our understanding of biases first so we could elate to how people of other cultures approach time [] for how we criticize others is affected by how they are impressed upon us (Adam 1994, 505). Due to our having taken for granted the analysis of modern time, we have failed to notice that we have a lot in common with traditional societies in terms the "when" of social activities, events and traditions" (Adam 1994, 509). What the contemporary notions offer us now through objectivity is not more contradiction. On the contrary, the argument insists on the resemblance of the societies and the parallelism of the notions of time. Adam stated that the time grid provided by clocks and calendars of the Western societies are not the only sources for the timing and temporal location of these social activities and natural phenomena. And that time is involved in physical processes and social conventions, in he abstract relations of mathematics and in the concrete relations between people (1994, 508-9). Contrary to conventional notions, cyclically and irreversible linearity go hand in hand at being integral to all rhythmically structured phenomena (Adam 1990, 70-6, 87-90). Timepiece 5 Nothing can be undone and restored to its original condition. Time neither stands still nor goes backwards, thus, Newtonian physics do not aptly apply to the analysis of time for it excludes the embedded time of things and processes, and life and knowledge. Adam pointed out that synchronic and diachronic analyses are inappropriate for analyses of societies that do not share the abstract, objectified timeframe because their bases are fixed on clock and calendar time, and also because neither is sufficient on its own to grasp social life (Adam 1994, 520-2). To an extent, "neither quantity nor quality, neither society nor nature, neither the clock nor the routine of tasks seems to furnish the single source for any specific cultural expression. It therefore makes little sense to contrast the time of traditional cultures with Western industrial time along these lines" (Adam 1994, 510). One reason perhaps that got us thinking that true time is based on clock time, which is a human invention, disregarding the variable rhythms of nature, could be because its dominance has been programmed into our consciousness to an extent, the said invariant, precise measurement being the international basis of the industrial world (Adam 1994, 5120. we unquestioningly accept as fact what the majority recognize as authentic and most plausible, for it is human nature that we constantly conform. I see the same conformity being the same with the Nuer since Evans-Pritchard stated that their structural time is largely based on the movements of a group and not of an individual outside of the group (1940, 104). And such is our taken-for-granted notion of time, which has affected the timing, the tempo and the temporality of life (Adam 1994, 513). Adam further argued that because of this dominance: We seem to have forgotten that the entirety of our existence needs constantly to be reactivated and re-created in the present; that all of our past needs to be gathered up in the present and reconstructed in the light of new knowledge [] we can recognize such time-constituting processes only when we encounter them in societies whose perceptions of time differ markedly from our own (1994, 514). Time is often regarded as "fundamentally context-dependent." In matters of timing, the socio-historical, economic and political contexts, along with norms, practices, values, and even the weather and the seasons must be taken into consideration. The gist in understanding time is in knowing the time appropriate to its context, and to recognize Timepiece 6 its consistent relation to other times (Adam1994, 503, 510, 514). The proposed differences are only magnified by the varying behavior towards evolutionary growth, and this is perhaps due to the reception of outside influence from other societies more enlightened by the idea that the world has a larger scope rather than only the geography they are familiar with. Time can be seen as a milestone for cultural awareness. If we finally understand the intricacies of time and shed our prejudices, we would likewise understand our cultural connections. The times of even the most archaic societies are constituted on the basis of general cultural characteristics that defy classification in terms (Adam 1994, 518). Long time spans of modern civilizations are actually the outcome of such a consciousness which uses its measurement as a commodity. This particular regard towards time was not then conceivable to the ancient societies though they have invented complicated calendrical systems the likes of the Stonehenge, the Egyptian waterclocks, the mayan calendar, and the Chinese mechanical clock (Adam 1994, 514). Ingold finally drove the nail home by stating that: In a sense, clock time is as alien to us as it is to the traditional people; the only difference is that we have to contend with it [] we are forced to accommodate this orientation within the straitjacket of a Western or commodity-based institutional and ideological framework that seeks at every turn to deny the reality of situated social experience" (2000, 338). "Cultural life engenders time, entails time and is enacted in time." Timelessness refers mostly to rates of change that are very much slower than those to which observers are accustomed, but are not so in relation to evolutionary change. Thus, we project the traits of our modern time which we have lost touch with unto the objects of our investigation and construct it as wholly different from our own because clearly these traits are still evident on traditional time due to its much slower evolution (Adam 1994, 520-2). Time transcendence, which is evident in the existence of religions, myth and theories, art and architecture, agriculture and technology, seems to be in common to all humanity. The difference among societies is its practice. For no society has completely replaced the multiplicity of social time with the singularity of clock time (Adam 1994, 515-6). Time is multi-faceted. It dictates the motions of living, and Timepiece 7 though perceptions on time may differ, it derives a certain amount of consciousness. Without this time consciousness, we would lose an important anchorage on reality. Ultimately, the apparent difference of the societies can be accosted to the pacing of their growth, which allows them certain capacities and limitations in understanding time. We should then, through the study of time, perceive the traditional societies not as alien to us, but as our society's former self, and that though diverse is the peoples' notion of it, its true nature is uniform to all societies. Reference Adam, B. (1994). Perceptions of Time. In: Ingold, T. (ED.). Companion Encyclopedia of Anthropology. (Pp. 503-526). London: Routledge. Evans-Pritchard, E.E. (1940). Time and Space. The Nuer: a description of the modes of livelihood and political institutions of a Nilotic people. (3, pp. 94-138). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Ingold, T. (2000). Time and experience in the household and the workplace. The Perception of the environment: essays in livelihood, dwelling and skill. (17, pp. 330-338). London: Routledge. Whorf, B. (1956). Language, thought and reality. 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