1 People in every culture tell stories, and these stories often teach a moral lesson to young children. Storytelling takes different forms such as tall tales and folktales. These forms exist for entertainment or to discuss problems encountered in life. Folktales are oral narratives that have been passed down through generations. Fables are one type of folktale. Fables usually set an example for people to live by or describe what to do when you are in a dangerous situation. In fables, the characters are often animals that speak and act like human beings. All of these forms of storytelling may serve to preserve a culture or to explain the mysteries of life. They are a way to communicate the culture’s morals or values to the next generation. Yet, stories can also be a form of social control. They may reinforce which activities or customs a community discourages or does not permit.
2 A story becomes a tradition by being told, re-told, and accepted by others in the community. Different cultures may have similar stories sharing common themes. One of the most popular themes is the battle between good and evil. Another is the story of the quest. The quest often takes the character to distant lands where he or she is challenged with real-life or imaginary situations, opportunities, hardships, and heartaches.
3 Gulliver’s Travels (1726) by Jonathan Swift is about four different voyages that Lemuel Gulliver undertakes. His first adventure is the most well known; in the story, Gulliver is a surgeon who plans a sea voyage when his business fails. During a storm at sea, he is shipwrecked, and he awakens to find himself tied up and held down by a group of captors, the Lilliputians, who are six inches (15 centimeters) tall. In his European world, Gulliver, is a normal height and weight. However, in this new world, he is a giant. During this adventure, Gulliver is seen as an outsider, an alien with strange features and language.
4 What lessons about culture can we learn from Gulliver’s Travels? Swift’s story offers lessons about cultural differences, conflicts occurring in human society, and the balance of power. It also provides an important example of the Other. Anthropologists use the term The Other to describe people whose customs, beliefs, or behaviors are different from one’s own.
5 The Other is a matter of perspective in this story: Gulliver thinks the Lilliputians’ beliefs and customs are strange. To Gulliver, the Lilliputians are The Other, but the Lilliputians equally see Gulliver as The Other. Initially, he is their prisoner, and they are afraid of him because of his size. They cannot believe that there are other giants like Gulliver—that another world exists.
6 Gulliver’s Travels explores culture and storytelling. The story uses language, behavior, and the conflict between different groups to understand ideas of what we consider exotic and strange. The story is told as an adventure, but it is also about how similar cultures can be.
7 Stories are an important part of culture. When used to pass on traditions or cultural values, they can connect people to the past. Stories are also a way to validate religious, social, political, and economic practices from one generation to another. Stories are also important because they are sometimes used to apply social pressure, to keep people in line, and are part of shaping the way that people think and behave.
Excerpted and adapted from the chapter, “The Culture Concept,” by Emily Cowall and Priscilla Medeiros, in the text,
