The Future of Culture

By Volodymyr Kish

Canada has long been known as one of the world’s leading examples of a successful multicultural nation. Although it started its existence as primarily a bilingual and bicultural nation (leaving the contentious issue of the First Nations aside for the moment), it has, through its progressive immigration policies, evolved over the past century into one of the world’s most ethnically and culturally diverse countries.

No doubt, as Ukrainians, we have benefited greatly from this reality, though it should be noted also that we have played a significant role politically and organizationally in encouraging Canadian governments to support the policies and programs that brought this about. Although the cohesiveness and vibrancy of the Ukrainian community has been significantly eroded in recent decades, it is still safe to say that Ukrainian culture is still alive and kicking here in Canada.

How much longer this will continue though, is problematic. I say this not as a reflection of the commitment or desire of the Ukrainian community here in Canada, but as a recognition of the social and technological revolution that is currently taking place virtually everywhere on this shrinking planet of ours. This revolution has been brought about as a result of the rapid globalization of business, travel, communications, the media and above all, the Internet. The world is evolving at an accelerating pace towards a common global culture, one that will see the erosion of much of what we now call ethnic or national cultures.

This trend is particularly evident with the younger generations, where, regardless of whether they live in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Asia or Africa, they all seem to be converging towards listening to the same music, watching the same movies, having the same heroes and idols, wearing the same clothes, and subscribing to the same fashions, ideas and values. National boundaries that used to play a major role in preserving local cultures are becoming ever more irrelevant. English is increasingly becoming the common denominator of both global business and the Internet.

Further, the geographical constraints that used to limit our social and cultural interactions to those who lived in our physical neighbourhood, are no longer a factor. The Internet enables me to communicate and interact with virtually anybody in the world, not only textually, but in audio and video. And if I want to go beyond just virtual contact, I can fly to anywhere on the earth at a reasonable price. The current economics of travel are such that it is available to almost everyone, even those with limited financial means.

What this will likely do over the next few generations is foster the development of a common, universal, global culture that will push ethnic identities, traditions and forms of cultural expression into the background. According to linguistic experts, most of this world’s indigenous languages will likely disappear over the next century or so. The world’s population is rapidly coalescing around at most a dozen of the most prevalent major current languages, with the likely winners being English, Mandarin, Spanish, Arabic, Hindi-Urdu, and perhaps a few others. A distinct language is the foundation around which most other aspects of culture are based, so the erosion of language will likely also have a devastating effect on all the other elements of what we consider “culture”.

This, needless to say, is a scary scenario to those of us who value ethnicity and cultural diversity. However it does not have to be inevitable. We first have to recognize that it is happening and determine whether it is an outcome that we are prepared to accept. We need to put a value and priority on what culture, and specifically being Ukrainian means to us. It then behoves us to seriously consider what needs to be done to prevent the disappearance and extinction of something that, as in the case of Ukrainian culture, has taken a thousand years to develop.

Biologically, we have seen rapid acceleration in the extinction of the different species of life on this planet. At current rates, scientists are predicting that by 2100, more than half of the current species inhabiting this planet will be gone forever. The same can probably be said of our cultural diversity. Is that something you are prepared to live with?