Culture or Not?

A discussion with schoolchildren about what culture is and how to study it.

The materials are developed in accordance with Federal state education standards and may supplement the curriculum in the following subjects: art history, literature, social studies, and history.

Photo: Anya Todich

We often hear the word “culture”: we talk about the culture of different countries, study cultural heritage, and call rude people uncultured. What’s more, GES-2 is also a House of Culture. But what does this word mean? Is culture equal to paintings and symphonies, or TikTok and plastic swans?

During the tour, we will discuss all of these things (and also the origin of the concept of “culture” and its numerous interpretations) with school pupils from grades 5th to 11th. For middle school pupils, the tour takes the format of a game, while for high school students there is a deeper immersion in theory.

Authors

Alexandra Dudarenko—cultural studies specialist, graduate of the HSE School of Cultural Studies, sound researcher, GES-2 school programme educator. She has curated anthropological activity by senior pupils at the HSE Lyceum, and developed and conducted sound walks.

Veronika Molchanova—cultural studies specialist, graduate of the HSE School of Cultural Studies, educator at V–A–C Foundation. She has taught at the HSE Lyceum, and worked at the HSE Laboratory for Cultural Studies.