If there is one thing we know for sure in the current age of information it is that culture is a living breathing entity.
In his new book, Culture: The Story of Us, from Cave Art to K-Pop, released this month, Martin Puchner delves into the history and evolution of culture, providing ample context to the idea that it is and has always been symbiotic with everything around us.
“One could almost say that culture is curation because it's all about selecting canons,” Puchner tells The National.
“We are saying this is important and this is not important. Curation is totally key. It's what we decide to value. And then we can of course ask, who decides who's in a position to curate?”
Puchner is a professor of English and comparative literature at Harvard University and a global fellow at Queen Mary University of London. He has written books ranging from philosophy to technology and the arts.
His latest book, which he introduced at this year’s Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, is a form of curating culture within itself. Through storytelling he delves into instances within the cultural framework moving across time and place.
From a statue of a South Asian goddess in the Roman city of Pompeii or the 7th century Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang who took a 16-year pilgrimage to India to translate and bring back scriptures, to the growth of Baghdad as a cultural hub and the formation of the House of Wisdom during the Islamic Golden Age, Puchner delivers story after story, revealing the influxes, vacuums and nuances of culture and how they affect our understanding of history and our present.
“I wanted to show the variety of forms of cultural contact,” he says. “I also wanted to show this rhythm of interruption and forgetting and loss and recovery.
“I got very interested in the moments when a remnant of our culture got frozen in place, either because the entrance to a prehistoric cave closes up or because of volcano – like in the case of Pompeii where an eruption destroys the city but also preserves it.”
Puchner elaborates that the constant rhythm of storing culture and attempting to preserve it for the next generation is a system that often breaks down or gets interrupted. Whether through natural disasters, wars, or other social changes, we are constantly confronted with the remnants of the past that we don’t completely understand, which simultaneously reshapes our view of ourselves.
There are many pivotal moments in world history that are represented through objects, architecture, art, literature and music. Many of them are preserved in museums and cultural institutions around the world – sometimes far away from the countries and cultures of their origins.
Restitution within the context of museums has been a pertinent and polarising topic in public discourse over the last several years. It’s a topic that put into focus, as Puchner points out, the idea of curating culture and who decides what, where and when to curate.
The return of cultural objects to individuals, communities or the countries they were taken from, opens up a debate on not only who should be telling the stories of the past, but also who “owns” culture. Puchner sees restitution as a fascinating, complicated discussion.
One of the main points brought up in debates in defence of not returning artefacts to their countries of origin, is the issue of safety. Puchner mentions Iraq as an example, where during the American invasion, the Iraqi Archaeological Museum in Baghdad was looted in April of 2003.
But Puchner also sees the disparity in this argument citing the bust of Nefertiti, of which he dedicates a whole chapter in his book. The ancient sculpture has been part of the Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection at the Neues Museum in Berlin, Germany since its public unveiling in 1924.
Arguably, the bust has faced extreme danger given that Berlin was at the centre of two world wars. The museum itself was bombed on November 1943, and again in February 1945. In both instances, the museum and some of its valuable collections were damaged.
“In the end, if you really want to make sure that something endures it's probably best to leave it underground,” Puchner says.
“If you excavate something then you're exposing it. You can guard it, you can try to build institutions and safeguard it, but we all know how quickly that can change anywhere in the world.”
A more comprehensive form of protecting cultural artefacts, Puchner says, is through education. “You have to instil in the next generation a sense that this is important to care about,” he says.
“Because more often than not, when something gets abandoned, it's because of neglect, it's not so much because of war. Things get lost because cultures lose interest in them and they get neglected and if you neglect something, it tends to fall by the wayside.”
The UAE and the greater region have been focused over the last five years at least on doing just that. Whether its building museums, institutions and ecosystems to promote and educate the public on local and regional art, culture and heritage, Puchner says it’s exciting to see how the UAE will present itself and its history to the world.
“It will be so interesting to see how that activity will change the region's sense of itself and its own history,” he says.
“The Arabian Peninsula has always been such a trade route among different cultures that it will also add an important chapter or deepen our understanding of the rich history of cultural exchange, which is something that I'm so interested in seeing.”
More coverage from the Future Forum
Muslim Council of Elders condemns terrorism on religious sites
The Muslim Council of Elders has strongly condemned the criminal attacks on religious sites in Britain.
It firmly rejected “acts of terrorism, which constitute a flagrant violation of the sanctity of houses of worship”.
“Attacking places of worship is a form of terrorism and extremism that threatens peace and stability within societies,” it said.
The council also warned against the rise of hate speech, racism, extremism and Islamophobia. It urged the international community to join efforts to promote tolerance and peaceful coexistence.
Race results:
1. Thani Al Qemzi (UAE) Team Abu Dhabi: 46.44 min
2. Peter Morin (FRA) CTIC F1 Shenzhen China Team: 0.91sec
3. Sami Selio (FIN) Mad-Croc Baba Racing Team: 31.43sec
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League quarter-final, second leg (first-leg score)
Porto (0) v Liverpool (2), Wednesday, 11pm UAE
Match is on BeIN Sports
The Greatest Royal Rumble card as it stands
The Greatest Royal Rumble card as it stands
50-man Royal Rumble - names entered so far include Braun Strowman, Daniel Bryan, Kurt Angle, Big Show, Kane, Chris Jericho, The New Day and Elias
Universal Championship Brock Lesnar (champion) v Roman Reigns in a steel cage match
WWE World Heavyweight ChampionshipAJ Styles (champion) v Shinsuke Nakamura
Intercontinental Championship Seth Rollins (champion) v The Miz v Finn Balor v Samoa Joe
United States Championship Jeff Hardy (champion) v Jinder Mahal
SmackDown Tag Team Championship The Bludgeon Brothers (champions) v The Usos
Raw Tag Team Championship (currently vacant) Cesaro and Sheamus v Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt
Casket match The Undertaker v Chris Jericho
Singles match John Cena v Triple H
Cruiserweight Championship Cedric Alexander v tba
Dunki
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2018 ICC World Twenty20 Asian Western Regional Qualifier
Saturday results
Qatar beat Kuwait by 26 runs
Bahrain beat Maldives by six wickets
UAE beat Saudi Arabia by seven wickets
Monday fixtures
Maldives v Qatar
Saudi Arabia v Kuwait
Bahrain v UAE
* The top three teams progress to the Asia Qualifier
Teams
Punjabi Legends Owners: Inzamam-ul-Haq and Intizar-ul-Haq; Key player: Misbah-ul-Haq
Pakhtoons Owners: Habib Khan and Tajuddin Khan; Key player: Shahid Afridi
Maratha Arabians Owners: Sohail Khan, Ali Tumbi, Parvez Khan; Key player: Virender Sehwag
Bangla Tigers Owners: Shirajuddin Alam, Yasin Choudhary, Neelesh Bhatnager, Anis and Rizwan Sajan; Key player: TBC
Colombo Lions Owners: Sri Lanka Cricket; Key player: TBC
Kerala Kings Owners: Hussain Adam Ali and Shafi Ul Mulk; Key player: Eoin Morgan
Venue Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Format 10 overs per side, matches last for 90 minutes
Timeline October 25: Around 120 players to be entered into a draft, to be held in Dubai; December 21: Matches start; December 24: Finals
Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
COMPANY PROFILE
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Core42
Current number of staff: 47
if you go
Getting there
Etihad (Etihad.com), Emirates (emirates.com) and Air France (www.airfrance.com) fly to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, from Abu Dhabi and Dubai respectively. Return flights cost from around Dh3,785. It takes about 40 minutes to get from Paris to Compiègne by train, with return tickets costing €19. The Glade of the Armistice is 6.6km east of the railway station.
Staying there
On a handsome, tree-lined street near the Chateau’s park, La Parenthèse du Rond Royal (laparenthesedurondroyal.com) offers spacious b&b accommodation with thoughtful design touches. Lots of natural woods, old fashioned travelling trunks as decoration and multi-nozzle showers are part of the look, while there are free bikes for those who want to cycle to the glade. Prices start at €120 a night.
More information: musee-armistice-14-18.fr ; compiegne-tourisme.fr; uk.france.fr
List of alleged parties
- May 15 2020: Boris Johnson is said to have attended a Downing Street pizza party
- 27 Nov 2020: PM gives speech at leaving do for his staff
- Dec 10 2020: Staff party held by then-education secretary Gavin Williamson
- Dec 13 2020: Mr Johnson and his then-fiancee Carrie Symonds throw a flat party
- Dec 14 2020: Shaun Bailey holds staff party at Conservative Party headquarters
- Dec 15 2020: PM takes part in a staff quiz
- Dec 18 2020: Downing Street Christmas party
Crops that could be introduced to the UAE
1: Quinoa
2. Bathua
3. Amaranth
4. Pearl and finger millet
5. Sorghum
THE SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Power: 110 horsepower
Torque: 147Nm
Price: From Dh59,700
On sale: now
Farasan Boat: 128km Away from Anchorage
Director: Mowaffaq Alobaid
Stars: Abdulaziz Almadhi, Mohammed Al Akkasi, Ali Al Suhaibani
Rating: 4/5
Profile
Co-founders of the company: Vilhelm Hedberg and Ravi Bhusari
Launch year: In 2016 ekar launched and signed an agreement with Etihad Airways in Abu Dhabi. In January 2017 ekar launched in Dubai in a partnership with the RTA.
Number of employees: Over 50
Financing stage: Series B currently being finalised
Investors: Series A - Audacia Capital
Sector of operation: Transport
Generation Start-up: Awok company profile
Started: 2013
Founder: Ulugbek Yuldashev
Sector: e-commerce
Size: 600 plus
Stage: still in talks with VCs
Principal Investors: self-financed by founder
The biog
Family: He is the youngest of five brothers, of whom two are dentists.
Celebrities he worked on: Fabio Canavaro, Lojain Omran, RedOne, Saber Al Rabai.
Where he works: Liberty Dental Clinic
The specs: 2018 GMC Terrain
Price, base / as tested: Dh94,600 / Dh159,700
Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Power: 252hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 353Nm @ 2,500rpm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.4L / 100km
Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Cargoz%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EDate%20started%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20January%202022%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Premlal%20Pullisserry%20and%20Lijo%20Antony%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2030%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Seed%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
GULF MEN'S LEAGUE
Pool A Dubai Hurricanes, Bahrain, Dubai Exiles, Dubai Tigers 2
Pool B Abu Dhabi Harlequins, Jebel Ali Dragons, Dubai Knights Eagles, Dubai Tigers
Opening fixtures
Thursday, December 5
6.40pm, Pitch 8, Abu Dhabi Harlequins v Dubai Knights Eagles
7pm, Pitch 2, Jebel Ali Dragons v Dubai Tigers
7pm, Pitch 4, Dubai Hurricanes v Dubai Exiles
7pm, Pitch 5, Bahrain v Dubai Eagles 2
Recent winners
2018 Dubai Hurricanes
2017 Dubai Exiles
2016 Abu Dhabi Harlequins
2015 Abu Dhabi Harlequins
2014 Abu Dhabi Harlequins
