important questions life asks you: Whoam I? and Who will I become? The linkthat language provides to family,group identity, and individual identitymakes it a major component of cul-ture.

The component of land in the dis-cussion of culture is often missed bysociologists and anthropologists alike.This component is the real bedrock ofculture (pun intended). There is nothriving culture without land. If a peo-ple lose their land, they become a sur-viving culture or an extinct culture.History is full of groups of people whohave lost their land and then van-ished—the Babylonians, the Assyrians,and the Carthaginians. How powerfulis land? One-third of the land mass ofthe United States (or 1.2 million sq.mi.) is owned by the federal govern-ment. The largest land owner in theworld is the Catholic Church. In theCNMI, Article XII (restricting landownership to persons of NorthernMarianas descent) exists so that land,and consequently culture, is not lost—forever. The U.S. federal governmentand the Catholic Church are the majoragents of their respective cultures. So,the lesson here is that land is morevaluable to you and to the group if itis kept. Once it is out of your hands,you will have to acquire new land.This is why governments, like ours,defend land at all costs ($500 billion ayear is spent on U.S. defense). Land isa major component of culture.

Culture, then, is that ephemeralquality consisting of customs, lan-guage, and land. In other words, thesethree components equal culture. If weremove one or two or all of these com-ponents, the result would be anythingbut culture—a surviving culture, afading culture, or an extinct culture.Every time we celebrate an annualevent, like a Rosary and a Chief’sAnnual Remembrance Day (September25th), every time we use our language

18 Pacific Resources for Education and Learning

CURRENTS

The Major Components of CultureBy Dean Papadopoulos, PhD

H ighly effective educators inmulticultural settingsdevelop communicationcompetencies for educatingstudents in the islands.

One strategy is to recognize and relateto the students’ core identity, whichincludes making their family proudand assisting their extended family inevery way possible. Another strategy isto leverage the linguistic competenciesof the students for the achievement ofthe educational mission. How arethese strategies accomplished whileteaching them the qualities of effectivewriting? First, we realize that the stu-dents learn best from what they knowfirst—this is true for language and forculture. One guiding principle to over-see this strategy in its delivery is toremember that educational systemsthat teach students how to count with-out teaching them that they count,their families count, their first lan-guage counts, the groups they belongto count, their community counts, andtheir island counts have failed tounfold the bridge that unites our stu-dents with the ideas, skills, andEnglish language that are crucial totheir success in a 21st century econo-my that demands all of these.Educators in island settings can showstudents that their teachers andadministrators care about what ismost important to them—their cul-ture. This nurtures the community oflearners in the classroom by announc-ing that the teacher wholeheartedlyhopes they will honor both their pastand their future.

The three components of cultureinclude language, customs, and land.These components are found in every-day life. The most interesting factabout culture is that everyone has aculture of their own.

Daily activities, monthly celebra-tions, and annual remembrances con-stitute the major component of cul-

ture known as customs. Customs areactivities and events that occur on aregular basis. If you go to church onSundays, you are participating in cul-ture. If you celebrate birthdays, youare participating in culture. If you cel-ebrate annual memorial days ofdeceased family members, you are par-ticipating in culture. Customs, inturn, have another element that makesthem so important—customs providethe place and time where people formtheir identity of who they are, whobelongs to them, and who they belongto. Moreover, customs play an impor-tant role in developing and maintain-ing the identity of the group. Alongwith identity, customs bring about thecohesion of a group.

The next component of culture islanguage. Language is the sounds andwritten symbols that allow people toexpress their thoughts, their feelings,their hopes, and their dreams withthemselves and with one another.Language is the one unifying compo-nent of culture that binds one memberof a group to another. In fact, lan-guage can be said to be a major cor-nerstone of culture. Without language,people cannot interact; without inter-action, there is no identity with thegroup. In a place like theCommonwealth of the NorthernMariana Islands (CNMI) where manycultures meet, it is important tounderstand what languages mean toyou and your success as a person andas a professional. To begin with, yourfirst language, the one taught to youby your mother, is the language thatwill bind you to your parents. Yourfirst language not only binds you toyour parents, but just as importantly,it binds you to your grandparents.Your grandparents are your link tounderstanding two major questions inlife: Where did we come from? andWhere are we now? Answering thesequestions helps to answer the next two

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not prettier than another piece ofland; to the owner it is the most valu-able piece of land on the planet,because he or she owns it. Lastly,because of modern transportation (thejet airplane), modern transportation ofideas and elements of culture (theInternet and the Web), and the pre-dominant use of one language in thebusiness world (i.e., English), culturesfrom around the world end up meetingin all types of places on the earth—including the CNMI. Whether wechoose to emphasize our similarities—like the fact that all of us have a cul-ture and part of having a culture isbeing interested in and accepting of allthe other people that have culturestoo—or whether we choose to magnifyour differences depends on what typeof community we want to live in. Dowe want to be able to walk around

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CURRENTSand take steps to ensure that our chil-dren learn this language, and everytime we buy or hold on to existingland so that our children and theirchildren will have a place to live andeven to create passive income from,then we preserve our culture. Weaccomplish much more from theseactivities than from the energy we giveto believing that “my culture is betterthan someone else’s.” Let’s clarify thispoint. A culture is something thatsimply is. It is not better or more thananother culture, and it can’t be worseor less than another culture—it justis. Our language is just a way in whichwe communicate with one another;our language can’t be richer or moreimportant—neither can it be poorer orless important—than another lan-guage. Land is the place we live andwhere we raise our children. Land is

In MemoriamFormer American Samoa Director of Education and Pacific Resources forEducation and Learning (PREL) Board Chair, Malaetele Dr. Lui Tuitele, passedaway on February 26.

Malaetele Dr. Tuitele was born in Leone Village and graduated fromSamoana High School, American Samoa. He received a BS in Biology fromTruman State University, Missouri, and an MEd in Secondary Education and anEdD in Educational Leadership from Brigham Young University, Utah. Heworked in education as a high school principal, classroom teacher, and educa-tional administrator with the American Samoa Department of EducationCentral Office. Malaetele Dr. Tuitele also served on the Territorial PlanningCommission, the American Samoa Government Scholarship Board, and theBoard of Higher Education. He was Program Director of Goals 2000, ProgramDirector of Teacher Certification, Deputy Director of Instructional Services,and Chairman—American Samoa Humanities Council.

Malaetele Dr. Tuitele is remembered as a dedicated educator and publicservant committed to providing the best educational opportunities to the chil-dren of American Samoa and the Pacific. He also provided invaluable leader-ship and vision to PREL.

during the day and at night knowingthat we are safe and that our home issafe? Or, would we rather live in aplace where everyone lives in fearbecause of the distrust and hate thatsome people have of other peoplewhom they consider less important,less valuable, or substandard, simplybecause they might look different, orbecause they may not make a certainamount of money, or because their jobisn’t connected with status and pres-tige? In the end, life asks us this veryquestion and awaits our response. Thechoice is ours, and I believe we willmake the right choice for our sake andour children’s sake.

Dean Papadopoulos, PhD, contributingwriter, Northern Marianas College,Saipan, CNMI, may be contacted atcpapams96950@yahoo.com.

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