United States came from Europe, and theybrought with them historically influ-
enced traditions and worldviews. Huber points out that Europe’s philosophical and
scientific foundations came from Greece, and Medieval Islam subsequently influ-
enced those teachings. The Western legal system is a product of ancient Rome,
and Christianity came from Jerusalem.^2 History can also inform us about the
communication behaviors we employ today. For instance, throughout this book,
we continually aver that Euro-American cultures place great importance on the
ability to communicate orally, whereas that skill carries much less significance in
Northeast Asian cultures. A look back in time can tell us why:
In East Asian civilization the written word has always taken precedence over the spoken;
Chinese history is full of famous documents—memorials, essays, and poems—but lacks the
great speeches of the West. The magic quality of writing is perhaps one of the reasons why
the peoples of East Asia have tended to place a higher premium on book learning and on
formal education than have the peoples of any other civilization.^3
Additionally, reverence for the written word is evident in the East Asian art form
of calligraphy, for which the West has no real counterpart. The Arab oral tradition is
a product of nomadic life, which precluded many of the art forms that sedentary peo-
ples enjoyed.
There is also a direct link between history and identity that helps unify people
from diverse backgrounds and cultures. Bender explains that in the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries, the national history of the United States became an important
force in unifying the nation’s varied social strata:
It [U.S. national history] became the core of civic education in schools and other institu-
tions devoted to making peasants, immigrants, and provincial peoples into national citizens.
A common history, which involved both common memory and a tacit agreement to forget
differences, was intended to provide a basis for a shared national identity.^4The study of a
culture’s history can
provide insight into its
values, traditions, and
social institutions.
Courtesy of Edwin McDaniel162 CHAPTER 5•Cultural History: Precursor to the Present and Future
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