Hyperculturality

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The post-modern concept of hyperculturality (derived from ancient Greek ὑπέρ hyper "over", in the sense of accumulation, networking and compression, and from the Latin cultura "cultivation, care, agriculture", from colere "cultivate, revere, cultivate the field") after the philosopher Byung-Chul Han , describes the dissolution of borders and fences of different cultural forms that have arisen through cultural contrasts and at the same time means the rapprochement and networking of the individual cultures. The term refers to the spatial and temporal dimensions as well as to the identity of the individual.

Concept and meaning

According to Han, hyperculturality is “more about culture”, “the gapless juxtaposition of different cultural forms” and a phenomenon of today. “[The conventional culture] is de-bordered, de-restricted, de-sewn into a hyperculture” and thus means “as well as” instead of “either / or”.

Dimensions

room

Hyperculturality automatically goes hand in hand with a culture that is independent of location, which, according to Han, leads to a new closeness in which a variety of cultural life practices and forms of expression exist at the same time: “Heterogeneous cultural contents are forced into juxtaposition. Cultural spaces overlap and interpenetrate. "

time

As with the spatial dimension, “different periods of time are removed” and the hyperculturality is thus independent of time. This means that the hyperculture is “not a culture of inwardness or memory”, but only exists in its form in the present tense.

identity

The hypercultural identity is shaped by individualization and the “fund of life forms and practices” of various kinds. In hyperculture, each individual can create an identity for himself following his own inclinations . The superimposition and penetration of cultural spaces also results in a change in religion and art. The individual can “piece together” his very own religion from a wide variety of forms of belief and art expresses itself as “multi-colored and diverse”. According to Han, this phenomenon can also result in an end to religions.

Differentiation from multicultural, intercultural and transculturality

The concept of hyperculture can be clearly distinguished from the concepts of multiculturalism , interculturality and transculturality .

In contrast to multiculturalism, hyperculturality manages without terms such as tolerance and integration. Furthermore, it differs from multiculturalism in its time independence. There is no temporal past, but "a close juxtaposition of different ideas." This makes "mutual penetration or mirroring" possible.

In contrast to interculturality, which seeks dialogue between different cultures, the concept of dialogue is alien to hyperculture, as it presupposes different viewpoints that do not exist in hyperspace.

The transculturality emphasizes the "aspect of crossing borders", thus presupposes borders. In transculturality, the individual is described as a wanderer or border crosser between cultures. This transition (transit) between cultures is not possible in hyperculturality, since these cultures have already been delimited, dislocated and removed. Humans move in a hyperspace that summarizes and allows everything.

requirements

The hyperculture arises in a process that can be divided into four stages. At the beginning of this development process is a globalized society that has already gone through a certain development. This development includes "historical, socio-cultural, technical or media processes."

Social processes

The technical and media processes describe the industrialization and digitization - of western society - which enable today's globalization and digital connection. The internet is a central element for global communication. It is crucial for the emergence of hyperculture that information is available regardless of space and time. Cultures are also made up of a multitude of information, e.g. B. Language, art, traditions and customs. As soon as these become available in written and media form, their spatial and temporal limitations disappear. They can also be viewed and learned by outsiders.

Horizon collapse

Any place - with internet access - can be used as a universal library. Platforms such as Google Earth and Wikipedia represent the increased form of this. Through an accumulation of information, media and knowledge, we can “visit” places without being physically there and, at the same time, read what is happening at the other end of the world for regional events . Places that are actually behind the horizon become "visible"; the horizon virtually dissolves.

Hyperspace

The accessibility and connectedness of places and information without spatial or temporal separation is called hyperspace by Han. In hyperspace , therefore, the organizing factors are “not borders” between information (here: excerpts recorded in the media - and descriptions - of cultures) but “links and networks”. For example, national borders are of little importance on the Internet. Likewise in global mobility, which is dominated by air travel, borders that lie between two places are far less relevant than the two places themselves that are connected to one another. People who move in this hyperspace network and link rather than separate from each other.

A hypertextually composed world is a world in the state of hyperspace. In it it is impossible to see cultures as geographically restricted and separated from one another.

The creation process - appropriation of hyperculture

Today's, globalized, digital society results in the “horizon collapse” through which cultures lose their spatial and temporal relationship and find themselves in the newly emerging “hyperspace” as a collection of information. Access to these happens, as Han describes it, through “countless windows”. Similar to the view out of a window that shows only a small section of a large landscape, the observer gains an insight that only captures a small section, never all of the original contexts of a culture. In the following process, various of these small sections are put together to form a new, unique structure. The former culture is scattered as a collection of information of cultural content in hyperspace, mixed with other things, partially extracted and newly linked. When finally, in a hypertextually composed world, everyone assembles his own structure in this way and thus defines himself through an individually "pieced together" culture, a state is reached that Han calls "hyperculture". An emotional or spiritual transmission is only possible to a limited extent in this way, as a result of which these areas lose importance in a new hyperculture or are replaced by new assignments.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Byung-Chul Han: Hyperkulturalität 2005, p. 17
  2. ↑ Byung-Chul Han: Hyperkulturalität 2005, p. 16f
  3. ↑ Byung-Chul Han: Hyperkulturalität 2005, p. 34.
  4. ↑ a b Byung-Chul Han: Hyperkulturalität 2005, p. 55.
  5. ↑ Byung-Chul Han: Hyperkulturalität 2005, p. 59.
  6. ↑ Byung-Chul Han: Hyperkulturalität 2005, p. 56.
  7. ↑ Byung-Chul Han: Hyperkulturalität 2005, p. 58.
  8. ↑ Byung-Chul Han: Hyperkulturalität 2005, p. 60.