Chapter 6

Cultural values
Authors and Contributors
Johan Edelheim; Marion Joppe; Joan Flaherty; Mette Abdilgaard; Linda Armano;
Jonathon Day; Sisko Häikiö; Emily Höckert; Maria Huhmarniemi; Ouit Kugapi;
Monika Lüthje; Nick Naumov; Chiaki Shimoyasuba; Minna Väyrynen

Objectives
This chapter provides readers with insights and engagement activities to help students
1. Distinguish four different meanings of “culture” and consider how cultural
values are connected to these meanings
2. Explain how traditions and heritage have developed and why they are
maintained in cultures
3. Illustrate how languages are a mirror of the cultures within which they are
created
4. Compare art and festivals from different times and places to distinguish how
they embody individual cultural values
5. Visualise how modernity is in flux, and never stable

Introduction
When we teach cultural values, it is often in connection to intercultural management,
communication or perhaps marketing, but culture and cultural values are deeply
imbedded in tourism practices and therefore highly relevant to tourism education.
After all, many different motives prompt us to travel, such as the desire to escape to a
warmer climate or to experience a change of scenery, but each motive is tied to a
common theme: exposure to a culture different from our own. This exposure offers the
potential to foster our growth as human beings because travel can help us uncover
insights about ourselves. The funny habits and quirks we had always taken for granted
and accepted as natural might be seen in a different light when we’re in a different
setting. This self-realisation, however, is not an automatic outcome of being exposed
to a new culture. It requires humility to accept that the customs, assumptions and
traditions one has grown up with and perhaps never questioned, may not be
universally shared and are, in fact, rooted in one’s own cultural values.
Culture is a complicated word that means many things. Cultural values often refer to
the fabric of how different groups of people make sense of their own being through
material and non-material means. Education is a culturally scripted embodiment of
values, necessities and aspirations. This can be seen through the different forms that
education takes – or maybe, rather, the different forms that education took before
colonialism and later globalisation homogenised our ideas of what education “should”
be like. Built into the ways that we as educators view our roles, deep beyond our
conscious training as educators and/or tourism professionals, our cultural values
reside. Much of modern education is built on Western ideals that emphasise
individualism, rational thought and compartmentalisation. (This theme and its
implications, especially regarding the need for holistic education, are also discussed in
Chapter 1, Didactics.)
The challenge to even consider, let alone develop and implement, alternatives to our
teaching, learning and educational process is rooted in our own cultural values, which
have shaped our views of good teaching and successful learning. There are a growing
number of researchers who challenge the blinkered view of general university
education and highlight how that prioritised perspective simultaneously silences other
ways of learning and knowing. For examples of alternative cultural education
perspectives, see the following: in the African context (Asante, 2020); in an African-
American context (Emdin, 2020); in an Asian context (Miike, 2019); on
epistemological racism (Kubota, 2020); and from an Indigenous perspective
(Kuokkanen, 2007).
Language is one of the most prominent differences between cultures and connected to
language are different kinds of texts and communication styles. Granted, some
different cultural groups speak the same language, often as a result of emigration or
colonialism. However, even within these groups certain words and expressions take on
different meanings, specific to the particular group’s values. Note, for example, that in
Chapter 1, which deals with different learning and teaching philosophies, we
emphasise the book is structured around didactics, rather than pedagogy. This
emphasis stems from a linguistic perspective. Borrowing from the Germanic/Nordic
tradition, Künzli (1988) defines didactics as “the embodiment of knowledge about
instruction” (as cited in Keiding & Qvortrup, 2014). In contrast, pedagogy is “the art
and science of teaching” (Bangura, 2005, p. 13). However, pedagogy is also seen to
refer more directly to the teaching of children, whereas andragogy is “the art and
science of helping adults learn” (Bangura, 2005, p. 13). Bangura further shows how
the science of teaching has been divided into “ergonagy (the art and science of helping
people learn to work), and heutagogy (the study of self-determined learning)” (2005,
p. 13). However, he points out that all of these teaching paradigms are built on
Western values and may not, then, be appropriate for teaching in non-Western
cultures. For example, ubuntugogy, based on traditional African cultural values,
subsumes all of the other paradigms, and is more suitable for teaching in an African
context (Bangura, 2005). Thus, language communicates not just meaning, but also
cultural values inherent in meanings, and it is of essence to locate one’s own
assumptions before transmitting these to others.
 This chapter introduces culture as a complicated concept, including traditions and
heritage as manifestations of cultural values. Tourism heavily depends on cultural
values and the differences between these: cultural values are part of the attraction in
tourism, and they also form the basis for the hospitality that is provided to guests
through informal and formal means. The chapter provides teaching examples and
discussion starters that are related to cross-cultural features and art and craft in an
attempt to make cultural values tangible to tourism students.

Culture – a complicated word

Culture is a complicated word because it can mean many things, depending on the
context and because it includes everything from fashion to sports. In order to
understand cultural values, we borrow here a categorisation where Edelheim (2005),
based on Jenks (1993), divided culture into four categories. See Figure 6.1.
In Jenks’ framework, Box A represents a definition somewhat old fashioned but
nonetheless relevant to tourism: culture as a cognitive category or a state of mind. This
is the culture that the Romantic authors referred to when they wrote of an ideal that
may not exist in the here and now, but that ignites the imagination as a lofty goal to
strive for, as it encapsulates the essence of “being cultured”. This definition is relevant
to tourism for two reasons. First, it harks back to the history of tourism around the
world, where artists and wealthy people set out on grand tours to become cultured
(Löfgren, 2002). Second, it relates to the problematic legacy of stereotyping groups of
individuals by creating simplistic generalisations. For instance, imaginaries of
Indigenous groups re-construct misconceived stereotypes of exotic, traditional cultures
as though they existed outside of time and space (Gardiner, 2021; Olsen et al., 2019).
Box B defines culture from an empiricist perspective. Starting with Darwin,
anthropological authors have claimed that the development of the human race leads to
the current civilisation – or the current culture. Colonial and neo-colonial ideas of
one’s own culture’s superiority are visible here (Simmons, 2004). The current status is
at all times imagined as the highest achievement of humankind. All “less developed”
people of the world are therefore to be “cultivated”, i.e., taught the cultural values of
the so-called civilised world. This definition of culture is still seen in travel brochures
where tourists are invited to experience the “authentic” culture of some distant region
(Morgan & Pritchard, 1998). It is also seen in educational export, where degree
programs are taught in partnership, or as franchised entities in different locations. Full
programs are situated in a different culture without the right to change many parts of
the content, as it is deemed to be “correct” based on imported cultural values (Phan,
2017). This is a conservative view of culture that places different traditions and
different cultures in a perceptual hierarchy.
Figure 6.1 Four Definitions of Culture
(Edelheim, 2005, p. 249, based on Jenks, 1993)
 Box C defines culture in its most common use – “high culture” but also “pop culture”.
High culture is associated with various “cultural” events and exhibitions, such as
theatre, opera, classical concerts, museums, and art exhibitions. However, it is
becoming common to also include popular culture here. Examples can be seen in the
Japanese pop culture of anime, manga, cosplay, games, music, fashion. There has
always been a clash between high culture and pop culture. Some people see the latter
as diminishing a cultural heritage that they consider worth keeping. Consequently,
they resist the intrusion of culture which the populace is consuming (popular culture),
disapproving, for example, of sports being included in culture (Dobson, 2006). History
has shown that this elite stance often has substantial power and is therefore able to
uphold some of the cultural heritage, while parts of the pop culture are transformed
into that same heritage as new popular trends emerge. The instances where the
definition of culture from Box C apply to tourism can be seen in cultural tourism,
where tourists visit museums, historic homes and ruins; or attend different festivals,
art, music, performances and sporting events.
Lastly, Box D defines culture as a social category, a way of life of a certain group of
people. A modern notion about cross-cultural knowledge highlights this definition.
People are aware of the way of life they are living themselves, but they have to be
educated to recognise differences that appear in other societies, other cultures. How
people are raised and what they value and acknowledge as valuable all reflect their
society’s dominant culture and, therefore, cultural values. When tourists are motivated
to travel by the desire to experience different cultures, then this definition of culture is
mostly driving their decision. A crucial difference between Box D and Boxes A and
(especially) B is that its definition views culture as a neutral, not hierarchical, value
concept.

Conversation Starter

Let your students investigate online what type of “cultural tourism” is on offer in a
place they are familiar with. Make sure that they investigate both incoming and
outbound tourism, as these two tend to be rather different. Ask them to determine
what kind of culture, based on the definitions above, the majority of these examples
represent. What cultural values are tied to these uses of culture in different categories
by tourism stakeholders?

Figure 6.2 Deep Cultural Interpretation Model

(Armano, 2018)
Armano (2018) describes how cultural values can be understood and illustrates how
they can be used in tourism practice and in classes. She is the author of the Deep
Cultural Interpretation Model (DCIM) (Figure 6.2), which, starting from the bottom,
is made up of Cultural Models that could be explained through the concept of “world
 vision”. These cultural models guide people to classify the world they live in based on
specific defining traits (such as cultural values and norms). Cultural Values are ideals
towards which people in a particular culture tend and which influence behaviour.
Cultural Rules are norms, such as procedures, which explain the right behaviour to
follow in order to ensure cultural values are upheld. Unconscious Habits are the
implicit behaviours (understood as habitus) that group members regularly express
without necessarily being able to articulate why. Finally, Communication is the
explicit behaviours that manifest, with words or deeds, people’s thoughts and feelings.
Notably, these two latter categories distinguish information emerging from actions and
spoken language to achieve a deeper understanding of the complexities that appear
through personal stories.

Activity

Getting students to work in culturally sensitive ways with local cultures, making tourism
thus more culturally sustainable is the goal of the online platform ARCTISEN. The
platform covers five countries (Finland, Sweden, Norway, Greenland and Canada) and
uses a variety of learning environments, including videos, inspirational presentations,
academic articles and blog posts. Mette Simonsen Abildgaard, Emily Höckert, Outi
Kugapi, Monika Lüthje and Carina Ren describe this in “Enhancing culturally sensitive
tourism in an online learning environment”.

Video Project

To develop cultural awareness and mutual understanding and respect, students are
asked to create a safety video for a certain cultural target group of tourists. This
project, carried out in multicultural teams, develops awareness of one’s own culture,
the cultures of the other team members, the tourism target cultures and the local
culture of the operating environment. Through being exposed to cultural diversity in
this way, the students gain a greater understanding of how cultural values affect one’s
behaviour and attitudes. Häikiö and Väyrynen share this approach in “Enjoy Lapland
Safely”.

Tradition and heritage

The concepts of tradition and heritage are strongly connected to cultural values. A
tradition can be imagined as a certain way of doing or performing an act or event.
Every tradition has a temporal lineage that can be traced back in its culture. Some
traditions are old, others relatively young. Some traditions started based on seasonal
factors connected to natural phenomena, others on hygiene, politics or religions.
Studying traditions in different cultures can be incredibly informative as they can
explain historical transitions and shed light on values that still exist today, in modern
 society. One tradition strongly connected to tourism is hospitality, which can be
viewed as one of humanity’s most important features: the care of others. Hospitality
exists in all cultures, taking different forms, stronger and weaker, based on many
historical factors and on the importance placed on “us” versus “them”. To varying
extents, hospitality lives on in traditions in people’s homes, in the social and in the
commercial domain (Lashley, 2018).

Conversation starter

Ask your students to identify three traditions that their parents or other older people
have passed on to them, and then ask them to explain what those traditions might be
based upon and why their culture still values them.

Heritage is synonymous with tradition, but it is also a category of history that has been
objectified and memorised in a particular way. If we define history as a description of
everything that has happened in the past (albeit, recognising that our definition is not
complete as history relies on generalisations and is shaped by the biased perspective of
who creates it and when), then heritage is a selected part of history that is given a
value above and beyond other histories. This value can be seen when nations, and
even the global community, select certain places, traditions and events to be protected
because they represent heritage. That is, they are determined to be worthy of saving
for future generations. UNESCO’s World Heritage sites provide prominent examples
of “heritage”, which also commonly become prominent tourist attractions.

Conversation starter
Tourism can be a powerful force that brings a number of cultural changes to society.
Nic Naumov’s Tourism and World Heritage Sites 2 uses the context of intangible
heritage as it is ideally suited to stimulate a critical and engaging discussion on the
extent to which tourism revitalises cultural values and tradition while, at the same time,
contributing to their exploitation for commercial purpose.

Language
Language, a means of communication distinct to a particular group of people, is an
important representative of cultural values. Several thousand languages are estimated
to be in use around the globe today – a number considerably smaller than what existed
in earlier times, when people were less mobile. And small language groups continue to
disappear. We need to pay attention to the loss inherent within this trend.
Languages were always developed to communicate meaning in a set context, and
different features within that context require, therefore, different words. When the
number of languages decreases, the ability to communicate nuanced meanings relevant
to the culture associated with that language is similarly decreased. In the modern
world, nation-states typically designate certain languages – or perhaps only one
language – as “official”. But being restricted to the official language means we are
communicating at a more general, restricted level. Or, stated more plainly, a poorer
level. Regional features that are essential in certain areas might continue existing in
dialects, but the official vocabulary has eliminated it, because that feature is not
necessary to be understood in another area. An example of this is the different words
describing features of ice in northern Finland, all relevant and with different practical
implications for travellers within that context, but less known in southern Finland,
which does not have the same climate, and therefore does not need to distinguish
among a similar range of ice formations.

Conversation starter

Language evolves. New words are invented to describe new features in society while
some words are borrowed from other languages. Ask your students to identify three
“new” words that have been created or borrowed within the last decade, for use in the
language they are most familiar with. Why could an old word not be used for these
phenomena, and what values do the new words entail?

Translation between languages is always a delicate endeavour, because the same word
can have multiple related, yet still different, meanings. These varied meanings are
captured within the term’s denotation and connotation. Denotation refers to the word’s
definition or its literal meaning; connotation refers to connections in meaning that the
word contains – that is, the meaning suggested or evoked by the word. One example of
how language can
illustrate cultural
values is by
thinking of the
Japanese word き

れい[な] as it
simultaneously can be translated as “beautiful” and “clean” in English, thereby
showing a connection that anybody coming from outside Japan experiences very
tangibly in society, and that Japanese travellers experience when travelling out of the
country. The connotation is often thus a reflection of the cultural values. To truly
understand and communicate with someone on a meaningful, nuanced level we need
to understand the connotation, which can only happen if we understand their cultural
values.
Another aspect of communication that is deeply rooted in cultural values is non-verbal
language. It is not just the words that we use, and the level of comprehension of those
words that are of importance, but also the way the words are expressed, and the facial
 expressions and body language that accompany them. People of different cultural
backgrounds have different preferences for how communication is carried out. Some
want the conversations to be animated and competitive. Others prefer calm and
harmonious interactions. For example, perceived levels of trust and engagement with
people, and the messages they transmit, are strongly related to the manner (excited vs
calm) and the facial expressions (broad smile vs. no smile) that the receiver prefers
(Sims et al., 2018). This is one of the reasons we, as professional communicators,
always should remind ourselves to form our messages so that they are suitable for the
audience in front of us, whether that audience consists of one person or a thousand.

Activity

Jonathon Day presents a two-part exercise in “Cultural awareness” to increase cultural

awareness and build a shared understanding of the meaning of respect. The activity
can be done in pairs or in small groups.

Arts and festivals

Arts and festivals express something about cultural values. They are born within
cultures, and they often manifest values that symbolise those cultures. Now, art and
festivals are very diverse and take a multitude of shapes, so the preceding statements
are broad generalisations. Consider, for example, the word “art”. It shares the same
root as “artificial”, something that has been created. Some art has been created to
express the artist’s opposition to a society’s dominant cultural values. Paradoxically,
however, even that expression of opposition might be a reflection of the culture. The
artist reacts to the existing cultural values by protesting against them. Picasso’s
famous painting Guernica is a well-known example of this.

Conversation starter

Ask your students to brainstorm examples of what they consider to be “good” art and
“bad” art. Record the suggestions on the board, a flipchart or a screen, so the entire
class can see them. After you have received enough examples, ask the students,
working in pairs, to identify common elements or themes that link some – or all – of
the examples (i.e., what are the defining characteristics of good art or bad art?). Roam
the room and check if they agree on the categories? Ask them to consider how their
perceptions of good and bad art might differ from other people’s perceptions, both
within and outside of your community? Initiate a class discussion where you ask
students to reflect on what they think these differences tell us about cultural values.

As earlier stated, art is commonly situated in Box C of culture, a descriptive or

concrete form of culture. However, it can also fall within Box B, as a reflection of a
culture’s state of development, which is particularly highlighted when different
cultures are compared. Different nations have national galleries where the art
perceived to best represent their values is collected. Art and aesthetic expressions are
very closely linked to values, and people who imagine that the world is totally rational
and explained through natural sciences often equate artistic values with relativism. We
disagree. Granted, art is not “knowable” in the same way as mathematics, but neither
is it purely relative. Art is meant as an embodiment of culture. Its point, therefore, is
not necessarily to create meaning, but instead to create feelings. That’s where its value
lies.

Activity

In their teaching case on cultural sustainability Huhmarniemi and Kugapi have

developed a workshop on “Co-designing creative tourism activities for preserving and
promoting local cultural traditions”. It includes art and craft-based activities that have,
at their best, the potential to enhance cultural revitalisation and act as mediators of
traditions, cultural values and discussions. These activities increase the appreciation
of local traditions and crafts as well as Indigenous and similarly situated knowledge.
They also transfer heritage and cultural capital in general in a way that respects
cultural continuity and cultural identities and promotes social inclusion. It can be said
that creative tourism breathes new life into cultural traditions and fosters appreciation
for handicraft skills and designs. In this group activity, art and tourism entrepreneurs
and students collaborate to co-design craft-based services with an aim to preserve
and promote local, place-based business practices.

Activity

A very visual feature of modernity in action is advertisements, and students can learn
a lot about what is considered modern at any one time by looking at advertisements
from different years and decades. Ask students to search out some classic
advertisements from one field (travel, make-up, homeware, whatever they fancy) from
the 1930s, 50s and 70s, and describe what values were dominant at those times. After
this, ask them to look at some contemporary advertisements and discuss what values
are emphasised today.