The word culture, from the Latin colo, -ere, with its root meaning "to cultivate", generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance. Different definitions of "culture" reflect different theoretical bases for understanding, or criteria for evaluating, human activity. Anthropologists most commonly use the term "culture" to refer to the universal human capacity to classify, codify and communicate their experiences symbolically. This capacity is long been taken as a defining feature of the genus Homo. However, primatologists such as Jane Goodall have identified aspects of culture among our closest relatives in the animal kingdom.Goodall, J. 1986. The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of Behavior.

Defining "culture"

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Inquirer front page

A torrent of creative weirdness
Thu, 28 Aug 2008 07:01:00 -0000
Very soon, two men - one Austrian, one Japanese - will open a store in Center City. For prices ranging from 80 cents to $5, they'll offer 60 performance pieces. Browse, choose, and they'll perform the one you purchased.
Their can-you-believe-this feeling
Fri, 29 Aug 2008 07:01:00 -0000
During the long drumroll of speeches and music, Stephen and Leslie Pierce watched their 4-year-old granddaughter get down to Stevie Wonder and wondered aloud what, possibly, could Barack Obama have to say in his much-anticipated acceptance speech.
Obama sought to show he's the whole package
Fri, 29 Aug 2008 07:01:00 -0000
DENVER - On a glorious summer night, in a football stadium filled with flag-waving delegates and loyalists, Barack Obama tried to assure a skeptical electorate that there is real substance behind his notion of change.
Same wine, fancier bottle
Fri, 29 Aug 2008 07:01:00 -0000
HARRISBURG - It's Extreme Makeover - the Liquor Control Board edition. Starting early next year, the state agency that controls the sale of wine and spirits in Pennsylvania will begin revamping its 621 stores, hoping to erase their decades-old image as dingy, poorly run operations that are a necessary stop on the way to buying a bottle of wine.
Obama accepts historic nomination
Fri, 29 Aug 2008 07:01:00 -0000
DENVER - Sen. Barack Obama, accepting the Democratic presidential nomination last night, sought in language by turn uplifting and scathing to frame the change he wants to bring to a nation whose promise, he said, is imperiled by "broken politics."
Gustav barrels toward the Gulf
Fri, 29 Aug 2008 07:01:00 -0000
NEW ORLEANS - Just three years after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans confronts a threat from Gustav and a stark question: Will the partially rebuilt levees hold?

Today's Tribune-Review

McCain picks Alaska Gov. Palin as running mate
Fri, 29 Aug 2008 12:45:58 -0400
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain is expected to announce today his selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Heath Palin as his running mate.
CMU professor charged with three DUIs in rehab
Fri, 29 Aug 2008 12:56:48 -0400
A Carnegie Mellon University professor who was charged with drunken driving three times in eight days has checked into a Virginia treatment center for alcoholism, his lawyer said today.
Ravenstahl denies corruption allegation
Fri, 29 Aug 2008 12:20:49 -0400
Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said today that any suggestion that there is a culture of corruption at city hall "is certainly contrived and unfortunate."
Trial ordered in North Side killing over iPod
Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:06:10 -0400
A North Side man will stand trial on charges he fatally shot a man during an argument over an iPod, a district judge ruled this morning.
Obama, Biden in Beaver County today
Fri, 29 Aug 2008 07:19:55 -0400
Barack Obama and running mate Joe Biden will begin their general election campaign in earnest today with a swing state bus tour starting in Beaver County.
Biden will lead city's Labor Day parade
Fri, 29 Aug 2008 03:00:00 -0400
Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden will lead Pittsburgh's 25th Annual Labor Day Parade. The parade will begin at 10 a.m. Monday on Centre Avenue near Mellon Arena and proceed downtown.

Centredaily.com: Local

McCain chooses Alaska gov as running mate
Fri, 29 Aug 2008 12:30:00 -0400
John McCain has tapped little-known Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his vice presidential running mate.
Parade caps off fair week
Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:55:00 -0400
CENTRE HALL — Eight-year-old twins Josh and Nicholas Zink were well outfitted for Thursday’s Grange Fair parade.
Jonas Brothers tackle serious issues
Fri, 29 Aug 2008 10:42:00 -0400
Teenage pop stars certainly are nothing new. Like Fabian, Leif Garrett, New Kids on the Bloc and N‘Sync, every generation has its screamworthy teen idols to excite a mostly young and female audience.

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