22 | No Such Thing as "Culturally Poor"

I recently heard someone describe a group of people “culturally poor”. The phrase caught me off guard, immediately got me thinking, and has not left my mind since. It was only mentioned as a side note, and that is exactly why it is concerning. 

To call anyone culturally poor, is not only inaccurate. It also seems to reflect a subconscious mindset and dangerous misunderstanding. No single culture is poor culturally. Every single culture is rich in the dimensions that define culture: language, rituals, clothing, food, knowledge systems, values, love, humour, faith, and communication.

I assume (and strongly hope) that people who use the phrase mean “culturally poor”, really mean “economically poor”; describing a lack of financial resources, infrastructure, or goods. But at what stage did we allow economic wealth to become confused with cultural richness? And how did we fail to notice this distortion of language? And if language is an expression of conceptual understanding, what worldview are we reinforcing? Are we perceiving value primarily through a capitalist lens? Has “cultural richness” become synonymous with economic power?

Without neglecting the achievements of capitalist economies, we must not let that success come at the expense of cultures that do not fit into the capitalist mould. Especially in times of AI, where non-digitized content and knowledge seems to lose value by the minute, this will be challenging. 

I am not suggesting that we ignore realities of material wealth or poverty. But can we try to stop mapping it onto cultural wealth? Describing people as “culturally poor” is a misuse of language at best — and dehumanizing at worst. 

Being clear about what’s wealth and what’s value will help us in seeing the richness that’s right in front of us.