Johan Fornäs - Defending Culture: Conceptual Foundations and Contemporary Debate
Fornäs, J. (2017). Defending Culture: Conceptual Foundations and Contemporary Debate, Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN: 978-3-319-86256-9
This key book studies the conceptual foundations of culture and explores the many contemporary debates surrounding the concept of culture. Culture is discussed through diverse lenses: as an ontological concept (i.e., as cultivation), as an anthropological concept (i.e., as life form), as an aesthetic concept (i.e., as related to the arts), and as a hermeneutic concept (i.e., as meaning-making). It presents the concept’s different usages along with their limitations and contradictions. The book explains how culture is defended but sometimes also contested in different contexts. It provides an integrated understanding of culture and its different meanings in society.
Fornäs “Defending Culture: Conceptual Foundations and Contemporary Debate”