ABSTRACT

Cultural practices are located within the artefacts domain of the grammar of culture along with art and literature, under the general heading of particular cultural products. Cultural practices may indeed be the most noticeable signs of difference to newcomers. There are two good reasons for thinking carefully about how to approach unfamiliar cultural practices. One is more instrumental – if people need to live and perhaps work with the people involved in the practice, or to join their group. Another is the more human need simply to understand people from different backgrounds to their own. Although Anna and Beatrice's parents were brought up in the same broad society, at least in the particular event they do seem to draw on different cultural resources. In the grammar of culture, small culture formation is within the domain of underlying universal cultural processes.