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Cultural Sustainability in Higher Education

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Encyclopedia of Sustainability in Higher Education

Definition

Culture is defined as both material and nonmaterial attributes of a society, as well as social organizations, oral and written literature, religion, myths, and values and norms representing the important aspects. Social practices, technologies, and tool usage (e.g., cooking, shelter, and clothing) and expressive forms of art (e.g., music, dance, rituals, and religion) are universal by nature (Macionis and Gerber 2011) and should be valued as inclusive within the higher educational setting. Cultural sustainability in higher education recognizes the need to honor and transmit culture for future generations, achieved by infusing pluralistic, transformative learning to foster socio-ecological change.

Introduction

Cultural sustainability is a multifaceted term encompassing a variety of perspectives, making a clear and concise definition difficult. At the most basic level, Bekerman and Kopelitz define cultural sustainability as “an attempt to transmit culture, or particular ways...

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Correspondence to Lynn Payne .

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© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

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Payne, L., O’Neil, J.K. (2019). Cultural Sustainability in Higher Education. In: Leal Filho, W. (eds) Encyclopedia of Sustainability in Higher Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63951-2_109-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63951-2_109-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-63951-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-63951-2

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