Department
for International Development (DFID) presented the different type of assets on the form of Pentagon which consists five capital assets; natural capital,
social capital, human capital, physical capital, and financial capital (Carney,
1998). My critical thought about this pentagon of capital assets is: where is
the cultural capital? Why doesn’t it count by DFID? Is cultural capital not a
type of assets? I believe that culture is one of the essential parts of a
social and ecological system, particularly for rural livelihood, poverty
reduction, and sustainable development. Culture is something embedded in the
community and individuals that transferred among generations and shaping their
continuous-identity (beliefs, values, norms, religion, traditions, etc.). When
this inter-generations history and identity connected to the material
resources, it may provide essential livelihood option and create human
activities in the specific areas for a long period.
In
Indonesia, for instance, some livelihood practices (paddy farming) are related
to a culture which embodied in religious beliefs and local traditions. “Devi
Sri” is well-known as a goddess of rice and fertility in most of the peasant’s
community in Java and Bali island and still worshipped in that places. This
kind of belief generates some specific feelings and emotion to their livelihood
practices that supposed to be incorporated into the framework. Ignoring
cultural assets of people will mislead the program or development itself. Although,
there is a tension between the older generation, who are practicing that
traditional knowledge and the recent generation who abandoned that such of
practices (Gilles, 2013), the importance of culture as a local asset is still
important and should be considered by the rural livelihood investigators or
practitioners. Cultural capital is also essential for deriving some creative
livelihood practices that support the connectivity between the past and the
future (cultural hub) towards sustainable community livelihood and resilience
(Daskon & McGregor, 2012).
However,
it is also somewhat confusing within the definition of Cultural capital itself.
Is that true that cultural capital is different from “human capital” and
“social capital.”? Or it the same things with different terminology? According
to Throsby (1999), traditional economist usually uses three forms of capital: physical capital, human capital, and natural
capital. All of them inserted in DFID’s Pentagon (framework of sustainable
rural livelihood/SRL) but, unfortunately, it can keep our analysis in the
economic per se rather than covering
broader social, institutional, and cultural dimensions (Scoones, 2009). Throsby
argues that we need to recognize the fourth capital called cultural capital as a different category. He defines cultural
capital as “an asset that contributes to
cultural value or cultural valued embodied in an asset”, both may tangible
or intangible form. Tangible assets
in cultural capital may appear in cultural heritage such as structures, sites,
building, or locations with historical and cultural significance. Intangible assets may exist in the
stock of artworks or public goods and services such as literature, music, and
another set of traditions, beliefs, and values which bind and ties together a
group of people in the particular places. All those cultural assets usually
used or embedded in the creation of other economic activities (good and
services) such as in tourism or advertisement, which also generates economic
values.
Figure 1. Transformation
of the pentagon to the hexagon of Capital Assets
References:
Carney, Diana. 1998. Sustainable Rural
Livelihoods: What contributions can we make? Department for International Development
Daskon, Chandima & Andrew McGregor.
2012. Cultural Capital and Sustainable Livelihoods in Sri Lanka’s Rural
Villages: Towards Culturally Aware Development. Journal of Development Studies,
Col 48. 549-563
Ellis, Frank. 2000. Rural Livelihood and
Diversity in Developing Countries. Oxford: New York
Gilles, Jere L, et al. 2013. Laggards or
Leaders: Conservers of Traditional Agricultural Knowledge in Bolivia. Rural
Sociology 78(1), 2013, pp. 51-74
Scoones, Ian. 2009. Livelihoods
perspectives and rural development. Journal of Peasant Studies, vol 36, No 1.
Throsby, David. 1999. Cultural Capital.
Journal of Cultural Economics, 23, 3-12
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