67 THROUGH A LENS Symbols can be a powerful means of representing cultural past and plans we are making for the future, and we can even relate stories about imaginary people and occurrences. Language allows us to accumulate and store information, pass it on to one another, and forge a shared history. It is no wonder, then, that efforts to maintain marginalized cultures threatened with extinction often focus on preserving those cultures’ languages. Sometimes groups try to revive dying or extinct languages as a form of cultural preservation. For beliefs, especially in the areas of religion and politics. The meaning we give a particular symbol can vary by culture, however. When the symbol is a potent one, the various meanings can be a source of confusion and sometimes conflict. One of the most controversial symbols in recent American history has been the “Southern Cross.” This flag (left) was never the official flag of the Confederacy but rather was one of a number of battle flags used by Confederate forces during the Civil War. In the 1940s the Ku Klux Klan adopted the flag, and in the 1950s supporters of racial segregation used the flag as a prominent symbol of their cause. Today, various white supremacist groups still use the flag as their emblem. As a result, for many in the United States the flag symbolizes the fight to maintain slavery as well as recent and contemporary racist movements. For some Southerners, however, the contemporary use of the flag is not racist. To them it represents “heritage not hate.” Sociologist Lori Holyfield and her colleagues (Holyfield Moltz, and Bradley 2009) sought to untangle the complex meanings of the Confederate flag. They conducted focus group discussions with white college students at a large southern university. After reading aloud a news article about a controversy involving the Confederate flag in Leesburg, Virginia, groups discussed their views of the controversy and opinions of the flag. The authors heard only rare instances of overt racism in these focus groups. Instead, they found that white students typically sought to downplay the racial meanings associated with the Confederate flag or became defensive and diverted the discussion away from racial issues. In fact, faced with a highly charged symbol, most of these white students had difficulty explaining their own understanding of southern heritage or the meaning of the flag, even as they refused the implication that the flag is a racist symbol. In analyzing the ways these focus groups largely ignored history and disregarded persistent LANGUAGE A language is an elaborate system of symbols that allows people to communicate with one another in complex ways. Other animals have call systems that allow them to alert each other about their immediate environment—the presence of predators, for example. Human language, in contrast, is unique in its ability to convey information about objects and situations that are not immediately present. With language we can converse about events that happened in the differences in power and privilege, Holyfield and her colleagues (2009) suggest that, even if unintended, the use of such symbols can convey racist messages. They write, “participants need not approve of uses of the Confederate Flag or racism in order to participate in and perpetuate racist discourses” (p. 525). The controversy over the Confederate flag is part of a long history of symbols carrying multiple—and sometimes conflicting— meanings. For example, many Christians use the cross, symbolizing the crucifixion of Jesus (below left), as a sign of their faith. But the cross has been used by other, non-Christian cultures as well. In ancient Egypt the cross (above) was a sign of life. The ancient Greek cross (left)—with vertical and horizontal arms of equal length—represented the four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. Perhaps the most reviled symbol of the past century is the swastika (right), now forever linked with Nazism. But the swastika is an ancient symbol used in many different cultures. For example, it was a variation on the Christian cross; a Hindu symbol associated with the ferocious goddess Kali; and a Navajo symbol related to healing rituals. think about it 1. What symbols do you encounter in daily life? In what other contexts are they used? 2. There has been a great deal of debate in recent years about whether statehouses in the South should fly the flag associated with the Confederacy. Where do you stand on this issue? Do you think the flag is simply a symbol of the South’s heritage, or do you see it as a symbol of hate? How We See Powerful Symbols The Elements of Culture
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