On March 18, 2024, students of the Psychology and Culture course attended an online class session inviting Pina Marsico, PhD. She serves as the Associate Professor of Development and Educational Psychology at the University of Salerno in Italy, a Visiting Professor at the PhD Programme in Psychology at the Federal University of Bahia in Brazil, and an Associate Researcher at Aalborg University in Denmark. With extensive experience in research within the educational field, she is now the leading figure in the Cultural Psychology of Education. Through an approximately 100-minute learning session, precisely from 2.20 PM to 4 PM, the students were granted an opportunity to delve into the interplay among culture, the individual, and the environment.
This session focused on exploring culture as a process. Starting with an intriguing opening on the nature of culture that is ephemeral, is everywhere, yet is quite challenging to define, this lecture begins to explore the initial ideas of culture, followed by an explanation of the perspective of cultural psychology. Prof. Marsico as the guest lecturer put an emphasis on how one person’s internalization of the environment affects the externalization, that is, how the person perceives culture, added with the possibility of a change within culture in the long run that depends on the individual.
The overall learning process went smoothly with several students asking questions during the Q&A session. During this session, students obtained new insights on a set of additional topics that were not explicitly explained in the presentation material. Prof. Marsico discussed hybrid cultures and myths in a culture, further providing students with beneficial knowledge on the concept of culture.
This session provided students with a meaningful understanding of culture as a process, highlighting how individuals and their environment may play a role in shaping culture.
By: Fadia Khanza Arinda