Today, many crises underscore the vulnerability of our world, sometimes undermining our confidence in the future: geopolitical, climatic, economic, financial, technological crises, and many more. However, after assessing this situation, it is interesting to see that these crises are symptoms of the gradual collapse of a general societal model. This model that is gradually collapsing and running out of steam is precisely the individualistic model that has structured all our political, economic, and social institutions for nearly 400 years. Today, unfortunately, or fortunately, it is moving towards exhaustion. And this exhaustion, far from being apocalyptic, is an invitation to think and build a new societal model. We are clearly in the midst of a transition phase. Throughout history, all lifestyles that have allowed our ancestors to inhabit various phases of transition resiliently have always been driven and instigated by culture. The word ‘culture’ etymology comes from the Latin ‘cultura,’ which translates to ‘inhabiting.’ It is culture that allows us to inhabit the transitional phases of crises. By ‘inhabit,’ I mean the ability to endure the violence of crises while sketching, through creativity and optimism, the reinvention of new possible societal models. This is the historical importance of culture in all its forms.
On December 11, 2023, I was invited to lecture at a French company that has made the protection of cultural actors its battleground: Thalie Santé. Together, we explored the concept of Ubuntu as a possible path to activate this cultural capacity to inhabit times of crisis.
