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thecomplexityofthemodernworldaswellasanattemptatfacingits
manychallengesusingsimple,widelyavailablemeans.
***
Althoughwecannot,atthispoint,compilealistofdefinitivecriteria
thatallthepracticesandphenomenaofinteresttouswouldmeetwhile
otherswouldnot,wecanspeakofacertainfamilyresemblance,expressed
hereinarangeofattributesthatcouldbesaidtodescribevernacularcul-
ture,includingwordssuchas:emergent,conditional,folksy,amateurish,
oblivioustolimitations,andstructurallysubversive.
Allofthesedińerentaspectsultimatelyintersectwithinthefundamen-
talneedtounderstandandconferameaningupontheworld.
SimpleMeansinaComplexWorld
Wedonotunderstandtheworldaroundus.Teuthreatofmeaning-
lessness”8hangsoverusnotbecauseofwhoweare(uamateurs,”uremoved
fromthedecision-makingcentre,”etc.),butbecausenooneindividual
iscapableofgraspingtheworldinitsentirety.Teoverlapbetweentheex-
periencesofpeoplelivingalongsideoneanotherisgrowingeversmaller,
asisthescopeofindividualhumanexperience,limitedtoanincreasingly
narrowportionofthereality.Weareunabletoretracetheoriginsoftheob-
jectsweuseeveryday9ortheexplanationswetrustwhenitcomestoshap-
ingourworldview.10Inasocietyorganisedalongsuchlines,lifeismostly
basedaroundoutsourcingourowncompetences,includingoutsourcing
understanding.Wedonothavetounderstandeverything,becausewe
havepeopletounderstandforus.
Meanwhile,uHomosapiensisthecreaturewhoCmakessense.
’”11To
liveasahumanmeanstounderstand.Understanding,alas,hasbecome
somewhatimprobable.Tisparticularparadoxisexactlywhatvernacu-
larcultureseekstoresolve.Atitscore,itisaresponsetothealienation
8SeeAnthonyGiddens,ModernityandSelf-Identity:SelfandSocietyintheLateMod-
ernAge(Stanford:StanfordUniversityPress,1991),201-202.
9JamesG.Carrier,GifsandCommodities:ExchangeandWesternCapitalismSince
1700(London:Routledge,2005).
10See,e.g.,HarryCollinsandRobertEvans,RethinkingExpertise(Chicago-London:
TeUniversityofChicagoPress,2007).
11UlfHannerz,CulturalComplexity.StudiesintheSocialOrganizationofMeaning
(NewYork:ColumbiaUniversityPress,1992),3.
12|MarcinNapiórkowski,ArturSzarecki,PawełDobrosielski,PiotrFilipkowski,OlgaKaczmarek
