Cultivation as Relation: Rethinking Culture

I investigate the complex range and overlap of meanings of cul- tivation, and of to cultivate, starting from their roots in the Latin family of words deriving from the Indo-European *kwel and from their primary meaning which was to favour natural growth, in the way of ‘taking care of’. I try a phenomenological analysis of their uses as action, as process and as result for highlighting their relational structure, those then can help us to better under- stand human relationships, which always involve many elements and twists through time, place, context, and dispositions.