Perspective on Diversity and Culture

 

My take away from the definitions of culture and diversity from the people I talked to. They all believe that customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group are linked to culture and diversity. As discussed in this class, culture encompasses religion, food, what we wear, how we wear it, our language, marriage, music, what we believe is right or wrong, how we sit at the table, how we greet visitors, and how we behave with loved ones. In other words,  The world is filled with people who have different beliefs, religions, traditions, and ways of living. Yet, it is within our differences that we can find beauty. Both in educational and professional environments, cultural diversity benefits everyone. It paves the way to better problem-solving, more empathy and compassion, deepened learning and approaches the world from various perspectives.

People also connect to their cultural or ethnic group through similar food patterns. Immigrants often use food as a means of retaining their cultural identity. People from different cultural backgrounds eat different foods. The ingredients, methods of preparation, preservation techniques, and types of food eaten at other meals vary among cultures. The areas in which families live and where their ancestors originated influence food likes and dislikes. These food preferences result in patterns of food choices within a cultural or regional group. Thus, the food we eat is an embodiment of diversity.

The relationship between language and culture is a complex one. The two are intertwined. A particular language usually points out to a specific group of people. When you interact with another language, I am also interacting with the culture that speaks the language. It is impossible to understand a culture without understanding its language directly.

Language encodes culture and provides the means through which culture is shared and passed from one generation to another. For example, many cultures assign meanings to specific colors, but the definition for a particular color may be completely different from one culture to another.

Lastly, another aspect of culture and diversity that has been talked about in this class is religion. Religion is an intricate part of the culture, and it is very diverse.

There are more than 10,000 religions globally. The majority of the world population is associated with Christianity (the largest religion), Islam, and Hinduism. However, around 1.2 billion people are without religious affiliation associate themselves as atheists, agnostic, or secular.

Religion can be a key factor in the cultural identity of many people, influencing their behavior and traditions. Rituals, sacrifices, prayer, and art are many ways people show their allegiance to a particular religion.

Cultures have visible and hidden elements. Unfortunately, we tend to focus more on visible cultural features like artifacts, symbols, practices, art, architecture, language, color, dress, social etiquette, and traditions while omitting hidden elements like values, assumptions, and beliefs.

But visible cultural differences are only ten percent of our cultural identities: hidden cultural differences represent the remaining ninety percent of our cultural identity.

Values are the central feature of culture. They shape visible cultural differences. Focusing on visible cultural features, for example, dress captures only a narrow aspect of a culture. Specific cultural values are emphasized in some elements, different cultural values in others. Collectively, the entire cultural system encourages, legitimizes, and rewards a set of core cultural values. Thus, comparing differences in cultural values is the most efficient method of understanding cultural differences.

Looking through the lens of others' definitions of culture, I have realized that no cultural group is homogenous. Instead, there are individual differences in the thoughts and behaviors of members of every cultural group. Cultural values do not allow one to predict the behavior and responses of individuals with certainty. Yet, working knowledge of how members of a cultural group, in general, think and behave provides a valuable starting point for navigating intercultural interactions. So, as we interact with diverse others using Cultural Intelligence, we test and reflect on the appropriateness of our cultural assumptions and experiment with alternative responses, actively constructing a cultural profile for each unique exchange.

                                                      References

Food - Food And Culture - Family, People, and Families - JRank Articles https://family.jrank.org/pages/639/Food-Food-Culture.html#ixzz77JER9cbc

The Relationship between Language and Culture Defined

https://www.daytranslations.com/blog/relationship-between-language-and-culture/#:~:text=The%20relationship%20between%20language%20and%20culture%20is%20a%20complex%20one,culture%20that%20speaks%20the%20language.

Why Is Religion So Important In Culture?

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/why-is-religion-so-important-in-culture.html