Their definition of culture and diversity:
Dawn (Native American, Female)= “Culture is defined by various ethnic backgrounds and the different ways of interacting amongst our family. I relate diversity with my family because we have so many different ethnicities in our family. Since the majority of my family is Native American, our culture can truly be seen through the stories told by my grandfather at each gathering.”
Kennith (African American, Male)= “Culture and diversity is defined by the different nationalities. Different cultures enjoy different things. I think that different cultures have their own way of doing things. Diversity can be seen in the different genre of music people listen to, the different ways of preparing foods, and the different ways and types of holidays that people celebrate.”
Sherry (Caucasian, Female)= “Diversity and culture can be shown around us daily. My opinion of culture and diversity is the different ethnic groups within our society. Culture is how our family develops different traditions, how we celebrate the holidays that relate to our families, and through our religion. Diversity is the form of developing one’s own style of going about our culture.”
Which aspects of culture and diversity that I have studied in this course are included in the answers I received—and what are some examples?
Culture and diversity has been defined in our course as surface culture which affects the outer layer of people such as ethnicity, sexuality, and economic status. Deep culture can be seen through religion and personal interest. Culture is also defined by family lifestyles and different ways of doing things within your own family. The answers that I received from the people I’ve interviewed regarding culture and diversity was similar to the things I’ve learned in this course. For example, I interviewed Dawn who is Native American in race, middle income in economic status, and a female. Her idea of culture and diversity consisted of various ethnic backgrounds as well as individual family lifestyles. Her family is made up of different ethnicities which she considers they reflect diversity. In her opinion of culture, she feels that she is of the dominant culture because of her ethnicity. Kenneth made a great point to relate culture to different genres of music and festivities. Sherry’s idea of culture relates to religion which is what we have been studying in the course that would be considered deep culture.
Which aspects have been omitted—and what are some examples of such omission?
When I interviewed Kenneth, he omitted family lifestyles as culture and diversity. His idea of culture was defined by many surface cultures. He felt that each ethnicity has their own way of doing things such as the different foods they choose to eat and the different communities they live in. I felt that everyone I interviewed omitted the way people have been raised and taught to do things from birth as a form of culture. I do feel that everyone’s ideas of culture and diversity are on the right track with the definition’s given by our course.
In what ways has thinking about other people’s definitions of culture and diversity influenced my own thinking about these topics?
I feel that other people’s definition of culture and diversity has influenced me to look at culture differently than I use to view it. I too would relate culture to ethnicity and other surface culture ideas. However, I now feel that culture is much deeper than that. Culture defines who we are individually because it’s our upbringing, rituals, likes, and dislikes. The people I interviewed helped me to think about every aspect of my life as some form of culture and diversity relation. Genres of music, the types of dance, and even the way I am raising my own children can be related to diversity and culture in some way or another.
