Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

This week we were asked to interview three people, at least one in which was culturally different, and their views on the definitions of culture and diversity. I interviewed the following:

·         25 year old African American female with a Muslim religion

o   Culture: Family traditions, values, morals, gender roles within families, as well as beliefs including religion and old wives tales even.

o   Diversity: The difference between an individual’s families and cultures.

·         28 year old Caucasian female

o   Culture: A person values, traditions, surroundings. Everything from their past generations, language, the way they dress, and the way they think.

o   Diversity: Difference in language, dress, thinking, and appearance.

·         52 year old African American female

o   Culture: Family traditions. How you were brought up.

o   Diversity: A variety of ideas and groups.

  

“Culture is like an iceberg, the part of the iceberg that is celebrated is the tip sticking out of the water, but the ninety percent that is lurking beneath is where the tension comes in. (Laureate Education 2011).

            When defining culture people usually only realize what is visible. By my surprise after interviewing these three ladies they all have shared their knowledge on deep culture such as stating culture being based on language, how people were brought up (historic events),or their traditions (old wives tales). All of the ladies I interviewed are colleagues of mine. Even though we work with a diversity of children whom are from different cultures when asked these questions, each said, “Let me think about it.” This gave me the impression that they thought of culture being deeper than just what we see.

After studying the aspects of culture and diversity, when I think of the word culture I think of a family’s values, religions, morals, beliefs, and customs the customs they live by. Culture is the traditions within a family that they feel are important enough to pass along from generation to generation. Culture can be as specific as someone’s race, the way they dress, how they speak, the type of language they speak, what they may or may not believe, or may or may not eat. The word diversity makes me think of the way we define people based on their unique characteristics. This can be a person’s race, gender, abilities, religions, or culture. All in all, culture is what we make it.

Reference 

Laureate Education (Producer). (2011). Culture and diversity [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu