Saturday, July 14, 2012

PERSPECTIVES ON DIVERSITY AND CULTURE


Interviewees’ definition of culture and diversity


Whitney (African-American Pre-med student/sister-n-law)

Culture is the way of life of a group of people.

Diversity is a group of characteristics that separate culture into distinct groups in which they exists



 Kanayo (Nigerian accountant/Son’s godfather)

Culture is the sociological genetic makeup of an individual in regards to their environments, experiences, and education.

Diversity is just the differences in all aspects of individuals live

           
Deanna (Caucasian real estate agent/Aunt in law)

Culture is how we interact with people who we have family relationships with that unite us together.  We have favorite recipes and music that represent our culture.

Diversity is what separates us from other people cultural ways.




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 relates to the beliefs, artifacts, the values, and other things that bind people together (Smidt, 2006). We have discussed to some degree each individual definition of culture.  For example, we have discussed that culture is the way of life.  Culture is something that brings us together and culture does relate to a sociological agent.  Also an example of culture is many view the food and music that we share in our family as being a part of our culture. For example diversity is the differences that separate us.


Which aspects have been omitted—and what are some examples of such omission?

I feel that each person gave their own opinion of culture, but as we have learned, culture is complex.  For example, people of the same culture are quite different, depending on their individuality, their family, their gender, age, race, ethnicity, abilities, religion, economic level, social status, where they live and where they came from, sexual orientation, educational level, and even appearance, size, and shape (Gonzalez-Mena, 2008). 


In what ways has thinking about other people’s definitions of culture and diversity influenced my own thinking about these topics?

From engaging in conversation from each of these people, I learned a lot about how important culture is to them and how they each deal with the cultural diversity of the world.  They each shared an experience on how their family culture has gone through changes as they learned to adapt to the ways and beliefs of people and their cultures.  I learned that all of these people valued their own culture, and in fact that culture is a way of life that may in fact make us come closer together.  I also learned that despite these three people ages, gender, income status, religion, education, and race them all had the same perspective on culture and diversity.


References
Gonzalez-Mena, J. (2008). Diversity in Early Care and Education. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Smidt. (2006). The Developing Child in the 21st Century. New York: Routledge.








3 comments:

  1. I really liked your statement that "culture is a way of life that may in fact make us come closer together". I find that to be so true. Even when we at times disagree with family, it is those common threads that bind us together. Thanks for your post!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Tamieka,
    I enjoyed reading the definitions of culture and diversity from your friends. Culture and diversity really gives persepctive to the insights of others.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Tamieka,
    Your interview included a variety of ethnic backgrounds and as you said, all had similar definitions. I was surprised when asking three individuals how similar but unique each definition was. It seems that our country is moving forward with understanding culture and diversity! Great Post,
    Amanda

    ReplyDelete