Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

Attending a birthday celebration for my deceased father (it is part of my family culture to continue to have birthday celebrations for our dear loved ones, even after they have passed away) provided me the opportunity to talk to a variety of family and friends about their perspectives on diversity and culture.  After everyone got over the amazement of me going back to school after over 30 years since I last attended, we really had some interesting conversations about culture and diversity.

I will reflect on the definitions I received from my 14 year old granddaughter, a retired school teacher and a bi-racial couple (the husband was Black and the wife was White).

My14- year old granddaughter defined culture as “Culture is like… the way we are because of how our parents raised us and taught us about different things. For instance, eating chitterlings and Black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day; always hold your head high and look people straight in their eyes when you talk to them; go to church on Sundays; say your prayers every night before going to bed; respect old people; and don’t talk back to your parents or you’ll get a spanking.  There is a lot more to culture because it’s like a we lot of rules that your family teach you about how to be and conduct yourself.”  She said that diversity is difference, doing things different from others, being different from others, just like a rainbow that is different colors, yet beautiful.

The retired African American school teacher said that race, ethnicity, religion, and economic status are some characteristics of culture but not necessarily what culture is.  Cultured is patterns of behavior that are passed from one generation to the next that people draw on, consciously or subconsciously, as they live their lives.  Culture is so broad; it’s a person’s beliefs, their values, their customs, it is a system that gives meaning, happiness, and direction to life.  She defined diversity as the inclusion of different types of people or people of different races or cultures.  To sum it up, it is a condition of having or being composed of differing elements.

The bi-racial couple seemed to be in agreement on their perspectives about culture and diversity.  They both agreed that everyone is affected by many cultures and that they find themselves rejecting some parts of one culture and accepting some parts of others and cultures change as people change.  Culture is the traditions, beliefs and values instilled in us at an early age by our parents and loved ones.  Any group of people may have its own values, customs, the way they dress, the food they eat and assumptions… culture really do not have to only be taught by your parents.  They defined diversity as difference and having different cultures respect each other's differences.  

In conclusion, all aspects of culture and diversity that I have studied in this course are included in the answers I received.  Thinking about other people’s definitions of culture and diversity influenced my own thinking about these topics in terms of realizing just how enormously interesting and complex the subject is.  Culture affects every action and every thought.  Cultural assumptions affects everyone, even unconsciously.