I chose to
interview three people. Two were family
members and one was a coworker.
1. 58 year old woman
“Your culture is
your lifestyle.”
“Diversity means
different, change and different skills.”
2. 50 year old woman
“Your culture is
your environment, the way you grew up.”
“Diversity means
different.”
3. 36 year old male
“Culture is the
attitudes, norms and customs of a segment of our society.”
“Diversity is a
collection of varies cultures to make up a larger society.”
Derman-Sparks
and Edwards (2010) said, “culture refers to how particular groups of people
live” (p. 55). The people I talked to
agreed that culture was your lifestyle and the environment you lived in. They also believed that culture related to a
group of people. When it came to diversity
I found it interesting that the two women said diversity meant different. When I was first asked about my concept of
diversity the word different was the first thing to pop into my mind.
None of the
people talked about social identities.
This isn’t necessarily surprising to me because prior to this class I
would not have thought of social identities.
I now know the importance of social identities and see how social
identities influence your individual diversity.
Also none of the people really dug into deep culture. I believe you really have to put some thought
into understanding your deep culture. If
culture is not something you really talk about or think about you are probably
not going to reach understanding your deep culture.
After thinking
about the other people’s definitions it is important to me to have a deeper
understanding of culture and diversity. My
own culture is not something I have really spent much time thinking about until
now and I am still realizing new ideas. I
do believe that really understanding your own culture can help you be more open
to the cultures of other people. Recognizing your own social identities can
help you better understand yourself and others.
Reference
Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias
education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: National
Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).
Courtney,
ReplyDeleteMany people understand elements of 'surface' culture but are not aware of what encompasses 'deep' culture. We therefore do not take the time to reflect on our own culture which is our social identities taking those for granted sometimes. Understanding our own culture deeper means to reflect on our own social identities to be aware of, accept and be proud of those. It is only then that we can acknowledge the cultural identities of others too and seek to know others better. Great post. Caroline
Hi Courtney,
ReplyDeleteI am also learning more and more about culture as we continue in the class. It is helping so much to analyze my own deep culture. When we started this class, I think I more thought of culture as the surface culture or the things I could see in people. I realize now how it is so much more than that. So much of our culture is unconscious and not thought of. -Mary
Hi Courtney
ReplyDeleteI am also learning a lot regarding culture and diversity in this class. Thanks for your post it was very interesting. I agree that people do not talk about social identities when asked about their culture. Thanks for sharing.