Saturday, March 23, 2013

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture


I have a friend who is African from Cameroon who is culturally different from me in many ways however, in other ways we are culturally similar.  When asked her definition of culture she responded “Culture is what makes each of us different.  It is the things which are not always known to the general public but are special and sacred to individuals and their families.  Diversity is a mixture of various cultures.  Diversity is also the understanding that is it comprised of a variety of differences”.   My friend of Indian decent had a similar definition of culture, “ it is the unique pieces of me that others in my family may share.  Culture is the special characteristics that create individuality and uniqueness among a group of people.  Culture is shared understandings and beliefs.  Diversity is a mixture of cultures”.  I also spoke with a colleague of mine who responded “diversity is a mixture of ethnicity's, races, and cultures.  Culture is what defines who we are as people.  Some of our culture is passed and learned through family and history, other parts of our culture is influenced by media  and other groups”.
            I was encouraged that all three of the responses were similar to the definitions we have learned and expanded through this class.  Culture is unconscious and incorporated perspectives from a variety of places (Laureate Education, 2011).  One of the responses highlighted it perfect when she said “it is not always known to the general public” which is very similar to the understanding Janet Gonzalez-Mena shared as comparing culture to an iceberg, what is not seen is the deep culture (Laureate Education, 2011).   None of these answers omitted aspects of culture as it is comprised of race, ethnicity, and religion, but also of those deep aspects which are unique.  All three definitions of diversity were whole, as they highlighted the need for respect of differences, combining differences and highlighted the intermix of culture and diversity, one which cannot happen without the other.   My understanding of the relationship between culture and diversity was enhanced during this exercise.  Diversity is a mixture of culture but culture is a combination of diverse influences, beliefs, perspectives.

References
Laureate Education Inc., (2011). (DVD) Culture and Diversity.



2 comments:

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  2. Talibah you gave a thorough review of the definitions given by your acquaintances on diversity and culture. Your responses were much like those given to me. I to was quite surprised that many of the responses were similiar to those given to us during this course of study. Nice post and thanks for sharing.

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