Perspectives on Culture and Diversity


This week I had a chat with three different people about with their view on culture and diversity . This was their definition
1st person: Culture is the way of life of a particular group of people, the way they dress and things that have to do with their traditions. She defined diversity as the things that make us distinct. What differentiates us.
2nsd Person: Culture is the way of life of people living in the same community, sharing the same values and norms to achieve a common goal. She defined Diversity as how people are different I culture and how their norms and values are different from others.
3rd Person: He defined culture as a way of doing things, unique to a people defined by geographical location. He defined diversity as the state of being composed of many part that are unique in their individual selves.
During these chats with colleagues and family members, I realized that most people like myself are more conscious of surface culture, we are aware of the way people dress, and the way people do the things, their place of origin, however we do not easily recognize the values and the norms which are deeper part of their culture that greatly influences the surface culture that we see. Culture is Unconscious and most people act automatically and many times when we meet other people not within our cultural framework we consider them weird (Gonzalez-Mena, j.2008). For example, I find it difficult eating raw fish or even dog (which is eaten in some part of South- West in Nigeria) which some cultures embrace.
My Learning Points from these discussions is to increase my awareness and broaden my perspective about what is normal. I may have to quit ignoring and begin to be more conscious of diversity, to understand them more and even celebrate them. Just like the Gonzalez-Mena, of I want to look at differences as sources of strength not abnormalities or weakness. (Gonzalez-Mena, j.2008). I am working on a paradigm shift, one step at a time!

Reference
Gonzalez-Mena,J.(2008) Diversity in early care and education(5th ed.,PP.8-13)Boston.MA:McGraw H11

Comments

  1. Anonymous23 September 2018 at 10:10

    Hi Anuoluwapo, I agree with you that we are quit familiar with the surface culture. I think this is because sometimes we are so caught up on life that we do not get a chance to sit down and evaluate all those around us in a more defined way rather than just going by what we see. It is true that we should become more conscious of culture and diversity.
    -Jazzy

    ReplyDelete
  2. Naire.m23 September 2018 at 22:44

    Great post! I enjoyed reading your interview responds and this assignment was a great way to read and learn about other cultures that we didn't know about.

    Naire Mesak

    ReplyDelete

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