Blog Assignment: Perspectives on Diversity and Culture
Monica
Monica is a 22 years old 3rd generation Mexican American. She was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. When asked what she thought about diversity and culture, Monica said:
"Diversity and culture is what makes people who they are, including their differences and similarities. People come from different cultural backgrounds and with them, they bring different talents and that is the beauty of it all because we can learn from each other".
Tony is a 64 year old African American man from Chicago. He said that Diversity includes people from different places with different beliefs, religions, foods, clothing, and costumes and that being able to accept people for what they are is essential. He said that culture is not only what is seen on the outside, but also the things that one does on the daily.
Maria
Maria is a 35 year old woman who was born here, but her parents are from Colombia.
"Culture is the costumes and beliefs that people have" and diversity is the things that make people different from one another".
The aspects of culture that were included are that the three people that I asked about diversity and culture stated that diversity and culture is what makes people who they are and that it includes the differences and similarities including their beliefs, talents, foods, customs, and what they have on the inside and not only what's on the surface.
Some of the aspects have been omitted are language, artifacts, intergenerational relationships, gender roles, work, roles, and how emotion is shown which are elements of surface and deep culture (Derma-Sparks & Edwards, 2010).
People's definition of culture and diversity influences me in the ways that I can see more clearly that we all have different definitions of what these two terms mean. There are some similarities, but we see things from a different point of view because of the way that we were brought up and the experiences that we have experienced. Understanding even that can help us to understand each individual person better.
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.
I really liked Tony's comment about accepting people for who they are as being essential. I completely agree that he has pinpointed the key. It would be such a boring place to live if we were all alike. It is our differences and our uniqueness that makes us beautiful. I enjoy learning about different cultures, and even when someone's culture is completely different from mine, I respect their belief and commitment to that culture.
ReplyDeleteReyna,
ReplyDeleteIt is very interesting that our responses to how we see culture and diversity can be similar but different at the same time. I stated in my blog post that I have come to the realization that there is no right or wrong definition for culture and diversity because it is "our" thoughts and beliefs.Thank you for sharing such a great post.
Priscilla
Reyna, I notice that my three contributors also did not include gender differences. I too tend to leave out that our genders have completely different cultures. Of course they do, but I think most of us are thinking of race and nationality rather than the every day differences. What a great lesson.
ReplyDeleteReyna, I really like your blog. The way you displayed a little info of your friends biography is awesome. These responses you were able to obtain from them are different and each have a personal characteristics that makes them who they are!
ReplyDeleteGreat work...
Bea
Reyna, I appreciated that each person had different, but similar definition of culture and diversity. Reading how others identify culture and diversity really helps myself to create a better definition and learn about culture. I like how Tony hit the point about culture affecting what we do on the daily. After watching the video segment with the three panelist, I had to change my viewpoint of culture. I never thought about culture affecting what I do on the daily until learning about the deep culture within myself. Deep culture helps me to respect others opinions and actions they have on the daily.
ReplyDeleteAmanda R.
Hi Reyna,
ReplyDeleteI really like the picture you posted this week that says that diversity is about thinking differently, together. I also really agree with you that most people are going to have very different ideas about what culture means and what it means to them (noting the inherent cultural differences even in our ideas of culture). It is interesting to consider the ways that people view differences and diversity as dynamic. I wonder how much of out social identities are fluid and how these relate to out ideas about culture. Great post.
Reyna,
ReplyDeleteInteresting post. Your three people seem to be on the same page about what they see as a culture. Culture is how we see ourself in the big picture of life. It is so much more than where we are from and how we celebrate things. Great pictures
Amy
Hi Reyna
ReplyDeleteIt appears that the people that you choose were interested in the same thing in regards ton culture. It is interesting to me that you see culture as I do meaning that there are differences within cultures and it changes the dynamics of diversity within a culture. Your post was great. It also makes me think of other things that influence culture for example social interaction. Makes one think.
Martine