I
asked my mother to advise me of her personal definition of the term culture in general
and she stated, “That the thoughts, foods, life style, customs, entertainment
and goals of a particular group.” I further asked my mother to define the term diversity
and she state, “diversity is a melting pot of various or different groups and
each member comes from a different back group.” The definition of culture I receive
from my husband is as follows. The term diversity is a group of people from
various backgrounds and up brings. He further stated that the term culture
should be defined as a way a group of people live. I spoke with my grandmother
and she shared with me her definition of culture. She stated that culture is
the pool of shared values, fashion, traditions, living arrangements, views and beliefs
amongst a group of people. Consequently, my grandmother defined diversity as a
mixture of various backgrounds, values, outlooks on life and customs.
Ms. Janet Gonzalez-Mena talks about the
concepts of diversity and deep culture in the video “Culture and Diversity”. It
is evident that some of the responses from my family members coincide with Ms.
Janet Gonzale-Mena view on the terms culture and diversity. For example, I
noticed a shared phrased with regards to defining culture, “how a group of
people live.” I believe that culture has a lot to do with lifestyle and how a
group of people operate with in the world. Being able to hear the thoughts and
perspectives of others in regards to defining the terms culture and diversity
was a very enlightening experience. I honestly concur with each person’s definition
of culture including Ms. Janet definition as well. I am actually glade that my
family member where able to without hesitation share their thought on each of
the terms. I believe that this assignment allowed me to learn about how the
members in my culture view the terms culture and diversity.
References:
Laureate
Education Inc, 2011 (DVD) Perspective on
diversity and equity.
family cultures: dynamic interactions.
Rachel, I too asked members of my family about their definitions and was pleasantly surprised that they were able to describe the two words so well. Where any of your relatives that you asked the questions of from a different culture from your own? Sometimes it is hard to find different cultures within your own family. I was lucky enough to have a "cousin-in-law" who is a Hungarian/Israeli-Christain/Jew. I really enjoyed her responses.
ReplyDeleteRachel,
ReplyDeleteIt is so interesting how differently people perceive culture and diversity. I have come to realize that their meanings are in the eyes of the beholder. My newly acquired knowledge on surface culture and deep culture have enlightened me to the fact that culture and diversity expand far beyond race and ethnicity, and they are not easily defined.