Perspectives on Culture and Diversity

Perspectives on Culture and Diversity

There are several definitions for the terms, culture and diversity.  This week, I interviewed three people who differed in age, race, gender, economic status and/or ethnicity to learn their perspectives on the terms culture and diversity.  

Interviewee one identified herself as a light Hispanic, Latin American, Venezuelan, lower to middle class, Latino, female in her late forties.  She defined culture as “the place you were born and raised and the customs, food, music, language, and dialect you grow up with.”  Further in conversation she added to her definition of culture by saying “everything that happens and surrounds a person during the time they are growing and sharing with friends and family is culture.”   She defined diversity as “the different costumes in every person that makes them unique among others.”  This definition is similar to an interpretive diversity definition; the things that define diversity are intangible (Harris, 2008).  Interviewee one started to define culture as surface culture; things that are easy to see, taste, and define (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010).   After conversing and deeper thought, she started to define culture with more depth.  She referenced culture as anything associated with you when you were a child.  I found it interesting that now as an adult, she is living in America and does not identify with the dominant culture; culture of the people who hold the power (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010).  Furthermore, she does not consider her life experiences now when defining the term culture. Ngo refers to culture and identity as continually changing depending on one’s experiences, daily interests and practices (2008).  However, she did not consider her current life changes when defining her culture.  She identifies herself with her home culture.   

Interviewee two is a lower class, African American, female in her early twenties.  Interviewee two defined culture as “people doing the same things over and over.” Although none of the research I have read defined culture similar to her definition, I imagine she was thinking of social identities and groups.  Deaux discusses social identities and the way people identify themselves with groups they have similarities to, whether the similarities are actions or characteristics (2001).   Perhaps, she relates culture to social identities?  She defined diversity as “something different.”   

Interviewee three is an upper middle class, Caucasian, male in his late twenties.  He defined cultures as, “one’s morals, knowledge, beliefs, and customs’ that are acquired from being a member of one’s society”.  He defined culture as deep culture; referencing morals, knowledge, beliefs (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010). He defined diversity as “different races, genders, sexual orientations, nationalities, or/and disabilities living inside a culture or country”.  He defined diversity from an objective stand point; things people can define and collect data on (Harris, 2008). 

All three interviewees defined culture differently.  We have read about different definitions of culture and diversity throughout the past three weeks.  It is interesting to finally see culture and diversity being defined first hand differently from a diverse cultural group.  For example interviewee one and three who are well educated individuals defined the terms with more perspective and meaning compared to interviewee two.  This exercise definitely ensures in my mind, the way one identifies them and how they define culture is strictly correlated to their environment.  Culture, identity, and diversity all correlate. My definition of culture and diversity from the beginning of this class has broaden and deepened.  I never knew how many variables affected culture.

References:

Derman-Sparks, L. & Edwards, J. (2010).  Learning About culture, Language, & Fairness. National  Association for the Education of Young Children (Ed.), Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves (p. 55-60).  Washington, D.C.: Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and  Ourselves.

Deaux, K. (2001). Social identity. In J. Worell (Ed.), Encyclopedia of women and gender (Vols. 1–2, pp. 1–9). Maryland Heights, MO: Academic Press.
Copyright 2001 by Elsevier Science & Technology Books. Reprinted by permission of Elsevier Science & 

Technology Books via the Copyright Clearance Center.

Harris, S. R. (2008). What is family diversity? Objective and interpretive approaches. Journal of Family Issues, 29(11), 1407–1417.
Retrieved from the Walden Library using the SAGE Premier 2010 database.

Ngo, B. (2008). Beyond "culture clash": Understanding of immigrant experiences. Theory into Practice, 47(1), 4–11.
Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Education Research Complete database.