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Toni-Mokjaetji Humber, Ph.D. A Closer Look at Culture Information about Gender, Ethnicity, and Multicultural Studies (GEMS) Major & Minor
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EWS 140, Fall 2007 |
A CLOSER LOOK AT CULTUREMako Nakagawa Culture is that part of human interactions and experiences that determines how one feels, acts and thinks. It is through one’s culture that one establishes standards to judge right and wrong, beauty and truth, and to make judgments on one’s self as well as others. The things and ideas one values and cherishes, how one learns, believes, behaves, reacts, etc., are all immersed and impacted by one’s culture. It is one’s culture that prescribes the very sense of the individual’s scope of reality. Everyone has culture. To deny anyone culture is to deny human experiences. A person’s culture is not a rigid, static state, but a continuously developing part of his/her life as interactions with others continue. A person absorbs culture from all human resources in one’s environment. It naturally follows that (unless one happens to be in the unusual circumstance of social isolation/insulation) most people are aligned with many cultures. Those fortunate people deeply steeped in two ethnic cultures are designated as bicultural people. However, all people are culturally multi-faceted. Because culture is transmitted whether directly or indirectly from others, culture, by definition, is a shared human experience. But it is important to note that, to whatever extent the commonalities existing within a given cultural group, each member has his/her own unique profile of that culture. Thus, members of a cultural group have much diversity within the group…each drawing from [his/her] own unique experiences. This diversity within the groups makes it very difficult to teach about a cultural group with accuracy and without succumbing to over-generalizations. The essence of one’s culture does not lend itself to a display nor can it be shared on demand. Like a fine, elaborately spun spider web, one’s culture is made of many interlocking intricate strands. Like a snowflake, each pattern is unique. Like all delicate things, one’s culture must be approached with sensitive care. We are not privy to the culture of another without earning the trust and the willingness of the keeper of the particular web to freely share of him/herself in [his/her] own time and on [his/her] own terms. Culture cannot be seen, tasted, touched, smelled [nor] heard. When an attempt is made to introduce someone to a culture through these senses, we are limiting the learning to the most superficial form of indulging in the manifestations of the particular culture. It may be analogous to a person claiming [s/he] know[s] who you are because [s/he was] once exposed to a photo image of you. Reprinted with permission from Mako Nakagawa, Program Supervisor, Multicultural Education, Olympia, WA
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Contact the instructor at: tchumber@csupomona.edu
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