Week 3_Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture My first interviewee is Male. Shawn is a family friend who is a different gender than me. He defines culture as “your race” and “different attributes of a person. (Personal communication, January 26, 2013). This definition coincides with what I have learned this week about culture in many ways because culture is what makes up a person’s character. It is when we take these characteristics and join with others who share the same characteristics to form a culture. From this understanding of identity and discourse, identity construction involves a double movement, where we are identified by a history of discourses-ideas and images of who we are-and identify ourselves by responding to the representations that have already identified us (Hall, 1996). Shawn defined diversity as “Taking different characteristics of a person and combining into society” (Personal communication, January 26, 2013). This definition goes with what I learned about diversity because we have our uniqueness and we live in society. While this is so, we need to learn about the uniqueness of others. “As children learn new things and take on new languages, new ideas, new perspectives, it should be in addition to what they have at home” (Laureate Education, Inc. 2013). My friend An Ho, who is Vietnamese, interpreted his definition of Culture as follows: “How society behaves, everything from food to beliefs” (Personal communication, January 26, 2013). This definitely coincides with what we have learned in the class this week because culture does consists of beliefs, food, clothing, socioeconomic class, etc. For diversity, he says that diversity is about variety-“different from other cultures” (Personal communication, January 26, 2013). I agree with An’s definitions of the two terms related to culture and diversity because his definitions coincide with the various aspects that define a person’s heritage. William, my boyfriend of ten years, has a whole complete different definition of culture and diversity. Culture, to him means, “our roots as to where we come from, what our family does-but some cultures venture off into another culture of its own.” (Personal communication, January 26, 2013). His definition differs slightly as to what we have learned about culture and diversity this week because roots are our heritage and where we come from. He goes on to use roots as what our family does and how we are defined by our upbringing. The readings this week have not expanded on what our roots consist of. The interview process about culture and diversity has expanded my thinking process because the men gave me more details about how society defines culture and diversity. Although, my knowledge of culture and diversity tells me that the terms are intertwined to reflect characteristics of individuals in society, we all fit into society with our defining cultures and that’s what makes us diverse. References Hall, S. (1996). Introduction: Who needs ‘identity’? In S. Hall & P du Gay (Eds), Questions of cultural identity (pp. 1-17). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Laureate Education, Inc. [Author]. (2013). “Culture and diversity” Walden University. Retrieved from. (http://mym.cdn.laureate- media.com/Walden/EDUC/6164/03/downloads/WAL_EDUC6164_03_A_EN.pdf).