The first person I talked to by sending an email to her is a South Africa lady. She defined culture is a way of life defined by behaviors, beliefs, values, customs, traditions, symbols, practiced, generally without thinking, by a particular group of people. Culture is passed along intrinsically from one generation to the next.
Diversity
encompasses acceptance and respect. It means understanding that each individual
is unique, and recognizing our individual differences. It is about
understanding each other and moving beyond simple tolerance to embracing and
celebrating the rich dimensions of diversity (race, ethnicity, gender, sexual
orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs,
political beliefs, etc) contained within each individual.
The second
person defined culture is something that tells you what to belief, dress to
wear, people to relate with, the kind of food to eat, how to respect etc.
Diversity
is about how we have different people from different part of the world and each
group of people have something unique particular to them.
The third person is a man who defined culture as
something you are used to base on your background experience or association. It
affects nearly all the aspects of one’s life. It dictates preferences such as
colour, food, dressing and social interaction.
Diversity
is having different culture together. The interaction among those different
cultures creates diversity.
All the
above definitions are quite similar to what we have been learning about culture
and diversity since the beginning of this course. The first one really nailed
the definition on the head by making mention of people’s traditions and that culture
is something that is passed along from one generation to the other. She also
made mention of acceptance and respect which are very important when we are
talking about diversity.
It’s actually
an eye opener and opportunity to hear other people’s definition about culture
and diversity. It helps me to see how important culture is to individual and to
the society.
I enjoyed reading your post! When I spoke to others about diversity they did not seem to see all that diversity encompasses so I was a bit discouraged but reading your post is encouraging.
ReplyDeleteWow you received really great responses I especially took notice to the two quotes.
ReplyDelete"It is about understanding each other and moving beyond simple tolerance to embracing and celebrating the rich dimensions of diversity (race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs, etc) contained within each individual. I don't thing many would use the word "celebrating" but in celebration something you are taking notice an finding values in others.
I also like the quote "It dictates preferences such as color, food, dressing and social interaction." this is also so very true. considering my culture...and many think I am crazy but still to this day I cannot eat Mexican food. I don't like it and I don't think I ever will, there is nothing tastier than Caribbean cuisine.
Now I have never thought of culture as clothing that you wear, that was a very good definition of what culture means to someone else. Yes, all of the people I talked to also had very similar meanings for culture and diversity.
ReplyDeleteI like your definition of diversity including acceptance and respect. I also did not think about socioeconomic status as a part of diversity, but in actuality it is, great post!
ReplyDelete