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Reflections on diversity
Reflections on diversity
The world of diversity
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How Do You See It? (Three Messages From the Short Story A Devoted Son by Anita Desai) There is an extremely wide variety of cultures throughout the world. It’s pretty obvious that from one country to another there will be some pretty major differences. The differences are pretty evident as well, you don’t need much help to be able to point out some differences. Even though there are many differences between cultures, they do have quite a bit of similarities as well. There is a lot more to people than we think. That is what is very interesting about humans, no matter what differences we have in the ways that we act we are all still human. In the end we will probably treat others in very similar ways, most of the time probably based upon how we are related to them. Anita Desai is an author that greatly attacks this point in cultural differences. She tries to often point out certain cultures and how they act. She does this very well in the short story A Devoted Son. In this …show more content…
Clearly in this story the son is devoted to his father. The crazy thing is that his father only thinks this at the beginning of the story, by the end his thoughts have changed. When you look at it from the son’s eyes, he is devoted the whole way through. The only thing that he is trying to do is please his father, his father doesn’t see it the same as him though. It is pretty evident when the father says, “Keep your tonic – I want none – I want none – I won’t take any more of – of your medicines. None. Never.” (Page 1429, Lines 8-9) I think that this happens a lot in our lives as well. It’s kind of an inexplicable feeling as well, there isn’t much you can do about it. Some people just don’t think that you are being as you should be while you on the other hand do. This story just greatly points out the different views on this, no one will agree on devotion in any type of
People place judgment on one another every day based on differences. Sometimes it is done subconsciously; sometimes it is done on purpose. In the book The House of Sand and Fog, by Andre Dubus III, two different cultures were represented; Kathy represented the culture of the western civilization, whereas Behrani represented the culture of Persians. People judge one another based on unimportant things, and get judged based on those same things as well. Two cultures were used to amplify how different their cultures were from one another. Throughout the book cultures vocalized what they did not like about the other cultures by placing judgment on people based on ethnicity, appearance, and status; despite how different the cultures were, they had something in common, negative judgment. In a world where there is so much diversity, the only way for all cultures to get along is to place judgments aside and accept the differences.
Devotion towards another human being must be developed, it does not occur instantaneously. In the autobiography Night, Elie was not so much concerned with the welfare of his family while living in Sighet, Transylvania. Elie goes against his father when it comes to his religious studies, “One day I asked my father to find me a master who could guide me in my studies of the Kabbalah. ‘You are too young for that’” (Wiesel 4). Just as most children, Elie does not accept his father’s answer. Elie finds his own teacher, Moishe the Beadle. When forced into the struggles of concentration camp, Elie becomes faithful to his father. Elie does not have any friends or family members left. For this reason, his father becomes the reason for life itself. This devotion towards his father alters the reasons for his life’s continuance as a whole. This can be seen as life in the camp continues and Elie develops a selfless attitude. His only concern lies in the health of his loving father. Elie states, “My father’s presence was the only thing that stopped me. He was running next to me, out of breath, out of strength, desperate. I had no right to let myself die. What would he do without me? I was his sole support” (Wiesel 86). This insta...
When we critic something to be wicked or upright, better or worse than something else, we are taking it as an example to aim at or avoid. Without ideas like this, we would have no structure of comparison for our own strategies, no chance of earning by other’s insights or faults. In this space, we could form no decisions on our own actions. If we admit something as a good fact about one culture, we can’t reject to apply it to other cultures as well, whatever conditions acknowledge it. If we reject to do this, we are just not taking the other’s culture beliefs
If you are a European American traveling in Italy, the cultures will seem very different. One of the biggest is the concept of time! Italians will usually be late to appointments and not think anything of it. Americans are always frantically running. They don’t want to be late to work or an event. Even if they are on time, they feel late so they need to come earlier. Neither is right or wrong, it is the culture that makes them different. Communicating across cultures is challenging. Each culture has set rules that its members take for granted. Few of us are aware of our own cultural biases because cultural imprinting begins at a very early age. And while some of a culture's knowledge, rules, beliefs, values, phobias, and anxieties are taught, most of the information is learned subconsciously. The challenge for communication has never been greater. Worldwide business organizations have discovered that intercultural communication is very important, not just because of increased globalization, but also because domestic workforce is growing more and more diverse, ethnically and culturally. We are all individuals. No two people belong to the same culture and they are not going to respond in exactly the same way. However, generalizations are valid to the extent that they provide clues on what you will most likely encounter when dealing with members of a particular
The way that family members relate in these countries conflict with each other. The differences start developing in the beginning of their lives. American children are taught by their parents how to manage and make their own money. They are taught to value accomplishments and work at an early age. They also have duties at home such as being responsible for helping with house tasks.
Lets start by understanding that cultures are a melting pot of people’s beliefs, language, behaviors, values, material objects, and norms. Norms are written and non-written “expectations of behavior” that govern a certain location, place, or culture (26). These norms also vary from culture to culture meaning what is a norm in the U.S may not be a norm in India. For example, a norm in America would be tipping a waiter after a meal. Another would be acknowledging someone as you walk past him or her, typically done at work or in a public place. In all, norms are folkways, mores, taboos, and written laws that are an established standard of one’s behavior.
Whether you have experienced a lot of traveling to other countries and continents or perhaps you have never left the East coast, it can be assumed; whether through school or a work environment, you have had at least one experience dealing with different nationalities and cultures. The realization is that we may come from different places and have different backgrounds but most people, cultures included, have more in common then we could imagine.
Whether you belong to a certain race, nationality, ethnicity, religion, geographical region or you identify with a certain sex you belong to a particular culture. Culture as define by Shiraev and Levy (2013), “Is a set of attitudes, behaviors, and symbols shared by a large group of people and usually communicated from one generation to the next” (p. ). In other words, we are a product of what has been handed down to us from the generations before. However, culture is evolving and it changes all the time. Hence the reason, no one group has a unique culture, since we are all influenced by each other’s way of life. As a result of this influence, we form relationships with people we know little about and share our values and beliefs with each other. Thereby creating a cross-cultural mix.
Throughout history, there have been various perspectives of multicultural differences. According to Meriam Webster (n.d.), culture is “the beliefs, customs, arts, institutions, and the thoughts or products of a particular society or group.” Unfortunately, African Americans, Native Americans, Italians, Irish, Jews as well as various other cultural groups have been profoundly discriminated against and negatively stereotyped (Good Therapy org.). With the frequent mingling of cultures in educational settings, the workplace, and in the social arena, we are bound to encounter cultural differences.
If we aren’t understanding of the variances between cultures and the way they communicate verbally, emotionally, and nonverbally this can create considerable issues. The three primary problems that could arise if we don’t have an understanding of cultural differences are the ways we interpret others comments and actions, how we predict future behaviors, and conflicting behaviors of others (“Differences in Culture,” n.d). Culture plays a significant part in peoples lives because it shapes our personal values and views on the world. Having a perspective and understanding a persons culture is important because each culture is different in respect to personal views and behaviors, but it is key to respect their culture because just like us it shaped who they are. The reason we have stereotypes of other cultures is because of this particular reason, we assume that our culture is superior and the correct way to do things. For example, I have heard the stereotype that French people are impolite, offensive, and they hate Americans, but was this stereotype created because of a misunderstanding between cultures? Cultural differences can be educational because it allows us to understand the uniqueness of a culture and allows us to learn new things. Cultural differences allow people to feel a sense of belonging, which can be empowering knowing
Some subtle way it affects us is simple manners and traditions. It is polite to open the door for someone and to eat with your mouth closed. Culture is different all around the world and why you may feel a little strange in another country. They are brought up differently and look at things from a different perspective. I think that is a very useful skill to have is to be able to see things from a different perspective. Not all cultures are the same and some things may seem weird to you but may be completely normal to someone else. It goes back to my statement of how we tend to want to be around people that are like us and if we aren’t we feel out of place. But who determines our morals and beliefs? I think your family have a lot to deal with
Everyone should be mindful of others and respect them no matter what. By understanding cultures more than just what is preplaced into our heads we can show respect and understanding without seeming unintelligent. If you treat someone based only off of cultural stereotypes then they will most likely feel unimportant, annoyed, upset, and/or angry. This being said the characters should have treated everyone the same unless asked to change the way they were acting by a person themselves. If everyone was to just do this then people wouldn’t have to worry about whether or not what they are saying is right or not; because if you have to wonder if what you’re about to say is acceptable or not, then it probably
What do we have to learn through the study of different cultures? I was hoping for some wonderful revelation in the collection of writings. I may have found one. This book was a difficult read for me. I am not sure whether it’s my age or my inexperience with classical readings. I also found it difficult to formulate a report on a collection of readings, the last report I did was on Laura Ingall’s Little House on the Prairie. This reading was a little more challenging. The main point that seemed to jump out at me is that perceptions change, our theory of reality changes with every viewpoint. Every culture can seem primitive, self destructive, nonsensical, immoral or just wrong, depending on who is doing the observation and what perspective they are observing from.
When a conflict arises it would be handled differently because of the many generation gaps. Families consist of generations growing up either in the same or different setting or era. Generations only know their ways of living and are not accustomed to the changings of everyday life. Some may think that their own culture is superior to others and may not accept other cultural characteristics. This is also defined as ethnocentrism. Ethnocentrism is the “right” way which our ancestors used and handed down from generation to generation whereas, cultural relativism challenges our ordinary belief and goes against the traditions. For example, the film Namesake, is about an American-born named Gogol, the son of Indian immigrants. He wants to fit in among his fellow New Yorkers, despite his family 's unwillingness to let go of their traditional ways. Gogol’s parents had to soon automatically “assimilate” or convert from India’s culture to the national primary culture, the United States. People who are forced to assimilate tend to lose their own cultural pride and traditions. The mother was in a different culture and it took her some time to blend into the United States customs while still trying to preserve her own traditions. She and her husband made sure their kids learned their Indian traditions so it can be passed on for generations to come. Humans do this in order to make their families not forget where they come from. Wherever you go you will not get where you want to go if you first do not know where you are from. Therefore, Gogol is an example of cultural relativism whole his parents are seen as more ethnocentristic. We live in a diverse world with different habits and
Despite this ever-presence, there are a lot of questions surrounding culture, like what exactly culture, why are their differences in culture and what arises from those differences, and how culture interacts with society to influence one’s worldview. In this essay, these questions were answered. To summarize, culture, loosely defined, is the set of ideas, traditions, and beliefs that shape an individual’s or a group’s behavior and/or outlook on the world (Warf). Different cultures arose from biological, environmental, and geographic differences between humans back when humans were evolving and thereafter. In those differences, many things, both positive like the sharing of ideas, and negative, like the annihilation of a culture, can occur when two cultures meet. Culture can affect one’s worldview in similar ways. It can cause a sort of broadening of the mind, or it can cause stereotypes and even hate crimes. But, no matter what you think about culture, in this diverse, very global society, it is becoming increasingly important to understand what culture is and what one as a citizen, need to keep in