Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

Call, write to, or talk to at least three friends, family members, acquaintances, and/or colleagues. Include at least one person who you believe is in some ways culturally different from you (a different gender, race, class, religion, abilities, age, etc.).

I found that speaking to others outside this course about culture and diversity to be quite interesting.  Their answers did not surprise me as much as a reaction that came about from our conversation.  From some of my “interviews” I received a pretty solid definition of culture that included things like values, morals, ideals, traditions etc.  From others, I got the surface culture answers that depicted food, music, ethnicity, gender etc.  All of my conversations described the difference between culture and diversity in a very similar way.  Culture includes your ethnicity, values and traditions while diversity is the many variations found between cultures. 

The conversation that I found most interesting happened between me and a colleague.  As early care and education professionals, we have both been a part of a number of classes, seminars, lectures and discussions concerning the importance of honoring culture and diversity in the classroom.  While revising all we know about how to bring culture into the classroom, honor the individual families and make each child feel a valued and significant part of the classroom she posed a question.  “Why in all the books, classes, seminars, lectures and discussions that we have ever read or been a part of, do you not see a Caucasian individual?”  Her thoughts were that it was as if people in general felt that Caucasians could not possibly know or understand culture.  Just because these individuals are part of what is considered the dominate culture in many places, does not mean that they do not understand the importance of honoring culture and couldn’t add to a conversation concerning such things.  After all there are an enormous number of cultures found within this ethnic group.  I found her questions to be quite thought provoking.  Are we in effort to promote culture and diversity leaving particular voices out because of their ethnicity?  Or is it simply a matter of not having the general population educated enough on the particulars of culture and diversity that the opinions of those members of the dominate culture would be accepted as knowledgeable?          

What If.....

Imagine the following:
A major catastrophe has almost completely devastated the infrastructure of your country. The emergency government has decided that the surviving citizens will be best served if they are evacuated to other countries willing to take refugees. You and your immediate family are among the survivors of this catastrophic event. However, you have absolutely no input into the final destination or in any other evacuation details. You are told that your host country’s culture is completely different from your own, and that you might have to stay there permanently. You are further told that, in addition to one change of clothes, you can only take 3 small items with you. You decide to take three items that you hold dear and that represent your family culture.

 If a major catastrophe caused my family and I to take refuge in another country with a completely different culture than my own I would take with me my scriptures, a photo album and the family cook book.  My scriptures because our faith is very important to my husband and I.  It plays a huge part in our lives and how we see our purpose in this life and is the most important thing we hope to pass down to our boys.  The photo album would be a reminder of who we are and where we came from, including pictures from several generations back.  As to the cook book, I know that food is often seen as a surface culture aspect, but I find with each recipe there is a memory attached, or some story that has been handed down.  In short, it is a picture of our culture.  If I were to have to lose two of these items upon arrival it would be difficult to be sure, but the most important thing would be that my family was still together.  We could take the time to write down what we remember to help keep our family history alive as well as move forward to make new memories. 

This was an interesting question and I was surprised at how quickly the answers came to me.  There are so many things in our lives that we feel we can’t live without, but to take the time to reflect on them and limiting it to three helps show where your true values lie.  I also felt a sense of calm and stability knowing that no matter where in the world we would be relocated, my family and I would have an instant support system within the members of our faith.  To know that our church is worldwide and that it is the same in my small Washington town as it is in Europe, Asia or Africa brought me a great sense of peace.