Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

This week I talked to some people about culture and diversity. Although all their answers were similar. I must admit one of their answers was funny to me about what is culture, I was told it’s when your family cook greens together for the Holidays every single year.  I spoke to a friend, a family member and an old co-worker. One of the answers for the definition of culture by an old co-worker was culture is how we live, things we do and have done for years within our family and communities. He explained that for generations families pass down many cultures including, religion, work ethic, food we eat or grow, our race and things that matter within our family. His answer to diversity was to be different, people are different shades, look and speak different and that’s what being diverse says in the world. The aspects of culture and diversity I have studied since being in this course are pretty much the same as the answers I received from the people I spoke with. An example a friend gave me about culture was clothing people wear and how some black people wear the head wraps with all the colors on them that is tied in a huge knot in the front. She said women wore those wraps back in slavery and it seems to be a trend now. She also said if we traveled to certain places that would be all we saw like in African villages, or even way down south because it’s a cultural thing. All the information I talked about with the three people came together. It made me think more about it and although their answers were pretty much the same they each added something about their own family culture. None of their responses influenced my way of thinking because what I know and believe was just like the things they shared with me.

My Family Culture

           The three items I would choose to take with me would be my grandmother’s mother wedding ring, a family bible and a picture of my parents in front of the old church we all attended before they built a new church in the early 1980’s.

My grandmother’s wedding ring was passed down generations and my grandmother, mother and myself wore the ring as something old on our wedding day. The ring was a simple dainty ring that had small diamonds on the band of it that was over 80 years old.

The bible is a family bible that has a family tree inside that dates back to the late 1800’s and because it has the family tree inside I would keep it as a reminder of who I am, where I came from and where my ancestors came from as well.

The last item is a picture of the church I attend with my parents standing in front of it, the church is a historical landmark now and can’t be torn down. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke in the church when he came to town for the civil rights movement. This picture also reminds me of my upbringing and how church played an important role in my life and my families life.

If I was told that I had to give up two items and keep one I would be devastated and heart- broken because of what all three items means to me and my family. The items have so much history behind them all it would be crushing to have to let any of them go. The ring was over 80 years old that my mother knew of but it could be much older than that. The family bible was in my family for generations and it has the family tree on the inside with all the names of my family members and their children, and children’s children names. The picture is filled with so many warm memories of my family and my childhood when I attended church every Sunday with my family. The picture shows me how it was apart of the civil rights movement. The church picture is a historical landmark that I will pass down to my children. If I was told I had to give up two things and could only take one that decision would be the hardest I would have to make in my life. I’m sure I would be jailed for being disobedient because I would pretend like I’m getting rid of two items but I would hide them in order to take them all. All three items is my culture and they are important because they represent my family culture. It includes the language we speak, the religion or spirituality we practice (or do not), and the clothing, housing, food, and rituals/holidays with which we feel most comfortable (Derman-Sparks, & Edwards, 2010).  Culture is how my family live and things we do like our ritual we went to church together on Sunday’s every week.  Most of the time, people do not even notice their culture, just as we do not notice that we live in a sea of air (Derman-Sparks, & Edwards, 2010).

  

Reference

Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).