Cultural Awareness

[Freya]

Today I had a cultural studies course at university and it really made me think about the expression "cultural awareness". That's why I decided to make a thread about it.
I placed it in ID because I don't want to hear anything like "ololol [add country] sucks. can't understand what they're doing ahhahaha". I really want you to think about culture.

So here are some questions which I'd like you to answer:

What exactly is "culture" for you?
Do you think you're a "victim" of stereotypes? (Name examples)
Do you think someone can learn about the culture of another country, considering that nearly everyone knows some stereotypes?
Have you ever studied the culture of another country?
How would you describe the culture of your country?
(These are just some questions I thought of - if you'd like to add anything apart from those lead questions, feel free to add it! ^^)


To be honest, I really am a victim of stereotypes and I can't say that I know many cultures - mostly because they're so... gigantic. If you think about it: If you have to learn about the culture of... let's say India (I don't think there are many Indians here on TFF) - do you think you could handle that? I couldn't. I've been there for three weeks, though, and I don't feel like I understand the whole culture. I did learn some things, though. Like the mentality of the Indians. Always being friendly, not accepting a "no" as an answer (or even being insulted by a "no"), helping each other no matter what, even the children (I wouldn't have made it far without some students helping me all the time ^^"), ...

Still, culture's more to me than just habits and personality. Culture is the identity of the country. The best example is America and the American Dream. That's something that describes the whole country (though there probably are many exceptions to this rule) and everyone knows. But on the other side, America's known as the World Police and it's known for Fast Food and obesity. The question is: Which of these are the stereotypes?
You can't doubt that America - no offense to anyone - tries to be a kind of Police, bringing democracy to other countries, trying to help everywhere. (Trying to be neutral on that one, though!) And as far as I know Fast Food was invented in the US. (Was it? Tell me if I'm wrong!)
Some other stereotypes which could be true: French people eat baguettes all day and drink too much wine; English people drink tea all day; German people are all nazis; Finnish people drink alcohol all day because it's so dark over there; etc. I'd even dare to say that those stereotypes exist for every state in the US. And for every country in the UK. And certainly in all other countries as well.

Culture, to me, is also the history of a country. Whatever happened to/in a country, it affects the people. (War of Independence, World War Second, French Revolution, even the Royal Wedding!) I'm pretty sure WWII changed Germany. And the War of Independence changed America. I'm more than sure about that one. Just think about what happened after all those events.
But, to put more thought on that one: I'd say all future events will also affect our culture.

Which leads to another question: Does culture change? Has culture ever changed? (Except for "of couuurse, many things changed when we started to build houses and not live in caves anymore" - I know.) I'm thinking about more recent events. But I don't know in what effect culture could've changed, because I haven't lived long enough to know.

Erm, so much for now. Culture is something that really makes me think a lot about my country, about other countries. And I certainly don't know the culture of every country, not even my own. But that's mostly because most countries are too big to say how people are for certain. There's just too many people and too much differences in each country.

[Illusion]

I cannot say too much about this because, in truth, there are far too many issues to be discussed in what you just posted, so I will limit my response to saying just what culture means to me.

Culture is and means alot of things to entire nations and each individual person. In your post, you mentioned India and some of the behaviors in that country. To me, that is a form national culture, which defines or describes the behaviors of a society within a country or multiple countries with similar/related cultures. That type of culture defines social norms that individuals in a country or region follow and allows individuals in that area to identify themselves with their country and helps them understand their place withing their society and in the world, the values they will follow, and form of life they will live.

However, as you might already know, when people migrate, they take with them their beliefs, their culture. What happens with this migrants is that when they find themselves within a new society, they suffer what is known as "culture shock." I believe this is what happened to you when you found yourself in a country you probably had never been to before or had no prior knowledge about their society; you realized how different people see the world and life. But that is only what happens at an individual level. When many migrants gather together in a community outside their original region/country (which they do to help each other find their place in a new environment), what will eventually happen is that said community will adapt by adopting behaviors and traditions typical to their new home, eventually creating a brand-new culture that is a mixture of their old culture and the one they find themselves in. Change is a constant in life, and this is a way of adapting to your environment. Culture is a guide that helps you navigate the world you are born in, but when you face a new world(society), what you knew before may not help you at all and you become lost. You will find yourself in the need to rearrange your form of thinking in order to accomodate and understand your new environment.

For example, Asian, Latins, and European communities in the US share many similarities with their native counterparts, but they are, at the same time, very different, perhaps even vastly different, than people from their original countries. The difference becomes even greater as new generations are born. This communities develop a culture all their own, apart from those of their origins and perhaps not fully part of the mainstread American culture. To put it in a certain way, they become "Americanized" (which is a term that I have heard other people use before in some way or another), but it doens't neccesarily mean that they have becomed American.

Another quick example is that American Jews are different from European Jews and Middle Eastern Jews. Although by culture they are Jews, their culture is mix of the beliefs common to all Jews and typical to the regions they live in.

Culture, again, is a way of understanding your place in the world, of forming your identity and knowing who you are. You and I could be living in the same country, and our cultural backgrounds could be different, and so would our beliefs.

That's what culture is to me. I don't have time to type anything else, but I would love to continue this discussion some other time, when work doesn't make my daily schedule so tight.

[midgetbob]

Everyone should be more aware of the diseases and cures grown in these culture/petri dishes

[Heartless Angel]

What exactly is "culture" for you?

I believe culture is an artificial construct created by the human mind to create a sense of belonging in the world. The culural identity of a person gives them a pack to follow, a group of people who will accept them because they are similar. I believe what exactly makes up a culture depends on the person identifying that culture. All I take pride in, and look for in other people, that is my culture.

Do you think you're a "victim" of stereotypes? (Name examples)

Personally, no, never. At least not out loud, if people have prejudged me, they've never made it too terribly obvious. As part of a group, yes. I'm a republican, which as a group is the victim of many sterotypes, though I've never had any of them targetting me spcifically. I'm an American, same deal there.

Do you think someone can learn about the culture of another country, considering that nearly everyone knows some stereotypes?

Sure, if people can get over themselves and open themselves to new knowledge, I don't see any reason why you couldn't.

Have you ever studied the culture of another country?

No in any great detail. If mythology counts, I guess a bit of ancient greek, egyptian, and germanic.

How would you describe the culture of your country?

There's more than one culture everywhere, I'm probably not even aware of all of them in my own country.