When doing this assignment I have asked three different people that I am close with and from different backgrounds and some similarities. The three women were different in race, one is Panamanian, Puerto Rican and Caucasian. They all have something in common, it's there profession. All three of them are teachers of young children. When asking these women what is diversity?
They all mentioned race as a form of diversity. One of the ladies mentioned the poliltical affilitaion and the stigmatized identities of social identity. When reading these ladies ideas of culutre and diversity, I found that my views where similar. In one of the ladies mentioned how culture is what people come from, such as what they have learned or what they believe. One of them gave the example of people that are from India do not eat beef, they worship the cow. Or the Muslium women wear head wraps, they believe that only their husbands should see her.
One of the ladies defined culture as a person, nation or social group language, food they are accustomed of eating, stories they tell from one generation to another, their art, and their music. Diversity for one of the women is when you include others from a range of other ethnic backgrounds, social groups, genders, that you include within your life. Whether you have them as friends, family, or even just acquaintances. Culture for this lady is the way of life to a specific group of people. What they believe in, what values they have, what represents them as a whole.
What I have pulled from this assignment is that culture and diversity really goes hand and hand with each other. No matter the race or backgroud the definition of culture and diversity stays/ means the same. "Objective diversity is rooted in the assumption that there are so many different kinds of families in the United States around the world (Harris,S.,R 2008). When we accept or get an understanding of different cultures than we will be able to better interact with one another.
References
Harris, S.,R., (2008)What is family diversity? Objective and interpretive approches, Journal of Families Issues. 29 (11), 1407-1417
Deaux, K. 2001. Social Identity. In J. Worell (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Women and gender (Vols. 1-2, pp. 1-9). Maryland Heights, MO: Academic Press.
Hello Takeisha,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your ideas regarding culture and diversity. I agree that culture represents the whole person, what is seen on the surface and what is not seen, but is still vital to the social identity of a people. I have also learned that culture extends from beliefs and values to the behaviors and patterns each group displays as well as how they build trust and respect for each other and members of other cultures and ethnic groups. As teachers we can bridge the gap between the classroom culture and that of cultures represented by students’ families in their home. How might teachers learn more of family cultures without being disrespectful of their diversity and the unknown parts of their culture?
~ Juanita
Hi Takeisha thank you so much for sharing yours and your friends views on culture and diversity. It is intriguing to see how though you all come from different backgrounds and cultures you still have similar perspectives and ideas on the definition of diversity and culture. I also liked the way you summed up your post on how diversity and culture play hand in and hand with eachother and how one is realted to the other.
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