Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

Before taking the class on “Culture, Diversity & Equity", my definition of culture and diversity would have been short because I would not have dared or thought to include the many influences listed in chapter one of Gonzalez-Mena’s book Diversity in Early Care and Education (2008):
“Race
Gender
Age
Abilities and disabilities
Language
Social class including status and economic level
Ethnicity and national origin
Religion and/or spiritual practice
Original geographic location of family, where I grew up, and present location (if different),
Sexuality, including sexual orientation” (p.9)

Even though I was aware of two levels of understanding for the term “identity” namely conscious (name, nationality, ethnicity, etc.) and the unconscious identity that one builds throughout their life developing their true identity, I did not apply this understanding to the word culture.   

Asking three of my friends what their definition of culture and diversity was, confirmed that we first consider others according to what surface culture reveals about others i.e. gender and assumptions from skin color such as ethnicity and religion which categorizes people into political camps (Ngo, 2008).

It was fun to sift through my friends list to select three of them that offer a different background, and I feel lucky that only one could not get back to me. The first set of definitions comes from a music teacher, an Asian-American woman in her twenties. Since we have had a few laughs on the account of misleading term Asian-American, it is best to express one of my friend’s identity as Taiwanese- American, since she was born in the United States of Taiwanese parents. The following is her definition of culture and diversity:

“Culture is the unique combination of one's heritage through the parents (past) and the forces of society that the individual has grown up in (present).”
“Diversity is the culmination of a vast range of different people from all backgrounds and ethnic groups.”

Clearly, her definition of culture includes interactions between the past and the present, the microcosm of family bathing in the macrocosm of society. I would say that the overarching unconscious force within each individual is missing from this definition.

Following is a second set of definitions from a nurse, a Caucasian woman in her sixties. Since we also shared good laughs around the misleading term Caucasian, it is fair to say that my friend is Italian-American being born in the U. S. from Italian parents. This is what she wrote regarding the terms culture and diversity:

“Thinking about culture; the environment/atmosphere that provides a reference for attitudes, ways of living, ways of thinking, ways of doing things, etc. Culture can be inborn, adopted, expanded, and changed. It’s not stagnant.”
“Diversity is the presence of many different cultures.”

If the definition of culture also referenced the “set of often unconscious rules that govern everything we do, impacted by gender, race, ethnicity, abilities, etc.”, the definition of diversity would be succinct and to the point (Laureate, Inc. 2011)

A third set of definitions was provided by an American male in his fifties. Is it appropriate to say Caucasian-American? Is there a Caucasian continent, north or south? What follows are his definitions of culture and diversity:

“Culture is about traditions of beliefs passed on through different expressions of society, teaching, religious, and political organizations that are expressed in many different ways such as music, news, and other sources.
From a cultural aspect, diversity is good because it causes people to think beyond the world they create for themselves. Diversity allows one to participate in the global society. If one would live in an isolated world, one would be isolated from diversity and would not experience the fullness that life can offer. There are always two sides of the coin; if you live in a non-diverse area, there is a richer life because there is no competitive culture. In a non-diverse culture, roots go deeper and one can draw from the culture in fuller ways. When the culture is too diverse, there is a shallow way of living. For example, when indigenous tribes were toppled over by the dominant culture, they could not compete with the import of new ideas which ruined what they had. Indigenous ideas were no more holistic and the people could not put their ideas back together.”

This last comment exemplifies an Objective Family Diversity defendant scrupulously trying to justify how a culture, perhaps a dominant culture, was able to crush another or others.

Thanks to this reaching out exercise, I am humbled to have been the recipient of heartfelt thoughts regarding important topics such as culture and diversity; important topics because they are in direct correlation with the education of our youngest population.

References

Gonzalez-Mena, J. (2008). Diversity in Early Care and Education (5th ed., pp. 8–13). Boston, MA: McGraw Hill.
Copyright 2008 by McGraw-Hill Education, Inc.. Reprinted by permission of McGraw-Hill Education, Inc. via the Copyright Clearance Center.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Culture and Diversity [Video webcast]. Retrieved on May 25, 2013 from https://class.waldenu.edu

Ngo, B. (2008). Beyond "culture clash": Understanding of immigrant experiences. Theory into Practice, 47(1), 4–11. Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Education Research Complete database.

 

 

 

 

 

My Family Culture

My father asked each of his daughters what they wanted to have from their mother. Our mother had just passed away. When my mother would wear her new watch, she was very proud and beamed of happiness as if the watch gave my mother renewed strength and hopes to better perform against her illness. The faithful tic-tac of my mom’s watch made feel close to her almost as if she was talking to me. Her passing taught me that even what you hold the dearest to your heart only lasts for a while and that no memorabilia can ever replace one’s loss. With this in mind, what 3 things would I take with me if I had to leave everything else behind? No doubt that I would take a picture of my family portraying my husband, my daughter and her husband, and my pets (2 of which were rescued by our daughter). Also, I would take a small round mirror with the picture of my 6 years old daughter wearing pig tails with red ribbons and a big smile with a missing tooth, and saying how much she loves life. The third thing I would want to travel with is a tiny envelop with ashes materialized by Sai Baba wrapped up with a horse hair that my daughter found on the ground of a ranch and offered me.    First, the photo of my family will remind me of my identity, who I am. It will also serve as my support in times of hardship when I think that nobody understands me and my life feels unreal. The photo will ground me, tell me that in the past I lived in circumstances where I had a family, with people who loved me and understood me. The photo of my family is a link to sanity. Perhaps, my hosts will be interested in learning about new ways and with this picture in hand; I will be able to explain my family culture and that of the dominant culture at the time. Secondly, the mirror connects to a past where my family had recently moved to California and we were all learning new ways. My daughter was wearing a charming white dress with tiny red dots that were passed on by the school director whose daughters had enjoyed wearing. This was a time of happiness, discovery, and learning. Third, my husband met our friend in an astronomy association in France. Both families shared similar interests and our relationship developed over the following six months after which we moved to the U.S. As a practitioner of Hinduism, he went to India a few times and once brought back a couple of tiny envelopes filled with ashes that Sai Baba manifested in one of his celebrations.  This item connects my family to the past and the future, to the visible and invisible, and is bound by a strong tie to life with the horse hair, a tie to our daughter who was then a teenager and on her way to becoming a responsible adult. In summary, the above represents what my family went through, the culture we have developed, and the ties that bound us together. If I had to involuntary leave my home for any reason, I would question the instructions. Therefore, if I were told that of the three items I could only bring one, I would be disappointed but not too surprised. Of the three items, I would cherish the most the photo of the people closest to me. By and large, this exercise revealed that my family’s culture is not centered on “race, ethnicity, religion, class, parenting patterns, economic, and language” as I used to think (Laureate, Inc, 2011). Undoubtedly, those aspects of culture are factored into my family’s culture but what came out of this exercise is that my family is more dependent on building relationships through interests in human nature, than on cultural differences. It seems to me that showing an interest in children and families’ culture should start from a genuine interest in people: children and their families. To my surprise, love of one’s family and relationships took the precedence over all other aspects of culture. What I learned from taking on the role of a refugee in a place where my culture and perhaps language were unknown highlighted that being recognized and valued as a whole complex human being was crucial to my well-being. Since I had lost everything else, my new hosts would serve me well if they showed genuine interest and compassion in everything I may represent for them. If they wanted to create another relationship where their culture and mine would mesh, I would be honored as being the foundation of our new relationship.