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.