Greek philosopher Heraclitus once said, “The only thing that is constant is change.” Throughout the span of our lives, we constantly see change occur in the world around us. As human beings, we tend to reject the idea of change; we disfavor the idea of someone or something coming into our lives and disrupting our way of living. Because of this, we create boundaries that separate ourselves from those that we deem to be “different.” This process of thinking often leads to situations where we create a type of “us versus them” ordeal, where one group of people sees themselves as superior to the other. Creating boundaries between different groups of people is not a concept we are unfamiliar with, there have been countless examples of it throughout history, such as the Holocaust or the battle over slavery; we can also see ethnic boundaries forming today within education systems and things like the Black Lives Matter movement. The …show more content…
Having boundaries within a cultural system is healthy and even profitable to our lives, but in some cases, the changes brought about by boundaries can lead to acts of discrimination and violence that cause disruption throughout the world. In the eyes of the Germans, they thought the boundary they were creating was filtering out the people who made their culture weak but created a culture where people were treated as if they were science experiments rather than human beings. Boundaries in cultures will never go away, we will always be blending, creating, or destroying the lines that we encircle people within that create different cultures. These boundaries can bring about change that can be used for both the good and bad of
Throughout history, there have been various perspectives of multicultural differences. According to Meriam Webster (n.d.), culture is “the beliefs, customs, arts, institutions, and the thoughts or products of a particular society or group.” Unfortunately, African Americans, Native Americans, Italians, Irish, Jews as well as various other cultural groups have been profoundly discriminated against and negatively stereotyped (Good Therapy org.). With the frequent mingling of cultures in educational settings, the workplace, and in the social arena, we are bound to encounter cultural differences.
In Re-examining the Rhetoric of the “Cultural Border,” an essay by Heewon Chang. She examines the space between different cultures in a pluralistic society. She identifies the cultural border or boundary, using a quote from F. Erickson, “cultural boundary refers to the presence of some kind of cultural difference…A border is a social construct that is political in origin.” (95) Chang defines “cultural borderland as a ‘space’ created when two or more cultures and races occupy the same territory.” Chang challenges the idea that cultures remain defined by physical or even ideological boundaries. She contends, there is a complete blending of cultures that defies cultural borders and boundaries. Chang uses ethos, logos, and refutation to effectively
Although concerns about cultural appropriating cultural objects such as bindis, war bonnets, and kimonos have been receiving more attention, the effects of cultural tourism of modern Asian subcultures has been relatively ignored. This lack of attention may be due to the assumption of modernity as Western or a lack of an object that bears significant cultural meaning to the ethnic culture as a whole. However, if the potential effects are left ignored, cultural tourism of modern Asian subcultures may perpetuate harmful constructions of race. The visual analysis of Gwen Stefani and Avril Lavinge’s cultural appropriation of Harajuku culture reveals that it not only reaffirms Asian American female submissiveness and Asian American invisibility, but it also constructs meanings of race and whiteness that excludes American cultural citizenship from Asian Americans.
In the article “What is Cultural Appropriation and Why is it Wrong? By Nadra Kareem Nittle and article “The Difference between Cultural Exchange and Cultural Appropriation” by Jarune Uwujaren. It talks about how cultural appropriation and about people wearing and using other cultural things such as the style of the clothes. It is usually known as borrowing but now it is not just borrowing since people who wear things/ objects with meaning and significance from other cultures do not even know the meaning. However, in cultural exchange it is much different when someone uses or does something that other cultures do for example, we celebrate Cinco de Mayo in the U.S, but it is the Latinos that live in the U.S who are celebrating and they are proud
In today’s society there are many words that are used or said without giving it complete thought. For example, the word “identity” is something to which I have never really given much thought or even considered how I identify myself.
In this world we are constantly being categorized by our race and ethnicity, and for many people it’s hard to look beyond that. Even though in the past many stood up for equality and to stop racism and discrimination, it still occurs. In this nation of freedom and equality, there are still many people who believe that their race is superior to others. These beliefs are the ones that destroy our nation and affect the lives of many. The people affected are not limited by their age group, sex, social status, or by their education level. Their beliefs can cause them to attack other groups verbally or in silence and even reaching to the point of violence. All of this occurs because we can’t be seen as a “people”, but rather like “species” that need to be classified. An example of racism due to race and ethnicity as categories of identity is seen in the article written by Daphne Eviatar entitled “Report Finds Widespread Discrimination against Latino Immigrants in the South.” In this particular case white supremacy groups discriminate Hispanics that are both legal and illegal in the southern states of America, portraying several theoretical concepts.
The purpose of this study is determine why and how African American music that’s is so deeply rooted into the community is being culturally appropriated. This is a topic that has been the on the foreground of race for years. Activists and celebrities like Adrienne Keene, DeRay McKesson, Azealia Banks, and Jesse Williams helped bring the issue into the national attention. Most of the world or better yet the appropriators have very little knowledge of what the word actually means. In order to understand the problem we must first understand the word Culture and Appropriation. Culture being defined as the beliefs, ideas, traditions, speech, and material objects associated with a particular group of people. Appropriation the action of taking something
This sense of difference provides a motive or rationale for using our power advantage to threaten the ethnoracial Other in ways that we would regard as cruel or unjust if applied to members of our own group. The possible consequences of this nexus of attitude. and action range from unofficial but pervasive social discrimination at one end. of the spectrum to genocide at the other. . .
A cultural assessment interview is very important when taking care of patients or their families who may be from a different culture than the nurse’s. In order to be able to better take care of a patient, we first need to know their own interpretation of disease and illness within their cultural context, values, and beliefs. Since I am Indian and my culture is a mix of the Indian cultural beliefs and my religion Islam, I was looking forward to this interview so that I am able to learn more about different cultures using my assessment.
The multiculturalism idea is about how to respond towards challenges that are associated with religious and cultural diversity. The term is used as a descriptive term that characterizes the diversity facts in the society. The proponent of multiculturalism rejects the melting point idea though the term has encompasses a variety of claims. The melting point idea is that members of the minority group maintain a distinct collection of practices and identities.in general multiculturalism means the practices and policies that respond and recognizes ethnic diversity (Roach et al, 2005 pg. 37). The first black president elected in us Barack Obama describes the different points of view regarding multicultural societies. Though each Atlantic side are
The intimacy between culture and communication exists in the fact that actors interact by way of communication which is a technique used to continue the established patterns of meaning, thinking, feeling and acting. There are common characteristics in most definitions of culture. These characteristics are that culture is shared and is a stable construct, consisting of patterns, values, symbols, meanings, beliefs, assumptions and expectations. The characteristics of culture mean that culture is socially constructed and, therefore, must be learned.
The term racism means inequity or injustice based on race. It can also be the principle that talks about the differences in human personality or capacity and that a specific race is absolute to others. This can be as a result of language, traditions and customs, or any feature that the person possesses. The idea of racism has been in existence in the history of humans for a very long time. For the past years, racism of westerners towards those who are not from that region has had more impact than any other type of racism. The most well-known instance of racism that occurred in the West was enslaving Africans. One vital feature of racism, particularly concerning the
Cultural Appropriation versus Multiculturalism In today's society, there are many different cultures that individuals identify with. Culture is very important to many people and is something that helps define who we are. When different cultures are respected and appreciated, it is a beautiful thing, it can bring individuals in society closer to one another. Ideally, this understanding of one another’s cultures can lead to multiculturalism.
There are a lot of different cultures in the world we live in today. Finding the place you belong and discovering your own culture can be a challenge. This is especially true when you look at culture as an individual versus culture in your family, or even within your community. I’ve always been very family oriented, so that plays a big part in who I am and how my family’s dynamic works. I believe that my family has had a huge impact on the development of my culture, and I hope that I have had the same impact on theirs.
Explain the concept of culture. Why is it important to avoid ethnocentricity and gain cultural literacy?