Discovering California's Cultural Diversity: A Bowers Museum Experience

Michael Gonzalez

Anthropology 100

June 1, 2016 Bowers Museum

Culture is defined as a pattern of behavior that is common within a particular population of people. We are all born into a culture, some different than others, but for the most part we all are a part of a familial culture. We express our culture within our families through traditions, roles, beliefs and at times even art. Cultural art has helped develop the mind and body, refine feelings, thoughts, and tastes to reflect and represent a cultures customs and what they believe in. I had the opportunity to visit the Bowers museum in Santa Ana, CA. which was a wonderful experience since I had little or no knowledge about the different types of culture in California. I will begin talking about my experience I had at the Bowers museum, the different cultures I witnessed behind

‘Where Masks Still Dance’ was another exhibit I came across while visiting the Bowers museum. This exhibit caught my attention as well because of the awesome symbolic masks that were used as a part of the tribal culture and spiritual belief. These masks allowed those living in isolated villages and tribal communities a symbolic relationship to the spirit world, and for the spiritual leaders it allowed them to control the world around them as they wore the masks and developed their dance routines. I really enjoyed this exhibit because it showed me how this culture handled their daily struggles by hiding behind a mask, and dancing in order to get their minds off of whatever they have going on and increase their chances of survival. This all relates to anthropology and how different cultures practice differently amongst one another. For example, the masks represent in a way to hide ones feelings and keep their stress to a minimum, versus another culture may use a different strategy such as basket