Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

This week I had the pleasure of speaking to 3 vastly different individuals, asking them to help me define their definition of culture and diversity.
The first individual I spoke with about culture and diversity was a young woman that was originally from Botswana, West Africa. In her surface culture she mentioned her strong religion to Christianity, special dishes during weddings, family gatherings, and holidays they enjoyed together, such as;  Alloco (Fried plantain and chili dish), many dishes made with curry, special soups her mother and grandmother made to help heal colds, and repair the woman’s body after birth. Within her deep culture she mentioned how her family spoke both Setswana, after she and her family moved to the U.S, she was home schooled for the first few years, receiving help with her English language.
Values and beliefs were most important to this individual; an example was how she greets any individual older than herself as m’am or sir, even a couple of years older. She will not eat until all “elder” individuals are served. Eye contact is important, she wears beads around her waist that stands for purity, and youth, and her specific tribe. The beads are not to be removed until she is married.
The second individual I spoke with was a young white woman, living in a very rural area of Buncombe County. She mentioned to me that family togetherness, respect, and love was all part of her culture, growing up in a lower economic status made her value how she raised her own child today. She does not have religious preferences, and believes that all individuals should respect and be able to exist in the world, as long as they keep each race pure.
The third individual was a woman whose mother is white and father black.  She grew up in a middle-class neighborhood, mother has Christian faith, and her father’s practices a Baptist faith. She mentioned that she attended both services many Sundays, and her parents never forced her to choose a specific faith. Growing up, her family celebrated holidays with large family gatherings, lots of food, she lived in a home with her mother, aunts, cousins, and grandmother. She rarely visited her father, but more so individuals on her father’s side.
Our text, Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves, discuss culture as one’s strong ties to their ethnicity, and how each particular groups live. During my conversation with each individual, I was not looking for a right or wrong answers, in fact it was a learning process, that helped me get to know individuals I have either worked with, or live in a community with.

 We have the ability to achieve, if we master the necessary goodwill, a common global society blessed with a shared culture of peace that is nourished by the ethnic, national and local diversities that enrich our lives.
-- Mahnaz Afkhami 

cultural differences should not separate us from each other, but rather cultural diversity brings a collective strength that can benefit all of humanity.
-- Robert Alan Silverstein

Reference:

·  Smidt, S. (2006). The developing child in the 21st century: A global perspective on child development. New York, NY: Routledge.