1.+++++Defining+Culture

CULTURE is. . . Culture is the collection of shared belief systems and habits of a particular group. To be considered a member of one or more cultures, the individual must exhibit shared beliefs, adopt certain habits and tradition, use the same language as other members, observe certain social norms, have at least some ancestry from that culture, and any other characteristic believed to be of core importance in identifying that particular culture. According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) 2002, culture is describes as “…the set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features of society or a social group, and that it encompasses, in addition to art and literature, lifestyles, ways of living together, value systems, traditions and beliefs.” In addition, culture has explicit, observable acts such as the manner with which people greet each other; and implicit characteristics/rules such as bargaining standards that are not so clearly observed. (Matsumoto & Juang 2008) “Cultures are like underground rivers that run through our lives and relationships, giving us messages that shape our perceptions, attributions, judgments, and ideas of self and other” (Culture and Conflict). I thought this was a very good quote to start out with to explain culture because this really sums it up. Everyone has culture and it is as natural as brain waves or veins running through your body. Culture is what makes each person who they are. Culture influences people in everyway imaginable, it defines what they feel is right or wrong, good or bad, fun or boring and any other feelings anyone has to the things around the. It also contributes to the way people dress, the food they eat, the language(s) they speak and the people they hang out with. It divides and joins people based on “race, ethnicity, nationality… sexual orientation, ability and disability, political and religious affiliation” and much more. It is the bond between many and the wedge between others. Culture is influenced by Ecology (geography, climate, natural resources), Social (population density, technological advancement, rate of literacy, religion, politics, etc…), and Biological (temperament and personality) factors. (Matsumoto & Juang 2008) Culture is born of the imagination - and the human imagination as we know it arose in the distant past as our species, Homo sapiens, evolved from its direct ancestor, Homo erectus, and, infused with consciousness, embarked on a journey that would carry it to every habitable domain on the planet. It is an extraordinary story. Culture, in other words, matters. It provides the vital constraints of tradition and comfort that allow true civilization to exist. There is a fire burning over the Earth, taking with it plants and animals, human languages, ancient skills, and visionary wisdom. Quelling this flame, and kindling in its wake a new respect for the value and importance of both biological and cultural diversity, is one of the great challenges of our age. (Davis 2007) Culture is promoted by group membership whereby those belonging to the in-group enjoy certain privileges; at least from their own perspective. The out-group is excluded at least in some ways. With subcultures, a person can belong to several at the same time. Belonging to a cultural group serves to establish a sense of security since the group is perceived to defend its own members against outsiders. It also offers individuals a shared identity that permits them to anchor themselves into the group. Culture is the adaptation and survival-based response to the environment. This response is influenced by many factors such as social, biological and ecological givens. Many subcultures exist and are based on such things as age, gender, race, ethnicity, SES, etc… (Matsumoto & Juang 2008) Culture is people’s beliefs and where they come from. It can describe someone's whole life and their everyday customs; a culture can define a person's life. One's culture can be hugely influential in a person's life. Culture is always growing. Everyone has a different culture, which is usually influenced initially by their family. For example, children often follow the religious and political beliefs of their parents. However, I feel that after growing up, our individual cultures begin to develop as we view more of the world. As others in the class are saying, culture is affected by religious, racial, social, political, and other beliefs. It is rare that people have the exact same culture, especially in the United States, because in today’s world, culture can be influenced by so many different things. “The digitizing, globalizing world is changing the working of culture. As some see it, cities and nations and continents are losing their common culture, their shared reference points, their zeitgeist: People can no longer count on those around them knowing or cherishing any of the same music or art or films. Others argue that a common culture is not dying so much as changing form: that it is less and less attached to particular terrain and ever more linked to dispersed global networks” (Giridharadas, 2010). Technological advances are expanding the confines of culture by making various materials more easily accessible to us. Culture is a definition highly misunderstood and misused. Thus the need for an explanation: Culture refers to the following Ways of Life, including but not limited to: All of the above collectively define the meaning of Culture" (Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute).
 * Language: the oldest human institution and the most sophisticated medium of expression.
 * Arts & Sciences: the most advanced and refined forms of human expression.
 * Thought: the ways in which people perceive, interpret, and understand the world around them.
 * Spirituality: the value system transmitted through generations for the inner well-being of human beings, expressed through language and actions.
 * Social activity: the shared pursuits within a cultural community, demonstrated in a variety of festivities and life-celebrating events.
 * Interaction: the social aspects of human contact, including the give-and-take of socialization, negotiation, protocol, and conventions.

"The customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group; also: the characteristic features of everyday existence (as diversions or a way of life) shared by people in a place or time” ("Culture." Merriam Webster Dictionary). I know taking a dictionary definition of culture does not seem unique, but I truly agree with this definition. Culture is in groups. You rarely find a person that has a culture on their own. Culture is passed down, learned and practiced; and it is in groups from family culture, culture based on race and culture based on religion or a mixture of these variations. Culture is something that is shared among people. People can have more than one culture. It influences our everyday decisions and it is the basis of our behavior. It also mentions time, because with every new generation, a new culture emerges or a culture changes and develops. “As I envision it, our “culture,” instead of little yeast bacteria, is made up of millions of sentences, metaphors, and stories about life that we have learned to call true. And although the conditions that make the sentences and stories seem like truth frequently change, they usually linger in the cultural atmosphere long after their usefulness has been exhausted” (Turnbull, Wehmeyer, 68). I agree with this because we believe that because our practices are accepted in society, we believe that our culture is “right”; however we can change. Our opinions and experience change, so these “truths” may appear like fact and truth, but they are feeble, like our opinions. Also culture is not something we are born with, we do not just wake up in the morning with our beliefs, we are taught, through stories, influences and experiences; which we also believe is true through these years and life experiences. Although people may change or branch away from the culture they were initially taught, they will never forget their basic culture and it will influence their life forever. "Culture is defined as the shared patterns of behaviors and interactions, cognitive constructs, and affective understanding that is learned through a process of socialization. These shared patterns identify the members of a culture group while also distinguishing those of another group" (Carla 2009). Webster’s dictionary defines culture as, “the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group; the characteristic features of everyday existence” (“Culture” 2010). Looking around, breathing the air, taking notice to all the people and their behaviors as they walk along us can describe culture. The people talking on their cell phones and the others that simply are just taking it all in contribute to the norms of our society. We, as a whole, begin to make our own culture. The jewelry, clothes, and material items we own create trends that establish a world that is seen only in certain cities and only in the United States. Everyday people create a culture unique to only our country; a country where people eat and sleep diverse activities, different from those who surround them. That is the greatest attribute to our country in the diversity in which society practices. The culture that forms in America is all about everyone coming together to share what they have learned from their ancestors and what their families have passed down along the genial lines. The New World Encyclopedia says culture “generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance” (“Culture” 2005). Meaning our not-exciting everyday lives contribute to this meaning and view of culture in America. It later says “it [culture] includes codes of manners, dress, language, [|religion], rituals, norms of behavior such as law and [|morality], and systems of [|belief]” (“Culture” 2005). Every moment of life adds to this culture that appears present throughout history. I believe that culture is defined as the customs and beliefs that you grow up with. The holidays that you celebrate, the religion you practice, the political beliefs that you have, etc. For a lot of people, the culture you grow up with can shape the person that you become when you grow up. For some, this is a good thing, but for others it can be a negative thing. I've seen a lot of people grow up to have the exact same or similar traditions and beliefs that their parents have since that was the way that they were raised. I've seen others go in the complete opposite direction because they hated the culture that they grew up in. Here are a couple of quotes defining culture: "Culture is a term used by social scientists for a people's whole way of life" "Culture consists of learned ways of acting, feeling, and thinking rather than biologically determined ways" ("Millicent Rogers"). In a purely strict sense, culture consists of the food, music, traditions, and values that govern and exist within a society. Yet, to limit a definition of culture to one line of explanation would be downright naive. A helpful way to understand, and thus grasp culture, is to start with the obvious and the easily comprehensible. From there, one can dive a bit deeper into the subconscious benefits, and negatives, of culture. The conscious effect of culture, both ours and many others', is vivid in every day life. When we learn to shake hands, or bow, even smile, upon greeting another person, our culture is being displayed by a simple action. Yet, this is the very outer core of what culture persists of. Any person can be taught how to properly greet another person, or how to perform rudimentary tasks for ritualistic sake. Culture becomes entirely ingrained into our perceptions of the world. How does a person from America view a person from India? How does a person from India view a person from India? There certainly are striking differences between the two viewpoints - and it is our cultural upbringing and experiences that shape that view. Also belonging to this category is the idea of ethnocentrism. According to Gollnick and Chinn, many people become so entrapped into their own cultures (often subconsciously) that they view any other culture or ideology as inferior (Gollnick and Chinn). Some individuals have argued that one’s own culture can even be biological. However, in the words of Deepa Kartha, "culture is something that one persons from his/her family and surroundings, and is not ingrained from birth" (Kartha 1). Culture is our life and blood. It is the binding agent that ties us together and gives many of us a strong sense of purpose and belonging. I strongly believe that this is the strongest attribute of the concept of culture. Some may argue that it is cultural ideals and mindsets that separate us as a race. This notion surely holds some truth to it, but at the same time, our world comes to a consensus on many aspects of culture: While some cultural ideas can be hostile and spark negative feelings, there are two other aspects that far outweigh it - the binds it creates between people within a given culture, and the common cultural ideals that our race shares as a whole (Kartha 1). Culture truly is the things that a person in accustom to, whether it be music or food or the jobs that they do. Everything is culture, even though we don't think about it. Pizza, for example, is a part of the Italian culture and has now become a very big part of the American culture. In the conscious aspect of culture, it is a bother. I have friends who live with family who come from a strict culture and country, but they were raised in America so it is hard for someone to keep up with their parent’s culture creating a conscious in every aspect that the child does. They want to please their parents, but it is very clear they want to do their own thing and have their own beliefs and freedom. The clear aspect of culture happens in everyday life. The way you speak to someone of higher rank than you (like your boss) is a part of how cultures show respect. There are people who are so intense within their culture that their mind is set to obey all customs. Everything that is thought about relates to their country and customs. Their minds are set exactly to their cultures and no matter what situation comes across they handle it the way their culture expects. A benefit of having culture is that it keeps someone’s life organized and centralized. It becomes easier for someone to deal with hard times when they can then rely on something. It also gives people a sense of belonging to a group that is better than anyone else’s culture creating more self-esteem. Cultural diversity, or multiculturalism, is based on the idea that cultural identities should not be discarded or ignored, but rather maintained and valued. The foundation of this belief is that every culture and race has made a substantial contribution to American history. However, many people remain opposed to the idea of multiculturalism, or cultural diversity awareness, while others often support it and yet have no clear idea of how it should be taught. Often times we leave this difficult task up to our local schools and teachers, under the catch-all phrase of "multicultural education." We assume that during February our children will learn about "Black History" and in March about "Women's History." A particular month or week is dedicated to a certain ethnic group or belief, as if this somehow acknowledges their full contribution to American history. This can often be as divisive as it is informative. If U.S. history is taught year round, but February is "Black History Month," then the logical assumption is that African American history and achievements are often overlooked during the normal school year. Or, that other cultures are somehow ignored during February.
 * All cultures have some concept of blood relations.
 * All cultures differentiate between good and bad.
 * All cultures have some form of art (music, jewelry, etc.)

The cultural diversity of the United States is truly astounding, as many different ethnic and cultural groups have contributed to the social, economic and cultural values of our society. This has been true throughout our history, even though many of our school books have not always taught that fact. In fact, the very idea that cultural diversity should be taught has only been promoted in the last few years. The bottom line is that when we fully recognize that America is great because of the contributions of the many, then we as a people will be even more united in our common goals, and even more proud to be American citizens (Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present Copyright 2009). Culture is a term with many different meanings that is influenced by your background. Some may say that culture is about food, literature, and music while a scientist may claim it is a group of bacteria. Either way, culture binds living organisms together because they share certain ways of living. Edward B. Tylor, an English anthropologist that first used this term in his book “Primitive Culture,” explained that culture is “…that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man [woman] as a member of society” (Palomar 2006). It is important to note that culture is easily changed because it is not a tangible term. While many may claim that culture is tangible through man-made items, it is not considered to be culture because those things are only products culture. Culture can be anything we want it to be.

A_s mentioned above, there are different interpretations of culture, but the most popular interpretation is human culture. Human culture consists of different layers: cultural traditions, subculture, and cultural universals. Cultural traditions differentiate different societies through their language, beliefs, and traditions that are engrained in a child through their family. Subculture refers to a group of people that come from different areas of the world and settle in new land. Mexican Americans are an example of this in the U.S. because they share a common identity, etc. Universal culture is a broader layer of human culture because everyone is part of this, regardless of their background. This overarching layer refers to all the behavioral patterns that humans learn, such as using age to classify people or classifying people by their marital status (Palomar 2006). Human culture is not considered to be culture without these different layers and even though culture may change with every generation, this will be the same. Depending upon the context, culture has many different meanings. In one instance, culture could be simply the appreciation for the finer quality of items present in life. In terms of biology, a culture refers to a group of microorganisms living together. "However, for anthropologists and other behavioral scientists, culture is a full range of learned human behavior patterns" (O'Neil 2006). The English anthropologist Edward B. Tylor first used this term in his booked titled Primitive Culture, published in 1871. Tylor said that culture is "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society." Culture is an abstract concept that exists in the human mind. Culture influences the creation of: "written languages, governments, buildings, and other man-made things." If you think about it, culture influences just about everything that exists in our environment. Culture has been defined in a number of ways, but most simply, as the learned and shared behavior of a community of interacting human beings. (Useem & Useem, 1963) "A society's culture is the stock of knowledge that a resident of or traveler within the society must know and use, in order to ‘do’ daily life without attracting unwanted forms of attention, such as public ridicule or police contact" (Whitaker, 2008). Within our cultures we have building blocks that consist of norms, values, language, beliefs, and social statuses. These are all important pieces to the puzzle that make up any one culture. Understanding these components to a culture will allow us to better understand an individual who comes from any one culture. As a teacher or education professional knowledge of the culture(s) in which your students come from will help in communication. Culture, civilization, mores, background, traditions, ethnicity, and ways of life are all factors that contribute to someone’s identity. Culture is made up of two areas. First, a person’s background and ethnicity defines one’s culture. This would be the race of a person and where they are from. Also included in this category, would be what traditions this person’s ethnicity group includes. For example, if a family was Indian then this part of the individual’s culture would be the Indian background and traditions. The second area that makes up culture would be the person themselves and how his/her personal family was raised. This is included in culture because even if two people come from the exact same background and ethnicity group, their families would be completely different, thus making the people have two different cultures. Culture is a combination of the person’s background, ethnicity, and individual family. [|Video on Culture] This video on culture is a good example. People in this video all have their own background, ethnicity, and individual families and the way that they were raised. Culture comprises of so many things. Culture is anything that you take claim to, even those things that take claim to you. You can take claim to the various things that you like. For example, I like dance, so I take claim to dance. My heritage, where I am from, who my parents are and the decisions that have been made are part of my culture that take claim to me, not something that I necessarily choose as my culture. "Ideas, values and customs of groups of people" (people.vcu). That definition does not say that it is only the ethnicity or the nationality or the heritage of where they are from but rather the groups that they take claim or takes claim to them. Culture = Lifestyles!

While teaching culture in the classroom can be seen as a divisive issue, there are a few key goals teachers can provide as a framework for students to be able to digest much of the information given to them. There are six particular goals adapted from Nostrand’s Kinds of understanding to be tested to help teach culture and be a way in which students can comprehensively understand. The six goals are: 1. Demonstrating interest about a specific culture. 2. Learning who—in other words the audience that is being affected, where they come from, and other demographic information (e.g. race, class, gender, religion, etc.). 3. Understanding the ‘what’ that has caused a certain culture to think, believe, act in a certain manner. Often times answering the question, ‘what’ in reference to culture helps people understand what motivates people to hold certain values, or what has caused them to socially construct their personal reality. 4. Finding the where and when. This is in reference to determining the situations where behavior will be changed due to people reacting to situations that they face. An example of this could be riots and looting experienced in an impoverished country that faces a food shortage. Their behavior is modified due to situational factors of food shortages, malnutrition, and a lack of access to adequate resources to keep themselves healthy. 5. Discovering the why. Answering why something exists or happens is the key to solving how and what has motivated someone to act in a certain manner. When you find out the ‘why’ of a situation, you generally reach the root cause of a person’s opinion, behavior, lifestyle, etc. because it can then be determined if a person is fulfilling “basic physical and psychological needs, and that cultural patterns are interrelated and tend mutually to support need satisfaction” (Nostrand, 1970). 6. Explore. Conducting exploratory research to assess specific claims and observations made from particular groups to determine the validity and accuracy of opinions, facts, and notes regarding a certain culture’s values and beliefs. This particular goal would help students be able to visualize and really feel as though they ‘understand’ and feel what it is like ‘walk in someone else’s shoes’.

Lastly, besides the six goals, it may be beneficial to also consider how to teach culture from a student’s perspective. As a result, there are also nine objectives that students should be able to identify, internalize, and understand in regards to culture in the classroom. Therefore, as an educator, student or scholar, the following can serve as a communication rubric, to ensure the information you would like to communicate in regards to culture is effectively portrayed. 1. React appropriately in a social situation 2. Describe a pattern in the culture 3. Recognize a pattern when it is illustrated 4. “Explain” a pattern 5. Predict how a pattern is likely to apply in a given situation 6. Describe or manifest an attitude important for making oneself acceptable in the foreign society 7. Evaluate the form of a statement concerning a culture pattern 8. Describe/demonstrate defensible methods of analyzing a socio-cultural whole 9. Identify basic human purposes that make significant the understanding that is being taught (Nostrand, 1970).

Culture is also Informed by popular culture. . . U.S. culture is informed by popular culture, and popular culture is becoming increasingly democratic. In "Pop Goes T.V. News: How Pop Culture is Consuming Everything", author Stephanie Earp (2010) makes an important point about the role of democratic popular culture in public, national conversations and national politics. For example, when discussing the "burning of the Qur’an" conflict that arose in 2010, Earp writes, “This is a classic example of a non-story that spread through Facebook and Twitter, got picked up by traditional media and eventually wound up being addressed by President Obama, becoming a legitimate story. And I think what Obama said is true, the whole thing could affect the safety of soldiers in Afghanistan. So some guy in Florida managed to post something on his blog and have it wind up in the thoughts of the President of the USA and foreign terrorists. We, the people who posted about this guy on FB and Twitter -- even those of us who denounced the idea -- made this story happen. We gossiped our way into creating a more dangerous situation in Afghanistan." We, the people, now have the power to shape BIG discussions about culture. How seriously do we take this responsibility? Popular culture also sets examples for how we should "be", what we should believe, what we should strive to be, and how we should go about getting what we want. It also helps to construct or solidify cultural prejudices (by showing what we should not want to be, by marginalizing or stereotyping cultural experiences and setting up hierarchies and "us" vs "them" dichotomies). Popular culture sends messages that impede all facets of cultural life, from what it means to be a teenager to what U.S. Southerners are like, to what people of a certain religion or class or race uphold as valuable or true. Jean Kilbourne's Killing Us Softly films provide a fine example of how popular culture impacts genders. Here is one of the more recent versions of her work, Killing Us Softly 3: Advertising's Image of Women. . . [|Killing Us Softly 3]. Popular culture shows how things "should be" within the world. There are many T.V. shows now like "George Lopez" where it shows some of the Mexican culturistic ideas, etc. But this show talks badly about Mexicans in a joking way. It makes people think that this is how Mexican households are ran and things like this happen and in reality it may not be. So when people who don’t know about the Mexican culture they think of shows like "George Lopez". Pop Culture is the easiest way to define another culture. Pop culture has many influences in our lives also. For instance, when I think of Japan, I instantly shoot to Anime, Manga, and techno pop music. Why? Because those items are all a huge contribution to the Japanese culture. Another one for the American culture could be a McDonalds, WalMart, and the White House. Those items do not have a lot to do with our culture, but they are a part of our pop culture. Where is the line that connects pop culture and culture? The items in pop culture indirectly describe the culture. A McDonalds shows that as Americans we have options such as what to eat, a WalMart shows that we are a very materialistic society, and the white house represents the freedom we as a nation hold that other nations may not. With Facebook and Twitter running the lives of so many Americans at every age, it has now begun the culture. Pop culture is running everything from the ways we interact with one another to how the president is elected into office. Americans look to the celebrities that entertain with their music and movies, to now who should be in office. President Obama proves the latest example in how pop culture truly affects the latest ideas of our society. The latest characteristics of popular culture include a continuously altering society based in the cities, and the fundamental currency budget (Sanders). The negatives seem to increase the loss of deep relationships, diminish tight-knit family's values and bonds, and decrease specialized jobs that create very diverse partitions of work (Sanders). With the communication skills of the younger generation becoming more and more into the air waves, America must begin what will occur in the future: a world of not interacting with one another unless it’s instant. The pop culture has taken over into making people less able to communicate in person. The culture that has been created make trends that make children look up to the pop stars and super models. These celebrities create reality shows that influence the generations into a belief that this how they’re life should turn out. With shows like “Jersey Shore” and “The Real Housewives,” Americans’ minds become pulled into a trance that creates a false reality. This false reality includes the biggest and best material objects that have no effects on their needs but instead their deadly desires. Popular culture is an incorporation of the world we perceive, along with the combination of our own previous knowledge. Therefore, in the classroom, this means that many of the fads, and current trends can affect the classroom culture. Specifically, popular culture is influenced through the various mediums (e.g. TV, newspaper, social sites) that influence our society. In the classroom, these mediums produce various trends that we can witness in the classroom and determine how these trends have swayed kids' opinions. The opinions that can be swayed range from a SpongeBob backpack to a Coach wristlet, or to designer sunglasses, and clothes, or even the need to have the latest McDonald’s happy meal (with a toy), or Lunchables for lunch. Each of the latter items affects a child's well-being and are reflections of what our society values or upholds the most. Here is a link from a British source that evaluates the influence of popular culture with children’s' identities: http://mcs.sagepub.com/content/28/2/289.extract (Boden 2006). No matter what everyone has culture and their culture reflect who they are and their ideas, what they think, and what they believe it. The culture of a person influences every aspect of their life. Therefore it makes sense that many people base their beliefs or impressions of others on the culture on the culture that they come from. Racism is a problem of culture because one race has a problem with another race’s culture and they way the look or what they believe. The world consists of millions of different cultures and every person belongs in a couple of those different cultures. An important thing to consider about culture is that it is different everywhere and it is always changing. New aspects are always being introduced and sadly things are also being forgotten. Some ideas and beliefs are passed down from generation to generation staying alive for many years and others are lost when a group of people dies off leaving no kind of trace. nana