Cultural Background

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Dec 6, 2023

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Cultural Background Cultural Background Jean Gilmore Liberty university CEFS504: Multicultural Counseling

Cultural Background 2 Abstract The concept of culture goes back almost to the beginning of time when man first walked into a strange village and found that he could not speak to the villagers there nor understand everything that he saw. Cultural background is the environment in which an individual grew up (Linton, 2013). Its memberships base themselves on ethnicity, stereotypes, sexual characteristics, language, religious conviction, sexual orientation, and geographics. Oftentimes, cultural background and cultural identity are two distinct concepts that are often used interchangeably. Cultural identity is a person's sense of self derived from his or her cultural background. It is how a person understands and expresses their cultural heritage and values. In other words, cultural background is the foundation of cultural identity from which a person constructs their sense of self (Wilson, 2021). Keywords : Environment, Ethnicity, Beliefs, and Values.

Cultural Background 3 Cultural Background Today, a person’s cultural background may or may not be as obvious as one thinks. The United States throughout history is the world’s melting pot for various cultures from the original American Natives to Columbus sailing to America, then between 1820 and 1850, the Irish and Chinese made their way to American soil to live a better life, in addition to the African slaves bought, sold, and traded throughout the Southern States. Our cultural background is a key factor in the formation of our identity and worldview. Understanding our backgrounds is critical to recognizing our own biases, prejudices, privileges, and beliefs and developing empathy, respect, and tolerance for other cultures that are different from our own. The two cultures I feel that shape who I am as a person are the Western Culture and my Roman Catholic religious following. My mother is Irish by descent and her great-great-grandparents came here from Ireland in the late 1800’s with the name O’Hagan but had to change their name due to the Irish persecution. My father is German by descent and his grandfather was born and raised in Germany before coming to America meeting my great-grandmother and starting a family in the small town of St. Clair, Missouri. Our immediate family has mainly come from a practicing Catholic family even though my father was raised in the Southern Baptist faith. Growing up, our family was mainly middle-class working people, my hometown was a mixture of race and social classes. It was not until the age of 10, that I learned a lesson in the difference of race, social class, and how cruel other people can be. One summer day, my parents had invited one of the nicest gentlemen I had ever met for someone so young to our home for dinner. He was an older African-American man in his late 70s whose wife had recently passed away but who had worked for years as the cleaning lady at the gas company where my father was employed. Here is where the life lessons begin: That warm summer evening, Arthur came through the gate, but rather than knock on the front door like most guests, he knocked on the back kitchen screen door, removed his hat and awaited an answer. My mother immediately opened the door for Arthur and

Cultural Background 4 escorted him to the front room to have a seat on the couch, offering him a glass of sweet tea while dinner was finishing on the stove. Being a child, I did not understand why someone so nice to my parents was not allowed to come in the front door like everyone else. Mr. Arthur, looking into my eyes, said the most incredible thing that I have carried with me throughout my adulthood, "Some people only see the color of your skin, and this is how it is, angel. There are good and bad in everyone, no matter if you are black, white, red, or green. Now, child, we all know that the color of humans is not green but someday you will grow big and understand what this old man has had to go through." Being taught such a valuable lesson at such a young age, I feel I am fortunate enough to have a generalization of open-mindedness to other cultures, particularly in the areas that have gone against my cultural heritage. For example, abortion, same-sex marriage, and the roles of a husband and wife. Eph. 5:25-28 states, "Just as wives must submit to their husbands, husbands must love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her…husbands should love their wives as their own bodies” (Hendrickson, 2014, KJV). As I identify my worldviews and standards of living through generational teachings, I understand that to become aware of my preconceptions, and opinions for the sake of not levying them on clients and to be able to construct a responsiveness to their cultural identity, I need to be more knowledgeable in my cultural heritage. Western Culture greatly contributes to my social norms, moral values, traditions, and belief systems. The most crucial reason for Western cultural influence is Christianity and my beliefs in the Catholic church. Both cultures have equal benefits, the Garden of Eden as risks, and Man's relationship to nature (Merchant, 2013, p. 2). The lens of Christianity has a big role in the formation of American history in addition to my family’s heritage and cultural norms including our views on politics and other individualized groups of people. “In the name of Christianity” has been used for numerous reasons from writing the American Constitution, to effecting times of war. Romans 13:4 indicates that " For your good,

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