Bahamian Cultural Experience

The country that I chose to conduct a culture analysis on is Jamaica. Jamaica is a third world country located in North America and the 3rd largest island in the Caribbean Sea. There is a 2.5 million population, which equally divided between urban and rural areas. The country runs approximately 146 miles long and varies between 21- 52 miles wide. The climate is tropical and its main tourist attraction is their beautiful beaches. The capital of Jamaica is Kingston, which has a population of more than 645,000. Kingston is the chief port of Jamaica and is along the southeastern coast of the island. It is covered by the “Blue Mountains”, which is thickly covered which tree ferns. The Blue Mountains experiences an average of 200 inches of rain annually, resulting in topsoil erosion and an abundance of streams. Peasants nurture coffee, usually grown on large plantations, in the valleys of the mountains. It is amongst the most expensive coffees in the world and is exported mainly to Japan.

Take a moment to think about the following question: what is culture? Culture is everything a person does, believes in, creates, came from, and has done. It is also so much more than this simple list, but this is a good idea of what it generally is. Culture affects a lot of things as well. It can affect what you do, how you do certain things, and how you see things comparison to others. Culture is a major factor in how people perceive the world and those around them. Everybody sees the world differently through their cultural glasses. Some people see things as foreign and confusing, while others see the same things as daily life. The idea of different cultural viewpoints is shown in many articles throughout the years. Each of these stories

Whenever traveling to different countries they notice every culture is different from their own. Every country has different cultures but many times there can be similarities, For example, if you travel to both Honduras and Dominican Republic you notice a lot of differences from the way they dress to the food they eat. They both have great cultures and they are different cultures but they can be similar at times. Firstly, the food they eat are similar foods like both of their dishes consist of beans, rice

Culture can be seen from the interaction of many things such as history, activities and developments. It is also represented in the form of people live. Living in two different countries is a unique experience that gives you a new way of thinking. In my case I have lived in Colombia and now in the United States. Despite bearing some minor similarities, the differences between this to countries are notable in geography, festivities, economic and food.

Culture is defined by specific values and belief systems. Culture is who you are, your surroundings, and your traditions. Culture helps shape our behavior, since we're born,a nd raised into a specific culture. The vidoe what is culture, states that culture is learned behavior inspired by people that come from a specific group. I was raised in a Haitian family, and growing up Haitian was definately interesting. Growing up in a strict family, and being the only girl, out of 4 brothers, I grew uo literally walking on a straight line. It was like, if you are a girl, you are looked down on, if you do anything wrong. You are also looked at, as if you've shamed your own family. Growing up in the haitian culture has raised me to be just like my mother.

As I begin this essay comparing two separate cultures I feel it is necessary to first describe what exactly culture is. Culture has been called "the way of life for an entire society." It includes codes of manners, dress, language, religion, rituals, norms of behavior such as law and morality, and systems of belief.

Culture is a set of ideals and values about life that are widely shared among people and that guide specific behaviors. Differences, as well as similarities, can be seen when comparing world cultures. We communicate with each other, we feed ourselves with food, and when we sleep we often dream. However, we speak different languages, eat different types of foods, and dream different ways. We call these cultural differences. What causes them is not always obvious to the ordinary person (Nancy). I feel culture is what really sets us apart from each other and what makes us unique as individuals and families.

Culture is a behavior that consists of several critical elements, such as language, religion, race and ethnicity, clothing and politics. Culture is what one does in his/her daily life. In order to understand others, we must first keep in mind that every culture carries its own set of values and assumptions. Culture is an evolving, ever changing civilization, which includes several different groups people. For immigrants, America is a land of opportunity; for others it is just the best country in the world because of its economic success and/or its democratic political system. Americans usually value independence a lot, believe in equal opportunity, and have a direct communication style. In exploring the

Culture is not a fixed phenomenon, nor is it the same in all places or to all people. It is relative to time, place, and particular people. Learning about other people can help us to understand ourselves and to be better world citizens.

Family, heritage, ethnicity, beliefs, values, knowledge, experiences, attitudes, religion, education, roles, language, and cuisine are all items encompassing culture. Culture is what influences your outlook on life itself as well as behaviors and rituals. Culture is the way different groups of people do things. While some cultures have overlapping cultural behaviors or aspects, most cultures vary significantly. Culture, for the most part, is something you are born into, your innate programming, however, it some aspects can be changed or evolved. "Only part of culture is conscious" (Spector, 2013).

The culture of Haiti is a various mix of African and European elements due to the French colonization of Saint Dominguez. I chose to research this culture for two reason one reason being that I have a friend who is Haitian and I never understood why she did what she did, or even her mother. The second reason is because many people in Haiti is associated with voodoo, and that’s something I personally wouldn’t get to involved with due to my religious views. Throughout this essay we will see in detail the differences in culture from ours to theirs. We will learn about their primary language, religion, their different values and beliefs and last but not least their social practices. While reading on Haiti I started to appreciate their culture more due to the fact that know.

“Culture is sometimes described as a lens through which we view the world, meaning that one’s culture influences their perceptions and interactions in everyday life” (Davis, 2006). Every culture has different beliefs and customs

The Arawak Indians of South America were the first people to settle in Jamaica the named the island Xaymaca meaning land of wood and water. Christopher Columbus’ first arrival was in 1494. Christopher Columbus’ son settled in Jamaica in 1509. During Spain’s occupation on the island beginning in 1510 the Arawaks were killed off by disease, war and slavery. Seven short years later the Spaniards brought the first African slaves to Jamaica. The king of Spain deeded the island to Columbus’ family in 1536 until the 1620’s

The sugar plantations increased the profit for the earlier settlers, because in this era sugar was uncommon. The money that entered Barbados from the sugar plantations brought political power to the owners who were controlling the economic aspects as well as in governmental offices. Land owners made it known to the slaves that they were the authority figure and they should not try to get out of line. “Its House of Assembly, which began meeting in 1639, is third-oldest legislative body in the Western Hemisphere, preceded only by Bermuda’s legislature and the Virginia House of Burgesses” (Country Watch, Inc., 2014) . This government wrote a democratic constitution which was used as a template by “the American Founding Fathers” (Country Watch, 2014) to draw up the United States Constitution. Sugar plantations were a successful commercial enterprise which raised a split in Barbados between large plantations and the early small farms resulting in these small farmers to leave. “Some of the displaced farmers relocated to British colonies in North America” (Barbados, 2011). In the years between 1663 through 1669 Barbados was hit with many natural disasters such as a locust plague, Bridgetown fire, a hurricane, drought and in other times too much rain which added to the island’s financial problems. Yet, the natural disasters did not stop the business men

Culture is not only a reflection of current social phenomena, but also is a long period of accumulation and the formation of the creation and development of the historical heritage, such as religions, beliefs, lifestyles, values, and so on. Therefore, different cultural backgrounds will