By Any Other Name, By Premilla And Santha

Day 2: How does your culture contribute to the way that you interact with your social world? Culture is one of the primary reasons we act the way we do. There are many types of cultures like professional, national, religious, family, and educational. Your family culture is the number one type of culture that affects you in your adult life. It shapes the foods you enjoy, the activities you like to participate in, and specific belief systems you take part in. Additionally,

However, as Americans we are able to turn to what we have learned growing up. Once we are born our family, siblings, and our own culture influence us. We are bought up with certain beliefs and traditions. However, I do think that culture does influences how people are permitted to be expressed and how they are perceived. As for social experience people react to different experience in different ways. If someone has been in a certain situation I believe they learn from that experience.

In Santha Rama Rau’s story, “By Any Other Name,” she describes her experiences at the Anglo-Indian school to which she and her sister, Premila, are sent when Premila is eight and Santha is five and a half. Because the girls have been home schooled by their mother up to this point they find the transition to their new school strange and disconnecting. Santha’s sister, Premila, is initially willing to try and adapt to the culture and customs of her new environment; however, when a teacher is openly racist, Premila displays an impressive strength of character.

In the memoir, “By Any Other Name,” Santha Rama Rau explores the British attempt to replace Indian culture with the “superior” British culture and her resistance to this change. The speaker depicts this man vs. society conflict by sharing the story of a culture clash she experienced at a British run day school. The conflict is first seen when the headmistress decides to change the girls’ names, as indicated when she states, “Suppose we give you pretty English names” (Rama Rau 35). By calling English names pretty, the headmistress is implying their Indian names are not pretty, and thus inferior to British names. She said it was because Indians cheat…So I don’t think we should go back to that school. Another instance where the conflict is evident

Culture is a key aspect of a human that reflects on their lifestyle, family, traditions and pulls together the external influences that play a role in how one chooses to live their life. For me, culture is something you collect throughout your lifetime. In my lifetime, I have been lucky enough to travel outside of the United States and meet people from all over the world. I have seen how people go about their daily routines in many different ways compared to mine. The main cultural influence that has been present in my life since day one is the closeness of my family. All my cousins are very close it has often odd when I hear about families with weak relationships and small size. Another influence that has shaped my behavior was my exposure of extreme poverty and extreme wealth while living in Mexico. Lastly, a cultural influence that has shaped my belief system is my education.

Culture is a large part of every person’s life, it is what makes each person unique. Within culture there are many aspects such as food, music, clothing, tradition, and many more. Since culture makes up such a large part of our day to day lives, it is almost always responsible shaping and informing our view on the world.

In Elise Trumbull and Maria Pacheco’s essay “What is Culture Identity?” it explains how culture has a lot to do with the way someone views other. “Nonetheless, one’s beliefs and action; they have emerged from the ways one’s own group has dealt with and interpreted the particular conditions it has faced” (Trumbull 10). With this text it is basically saying that as a person the choices that are made are based on culture. People stick to how others from their culture have deal with a similar choice. “When we encounter a culture that is different from our own, one of the things we are faced with is a set of beliefs that manifest themselves in behaviors that differ from our own” (Trumbull 01). This quote gives a real world example where a different person with different thoughts, and behaviors are shown up when with someone completely different from their own culture. Ones behaviors are

Culture plays a significant role in defining our identity and worldview. For newcomers, culture is the primary frame that shapes their interaction with other newcomers and with established residents in their new community. This interaction can occur anywhere and

The culture in which we were raised in has a big impact on who we are and how we behave. Our culture effects things such as how we dress, the way we interact with others, and our manners such as what we may or may not find funny or what we may find offensive or weird. In the Ethan Watters Article “Being WEIRD: How Culture Shapes the Mind” we see examples of how being raised in different cultures affects our decisions and the way we perceive things. For example, in the ultimatum game (which is played by giving the first player $100 dollars, he can then offer player 2 any amount of the $100 but if the second player rejects the money they both end up with nothing) we can see how differently Machiguengans and Americans were likely to play. We

Culture can be defined as manifestations of intellectual achievement which is not a facet of bias. How one sees the world actually comes from aspects such as emotional experiences and life events. One change could cause a butterfly effect that will forever change said person’s opinions. Culture is an aspect of art and customs throughout a community that remains in a sector of life whether the person intends it to be that way or not. It is human nature to desire different experiences outside of their cultural circle. One’s culture does not influence how they view the world due to autonomy, automatic assimilation, and operating behind the veil of ignorance.

Sometimes I question if culture changes who you are. I try to pull up memories of the decisions I make, are they affected by my culture? Here is the response I came up with: Culture sporadically informs how an individual sees the world because, even being from completely different places and raised in contrasting households, people could still have similar views based on what they think of others and not how you are constructed with your culture, however, sometimes affects your perspective in certain occasions in circumstances where you wouldn’t face a community the same if you weren’t from the culture you were built in. This idea is supported by the personal essay by Bharati Mukherjee, Two Ways to Belong in America, the essay by Robert Lake, An Indians Father Plea, and also personal experience.

An individual’s identity is reflected in many aspects of their character. On of the aspects which affect a person’s identity is culture; culture plays a major role in the formation of an individual's character. It imposes customs which ultimately manifest through a person’s identity. The clear link between culture and identity suggests that conflict with one’s culture may affect a person’s sense of self. Jhumpa Lahiri explores this type of conflict in the novel The Namesake, in which Gogol Ganguli is stuck between two cultures the Bengali traditions of his parents and the American culture he grows up with. The novel explores Gogol’s conflict with both cultures and how it ultimately impacts the development of his identity.

It's a given that culture powerfully influences thoughts, emotions and behaviors. "Culture is an important part of our blueprint for operation within our physical and social worlds. We are an insecure species and culture offers us a reduction of anxiety through its standard rules of thought, emotion and behavior. Culture offers predictability in an often unpredictable world. We see things through a cultural lens that tints, magnifies, shrinks and otherwise shapes our perceptions. Our culture is a mindset that we developed during childhood socialization. The structural integrity, coherency and stability of our personalities are rooted in our culture. It is for these and other reasons that intercultural interactions can cause anxiety and arouses emotions." I can remember an incident very vividly that involved my friend from grade school named Danny Kiomoto; Danny and I are still very good friends to this day. Danny and his family lived in Hawaii for 7 years before coming to the US. Prior to Danny's family going to Hawaii they lived in Japan for 5 years. One day Danny and his mother attended a parents' day meeting at school. I remember the teacher praising Danny for his excellent work but Mrs. Kiomoto started criticizing Danny in front of the whole room, referring to his poor time management

Culture is something that we all have; it is something that defines who we are. A person's culture is the reason we value certain aspects over another and the reason we act the way we do. My cultural background is far more complex than I could ever imagine. Although I am a citizen of the United States, my heritage does not include one fraction of Native American in it. My ancestors actually derived from all over the European continent. I have found that I am minuscule amounts of English, Irish, Swedish, French, and most importantly Norwegian. I emphasized Norwegian because that is the culture that my family and I most closely relate to. Neither of my grandparents are from Norway, but they both grew up in a strong Norwegian environment

In today’s society, an individual who is a member of the dominant privileged societal assembly is not always discussed because the personal identity is taken as a guarantee due to the dominant culture. Nevertheless, culture affects the members of society because of the association with the dominant culture we become a different category consequently which leads to being treated and viewed differently (Tatum, 2000.) “Culture creates a person” (Vognar, 2012). In my opinion, culture influences how we represent ourselves; starting with how we communicate, behave, body gestures and postures. This can affect us psychologically. “Culture shapes us, but many events mold culture and we shape these just as much”. By virtue of unconsciously of us behaving in a way that we feel is culturally appropriate according to how we were raised from our early childhood years to our teenage