Every culture has their own practices that are seemingly foreign to other cultures that come after them. For example, we cannot judge the culture of Chinese people today in present day China as we judged the culture of the people who used to settle in the same country. The only thing that they share is location because history, technology, and religion have influenced modern cultures in ways that would have been completely foreign to ancestors of the same place. An example of this comes from Ruth Benedict in her essay The Pueblos of New Mexico. In this essay she describes that Indians who used to live in New Mexico. They were very different from the people that live there today. They were very relaxed in many ways of their culture expect religion. …show more content…
In The Pueblos of New Mexico Ruth Benedict does a great job of depicting a culture and showing the different aspects of it. There are, of course, some things that seem to be great ideas that could potentially improve the culture today. There are also things that seem good on the outside, but would be destructive to a culture that does not need any more destructions. “Some experiences had power and some had not, and they distinguished by the flash of significance that signaled out those that were valuable” (Para 21). If everyone went around giving power to their dreams as well as visions, life would be chaotic. It would cause people to blame the bad things they do on the power of their dreams. If vision quest was adapted into our culture it would just be another way for people to get out of the bad things they have done. Instead of an insanity plea, they would begin to use vision quest to get away with breaking the law. Vision quest had a time and place, and that is certainly not in today’s culture. “The destructive and pervasive effect of illegal drug use in our society is appalling. Over 32 million Americans used illegal drugs last year” (Bush). We do not need to give people another reason to use drugs. This is why vision quest would be and should be rejects if it is every introduced to our culture today. It would be a lot …show more content…
In her essay, Ruth Benedict describes vision quest as visions people have that are transforming and religious, and this is something I have never experienced. Becoming intoxicated to have some higher experience is what most religions would look down on today because being drunk is not viewed as a good thing. Because it has nothing to do with my religion I have never experienced a vision quest. If a group of people tried to bring back the vision quest Benedict illustrates, I think that most of society would have a negative attitude towards them. It would make people who are taking part in these activities feel justified, and eventually it would lead to a lot more destruction, which is not something America needs more of. Ruth Benedict shows vision quest as a positive thing, but with all of the problems it could potentially cause vision quest would ultimately be rejected. Instead of an insanity plea, they would begin to use vision quest to get away with breaking the law. Vision quest had a time and place, and that is certainly not in today’s
The chapter continued to discuss how people experience other cultures when they are removed from their area to a different place. This occurs in the form of culture shock people experience new traditions that are unfamiliar to them when the come to a place that is home to another culture. Human development may also include joining the ideas of various cultures and forming it into a new concept. It puts heavy emphasis on learning other cultures in an unbiased form in order to compare and make observations. This chapter also studies of culture have been able to advance over time and how change is an essential aspect of
As noted in the response by Janet Tallman, there are three main themes concerning Ruth Benedict’s ethnography of Pueblo culture, Patterns of Culture, and Leslie Marmon Silko’s novel Ceremony. Both detail the importance of matrilineage, harmony and balance versus change, and ceremonies to the Pueblo Indians. It is important to note that Silko gives the reader a first-hand perspective of this lifestyle (she was raised in the Laguna Pueblo Reservation), while Benedict’s book is written from a third-person point of view. Because of this, it was fairly easy to see how much of the actual culture was overlooked or misinterpreted in Benedict’s work. While the above-mentioned themes about Pueblo Indians were
There are many different cultures in different places. But the 2 specific ones we will be comparing today is the Inuit and the American cultures. Most people would think there would be a certain culture in America because most of the people don’t really think about what culture we are but we actually do have a culture in some aspects of our lives. For example we the Americans speak many different languages we speak spanish, english, chinese just about everything we will take anyone regardless of what language they speak.The inuits on the other hand their language is very different they speak Inuktitut which is only one. Here in america like I said we speak multiple. Another thing that is different between our cultures is our economy here
Once culture is a part of your everyday life, you take it with you wherever you go and in some cases you might implement some of the new culture onto your old one. For instance, the U.S is home to many individuals whom are part of several different cultures, and each of them practice them in their own way. My Peruvian culture was brought by me and my family members to the United States when we moved
There are cultural differences in each culture, such as the eastern verses the western. There are other cultures as well as their own by understanding the norms and values of each culture to see how each are different and similar to one another. Eastern culture tends to be more traditional, orthodox because of the Asian culture and way of life. They have different norms and values; at a young age they are taught to respect elders and put honor, religion, integrity, and respect before themselves. Western culture is a bit more modern; they are not that strict on following the same way of life as the eastern culture. Both are different because they were both from different eras. Their cultures are different,
been part of daily life for centuries. It is impossible to find a single culture with no traditions. It
Everyone has their own culture and in the early ages after whoever’s birth, the parents will teach them their culture. Fore say; if the parents were First Nations for example, they will teach their off springs their culture that includes praying pow-wow dancing, round-dancing, sage picking and, many ceremonies.
In our society today, culture is not what it used to be hundreds of years ago. There is no more “pure” culture. Our culture today is enriched with many different traditions and customs that are being shared and adopted. Due to emigration and immigration, a variety of diverse customs, beliefs, and knowledge moved with every exiting and entering human being. Thus, changing and shaping the culture of many. Throughout the world, the beliefs and religious views of culture are dissimilar around the world. By taking the time to read, listen and learn about certain people’s culture, there will be knowledge and understanding that will be gained.
I believe a difference in upbringing or a difference in religion beliefs can lead to a difference in cultural perspectives, for example, me and my wife were at a camera store up here in New York City that was a Jewish-owned business. We purchased a camera and upon completing the deal my wife went to shake the salesman's hand and he politely declined because he said he was Orthodox, we did not take any offense we said thank you and kept it moving. Another person who would not be understanding to someone else’s culture might have gotten
Culture can also be defined by the way people live. The culture of people living in a city can be very different from indigenous people in
Every different culture, has their own mindset, their perspective. People tend to judge others culture based on their own perspective and that can lead to cultural misunderstandings. For example, in the movie, "Not Without My Daughter", Mahtob saw the
The book “Foreign to Familiar” by Sarah A. Lanier gives a general overview of how to think about cultures we encounter that are different from our own. She starts out by explaining most countries and their people generally fall into two categories: hot-climate cultures (relationship based) and cold-climate cultures (task-orientated). Hot-climate cultures would include the Southern United States, Asia, the Pacific Islands, South America (with the exception of most of Argentina which is settled mostly by Europeans), Africa, the Mediterranean, (except the Jewish population of Israel), and the Middle East countries. Cold-climate cultures include Canada the northern United
nationalities brought with them their cultural practice’s , traditions and religious belief’s, which could be
When comparing cultures, one must form a definition of what culture is. Culture can be easily defined as the social behavior and normality’s found in human societies. It can also be easily made up of a composed arrangement of educated conduct and thought designs. Culture is a sorted out framework since it includes many parts. Throughout the world, there are many cultures that are both very different and also very similar. "Culture encompasses religion, food, what we wear, how we wear it, our language, marriage, music, what we believe is right or wrong, how we sit at table, how we greet visitors, how we behave and one million other things." (Cristina De Rossi.)
All cultures are different and with that different morals and experiences growing up and in daily life. In the past few weeks we have learned about a multitude of different cultures and the experiences and bias that they go through. I think every culture has bias against them in one way or another but some have it immensely worse than others. I think every culture influences heavily the beliefs and experiences of the people in the culture when they are growing up because it is all they know and all they have experienced. As people grow older some stay strictly with the beliefs of their parents and family but other start developing new beliefs but their culture will always be with them and influence their experiences and decisions in life.