I Am African-American Culture Analysis

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 one of the most relevant elements that can define not only a society but also a country’s cumulative beliefs and system. Often noted as the origins of a country, culture is definitive in the sense that it harbors all the elements that can provide justification on the traditions and norms set by the society for its members. More often than not, the society members follow norms in order to create a harmonious community, and the beliefs and the traditions serve as the poles or grounding rules for each member to follow. Culture is very dynamic in the way that it can change over a variety of foreign influences but what is permanent about it is that original elements about it often lingers with the influences, therefore making it multi-faceted and broad. More importantly, culture serves as an individual and unique trait each society has, and therefore sets it apart from other countries and other societies.

Since the inception of human civilization there have been countless cultures and societies which have helped shape the current world today as we know it. The modern human race dates back more than 200,000 years and in that time frame many cultures have risen to great virtue and success only to deteriorate or cease to exist altogether. First before examining one of these cultures we must know what culture truly means. The Army’s Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) Culture Center defines culture as a “dynamic social system,” containing the beliefs, behaviors, values and norms of a “specific organization, group, society or other collectivity” learned, shared, internalized, and changeable by all members of the society (Watson, 2010). In

Firstly, culture is defined as a system of patterns of traditions, beliefs, values norms, meanings, and symbols that are shared by interacting members of a community (Ting-Toomey, C. Chung, 2012:16). In addition, Edward T. Hall writes that “[…] any culture is primarily a system for creating, sending, storing, and processing information” (Hall, 1998:53). However, these values, norms etc. cannot be shared or understood by others if the communication is not effective. Therefore, the quote from Edward Hall “Culture is communication and communication is culture” (Hall, 1959: 169), states that the meaning of the words culture and communication cannot be perceived or work in practice without each other.

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.

The mission of the students around the country who fought for an education that would shed light on African Americans. The progress the students created is seen today in American Universities ,and also HBCUs, where (AAS)African American Studies is implemented into the curriculum. Before, the dissection the formation of AAS, it should be noted that without the sacrifice from others I undoubtedly would not be writing about AAS ,or reflecting on the significance it has created for generations so far.

Culture: Culture refers to values, languages, symbols, norms, beliefs, expectations that members of a group possess and the good things they produce and use in their life. Culture is the thing that all the members of a group or society follow.

Several factors affect the formation of one’s culture, Palispis, E. (2007) quoted Sir Edward Tylor, “Culture… refers to that complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, arts, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as member of society.” (Palispis, E., 2007) In this context culture is something we acquire from the people we have lived with since we were born, it is not something a person can learn overnight nor can be disposed effortlessly.

Culture is the aquired knowledge that people use to interpret, experience, and generate social behavior.

Culture by definition is the identity or feeling of belonging to a group. It is part of a person's self-conception and self-perception and is related to nationality, ethnicity, religion, social class, generation, locality or any type of social group that has its own distinct culture. To me that definition couldn't be more spot on but let's go more in depth over the past few months in my English class we have been trying to learn what our culture is and what part culture plays in our daily lives so in this essay I will be sharing with you what I think culture is what it means to me and how I think it impacts our way of living and the way we look at each other as human beings and how we treat each other and how all this makes up my culture

Culture is defined as “The ideas, attitudes, customs, beliefs, values and social behaviour of a particular group of people or society that are passed on from generation to generation” (Brentnall, A., n.d.).

The term culture is described as ‘a verb’. However it is explained that culture is difficult to define as it can be associated in different ways by different people. Some people think of culture as a thing while others term it as a set of beliefs,

‘Culture’ can be a difficult term to define as many different people have different ideas of what the definition should be Raymond Williams (1983) calls culture ‘one of the two or three most complicated words in the English language’, the oxford dictionary defines culture as ‘the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively’. Whereas Williams believes there are three vague definitions. The first is referring to culture as ‘a general process of intellectual, spiritual and aesthetic development’, the second use could be to suggest ‘a particular way of life, whether of a people, a period or a group’ and finally ‘culture’ could be used to refer to ‘the works and practices of intellectual and especially artistic activity’.

Culture is the social behaviour and integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behaviour that depends upon the capacity fro learning and transmitting knowledge to future generations

Culture is a concept that has broad connotations with many different interpretations, it relates to all aspects of physical life and spiritual life of the human. According to anthropologists, culture is the major way in which humans adapt to their environments and give meaning to their lives. Or in other words, culture is the most visible face of a society. If we take a look into culture, we can see most of aspects of a whole society. For example, in everyday life, culture is generally understood as literature and art like poetry, fine arts, theater, film...Or an another common understanding, culture is the way of life, including culinary styles, costumes, behaviors, religions, customs, lifestyle, even both faith and knowledge that are perceived. In short, Culture is a product of human beings; it is created and developed in the relationship between humans and society. Moreover, it also re-engages in the creation of humanity, and maintaining the sustainability of social order. Therefore, culture is a very important part of anthropology.