Personal Cultural Survey Paper

Arriving at a foreign country at the age of eleven years old was and exiting and yet intimidating experience. High buildings, wide roads, newer and nicer cars on the streets were some of the first things I noticed when I arrived to the city of Los Angeles CA. Living in a country where you were not born in could be difficult some times. Although Spanish is spoken at a grand scale in CA, it was difficult to communicate with and understand the teachers from my classes at the elementary level since all they spoke was English. Los Angeles is a city of great diversity, therefore it is believed to be the perfect place for any person arriving from another country to not feel like a foreign, such believe

My culture is really unique because there is a different language, costumes, and dancing. I am from Erbil, Iraq. Most people never heard of Kurdistan and it is complicated for me to explain. Kurdistan are the parts of Iraq, Turkey, Syria, and Iran. My family is Kurds and we speak the language called Kurdish. Kurdish music is really odd yet interesting. Parwana is a popular folk music from Kurdistan and I honestly don't know who sang it. We didn't have rich history of music. When you listen to Parwana (Spin), it is very happy song that leads people to dance. It is hard for me to translate what is the song actually means. My uncles played the song and they are using unique instruments like Daf (frame drum), tanbur( a fretted string instrument),

Several years ago I enrolled at California Lutheran University in the Marriage Family Therapy Master Program. It was during this journey as a new and older student that I was introduced to the words Cultural Bias and Cultural Proficiency. At the time I was not sure how I was to respond to questions such as what is your culture, what are your biases and how are you going to integrate those biases into the therapeutic setting? I now found myself questioning how is it that for all these years, no one ever told me that I because I was white, female, from middle- class America that I was not only entitled but privileged. If one does not see color differences, does that make them open-minded and accepting or does that mean they have color blindness? I never questioned my culture, my heritage or my underlying entitlement. When asked what my ethnicity is I always respond that I am Italian/French Catholic. To me “Italian” and “French” are words without meaning, as my ethnicity does not define who I am. At the age of eleven, my family moved from New York to California. Recently, I have begun to feel that I lost out knowing my family history and what it means to belong to a particular ethnic group. I missed being part of my family’s gatherings at holiday’s, marriages, births, and deaths. I lost connections and experiences that enrich one’s life; the foundation of whom you are and where you come from. Shared experiences between family members bind them

The experience I pursued for the cultural experience reflection assignment was to focus on immigrant communities around my school. Majority of the students in my school are of Hispanic origin, so this experience gave me a glimpse of the culture of my school 's student population. I hear a lot of discrimination, and stereotypes about Hispanics in America through the media, and I think speaking to, conversing, and getting to know the people of that culture altered my opinion greatly. In our times, negative stereotypes exists against certain ethnic groups regarding their cognitive abilities. Unfortunately, Hispanic/Latinos are not immune to these discriminations. These stereotypes generate a standard of thinking that isolates Hispanic/Latinos

It is important for everyone especially counselors to become more culturally competent. There are many different ways that one can practice on becoming more culturally competent. One can emerge themselves into an environment that is culturally different from theirs, or they can engage in conversations, interview, etc. with people who has a different ethnic background from them. One of the ways that I chose to expand my culturally competencies is by interviewing someone that culturally different from myself. I asked questions about their culture, family, background and racial and spiritual views. I interviewed a forty -three-year-old female Thai-Italian American. Her name shall remain unanimous. Her father is Italian and her mother is Thai. She was born in America which is why she considers herself as a Thai-Italian American. She is married and has two sons, in which one is her stepson. Her stepson is twenty-four years old and her biological son is three years old. She defines culture as a geographical feature, meaning that one culture is stem from their environment, and she defines family as the people who are loyal, loving and caring to her. In her eyes

Culture plays an important role in individuals’ mannerisms, ways of communication, and beliefs. Culture takes root long before we even know the meaning of the word. When healthcare providers strive to gain knowledge and understanding about the idealisms of different cultures, they establish a foundation of cultural competence to develop their professionalism.

Many times we hear concepts like ’Oriental culture’, ‘Italian culture’ or ‘Gothic Culture’. So we can understand and verify that it is an important concept related to the idea of the society where we live in. Culture, in Sociology, is a concept developed during XVIII and XIX centuries that has had various definitions.

My personal cultural is affected by the 7 aspects of myself. These 7 aspects has made me who I am and how I view the world based on my cultural responsibilities.

I define my culture by my race, family size, faith, and region. I am a first generation Middle Eastern American that practices Islam. I was raised by a single mother that raised my brother and I on her own. In addition to that I grew up in Virginia which had an impact on how I was raised. My mother was very strict in instilling values in me because the Western lifestyle is different from how it is overseas especially relating to sex and sexuality. My culture has taught me various lessons about sex and sexuality regarding virginity, female genital mutilation, pre-marital sex and heterosexuality.

I took this class in order to gain knowledge of how to navigate a world with countless cultures. In the near future I will be studying abroad in Costa Rica and will apply these newly learned concepts to my travels. I also hope to travel throughout my life, so I am very much in need of tules to enter new cultures. I think the most important concept to base this class around is the platinum rule. With my personality, before taking this class, I would have assumed I should treat everyone the way I would want to be treated. In a new country I would great everyone with a smile, be outgoing and bubbly and just an overall kind person in order to connect with those around me. After taking this class I realized that that might not be the best way to approuch a new culture. It is important to remember the platinum rule: Treat everyone the way they want to be treated. Now that I know this rule, I will make sure that when I enter a new culture I will figure out before hand the “general” personality and traits of the culture I am going to. This leads me to another important concept, generalization. Before taking this class, hearing the word “generalization” I would assume someone was stereotyping and therefore disrespecting a person and their culture. After taking this class I realized that generalization and stereotyping are two very different concepts. There are so many cultures and they all have so many components to them, in order for us to prepare to go into a new culture, it

Friends, family, and location have all shaped my culture. I am a Southern, white, Christian female from Simpsonville, South Carolina. My parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents are all from the South. Therefore, race and diversity have always been prevalent in my household. I have heard the good, bad, and ugly. Regardless, I have drawn the conclusion that no matter race or culture everyone is different and should be accepted for their differences.

When I was 5 years old I came to America from Ethiopia and experiencing the shift in culture was amazing. Coming to America was an exciting thing for me and my family. I remember hearing all of the great things America had to offer, my friends would describe it as a place of dreams filled with fun that had no limits. I was ready to see what type of culture the U.S. had to offer. As the time came for us to leave, it was hard to say goodbye to family and friends but the excitement balanced it out. When I landed in Atlanta Georgia I will never forget the feeling I had when I saw the unknown technology and the huge buildings. Furthermore, I began to notice that no one dressed the same, or talked the same. As we settled in I noticed that the norms, social inequalities, and race & ethnic stratification played a huge role in society.

Living in the United States there so many different cultures. By living here I’m always curious about another one’s culture. Being that I’m a public health student I have to be expose and learn about other people cultures. It helps to keep an open mind about the community. I did an interview with a professor here at NCCU. His name is Marco Polo Hernandez Cuevas. He’s my Spanish professor. He has really opened my eyes about the Caribbean island and Latin American culture. We talked about how he was raised, how his culture come together as a family, and the negative side of his culture.

Since industrialization, people has been likely to pursue only economic prosperity and social success which made them believe to feel poor mentally.

Culture is a term that is used heavily in conversation, yet little do people know what culture really is. It may be difficult to talk about culture and to define it, but it is even harder for people to understand how culture has shaped their lives. It is also hard for them to be able to breakdown and analyze their own culture. For some reason, it is challenging for us as people to be able to see the way that society and relationships have affected the way that they view people and situations. Being able to view our culture from an outside perspective is a difficult task and even more confusing when you try to identify markers that shaped who you are as a person.