Reflection About My Culture

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

Being part African-American, my skin and hair have the color and qualities of “blackness.” My African-American descent is not a hindrance in my life, in fact, I love my caramel colored skin and nappy hair,

“Why is your ice cream tub filled with green glob?” asked my then eight year old friend Maya. “What?! That’s crazy.” I said coyly replied, when in reality I couldn't wait until Maya left so I could gobble up that Egusi soup otherwise known as the “green glob”. As a child I always found it hard to embrace and be secure in my culture around my predominantly white friends. So much so that I would always act clueless when asked about my culture to the point that I thought I had an identity crisis. Growing up I always thought my race was abnormal but after living with my grandmother and visiting NIgeria, I grew to love and embrace my culture.

I’ve learned to embrace different cultures but I’ve also learned that culture can be what drives us apart from one another and can sometimes separate us when there’s intolerance or ignorance on one end. I love my culture, the Latin culture, and also learning and participating in different cultures, which is a major lesson I learned studying abroad in London. But what I see in my family is that they don’t like to identify themselves as coming from the same community shared by other minorities whose cultures are too different from our own. This clashing of cultures, or more specifically their absolute pride in their own culture, is what makes it difficult for them to sympathize for other minorities. What I believe now is that cultures should never die, but instead we should intermix our cultures. Of course there will be clashing ideologies, but with this continuous intermixing of cultures I believe there could be incredible compromises and changes in how the next generation of people will view each other. This intermixing could begin at my own home by teaching my family about different cultures and

you couldn't care less about seeing my dead body lay, motionless on the street or covering the front page of your favorite newspaper or magazine, the only thing you care about is trying to get your skin dark enough to be mine, but not too dark because you wouldn't want to go through all the oppression dark-skinned people have been dealing with since the beginning of time.

No matter what language we know or how we dress we all embrace cultures. Culture is a group of individuals that share ideas, behavior, and traditions that are passed from generation to generations. Our human nature is adapted by the culture we follow. With the culture we follow makes us social beings. We crave to be part of something and interact with people. Also, animals and humans share culture in the way we learn to survive. We learn what works best with our environment and adjust to it every day. Basically, we need culture in order to survive and be people with personalities. Without culture we would all be robots with no differences and programs. In Psychology by David G. Myers and C. Nathan Dewall explain the differences, changes, norms, and identity in culture. "Culture works. It transmits the customs and beliefs that enable us to communicate, to exchange money for things, to play, to eat, and to drive with agreed-upon rules and without crashing into one another. "(p.156)

Growing up in a Latino community, I also struggled with relating to those around me. Whether at church or school, my light brown hair and white complexion made me stand out, which led to people always asking, “What race are you?” An honest answer would have been nobody ever told me, but to fit in I claimed my dad’s Hispanic heritage. Following hearing my answer, some responded with puzzled facial reactions, while others like classmates disregarded me as a “whetto.” My community’s reactions made me feel like I could never share the same cultural identity as them.

We live in a world that is more sedentary. Our contents of our world are available for purchase with the swipe of a finger. If you are hungry you no longer need to go shopping or visit a restaurant. If you are lonely you don’t need to attend a party or visit family. If you need a new pair of shoes or a book for college, you don’t need to visit the mall or local bookstore. All of these things are sitting in your little electronic device. The sustenance, social interaction or bauble you desire is just on the other side. There is no need to point fingers or assign blame, it is just our evolving culture and it has some growing pains. The best we can do it look for ways to improve our lot in life and capitalize on what is a weakness and make it a strength.

We all have lenses through which we view the world from, in a general statement,there all diffrent. Some can be brutal but raw and others sensitive and delightful. With this information, I invite you to take a small look into my culture.

When it comes to my beliefs, morals, values and views are shaped upon the way I was raised. My own personal experiences and feelings has had a huge impact on my cultural views. Although some may seem bad I think they are good in my book. So, I would like to take you on a little journey to the inside path to my cultural identity.

Imagine that you could split yourself in two in order to be in two different countries at the same time so that you could experience each culture, taste their food, listen to their language and absorb every bit of information that these two places offer. In my case, this is how my mind and my family gatherings feel like. I was born and raised in Ecuador but I am also an American citizen. My family is half Ecuadorian and half American; each has kept their native countries’ traditions alive within their lives and homes. I grew up listening to different accents, learning two languages and experiencing the best, the worst, and everything in between in both cultures. In the middle of this beautiful and confusing environment I have realized that my dual cultural background has highly influenced my beliefs, decisions, thoughts and actions. Being Ecuadorian-American is an essential part of my identity.

Can events, clothing, and food describe who you are in your culture? Growing up I was always ashamed of my culture, being embarrassed of knowing how to speak Spanish and the songs in Spanish that I would always listen to secretly because I did not want to be different from anyone else. But very recently, over the summer, I have learned to embrace and love my culture. I learned a lot about my culture by going to Mexico and attending parties, and seeing the traditions usually over there come and emigrate here.

I was born and raised in Tajikistan; it is a country in Central Asia with very rich historical background and stick culture norms. Actually Tajik society is very interesting to study and analyze, society had gone through steps of serious changes from Islamic state to part of communist USSR and then to independent democratic country all happen only in 100 years. Consequently, women who were born and raised in Islamic Emirate raised their kids in Soviet Union, their children were raised in Soviet Union but now live in independent country, my generation was born in independent country, and we never were under any religious or political regime but in very traditional society.

In our everyday lives, we are under the influence of consuming media and popular culture; they shape us to become who we are today which we now call it as our identity. Media and popular culture include: music, TV shows, the internet, and even the most recent fashion trend. Therefore, these are some examples from the media and popular culture that had increasingly affected my personal and social life in America since most people utilize them daily.

In this module, I have learned so much more. First chapter three had me thinking about several things. One of the main things was culture, I started asking myself what culture really is. To me culture is something that you expose yourself to so you can expand your mind and broaden your horizons. For me the ways I try to learn about new cultures are going to museums, watching movies old and new, reading all different kinds of books, and visiting new places. Another thing referring to culture, Ethnocentrism brings to mind things my dad used to say. He used to always bring up how Greeks were better than everyone much like the father in the movie “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.” I think that some people in this instance who act ethnocentric only do it because they are proud of their country and proud to be a certain nationality. I believe that is why my dad did it. As for components of culture it’s amazing to think how much can be associated with one culture. Like how the Statue of Liberty is associated with The United State or how Spaghetti is associated with Italy. Something else of great importance I learned about were “folkways.” Which remind me of my aunt she is married to an Arab man and visiting their house and witnessing her husband and family’s customs was quite an experience. Their clothes, the kind of food they eat, the way they pray, and just how they do things in general. It showed me what you can and cannot do and what is sacred to them in their culture. It was