Wolfgang Welsch Transculturality: The Puzzling Form Of Cultures Today

Though it does not come up in everyday thought, cultural identity is an idea that all humans possess. Abridged, cultural identity can be simply explained as the sharing of a similar culture by people of various ethnicities. However, cultural identity is more complex than that, defined by an individual’s values, beliefs, and ideas of moral behavior influenced by their culture. Furthermore, cultural identity is ever changing from individual to individual. This means that although two individuals may be of the same ethnicity, differences in circumstances may cause variations between the individuals’ personal beliefs. As a result of interracial interactions, multiculturalism has grown during the twenty-first century.

A culture is the body of ideas, ways of looking at the world, values, and standards for conduct and behavior that a given people or nation hold in common. It includes the range of meanings that people assign to their own perceptions and behavior, as well as to the natural world around them. We can define the elements of that culture, and understand how they fit together as a culture, by examining that people's customs, language, religion, material artifacts, and social and political institutions.

Another relationship Pratt says exists between cultures is the concept of transculturation. Transculturation, she states, is a process in which “members of subordinated or marginal groups select and invent from materials transmitted by a dominant or metropolitan culture” and transform it to fir their own principles by giving it a cultural makeover (Pratt, 505). But why is it necessary for transculturation to be performed by secondary, inferior cultures? It can be argued that different types of people can learn and adapt things from each other even if the distribution of power between them is unequal. Larger

Countries are no exception, their course of history and culture created a unique identity for them selves. Their cultures involves; language, values, belief, religions, and norms that identify who we are. This has cause division and struggles between groups or people, which influence our daily lives. Nevertheless, at the same time makes every person or country a unique culture

Culture can be defined as the behaviours and belief characteristics of a particular social, ethnic,

After going to a different culture learning their way of living, belief, customs, language, laws, art, social life, values, family bonding’s, feelings, religion, and importantly behavior. All this elements of life make culture or a society with one belief. “The fact that has been one of the most profound contributions to English language” (Savan 435). She tries to explain that the black culture is dominant on white culture giving example of language. When international student come here the face a change in language as they going to a culture which will be dominant on them and they speak different

Culture itself is a complex topic with multiple definitions ranging from the organic to the mechanical, the natural to the manufactured. In a world composed of different groups, we see many variations of culture. Cultural universals are traits, patterns, and elements that transcend specific groups and can be applied to all known cultures (Macionis 2014). This idea implies that mankind and its multiple cultures are interconnected by patterns of fulfilling human needs that occur on a global scale. Specific examples of cultural universals extend from medicine to the family unit. Though anthropologists and sociologists have found support for the existence of cultural universals, the idea of these universal aspects of culture still draw criticism from critical and postmodern scholars and by individuals who ascertain cultural universals are in a natural state of opposition with cultural relativism.

In today 's society, culture is impacting our everyday life, experience and social relations; we are all categorized by our cultural “groups”, but this has changed rapidly throughout the years from one generation to the next. Cultural studies were developed in the late 1950’s, through the 1970’s by the British academic scholars. The British scholars were able engaged cultural analysis and the developed then transformed of the different fields, for example, politically, theoretically and empirically that are now represented around the world.

Madeline Leininger’s first transcultural mode of action is the preservation or maintenance of customs and traditions.

The identity of an individual is evident in a person from the things that they do about their culture. Some individuals with the knowledge that they have acquired from their culture are willing to carry out activities depicting their knowledge. A person’s identity can be known from the way they express themselves in relation to their culture, his notion brings about the aspect of one’s identity in relation to their culture. This aspect of culture shaping an individual’s identity experiences challenges in some given instances. Migration to another country with a different culture can be a big challenge to a person who is accustomed to a certain culture. This is because one may be unable to fit in the new environment because of the new culture. Factors that can cause lack of incorporation include

The definition of culture offered in one textbook is “That complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man person as a member of society.”

Another possibility is the integration of different cultures, which is a diversified phenomenon by participating fully into the dominant society that may lead to some shared values and features, while keeping their own distinctive cultures (Berry,

Culture can be defined in many ways due to the fact that everyone can have their own distinct and traditional beliefs and values. “ Culture is fluid, it is not a static entity which one takes out of the box on occasion. It is with us daily” (Cultural Handout). Someone’s culture is set as the characteristics of the group practices in language, religion, types of food, social traits and habits, and the distinct arts and music. There are a variety of different cultures for example, Western Culture, Eastern Culture, Latin Culture, Middle Eastern Culture, and African Culture. All of these different cultures have their own ideas, values, and individualism, laws that are implied, civil rights, and even technology. In our, “ Culture Handout” culture is defined as the tool of the mind, “ it is an individual’s way seeing and interacting within the world. It encompasses one’s values systems, beliefs, and perceptions of the world around them. Race, socio-economic class gender, sexual orientation, ability, geographic location, age, religion language, etc. all impact the formation of culture, but these various context are not culture” (Cultural Handout).

The study of “culture” is one of the most important and relevant topics for today and even a long time ago. People have different views on culture, some mean literature, architecture, visual art, other claim word ‘ culture’ as a way of living, language or religion. Every epoch culture acquires new forms and impact on society. For instance, in the century of computer technology and opportunities to grasp new realities society is more likely to interact with science, figures and new outer limits. Therefore values and awareness of many things have changed or treated in a different form. In this critical review I want to describe the definition of “Culture”, using famous theories by Arnold,M., Raymond William and attach them with the book “Catcher in The Rye” by J.D Sellinger and explain my view of ‘’Culture’’.

The United States prevails as an ever-evolving, unique amalgamation of people, cultures, and influences. Due to the growth of technology use in the world, globalization, the process of interaction and integration among people, is spreading rapidly ("What Is Globalization?”). Historically, people have often identified in a collective way in order to associate with a group, culture, or individual (Miladinovic). However, nowadays, this form of identification cannot be used as people are changing the way with they identify with others, due to the considerable influence of globalization. Though typically used as an economic term, globalization is characterized through a multitude of other factors as well. The onset of globalization has especially influenced culture and identity, most pivotally through industrialization. When smaller cultures are forced to urbanize as a result of globalization, people question modern culture and may even culturally re-evaluate their own culture. As a result, people often abandon their traditional cultures in favor of a conforming to homogeneous mainstream ‘American culture’. In turn with this, psychologically, people impacted by globalization become uncertain of their identity, not knowing which culture to claim: that of their ancestors or that of mainstream American culture. Consequently, people have started to distinguish themselves in a whole new way: through either self-made cultures or through the adoption of a blend of traditional and new