Culture. What is that?

Culture. What does that mean? Culture as defined by the Webster Dictionary as the beliefs, customs, arts, etc., of a particular society, group, place, or time. Each different country, each different group of people, each different person is unique in their own way. From eating different food, speaking different languages, to celebrating different holidays, and wearing different clothes, people are unique. Out of over seven billion people, 196 countries, seven continents, each place has its own culture and its own tradition.


But there is more to it. Culture can be influenced by experiences a person has gone through. For example, say a person from a different country is living in America. They are an immigrant, who not only has a cultural background and follow the traditions of their home country, but they also grow up in this country and grow accustomed to the way things are done here. I definitely know this feeling, maybe it is a reason why I love learning about new cultures.

A person who studies cultures is known as an anthropologist. For many years in the past, anthropologists have just observed the culture they are studying as a bystander. Over time anthropologists have discovered the best method to get to understand a society or culture is to actually immerse themselves in it. Anthropologists will live in the societies they are studying and participate in all the traditions. Through the year, I hope to tell you about various cultures, but I am no anthropologist. Sadly, I can't leave school to go travel to various countries and study the cultures then blog about them, but I promise I will try my best to provide information about the cultures as if I was living there. Just remember, cultural tolerance is required.

When meeting a new person, people tend to judge them or associate them with other things or people they know. Most of the time this tends to come from the way they look and the way they talk. However, there is always more to a person. There are special qualities each person possesses and have different experiences that have created them into the person they have become. Culture is a part of this. Sometimes, people immediately jump to conclusions about labeling people when they first meet them. This may not happen all the time, but I know it can happen. If a person sees someone who is of Middle Eastern descent or are Muslim they might identify them as a terrorist. If someone sees a person of Asian descent, they may conclude this person is extremely smart. This occurs often, maybe too often. An answer to this problem is to inform people about culture. Creating a community that is culturally aware will also create a diverse and culturally tolerant community. Luckily, our community tends to be culturally tolerant, but in other places racism and intolerance to culture does occur.

So as we now know more about culture in general, we can start exploring the various ones around the world.