[Red Ajah] Culture Exchange Month: Influence of Culture

[WildTaltos]

With talk of a "global culture" today and the continued discrimination and persecution of one ethnicity or one cultural group upon another, questions regarding and examination of culture, one's own and others, is of great significance.

 

 

Today (August 9th), is the UN-declared International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, a day meant to raise awareness of indigenous peoples worldwide, who face genocide and increasing threat of extinction now more than ever before, and promote their right to exist both as people and as distinctive cultures and their importancce to the growing ecological crisis of the planet.

 

The day and what it stands for is a testament to the importance of everyon, not just experts, understading what culture is, how it influences them and the world around them, and how a different culture influences those people who are part of it.

 

Such an understanding can lead to being a maturer person, capable of effecting how culture influences you rather than being completely mastered by it, and capable of holding more open and productive dialogues between cultures to promote cooperation rather than continuing a pattern of persecution, aggression, and ultimately self-destruction. 

 

To begin with, how would you personaly define culture?

 

How would you define your own culture?

 

Base on these definitions, what about you would you say your culture has shaped?

 

[ReleaseTheEvil]

To begin with, how would you personally define culture?

 

I define culture as a collection of traditions, values, and teachings passed on within families and between people who associate themselves with that "culture". It doesn't have to be, but I do think culture is often tied to people from the same geographical location or national or religious identity. 

 

How would you define your own culture?

 

I would define my culture as mixed, and I am very blessed for it! I grew up most influenced by Italian culture from my mom's side of the family. So this included things, in my particular rendition of this culture, such as Catholicism, a love of food, family, speaking really loudly, playing certain card games or bocce, the Italian language, and more. Then I had influence of Iranian culture from my father, and those times growing up when I visited Iran. So again, a love of food and family, knowledge of Muslim teachings and values, Iranian traditional celebrations, learning Farsi, and more. And finally growing up in Canada had its influence on (again) food (can you tell I love food?), language, beliefs about the world around me, and even political views. So, quite mixed. Wouldn't change that for a thing as it really has shaped me to be the person that I am. 

 

Base on these definitions, what about you would you say your culture has shaped?

 

Kind of answered this but almost everything! The languages I speak, the foods I can cook and love the most, my religious beliefs, my values, the things I celebrate, the way I feel about my family and starting my own family... I don't think your culture necessarily shapes everything but certainly has a huge influence on it all the same. Some things (like those named) are more influenced by my culture than other things (say, my career and study choices) but I think its impact has been positive and that all our different cultures and the ability to share them makes us all the more interesting as human beings  

[Lessa Nikia]

To begin with, how would you personaly define culture?

I define culture as someone's way of life, in a sense. It is a mixture of religion, upraising, environment, language and social influences. It is, at times, what defines a group of people together.

How would you define your own culture?

My culture is a decorative mosaic, like Canada. From my mother's side, I was raised to have a deep respect for the military and the sacrifices they make for their country. From my father's side, I grew up with family close by and how blessed we were to live in Canada (my grandmother moved here from the Netherlands when she was 5). As a Canadian, I believe I am very accepting of those around me no matter their race, religion, upbringing or anything that can be discriminated. I actually have no tolerance for discrimiation. Oh, and my love for maple syrup and bacon. I was raised Christian so I celebrate Christmas and Easter but for different reasons. My education has also opened my mind to the different possibilities around. This all has affected my political views, which are completely different from my families.

Base on these definitions, what about you would you say your culture has shaped?

Everything. My respect and understanding of those around me, love of the differences in the community I live in, my love for my family (though not always expressed), my views on the world and my education I'm getting to help those around me. My nationality also defines my culture, as with most people. It is what makes us so diverse and how the exchange of ideas and views can later influence other cultures.

[Mystica]

To begin with, how would you personaly define culture?

 

Not going by any dictionary but solely on what it means to me, personally I see culture as a collection of behavior, rituals, traditions, pass-downs by a specific group of people who are separated from others by a specific conditions. For instance by geography, weather conditions, natural scenery (costal, forrest, desert, meadowy, farmland, etc) but also by lifestyle, music, personal preference in book style or artwork. I find that most people are a combination of several different cultures, which makes us all quite uniquely complex.

 

How would you define your own culture?

 

Open-minded, liberal, tolerant but no-nonsense, obstinate and rebellious if need be. We're survivors but won't hesitate to kick our rulers out if they get on our last nerve. Talking about my city now, not the country. For the city of Ghent has a traditional culture that goes back all the way to the middle ages. And yes, we kicked our Emperor Charles V (who was born here btw) up the shins and told him to find his money elsewhere for his neverending expansion wars. He eventually knocked us to our knees, but it took his entire army to bring a bunch of peasants to heel. The noose he intended to symbolise our shame we have adopted as a symbol of our pride. We're funny that way. *smirks*
Oh yeah, we also stole a weaving machine from the Brittish when the potato-crops failed and we risked starvation. Jacob of Artevelde got us this machine and that was the beginning of a very lucrative textile industry.

Thanks Britain!

 

Base on these definitions, what about you would you say your culture has shaped?

 

Oh I am very proud to be from Ghent. I am definately typical in that I am obstinate towards authority, won't follow any leader that doesn't prove him or herself worthy, will question authority at every turn and not hesitate to indicate where they're going wrong and I will defend the weaker and the innocent with my dying breath. On the other hand I will participate in misschief, I will smirk at others getting in to mischief and I will brook no nonsense or stuck-up-stiff-nosedness. I am from Ghent, the city that was taken over by our students in protest against the planned taxes on beer by the government. The city that welcomes all and everyone in spirit of co-existance and tolerance. We are sometimes perceived as hard or harsh by those that don't know us but that doesn't last long once they get to know us.

But in all fairness Ghent is become a hub of multicultural mixtures both in people and in other ways (food, housing, entertainment, etc).

[Ryrin]

1.Culture is the characteristics of a particular group of people, defined by everything from language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts.

 

2. I am a mix, although I identify very closely with my mother’s side-Jewish. My father had Cherokee and Welsh in his make up. Cultural exposure came from my mother. I recently learned through a DNA test that I have a little Irish, Scandinavian, Italian and Greek as well as Finnish/Northwest Russia in my ancestry.

 

3. My very being has been shaped by my culture. My religion, worldview, marriage, occupation, parenting, you name it. It is all seen and practiced through the lens of my own culture.

[Wren of the Brown]

1.) Cheese-making and Petri dishes.

 

2.) Hmm.  That's a hard one to answer.  The oldest tradition we can connect to our family was in Depression-era migrant farming, so a lot of our family stories are about life on farms.  When my grandparents moved to a Detroit suburb in the 50's, they were definitely part of the post-war boom and my parents grew up in the environment that comes after that.  We ended up moving out here when I was very young, so I grew up in the American Southwest and I'm definitely a product of the region.  Life is so much slower out here than it is back east and outside the city, it's nothing but open prairie.  I guess I would like to say people see opportunity in wide open spaces but I know that's not true.  A lot of people just look at it and feel an overwhelming depression; where's modern life in all this cactus and shrub?  Anyway, I was raised to value tradition and open inquiry, to be ambitious but never rash and to find enduring fulfillment.  We were raised Protestant Christian (I'm the black sheep in that regard) and that brings its own unique set of values and traditions; namely, austerity, gloom, and a love of strong wine.  My grandfather is from a very small Scottish family which only has something like 7,000 people with that surname in the states, so I picked up on the Scottish heritage thing as a teen (it was the 90's and Celtic music was A Thing, ya'll) but my grandmother came from a family of Norwegian immigrants, so I'm learning to appreciate the aspects of what remains of Scandinavian immigrant culture.  But, in light of that, adapting the national heritage of your family when you really have no direct connection to a distant relative has always been a little weird.  I mean, I do the Highland festivals and I joke about lutefisk with the uninitiated but there's a part of my brain that says "Nope.  This isn't yours."  Which leads me to Number 3.

 

3.)  I have more in common with all-night diners and tumbleweeds and graphic novels than I do with a long-dead immigrant ancestor.  I don't mean for that sound disrespectful but I don't feel a real connection there.  I'm an American kid who came from two people who grew up in 1970's Detroit and any tradition we do is something that's part of established Anglo-American culture: three days of Christmas, a few holidays here and there and we blow shit up once a year in July.  I guess I've never really felt a great and pressing loneliness or isolation in that regard like so many of my peers do (if you've ever had to sit through a "searching for my cultural identity" conversation, you know what I mean.)  I value a free press, I value open inquiry, I value the rule of just law and I value individual expression.  So I guess I'm kind of a product of the Enlightenment without the garish wigs.  I don't know.  I really don't and I try not to spend too much time fretting over it.  Give me my books and give me my open road and I'm fine.

[Elgee]

If I may digress slightly from the formula of the question? Something Hiarth said has touched on something I've been pondering the last few weeks:

 

3.)  I have more in common with all-night diners and tumbleweeds and graphic novels than I do with a long-dead immigrant ancestor.  I don't mean for that sound disrespectful but I don't feel a real connection there.  I'm an American kid who came from two people who grew up in 1970's Detroit and any tradition we do is something that's part of established Anglo-American culture

 

 

This struck me during the world cup soccer tournament in Brazil, lately. I was pondering who to cheer, of the European countries, since that's where my ancestors came from, but as I sat their for two hours watching a match one night, waiting for someone to score, I had an epiphany. As a person of Dutch / German / French / Russian / Italian / English / Malay Indian descent, I have virtually nothing in common with any of those countries/people/cultures. In fact, I feel more "cultural kinship" towards places like Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, USA & Canada. I struggle to connect and understand people from Europe, for instance, whereas Australians completely understand our South African braai (BBQ / Baarbie) culture.

 

I find it fascinating that the traditions of the "new worlds" (ie places that have been colonised by Europeans), though there are uniquenesses about each geographic area, still seem to have more in common than do those of the "old worlds" (Europe). That is the conclusion I came to, anyway.

[WildTaltos]

seem most here define culture as basicaly person or group of peples lifestyle insofar as the behaviour, language, etiquette, they have and pass on. i would define it simillarly though i would say just as people hugely shaped by their cultures, cultures are hugelly shaped on their environment, which includes geographic boundariies, whethre natural or political, the resources within those buondaries, like food and materials for art or building, and resources thatt the people might be able to access outside of the boundary. in traditionall cultures aftre all, myths and ritualls and taboos largelly are determined by the landscape and/or an ancestrall landscape the culture may have migrated from and both native and non-native things within the landscape, whethre thats the sacredness of the cow (an importannt food source in the traditionall culture of my people), maize (as in many native american culture), or a speciall formation of landscape, such as a cave, mountain, or spring. a culture that is no longer within the environment it evolved in eithre adapts to local conditions, largelly changing it, or, when refusing to adapt, begins to cause numerous deleterious psychological, sociall, and environmentall effects - at least thats how i see it, patterning the cultural body off of an organism when removed from its environment of evolutionary adaptedness. 

 

i would define my own culture as...i guess very rural irish and guess can even say cultish, very land-that-time-forgotish lol. lot of us are farmers/gardeners and fishermen, and just generaly live close to land and near lots of family. we like being left alone so i wasnt raised to be especialy friendly to strangers, especialy not those who dont know gaeilge, though i suppose im odd becuse i like talking to lots of different people, getting diferent perspectives. family is pretty much evrything, I was taught always to help my family before mysellf unless i think helping myself is going to in the end do lots for my familly, and though i feell thats kind of buried things i would have liked to do with my life, i feell very fortunate to have and know so many cousins and aunts and uncles who mostlly are always ready to help me out in someway, financialy and socially. we love being physical and out in nature so im thankful to that too - i have nevre been able to stand working at anything that doesnnt have me out and about doin lots of manual labour and i have always loved just going out in the woods or on the hills and think thats helped me keep in great shape most of my life, betwen that and usualy limiting myself to onlly eating what i grow or what family or friends grow. might call us extremely religious though i dont think what we have is a religion, its way of life that determine everything we do - so not just a religion, its esentialy the whole culture - and moreover i would say my own version of it is something more spiritual than anything else in that i dont feell certain about most things, im on quest to see if i can find truths myself. so i guess sum up - my culture isnt friendly to those outside it but were very hospitable if get on good side, we like doing things the way we have always done and arent afraid to fight to keep it that way, we are very familly-oriented, and we love being self-sufficient and working hard physicaly.

 

based on my definition of culture, i would say my culture has prety much shaped almsot everything about me. its given me my language and given me most of my perspective to view the worlld, such as respecting all things and not just humans, and its given me my ability to live trully independently economicaly by raising me without much to show that i dont need much of anything to live and be happy with, and what litle i do need i can make or get for myself easily, no money involved. its made me a prety generous person becuse i have had so many people there for me who think nothing of giving me food or money or stayin with them when ive needed it so i do the same alot to others. its made me a (usually) proud person who isnt afraid to crack some skulls when someone else disrespecting me or my family  or anyone i feell doesnt deserve that treatment, and i guess in way also has made me what othres call arrogant and very bad temper since i have no qualms about pasing judgements on other people to do what i think is right at moment. it gave me my love of dancing and singing and not being afraid of showing what im feeling and of always loving games. think the one thing i didnt get from culture is how much i love to think