Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

                                                          By Lisa Martin

I asked several friends and relatives for their definition of culture and diversity and received a variety of responses. I chose a few responses from people of different age groups and cultures, and in some ways their answers reflected what I am being taught, and some made me think further about culture. Almost everyone saw diversity as the differences among people and groups, and part of what makes this country great. Here are a few samples of the responses I received.

C.S. says “customs and beliefs held by a group”

H.A, says “Culture is the capabilities and habits acquired by people as a member of society.”

J.D. “Knowing your heritage and all that this includes, and not allowing others to destroy it”

A. G. “Culture is defined as the understanding of who a person is via music, ethnicity, social beliefs, values. For example, I am of Southern and West Indian descent, so my combined cultures center on food, family, education, faith, and hard work.”

C. F. “Culture to me is when a group of people share in a common interest or background and participate in very similar behaviors because of that common interest.”

My Italian-American friend J.D. gave a rather long answer and I did not include his entire response above, but his main concern was the importance of knowing your culture and history. He also warned how easy it is for your culture to be portrayed falsely and turned into something it is not. He sighted television shows like The Sopranos and The Jersey shore as denigrating the Italian culture. Knowing the culture and age of the people that provided the answers, made it easier for me to understand exactly what the person wanted to convey. C.F. was the youngest respondent and his response made me think about the cultures we often fail to recognize as such, like the culture of disability or the hip hop culture. These are cultures that do not require us to be of a certain ethnic group or faith. When I tied this answer in with the offering from the eldest respondent it all made sense. Culture is much more than music and art or food, it is about habits and shared attitudes. It is a topic worthy of much thought ad consideration, as we attempt to know each other better and create a more peaceful existence.

On the whole, the answers definitely reflect the idea of surface and deep culture, and the focus seemed to be more so on deep culture as most of the responses referred to values and beliefs. Very few of the respondents looked at their culture in relation to the dominant culture, and I began to wonder how often we really think of our personal culture in terms of the dominant culture. The more I thought about the many definitions of culture I received, the more I thought about the possibilities of what a culture could be, and the immeasurability of diversity.