Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

For this assignment, we were asked to talk to at least three people and ask their definition of culture and diversity. The three people I chose to talk to were my mother, my male friend, and my teaching assistant.

For the most part, I got the same response on the definition of culture. From what I gathered, they all believe culture to be traditions, views, and beliefs of a group, typically based on their ethnicity or cultural background. My teaching assistant is Indian and to her culture involves things such has how she dresses, what she eats, and even how she interacts with others.

When I asked the for their definition of diversity, the response that I received was, "It's what makes us unique and different." Its a mixture of our language, gender, economic stand point, political views. To those I asked, it could be a number of things.

The answer I received seem to reflect some of what I have learned thus far about culture and diversity. When looking at someone's culture we look at their beliefs and traditions. What we miss is that someone's culture is not always a direct reflection of their ethnicity. Culture is more than just the color of your skin or what others perceive to be the norm of that group. One's family culture can be different from the dominant culture. Diversity can consist of so many things and can be viewed as things that make us different from other cultures. Diversity can also be seen as not having any connection to a particular culture. It would refer to sexual orientation and political views.

In reflecting on the thinking's of others, it has shown me that their is still a lot for me to learn when I comes to culture and diversity but I feel that I am on the right path.