Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

How do we define culture and diversity?

I chose to interview four people for this assignment.  The first was one of my students; an African American male in his early 20’s.  The second was a good friend of mine from college; a white female attending graduate school, pursuing a degree in Women’s Studies.  The third is one of my professional colleagues; a white female who teaches a very diverse population of students.  And the final person I interviewed was my sister.

Their definition of culture

1- “A way of life; the frame of mind you were raised in and the traditions you follow.” 

2- “It’s like a laundry list; language and food, history and our social understanding of the world.  It’s definitely influenced by history and politics.”

3- “I guess it’s the connotations of what a specific group of people have; the group could be a family, or people from the same area, or people who consider themselves a group.  Culture is what they do, how they act, etc. “

4- “Culture is an awareness of other ways of life.  If you “have” culture.  Culture, itself, as a noun, is a passion for your heritage.” 

Their definition of diversity

1- “Multiple cultures; like a melting pot; NYC.”

2- “Diversity…not white.  Basically like all different cultures and people together.  All the different parts that make up a whole.  Diversity is important because it helps us understand that it’s not a monolyphic culture.  There’s not just one way of seeing thing.  When you don’t have diversity, you can’t see outside of your own point of view.  Diversity helps us grow into a full person.” 

3- “Diversity is the differences in a group of people; color, race, sex, sexual orientation, etc.”

4- “I wouldn’t say that diversity has anything to do with race or gender, etc.  It’s just different ways of thinking.” 

There are many aspects of culture and diversity that I have studied over the past few weeks of this course.  It was refreshing to see that in each answer, culture was recognized as being a way of life; as something more than ethnicity and/or religion. For example, my college friend stated that culture is like a “laundry list.”  There is no one clear cut definition; it’s a compilation of things.  As one of my students stated, it includes “the frame of mind” in which we were raised.  We can have a very distinct culture without ever having been exposed to any time of religion or ethnic background.  Our culture can develop simply by the way in which our households were run, or the neighborhood we grew up in.  For example, I am Italian, but much of my culture has nothing to do with my Italian heritage.  Instead, my culture is based on how my family has chosen to raise me and spend our time together, the type of town in which I grew up, and the life my parents wanted me to have. 

Diversity, I feel, is a harder concept to understand.  My student, based on our entire conversation, seems to view diversity as more of an ethnic thing.  For example, it seems as though he believes that places such as New York City are what will help us best represent diversity.  In many ways, he is right.  Diversity is very visible in a place such as New York City.  However, I feel that diversity is also something that cannot be seen by the eye alone.  It is something that is present in a town of all white, Christian people.  There is gender diversity, religious diversity, economic and educational diversity; the list goes on. 

I feel that when combining all of the answers of those I chose to interview, no aspects of diversity and culture that we studied over the last few weeks have been omitted.  There was mention of family culture and group culture, which I feel includes dominant culture.  In addition, the definitions of diversity also were inclusive of all that we have discussed and read about; including both diversity that is easily seen and aspects of diversity that are invisible to the naked eye. 

                It has been interesting to hear of other people’s interpretations of culture and diversity.  I tried to choose a diverse population of people in my life in order to gain a broader perspective.  I believe that it emulates our diversity by the variety of responses that each person gave.  Each response is also reflective on whom that person is, their education, profession, and how they were raised.  Their definitions have not influenced my own.  I feel that the ways in which we interpret diversity and culture simply add to our unique culture and diversity.  I am interested to see what others have come to find through asking these questions to the people in their lives.