Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

Today I asked three different people to define culture and diversity to me. I then asked a group of people to define the same terms. This is what they said:
My Cousin

Culture – A way of life, varies based on origin

            Diversity – Wide variety of differences of people or items

My Aunt

            Culture – traditions, values, folk lore, group of people

            Diversity – very long pause… differences of the same thing (gave an example of someone decorating the same type of cake in different ways)

My husband

            Culture – the people and environment in our lives that. How they influence us

Diversity – People from diverse backgrounds

Group of People

Culture – The people in different countries, traditions. Also, could include the arts and sciences (people who have culture). Another definition was well-rounded or having more class or experiences with appropriateness to different environmental factors, such as food, music, clothing

Diversity – Differences (not good or bad). Also, the things that make us different.

I think that one example of culture that I can relate to what we have been studying is when they talked about acting appropriately with new experiences like food, music, and clothing. We have learned that culture includes the music that a group listens to, the food that they eat, and the clothes that they wear, along with parenting styles, and so on.

I also think that the last definition of diversity goes along with what we are learning. My uncles made a point that diversity is the differences that all of us have that are neither bad nor good. When we have talked about diversity it is based off of gender, ethnicity, social-economic status, and sexual orientation. It doesn’t matter what the differences are because we should accept everyone for who they are.

Along with the answers that go along with our studies are certain insights that I think they forgot. Growing up in a big family, parenting styles vary greatly and this is culture as well.

While talking to the people that I interviewed, I learned that the words culture and diversity are not used enough. I think that this topic is one that needs to be known to all, so that we are more accepting of others and their differences. Even while asking my aunt (included in the group response), who is known to give very sophisticated answers, had problems coming up with a definition for both words. While talking to my family, I realized that these are words that we don’t really use and they all started questioning what my class was about. Before I never would have thought of my family as diverse, but looking at what we have learned so far, I realize that diversity is everywhere.