CHAPTER 3: UNDERSTANDING CULTURE

Questions for discussion

1. What purpose does it serve to identify cultures and cultural groups? In what ways is it important for us to define culture?

2. Food is an important part of culture. Reflect upon the food preferences you have developed, when and how you developed them. Are they related to your cultural tradition?

3. What does it mean to you that you are a member of a particular cultural group? Have you ever been a member of a particular sub-culture? What were its characteristics?

4. Think about some cultural rules you have learned as you grew up. Which rules were learned at a conscious level and which rules were learned at an unconscious level? Have your interpretations of those rules changed over time? Why?

5. Is cultural identity a product or a process or both? Could you give an example to illustrate your view?

6. What do cultural mythologies signify? Could you give an example of a celebration activity that reflects the mythologized past of your culture? What does it signify to your cultural group?

7. What is the difference between the emic and etic approaches to studying culture? Is one more ‘right’ than the other? Which do you think would be most appropriate for studying your own culture?

8. How do you think changing communication technologies are affecting different cultures?

Activities

1. In pairs, spend a few minutes describing your culture to your partner. Come back together as a class. Each pair must then describe their partner’s culture in one word. Write these on the board. No word can be used more than once.

2. In small groups, make a list of things which you think are important elements of Australian culture (Note: Teachers in different countries might replace ‘Australian culture’ with other cultures). Discuss how and why they become important part of Australian culture.

3. Watch a film of your grandmother’s time. Then watch another contemporary film but of similar themes (e.g. romantic love, family, gender roles, etc.). Compare the two movies to see if there are any changes in values, attitudes, and beliefs of contemporary society. Would you agree that any film is a product of a specific culture? Why and why not?

4. Choose a place where people go to relax, to celebrate, to listen, to watch, to play, to discuss, or to argue. It need not be a place where you normally encounter strangers, but it should be a place where such cultural encounters might occur. Possible cultural public places include coffee shops, public gardens, public squares, national park, bike trails, churches, community centres, sidewalk benches, restaurants, libraries, bars, Internet chat rooms, etc. These are just a few suggestions, but other places are possible, as well – use your imagination.Once you’ve identified the cultural public space you wish to observe, spend some time there. You should spend enough time there to feel you have a grasp of how and why people use it, and how (and with whom) people interact when they’re there. Draw a list of the hidden rules people observe when they are in the public place and explain why.

5. Cultural collage exercise. The cultural collage tells the class visually who you are. You should use this collage to paste together images that depict you as an individual but also as a member of a community, group, family, or country. You may include images of your country, city, travels, foods, hobbies, interests, values, religion, etc. This collage will let your class know who you are and how/where you situate yourself in the world. So, be creative and take some time to put together this poster. You may use a piece of poster board and make sure it’s large enough to be seen by everybody in the class. The purpose of this exercise is for you to reflect on your own culture and identity. This will greatly help you understand other cultures as well as the interaction between cultures and communication.