How to cope with cultural dilemmas in an increasingly globalized world?
What is culture? Religion, values, traditions, rules/laws, habits, language, diversity, identity, moral, history...
There are many points of view of what is culture. In the text “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” we could see what we think about other cultures or other costums or traditions. We thought that they are sick because their culture is very different than our. It’s a text about how we stereotype people and what words do we use for it. I think that at first, maybe we can be afraid for the unknown, that’s because we stereotype people. But when we know better the other culture, we can see that most of the main characteristics are similar to our own. So we need to know the other culture an other people before prejudice and stereotype.
Can we use the term culture to do nothing against a problem because that person should behave like this because of his culture? I think that the answer for this is absolutely not. The culture is not an excuse to do something that maybe you know is wrong but in another culture is not so bad. I think that you have to follow your own ideas and values while you don’t disturb to the other. Also if you are living in anohter culture you have to adapt yourself to this culture.
I think that is impossible to understand all cultures. Culture isn’t what we know, it’s people what we know an they show us their culture, how they understand their own culture, but at first you know the person. This is the most important thing, I think. The culture is created among people, when we interact, it’s not innate in people like the language. The culture is fluid, is dynamic. There will always be negotiations. So maybe we shouldn’t differenciate so much between each culture, because in the main characteristics they are identical.
Also, there are different points of view about a term within the same culture, like in the education. We saw in class a lot of cases about what we should do in different situations. The most important thing is that you have to know what is culture and what is not. This is the dilemma. I think that we have to keep our values and beliefs so we could accept the behavior of other cultures or not, but always from our values not from the culture which we come. We have to differenciate what we do by our own believing and what we do to keep our culture. To learn to differenciate is the most difficult but the most important thing. This is our dilemma.
