Chapter 8 & 9

Chapter 8: Cultural Communities 

Communities consist of specific groups of the culture in which members trough different kinds of interpersonal relationships carry out practices in specific social and physical settings. Such groups of people range from broad amorphous communities like nation, gender, race, religion, socioeconomic class, region or generation to more narrowly defined groupings: workplace, a neighborhood, an alumni association, a local political party, one’s family. All cultural practices are grounded in social settings of some kinds that reflect communities that participate in those settings.

The national culture community

The social institutions of the culture define communities and accompanying practices for everyone within the borders of the national culture.

The social institutions of the culture and its systems tend to reflect the dominant cultural communities, the ones that have the most influence.

Community are the members as the general public. We develop interpersonal relationships within the public communities. For example: at the supermarket, the gym, school, family.

Communities and places

Communities are closely connected with places, namely, physical settings but sometimes they’re not essential to the community.

In the same place, for example a school or a hospital, there are many communities. And between those communities different relationships too.

Coexisting communities

There are communities that are associated with social institutions of the culture, and these serve to support the functioning of these institutions.

They may be physically isolated from one another, or exist next to one another but are separated with no interaction between them.

They may have a collaborative relationship or they may be in conflict. 

Communities and relationships

Inside communities people play certain roles and carry out certain practices according to the norms and expectations of that community.

In almost every case, people enact these practices with others through specific interpersonal relationships appropriate to the social setting and community. 

Chapter 9: Cultural Persons 

Identity

Individual members of the culture have their own distinct identities, derived in part from their unique characteristics, experiences, and outlooks and in part from their membership in particular groups and communities.

It is both tacit and explicit. There are aspects of ourselves that we can describe and there are others that we can't express or are out of our awareness.

Cultural marginality

We can identify ourselves as part of the dominant cultural groups or identify ourselves with non-dominant groups or even both. 

There are two essential responses with dominant communities:

1. Encapsulated marginality: are people who allow the dominant groups to ascribe their identity. 

2. Constructive marginality: are people who avowed identities with a relativistic outlook, not dependent on particular groups. 

CHINESE COMMUNITY

Products: there are many products that represent this community, for example:

Tea

Chopsticks 

Handwriting

Proverbs
 

Practices:

Chinese Toilet training

This process involves wearing special pants that are split open in the crotch area.

Given Names

Chinese given names are not just a name favoured by the baby's parents. A Chinese may have many given names throughout his life. One month after birth, an infant is given a “milk name”. Family members, relatives and close friends use this name. The name is usually selected by the family elder or by a friend.

Names for boys reflect the parent’s wishes for his good health, longevity, prosperity, expected talents, virtues, diligence, filial piety, patriotism or intelligence.

Girls are named after exotic flowers, pretty birds, musical instruments or jewels. Girls might also be named for feminine attributes such as beauty, grace, thrift and purity. In some rural families, girls are not given names but are simply referred to as the “oldest girl”, the “second girl”, “third girl” and so on.

Frequently, all the boys in one family would have names that shared the first character or adjective. 

Chinese toilets 

Come in a variety of styles in China. The Chinese people believe that if you sit on the toilet seat, you will come in contact with germs that could make you ill. So they prefer the squat style toilet, where your skin does not come in contact with the toilet whatsoever.

Wedding
The bride will wear a red dress instead of white.

Perspectives:

Chinese people will expect you to...  

• remove your shoes when entering a Chinese home or temple
• greet the eldest person in a Chinese family first, as a sign of respect
• present things to people with both hands, to show that what you’re offering is the fullest extent of yourself
• fill your companion’s tea cup when it’s empty, especially if your companion is older than you
• eat all of the rice in your bowl – some Chinese believe it’s bad luck to leave even a single grain behind
• be punctual. Being on time shows respect for others.

They wouldn't expect you to... 

• write anything in red ink unless you’re correcting an exam. Red ink is used for letters of protest.

• leave your chopsticks upright in your bowl or tap your bowl with them

• point the bottom of your shoes/feet at someone

• shake your feet, lest you shake away all of your luck.

• touch someone’s head (it’s sacred)

Stereotypes

• All chinese are good at math. False
• All "made in China" is falsificate. False

People who break the mold...

"God made me and broke the mold."
Jean-Jacques Rousseau 

Ophra Winfrey broke the mold. She has become one of the most famous, powerful and persuasive people around the world.

Even when she had 2 bad facts against her, she didn't give up and worked really hard to get what she has now.

The fact of being a woman and the fact of being black made her successful a difficult process. But nowadays she is one of the most powerful women around the world. 

Chapter 7: Cultural perspectives

Practices, products, persons and communities embody cultural perspectives and vice versa. Perspectives are the explicit and implicit meanings shared by members of the culture manifested in products and practices.

These meanings reflect the member’s perceptions of the world, the beliefs and values they hold and the norms, expectations and attitudes that they bring to practices.

Perspectives are a combination of perceptions, values, beliefs and attitudes. There are three different orientations or views of culture: functionalist, interpretive and conflict. They can also be classified into tacit or explicit and emic o ethic.

Explicit and tacit perspectives

Perspectives can be tangible. Perceptions, beliefs, values and attitudes can be explicitly stated in oral or written form. They are expressed through sayings, proverbs, creeds, proclamations, myths, mottoes, principles, guidelines, social studies or other forms of expression.

Perspectives consist of 5 aspects and they come from perceptions (tacit) to attitudes (explicit).

Emic and Etic perspectives

There are two kinds of perspectives: emic and etic.

Emic are those articulated by members of the culture to explain themselves and their culture. Emic explanations are perspectives that members of the culture use to describe or explain their own way of life. These members may have difficulty finding words to explain. 

Etic perspectives are those of outsiders to the culture, who use their own criteria to explain other’s culture and it consists of explanations from one’s own cultural background.

Members of the culture have their own explanations, emic perspectives. Outsiders bring etic perspectives, their own ways of explaining other's cultures using criteria that they apply to all cultures. The interplay between emic and etic perspectives is crucial when comparing cultures and to understand them. 

Three points of view on culture.

1. Functionalist view

Culture as an integrated, harmonious whole. Holds that society constructs systems or structures (institutions) to ensure the harmonious functioning of society. 

2. Interpretive view

Culture as defined by distinct communities and members. Assumes that cultural perspectives are defined by the members of the culture in the circumstances in which they find themselves, either as individuals or as members of communities.

3. Conflict view  

Culture as separate communities in conflict. Makes up the culture, particularly on their interactions with the core culture and its institutions and among others. 

So, as we have seen ethics can change from culture to culture. It will depend on how different is other culture from yours. People will see different points of view because they will compare other's culture with their own and they will find some things in common and some totally different, they will agree and also disagree with what other cultures propose. 

Perspectives are extremely important. They are part of every culture as the other four dimensions. People are always expecting something to happen, people always have perspectives. 

A good example of how perspectives affect people's life is for example with religion. When people pray they have a perspective: be listened by God. 

Other people such as Muslims practice the pilgrimage to Mecca. During the Hajj, several million people of varying nationalities worship in unison. Every adult  who has the financial and physical capacity to travel to Mecca and can make arrangements for the care of his/her dependents during the trip, must perform the Hajj at least once in a lifetime. So as you can see if you lived in a Muslim culture you would be expected to do this.

In some cultures like the most of Latin American cultures people are expected to be friendly, keep close relationships and stand very close to people when talking or expressing their emotions by hugging, shaking hands, etc. In the other hand american have a different culture, they expect people to respect the "personal space", they don't expect people to hug, or stay really close, even if they're really close friends. 

There are some topics like politics and religion that sometimes may end in an uncomfortable situation. In this topics perspectives are very linked, people expect and believe that they are right, so when discussing about it if someone disagrees the other person might feel offended because they're offending  they things they believe in. 

In my personal opinion we couldn't live without religion or politics. We need something to believe in, we need to have something that gives us hope, like in the case of religion. Or in the other case, believe in a better political system. 

Chapter 6: Cultural Practices

Practices...

Something I would never do is rope swing or walking on a tightrope  I think it is a really difficult and dangerous action, even though many people find it interesting.

The fact of being dangerous is one the reasons why people like it. People who practice rope swing are people searching for the edge. I would say they're daredevils! 

This is a practice that's becoming kind of popular nowadays. A few month ago a famous man became popular around the world for walking on a tightrope across the Grand Canyon. His name is Nik Wallenda. He holds seven Guinness World Records for various acrobatic feats, but is best known as the first person to walk a tightrope stretched directly over Niagara Falls.

Nik Wallenda

I would never do what Nik has done. For doing something like that you must have the courage and practice a lot because your life depends on how will you act while doing this. 

Interesting practices...

Western Wall

A few months ago I read about something that I found really interesting. The Jewish people and the practice of praying in the famous Western Wall. But why do they do it? What does it mean?

The Western Wall is located in the City of Jerusalem. It is maybe the most sacred site to the Jewish people.

It has been a site for Jewish people to pray and pilgrimage for a long time.

There are also some practices "inside this practice". 

They have specific practices about this product. For example:
Not all members of the Jewish community can pray in the same area. 
They believe that women should not  pray there or they should be separated from men while praying. 

Papers placed on the wall.

Another tradition inside the one of praying at the Western Wall is placing notes on the wall. It's the practice of placing slips of paper containing written prayers to God into the cracks on the Western Wall. Over a million notes are placed each year in what has become a custom.

Check out this video with interesting facts about the wall... 

Chapter 5: Cultural Products

CULTURAL PRODUCTS

Products are the visible dimension of culture, in other words, they are the Gateway to the new culture, the new way of life. They are the first things that greet our senses when we enter the culture and the differences stand out. We can see, hear, feel, smell or taste these cultural products that are creations of the members. However, some of them cannot be tangible and are ideational products like laws, economics, religion or art. 

Cultural products are classified into four categories based on increasing complexity: artifacts, places, institutions and art forms. 

Artifacts

Are the individual objects created or adopted by the members of the culture.

Euro (Currency used in Europe).

Places

Also known as physical settings. They are cultural products too. They encompass the use or interpretation of the physical features of natural environment.

Central Park (New York).

Institutions

Are created to deal with “the business of living”. These institutions are formal, organized systems that define and regulate the practices of members of the culture.

St. Basil 's Cathedral (Moscow, Russia). 

Art forms

Are complex products that pervade the culture and exist beyond particular social institutions. Include language and its creative manifestations. Reflect the esthetic outlook, sensibilities and philosophy of the culture. 

Some examples of cultural products are:

Kippah

A kippah, kippa or kipa , is like a cap usually made of cloth. Jewish men wear this cultural product as a requirement that is held by some orthodox people.

Chinese tea 

Chinese tea is a beverage from the leaves of tea plants. This is a traditional product in China. People in China drink tea throughout the day, including during meals, as a substitute for plain water for health or simple pleasure. We can see how products are also related to the other four dimensions, in this case the product is used for practices. 

Ritsurin Garden

In Japan, the garden has the status of artwork. The Ritsurin Garden  is one of the most famous and most beautiful historical gardens in Japan. The garden is situated in the city of Takamatsu and is considered one of its main attractions. 

Indian Sari

A sari is a strip of cloth, worn by women in the Indian Subcontinent. The sari is usually worn over a petticoat called lehenga and with a blouse known as a choli. (You can click on the blue words to know more about other products used with the sari).

This product represents the Indian culture. It is also related with cultural practices. There are different kinds of draping which means it has different meaning depending on the culture. 

Great highland bagpipe and Kilt. 

The Great Highland Bagpipe is a type of bagpipe native to Scotland. It has achieved widespread recognition through its usage in the British military and in pipe bands throughout the world. This product is a very good representation of Scottish culture.  Whenever you see one of this instruments you will think about Scotland. 

This product is very popular in areas with Scottish and Irish emigrant populations like England, USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia or South Africa.

Listen to this sample of bagpipe music!

Chapter 4: Language and culture.

Are language and culture related?

Language and culture are clearly related, fused and one reflects the other. We can study culture from 5 dimensions and language is present in all of them. Language is a window to the culture.

1. Language and cultural products

The members of a culture use language to manipulate or interact with the cultural products. We use language to describe products, make comparisons. Language is actually a cultural product.

2. Language and cultural practice

During cultural practices people talk and it requires the participation of language. The interaction with people will require of speaking and listening or reading and writing.

3. Language and cultural perspectives

Language is used to name and understand perceptions, values, attitudes and beliefs that govern our way of life. We use language to make tacit perspectives implicit for example the use of idioms and common phrases may have a special meaning according to the cultural perspectives.

4. Language and cultural communities

We can see variations in forms, use and meanings when we situate language in specific communities or groups. Communities adapt the language describe and carry out particular practices and products associated with their group and its activities. Communities also define norms for language use and an appropriate use of language is essential. 

For example English words may have different meaning depending on the culture, in this case American or British.

WORD	AMERICAN MEANING	BRITISH MEANING
Casket	The type of coffin with upholstery and a half-open lid, any coffin.	A small box, as for jewels, particularly an antique.
Crisp	A term to sunburning.	Fried potato slices with salt, sometimes with flavour (US: potato chips).
DI	Drill instructor (military).	Detective inspector (police).
First floor (of a building)	The floor at ground level (often, but not always, the same floor as a building's lobby) (UK: ground floor).	The floor above ground level (US: second floor).
Football	(usually) Association football (US: soccer).	American football.

Examples of language inside culture.

Language is an important aspect to take into account when talking about culture. We use language to participate and it has some functions like socializing, establishing relationships, influencing people, giving and responding to feedback, arguing or avoiding trouble. 

Some examples of language inside culture are:

• For instance in Costa Rica the use of the phrase "Pura Vida" has a cultural meaning, someone who doesn't know about Costa Rican culture will not get the real meaning of this phrase. The same with the popular word "mae".

• When we take some words from another language it affects our culture, for example nowadays we use many words that are use in English and that makes us get closer to the English culture.

Similarities and differences between Spanish and English. 

We can compare both languages and find many similarities and differences, for example:

Similarities: 

• Both languages have subject – verb- object structure.
• Both have common background (Indo-European).
• Words that end in –tion in English end in –ción in Spanish.
• Both languages have the same or similar words like: chocolate, capital, alcohol, vanilla/vainilla, special/especial, ecology/ecología, etc.
• Some prefixes means the same, for example: super-, anti-, bi-, etc. 

Differences:

• English alphabet has 26 letters while Spanish has one more including “Ñ”.
• English the letter H is pronounced while in Spanish is a silent letter.
• Quotation marks vs. dashes
• Spanish does not have Consonant digraphs: sh, th, wh, p
• Initial sounds: kn, qu, wr, sk that don't exist in Spanish.
• Spanish words have masculine and feminine articles and adjectives, English does not.
• Spanish exclamation/question marks at the beginning of the sentence.
• Adjectives come after noun in Spanish while in English adjectives come before noun.

Advice for North American people!

If a North American wants to learn Spanish, I would recommend the next things:

• He/she should learn a little bit about about culture at the same time he is learning grammar.

•  Should look for a native speaker so that he could practice what he has learned.

• Go to a country where Spanish is the main language

• Learn the most common idioms (Check out this video)

• And maybe the most important: analyze and think about the "five dimensions"  to analyze how culture and language are related.