What is Culture? This module will aid students in answering the question, "What is culture?" The student will be required to team up with a small group of students and explain what culture is in a short power point presentation. They will also have to choose a culture from somewhere in the world, the more obscure and unknown the better, and share a little about that culture that helps to explain what culture is. Students will use English to do their research and make their presentation. Introduction "Culture is like wealth; it makes us more ourselves, it enables us to express ourselves." Philip Gilbert Hamerton Culture is all around us in our everyday lives. Every country in the world has its own cultural characteristics that make it unique. Within each country there can be many different groups of people that have their own unique traits as well. In this module we are going to be exploring the term culture and how it is defined. 1 What is Culture? Culture has been aptly compared to an iceberg. Just as an iceberg has a visible section above the waterline, and a larger, invisible section below the water line, so culture has some aspects that are observable and others that can only be suspected, imagined, or intuited. Also like an iceberg, that part of culture that is visible (observable behaviour) is only a small part of a much bigger whole. 1 The numbered items that appear below are all features of culture. In the drawing of the iceberg on the opposite page, write above the waterline the numbers for those features you consider observable behaviour; write the remaining numbers beneath the line. 1. facial expressions 14. notions of modesty 2. religious beliefs 15. foods 3. religious rituals 16. eating habits 4. importance of time 17. understanding of the natural world 5. paintings 18. concept of self 6. values 19. work ethic 7. literature 20. concept of beauty 8. child raising beliefs 21. music 9. concept of leadership 22. styles of dress 10. gestures 23. general world view 11. holiday customs 24. concept of personal space 12. concept of fairness 25. rules of social etiquette 13. nature of friendship You can see that there is a relationship between those items that appear above the waterline and those that appear below it. In most cases, the invisible aspects of culture influence or cause the visible ones. Religious beliefs, for example, are clearly manifest in certain holiday customs, and notions of modesty affect styles of dress. 2 Linking values to behaviour In the iceberg exercise, you saw how certain aspects or features of culture are visible— they show up in people’s behaviour—while many other aspects of culture are invisible, existing only in the realms of thought, feeling, and belief. The examples in this exercise show how these two realms, the visible and the hidden, are related to each other, how the values and beliefs you cannot see affect behaviour. To understand where behaviour comes from—to understand why people behave the way they do— means learning about values and beliefs. The behaviour of people from another culture may seem strange to you, but it probably makes sense to them, and vice versa. The reason any behaviour makes sense is simply because it is consistent with what a given person believes in or holds dear. Conversely, when we say that what someone has done “makes no sense,” what we mean is that that action contradicts what we believe that person feels or wants. In the exercise below, match the value or belief in the column on the left to a behaviour in the column on the right. Write the number in the space provided. 1. Directness ____ Use of understatement. 2. Centrality of family ____ Asking people to call you by your first name. 3. External control ____ Taking off from work to attend the funeral of an aunt. 4. Saving face ____ Not helping the person next to you on an exam. 5. Respect for age ____ Disagreeing openly with someone at a meeting. 6. Informality ____ Not laying off an older worker whose performance is weak. 7. Deference to authority ____ At a meeting, agreeing with something you think is wrong. 8. Indirectness ____ Inviting the tea boy to eat lunch with you in your office. 9. Self-reliance ____ Asking the leaders opinion of something you’re the expert on. 10. Egalitarianism ____ Accepting, without question, that something cannot be changed. Suggested answers for 1 and 2 at the end of this module. 2 3 UNIVERSAL, CULTURAL OR PERSONAL Culture is only one category or dimension of human behaviour, and it is therefore important to see it in relation to the other two dimensions: the universal and the personal. The three can be distinguished as follows: ➢ universal refers to ways in which all people in all groups are the same
➢ cultural refers to what a particular group of people have in common with each other and how
they are different from every other group ➢ personal describes the ways in which each one of us is different from everyone else,
including those in our group. These are two important points for you to remember. 1. Because of universal behaviour, not everything about people in a new culture is going to be different; some of what you already know about human behaviour is going to apply in your host country. 2. Because of personal behaviour, not everything you learn about another culture is going to apply in equal measure, or at all, to every individual in that culture. This next exercise contains a list of behaviours. In the underlined space preceding each of them, put a “U” if you think the behaviour is universal, “C” if it is cultural, or “P” if it is personal. 1. ______ Sleeping with a bedroom window open. 2. ______ Running from a dangerous animal. 3. ______ Considering snakes to be “evil.” 4. ______ Men opening doors for women. 5. ______ Respecting older people. 6. ______ Liking spicy food. 7. ______ Preferring playing soccer to reading a book. 8. ______ Eating regularly. 9. ______ Eating with knife, fork, and spoon. 10. ______ Being wary of strangers. 11. ______ Calling a waiter with a hissing sound. 12. ______ Regretting being the cause of an accident. 13. ______ Feeling sad at the death of your mother. 14. ______ Wearing white mourning robes for 30 days after the death of your mother. 15. ______ Not liking wearing mourning robes for 30 days after the death of your mother. 3 OBSERVATIONS The differences between universal, cultural, and personal behaviours occur in all cultures. Try to find examples of each from Thailand. Think about the people around you and try to note three examples of each category of behaviour. For personal behaviours, you may find it easier thinking about people you know well, such as people here at university or in your family. When you have completed this exercise, it may be helpful to show your list to someone else to get that person’s reactions. UNIVERSAL 1. _________________________________________________________ 2. _________________________________________________________ 3. _________________________________________________________ CULTURAL 1. _________________________________________________________ 2. _________________________________________________________ 3. _________________________________________________________ PERSONAL 1. _________________________________________________________ 2. _________________________________________________________ 3. _________________________________________________________ 4 Assignment 1 Reflect on what you have read above. • Requirement 1: Choose 5 new words or difficult words from the reading and provide their
meanings. Write a sentence using each of the words. (Do not copy the sentence in the reading.)
5 • Requirement 2: Choose and describe the three most important aspects (concepts, issues,
factual information, etc.) from the information above, justifying your choices (Why did you choose them?). This will help you prepare your presentation. 6 • Requirement 3: In your own words write a summary of what you learned in this module.
7 Task Your task for this module is to design a power point slide show that illustrates your understanding of what culture is. You must define the term culture using an example from some other country or cultural group from around the world. Your slide show must clearly illustrate that you have a clear understanding of what culture is and also how it relates to the group of people that you have chosen. You need to work in a group of no more than 5 people. Process Step 1 - Define what culture is. This will be the introduction to your power point. Use the
knowledge you have gained from this module as well as the internet, a dictionary or encyclopaedia to give you a general idea of what culture is. Then in your group work together to create the term you will use in your ppt. The following websites will get you started. http://www.buzzle.com/articles/what-is-culture.html http://anthro.palomar.edu/culture/culture_1.htm http://www.studyzone.org/testprep/ss5/b/comcultl.cfm http://stuffexpataidworkerslike.com/2010/12/31/11-explaining-local-culture-to-locals/ Step 2 - Select a culture to use as an example. Use the web to search for information about a
specific culture that your group would like to use as an example. Your group will need to gather images as well as written text about your chosen culture that will help you with the content of your power point (ppt). Step 3 - Construct your groups ppt. The length of your presentation will depend on how in depth
your groups research for the term culture was and how detailed each member of the group is in describing the culture you have chosen. Step 4 - Practice. Practice what you will be saying to your audience