...Does culture represents an important part of an individual identity? During her speech “Don't kill your language (TED talk)” Suzanne talhouk talks about her experience of being discriminated in her country because of using her own language. She explains the importance of preserving language and how it can prevent the death of a nation's soul and identity. She also explains how language is a very important part of culture and how culture is a very important part of your identity. Therefore, culture is seen as the main designer of identity. How we act, react, and see the world depends on the culture we came from. People might see things differently according to their culture. If culture does not give us our first principles what would? As Talhouk states, “Language represents specific stages in our lives, and terminology that is linked to our emotions”(Talhouk 3). Culture is the same. Every time we smell, see or listen to something, it might bring memories that only people from the same culture can remember. These memories shape the way we perceive things in a sense that what could be normal for a group of people, can be disturbing or weird for others from different cultures. According to Talhouk, “The Arabic language doesn’t satisfy today's needs… it definitely isn’t a language we use at the airport. If we did so, they’d strip us of our clothes” (Talhouk 1-2). She believes that she can not use Arabic in the airport because she knows that the Arabic language will bring memories...
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...Michael Humphrey 2/16/16 Essay 1 Evolution of identity Throughout this section we have talked about culture and identity and how it ties into all of the short readings we have been assigned to read. In this paper I will discuss how ethnicity plays a vital role in culture and identity, and how it shapes the characters throughout each story or poem. All three of my examples will be coming from “A Raisin in the Sun”, by Lorraine Hansberry, “Everyday Use”, by Alice Walker, and “Hard Rock Returns to Prison from the Hospital for the Criminal Insane”, by Etheridge Knight. “A Raisin in the Sun” is about an African-American family who lives in poverty on the south side of Chicago, in 1959. Back in the day we know that African Americans didn’t have it easy, but how exactly did the fact of being black shape the way they lived and the way they processed things mentally? Walter worked as a chauffeur most of his life, but had dreams of becoming an entrepreneur. He had a vision of opening up a liquor store since he figured no one would ever stop drinking liquor. The problem he had was that he was a thirty-five year old man that had a son that was sleeping in the living room, and all he had to give him was stories about how rich white people lived. Instantly we see traces of how Walters’ current life situation falter his mindset into thinking he needed to be more successful so that his family could look up to him like a role model. At one point in the play Walter and Benny have...
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...Culture and Identity In today’s society there are a lot of cultural issues that are being taken placed that make it very difficult for people to understand. A lot of people find it very difficult to be able to express themselves in their normal cultural behaviors. I have noticed that people will try their very best to fit into societies norms. The reason for that is that they can blend in and will not look different from everyone else. America is one of the most diverse countries in the world that it is so easy for people to be able to blend in and be who they want to be in this country. When I read the story fiesta 1980 by Junot Diaz, it was a perfect example of how different certain cultures are. In the story it shows that in the culture of Hispanics that men are superiors of women. In the story it shows the mom getting into a lot of trouble with the husband because she was not doing what he told her to do. In a lot of cultures women are portrayed as the person who is supposed to just stay home and care after the children, cook and clean. Also women are often viewed as sexual objects and are not good for anything but sex when it is needed. Having a culture that is similar to the one in the fiesta 1980 is very difficult for other people who are not in that type of culture. America is well known for being a very diverse country because there are many different places that share the same culture. That is the reason why people who finally step...
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...Section 1 Organizational Culture: set of artifacts, values and assumption that emerge from the interaction of organizational members Open social system operating a dynamic environment. CRITERIA to identify something as culture: 1. Deeply felt or held 2. Commonly intelligible 1. Accessible to a cultural group Organization = Ordered and purposeful interaction among people. Purposeful, because its members produce (supero-rdinative) goal-directed activities. Organizational communication is a continuous process through which organizational members create, maintain and change the organization. (it includes business communication) N.B. All organizational members take place in it; messages are produced to create a shared meaning of messages, but it is not always achieved. Those messages vary in form according to various factors (power distances, roles, goal, method, non-verbal), and to be fully understood have to be considered in their contexts Culture: "the collective programming if the mind that DISTINGUISHES the members of one group tor category of people from another" (Hofstede 2001) Is both a process and a product; is confining (imitates groups) and facilitating (gives us a way to better understand what is happening) Cultural Symbol = physical indicators of organizational life (Rafaeli & Worline 2000) ARTIFACTS: visible/tangible, are also part of them norms, standards, customs and social convention. Norms: pattern of behaviors or communication...
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...Does ones culture affect the way people see them? The world is filled with many people with different cultures. It should not change the way people see them, but it does. Texts such as “Where Worlds Collide”, “An Indians Fathers Plea”, and “What is Cultural Identity”, defend the idea that people see society and other races based on their background or culture. In Trumbull and Pacheco’s novel “What is Cultural Identity”, the text defends how culture is viewed by others. “This system of understanding includes values, beliefs, notions about acceptable and unacceptable behavior, and other socially constructed ideas that members of the society are taught true” (Trumbull and Pacheco 9). The last part of this quote is saying how people are telling others ideas or beliefs, and those people are believing and changing their culturally ways. Garcia, who originally made this quote, is an Anthropologist from Boston. Additionally each scholar in the text defends the way culture is seen by others. “Cultural identity is a broader term: people from multiple ethnic backgrounds may identify as belonging to the same culture” (Trumbull and Pacheco 9). Not everyone wants to stay to their culture. Most cultures goes to where majority culture is located. In Robert Lake’s novel “An Indian Fathers Plea”, the novel backs up the way culture is recognized by others. “He said...
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...To singularly define my identity, culture and family in three items is extremely difficult. How do I encapsulate my entire essence with three tangible materials to complete strangers? After much thought, conversation, and pure chance the three things I would have to explain my background would be a football, Gummibärchen, and a pair of pink baby booties. The three things I have selected encompass my family identity, link to my German and American heritage, and pay ode to myself and culture. Football may seem like a typical American nod to our culture, but in my circumstance it is atypical. For as long as I can remember, football has been one of the only things to bring my family together. In 2006, I remember living on the military base, Camp Lejuene, and my mum burning her Pittsburg Steelers candle while the Steelers...
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...How Identity Theft Affect the Culture of our Society Sections I, II, III and IV Rodrekus Baskin DeVry University How Identity Fraud and Theft Impact the Culture of Our Society Section I Identity theft affects millions of Americans every day. Scam artists and hackers lay in wait for an unsuspecting person to get caught up their scheme through ignorance or naivety so they can take full advantage of their personal information to do as they desire with it. Problem is, it infiltrates and depreciates the integral infrastructure of our society which creates a cultural lapse through the declination of economic and cultural growth and double jeopardizes an already unstable system to the brink of its destruction. To understand how identity theft works or happens, one need to know and understand what identity theft is, the different forms of identity theft, cyber security and the impact on its victims, the methods used by identity thieves to obtain identifying information about their victims, and preventive solutions. How Identity Theft Affect the Culture of Our Society A single mother looking forward to advancing her financial situation comes across what appears to be the opportunity she has been waiting for. A real estate agent has provided her with the fortune of owning her own home and without skepticism of any impending dangers or foul play, even though he displayed what appeared to be proper credentials, she relinquished all of her personal data...
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...She calls this experimentation "a prosthetic culture" in which "the subject as individual passes beyond the mirror stage of self-knowledge, of reflection of self, into that of self-extension" (3). She further explains: In adopting/adapting a prosthesis, the person creates (or is created by) a self-identity that is no longer defined by the edict 'I think, therefore I am'; rather, he or she is constituted in the relation 'I can, therefore I am'. In the mediated extension of capability that ensues, the relations between consciousness, memory and the body that had defined the possessive individual as a legal personality are experimentally dis- and re-assembled....
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...Oriental and African Studies in London I was fortunate enough to have David Birmingham as a thesis supervisor. I hope that some of his knowledge and understanding of Lusophone Africa has found its way into this book. I owe an equal debt to Shula Marks who, over the years, has provided me with criticism and inspiration. In the United States I learnt a great deal from ]eanne Penvenne, Marcia Wright and, especially, Leroy Vail. In Switzerland I benefitted from the friendship and assistance of Laurent Monier of the IUED in Geneva, Francois Iecquier of the University of Lausanne and Mariette Ouwerhand of the dépurtement évangélrlyue (the former Swiss Mission). In South Africa, Patricia Davison of the South African Museum introduced me to material culture and made me aware of the richness of difference; the late Monica Wilson taught me the fundamentals of anthropology and Andrew Spiegel and Robert Thornton struggled to keep me abreast of changes in the discipline; Sue Newton-King and Nigel Penn brought shafts of light from the eighteenthcentury to bear on early industrialism. Charles van Onselen laid a major part of the intellectual foundations on which I attempt to build. I must also pay tribute to the late F.M. Maboko, who introduced me to the joys and tribulations of fieldwork; I hope that many of the concerns of the old miners weinterviewed have fotmd a place in this work. The long period of gestation that finally resulted in the birth of this book would not have been possible without...
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...around the US. This paper will look at the common menu of those Italian migrants and look at how it has involved in the community that is now known as the Italian-American. This essay will mainly try to address the significant issues of the process of ethnic identity. This paper will argue that the role of family is very important in advocating ethnic identity. The influence of a very rigid and traditional family institution helped the Italian immigrants whom in the end were known as Italian American to maintain their identity. This is fascinating because despite undergoing changes from generations to generations their tradition is still very much alive and important to them. The paper will further argue this point by looking, the transmission of ethnic consciousness amongst the Italian American. Last but not least we will look at the maintenance of ethnic group boundaries and most importantly, the role of food in such process. Overall, this essay aims to look at the evolution of the Italian migrants in America and how this has affected their everyday food. This paper will articulate all the forwarded arguments and try to answer the main question of whether Americanization disintegrated the original Italian culture and traditions amongst the migrants or have their community managed to stand by their roots and maintain...
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...around the US. This paper will look at the common menu of those Italian migrants and look at how it has involved in the community that is now known as the Italian-American. This essay will mainly try to address the significant issues of the process of ethnic identity. This paper will argue that the role of family is very important in advocating ethnic identity. The influence of a very rigid and traditional family institution helped the Italian immigrants whom in the end were known as Italian American to maintain their identity. This is fascinating because despite undergoing changes from generations to generations their tradition is still very much alive and important to them. The paper will further argue this point by looking, the transmission of ethnic consciousness amongst the Italian American. Last but not least we will look at the maintenance of ethnic group boundaries and most importantly, the role of food in such process. Overall, this essay aims to look at the evolution of the Italian migrants in America and how this has affected their everyday food. This paper will articulate all the forwarded arguments and try to answer the main question of whether Americanization disintegrated the original Italian culture and traditions amongst the migrants or have their community managed to stand by their roots and...
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...Page » Historical Events Worldwide Non Western Cultures Faced Fundamental Challenges to Their Cultural Identities Not so Much a Recentering of Culture but a Decentering of Culture In: Historical Events Worldwide Non Western Cultures Faced Fundamental Challenges to Their Cultural Identities Not so Much a Recentering of Culture but a Decentering of Culture Individual Project # 4 David Henderson American Intercontinental University Abstract The Chinese have been in America since the early 1600’s and have contributed to the growth of this country in many ways. When leaving your home land and coming to a new one, there are many new and different ways of doing things that may be contrary to what is normal or acceptable in you culture. The decentering of a culture is examined, as well as the impact on a culture when this happens. China’s Decentering Process “Worldwide, non-Western cultures faced fundamental challenges to their cultural identities-not do much a recentering of culture but a decentering” (Sayre, 2010). What can we gather from this statement. Sayer is stating that Western cultures have begun to loose their original identities that they brought over from their native countries. Every culture that immigrated to the U.S. brought with them some of their own culture. Most brought just the clothes on their back along with hopes and dreams of a better life and ideals from the homeland. Cultures that were ‘non-western’ were caught between two continents...
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...may be contrary to what is normal or acceptable in you culture. The decentering of a culture is examined, as well as the impact on a culture when this happens. China’s Decentering Process “Worldwide, non-Western cultures faced fundamental challenges to their cultural identities-not do much a recentering of culture but a decentering” (Sayre, 2010). What can we gather from this statement. Sayer is stating that Western cultures have begun to loose their original identities that they brought over from their native countries. Every culture that immigrated to the U.S. brought with them some of their own culture. Most brought just the clothes on their back along with hopes and dreams of a better life and ideals from the homeland. Cultures that were ‘non-western’ were caught between two continents, on the one hand, they had the values and views that they grew accustomed to, and on the other hand they were being introduced to a totally new and different way of life and a new set of standards, and as a result they started to adapt to a newer way of life, and in doing so their old way of life began to be replaced by a newer culture which caused their native lands culture to become decentered, and as a result the older culture started to rescind . What is really happening here is not really the decentering of cultures or even the recentering of cultures, but rather a melding of many different cultures in to one. Cultural identities are the faces societies wear to present themselves to...
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...Copyright © eContent Management Pty Ltd. Health Sociology Review (2010) 19(4): 437–450. Embodying the gay self: Body image, reflexivity and embodied identity DUANE DUNCAN Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia ABSTRACT The emphasis on a sexualised muscular body ideal in gay social and cultural settings has been described as facilitating body image dissatisfaction among gay men. Drawing on a concept of reflexive embodiment, this paper uses qualitative interviews to analyse gay men’s embodiment practices in relation to discourses and norms that can be found across and beyond any coherent notion of ‘gay subculture’. The findings reveal body image to be more complex than a limited focus on subculture or dissatisfaction can account for. In particular, gay men negotiate a gay pride discourse in which the muscular male body generates both social status and self-esteem, and deploy notions of everyday masculinity that imply rationality and control to resist gendered assumptions about gay men’s body image relationships. KEYWORDS: body image; gay men; reflexive embodiment; sociology INTRODUCTION Body image dissatisfaction and gay men Following the shift from individual pathol-ogy to cognitive-behavioural and feminist perspectives in psychology (McKinely 2002; Pruzinsky and Cash 2002), a significant volume of psychological and health research has identi-fied a greater incidence of body...
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...In the reading Forest (1995) the article suggests that the making of a place often involves identity and that the role of place is important in creating identity specially when we examine the making of a sexual orientation identity such as gay people. This article shows how the elements of identity or I should say the characteristics of identity define the gay community of West Hollywood. West Hollywood in California has become one of the largest gay communities in the world. The people living in this outlined community are defined as gay people because they have been or identify themselves with the seven elements that identify gay people. These characteristics are defined in creativity, aesthetic sensibility, orientation towards entertainment or consumption, progressiveness, responsibility, maturity, and centrality. West Hollywood reinforces and welcomes individuals with these characteristics in lifestyle. I am not saying every gay person possesses these seven elements, however West Hollywood has become the one place where persons who have some or all of these characteristics seem to roam or go to this particular area because it has defined itself as a gay community. Many gay men have moved here specifically as it has been defined as a place where they can actually, "come out" without being ridiculed. They can be accepted here for who they are and what they have been defined as because they were born with these elements. They can use this place because it has been defined by...
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