Discussion Question #2:
This discussion question relates to the lecture on cultural identities, which focuses on how cultural identities are formed and the multiple cultural identities within each person. The lecture states that culture is described as a group of people who share meaning (meaning such as clothing, food, language, music, beliefs, traditions, rituals, etc.) Therefore, each person has multiple groups (sub-cultures) they share meaning with; for instance, a person could be a member of an ethnic group, religious group, gender group, sports group, music group, etc. An example from the lecture on cultural identities suggested that a person could be from the Armenian culture, female culture, Northern Californian culture, basketball culture, hip hop culture, and rave culture. This example highlights one of the main points of the lecture that people are multicultural (made up of many sub-cultures). For this assignment, you will be required to watch the following video and provide your opinion. In summary, the video is a stand-up comedy routine by Trevor Noah that uses humor to explain his experiences trying to learn and apply the norms of his culture. The video highlights the subtle and unconscious ways culture (and cultural practices) are passed on to us, which becomes integrated into our personalities, and then expressed in our behaviors. This assignment will require you to do the following:
1) Watch the Video, 2) Post a response to all or some of the following questions (your response needs to be about a paragraph long, which would include about 4-5 complete sentences) (2.5 points):
Do you agree or disagree with the idea that cultural behaviors are learned? Who did you learn your cultural behaviors from, and how where they taught to you? What are some behaviors and values that members of your culture share? Have you ever experienced someone misperceive your cultural identity? Why do you think they misperceived you in the way they did? Have you experienced people expecting you to act a certain way due to your cultural identity? (in what ways?). Do all (or most) people within your culture act the same way? If not, what are the differences and why do you think they present their cultural behaviors different than you? Do you think people are multicultural (have many sub-cultures?). If so, where and how did you learn the practices of your other sub-cultures? What are your sub-cultures? Out of all of your sub-cultures, which ones do you identity with most? (and why?). Why do you think we have been taught to associate “culture” with “ethnicity?” Where did we learn this from? What are the benefits and consequences of associating culture with ethnicity? How can be learn to value people as both members of a different ethnic group and also as members of our same sub-cultural group?
