Other Perspectives on Diversity
In
seeking other perspectives on culture and diversity, I decided to be diverse in
my choice of whom to interview! The
results were very interesting. I spoke
to my sister who is professional woman in her 50’s. She works in the field of social work as a
Family Therapist. Her definitions of
culture and diversity are as follows: “culture is the unique blend of traditions,
rituals, customs, style, religion, belief systems, and family customs that
encompass a particular group of people. Diversity involves the differences that
make up the specific humanness of various cultures.”
The
second person I interviewed is a staff person in my Head Start Program who is a
woman in her 40’s, bilingual and bicultural and originally from Puerto Rico.
She defined culture and diversity as “all the things you have learned from your family.
It is how you think about things especially personal things. It is about being Latino. It is what makes me
different from some of the people I work with but more like many of the
families I know from my work. Diversity is what I think about that makes us different.
It is what I see every day where I live
and work.”
The
third person I interviewed was a male in his 30’s who works in special
education. He defines culture and diversity as follows: “Culture involves
whatever little subgroup you allow to define you. It could be your country of
origin, the people you live with or whoever you spend your time with. Diversity is a well-represented mix of
cultures, ideas and customs in a certain defined area. “
In all answers, there was a common thread that culture is
related to what we learn from our family throughout our lives. Some reference
was in a more traditional sense while the third person seemed to be more open about
what constitutes the group. It includes
our morals, traditions and is at the heart of who we are. There were not any references to ethnicity
from my sister or the male I interviewed. My colleague on the other hand made direct reference to being Latino.
Reflecting on other people’s definitions has made me realize
we sometimes make assumptions about people’s views on these topics even within
our own families. I also realized that age seems to be a factor in
how we view things. All very interesting……
Hi Judi,
ReplyDeleteI had hoped to interview someone of a different race but did not get the chance to do so. I thought yours was interesting and the reference to being Latino was interesting as well. She must be proud of her culture to reference it!
Hi Judi,
ReplyDeleteI like how you chose 3 diverse people to interview. It's great to view the varying perspectives of people's definition of culture and diversity. Your sister's definition of culture and diversity inspired me to dig deeper within the cultures around the world. Thanks for sharing!
Judi,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing. It is always interesting to see how people from different walks of life can share common ideas of what diversity and culture is. I think it was a great idea that you interviewed a diverse group of people.