Airini
Airini is the second girl interviewed and comes from New Zealand, her ancestry is Samoan and her family has a strong sense of cultural and are great believers in keeping culture alive and strong. Airini also lost her parents at a young age from illness and heart disease and was brought up after that time by her Aunty and Uncle. She was brought up in New Zealand with a strong sense of her Pacific heritage and is very proud of her cultural beliefs. Some of her strng cultural beliefs are to do with art and she is adorned with traditional tattoos. Tradition and family have been huge influences in her life, yet when she goes to Samoa she is treated as a Palagi (European).
Perspectives on Culture
Culture is what makes a society homely, it is the ways people speak, behave and treat one another, it is familiarity and what we are used to. (Bolstead & Hamblett (2001). Culture is usually a socially transmitted and involves beliefs and ways of doing things. (Pervin and John, 2001). Usually culture is handed down from generation to generation it is a taught system of values and societal norms.(Kosslyn & Rosenberg, 2001). Culture is originally derived from anthropology and referred to artifacts and creations of man, but know days it refers more to the norms of societies. How people collectively behave and practice in similar ways because of their geographical locations or groups to which they belong. Culture is diiferent in meaning to ethnicity but often ethnicity influences how a person evolves culturally. (Van Kreiken, Smith, Habibis, McDonald, Haralambous & Holbourn, 2000)
Alice
Alice has a strong sense of culture from her time in Rwanda, although she left at age 17 she still remembers the loving community she was a part of. In her home in Bali she loves to grow food and tries to live as naturally as possible.
“Culture is your soul it is your home, it is when everything is done as it should be or how it makes sense to you, for me, my culture is very, um, about love and respect for each other and the earth, ...we would feed each other, if someone had no food and you only had one piece of bread you would share it with them because when you have nothing they will share with you” (Alice Bebe, personal Interview, March 19, 2010).
Airini
Airini view on culture is very family based and involves many traditional practices.
“ I grew up with lot’s of traditional culture, family and religion. These are the main things that make me who I am. Culture and customs are highly regarded and thought to be some that should be strong and kept alive. I lived in New Zealand and spoke english at home but I was taught Samoan by my extended family who were my new parents when mine passed away. They said you must know who are to be able to achieve, when you know where you came from and who you are you cant fail, my tattoos help me feel connected to my culture and remind me of who I am” (Airini Manaia, personal interview, March 22, 2010).
How Culture has Impacted their Lives and Beliefs
Cultural Identify and self identity impact directly on individuals lives and belief systems. Often cultural beliefs are affected by things learnt within a persons formitive years which is often the case for people from distinct ethnic backgrounds. (Matsumoto & Juang, 2008)
Alice
Alice explains that her culture has impacted her life in many ways. She has a strong belief in helping strangers and neighbours and is offended if someone does not accept her help. It is hard for her to understand why westerners do not do more to help each other and why when help is offered do we not accept it easily. Alice sees everybody as family and finds it hard to live in areas where there is a low sense of community, Alice has had a hard time integrating with these sorts of societies and says she is much happier living in Bali than Australia because it is similar to her own culture and ethnicity. She explains that it is hard to grasp why some times people think they owe something when someone has helped them, she says “that is what you need more of in this culture, people need to understand that at some stage we all need help from someone and we should be able to give without needing to be repaid and we should be able to receive with out having to worry about repaying” (Alice Bebe, personal interview, March 22, 2010).
Airini
Airini explains that her culture has been greatly affected by her ethnic background. Her close friends are predominately from New Zealand or Samoan and all of her friends indulge in their ethnic backgrounds. Although she identifies herself as Australian and loves the Australian culture she says she fits into a sub group which is basically identified by her ethnic background.
“I love Australia and the way people are here, but I feel most at home with people that share my cultural knowledge, we like to do things the traditional way and I find that in Australia there is’nt many real Aussie traditions except maybe from throwing a shrimp on the BBQ and having a beer or two. I feel that my traditions give me a feeling of richness in knowing who I am. I dont think any less of people that dont follow my traditions, if anything I feel sorry for some people that I think just get a bit lost because they have no solid base of who they are”(Airini Manaia, personal interview, March 22, 2010).
How Culture Impacts on their Interaction with Others
Often in society peoples culture and ethnic backgrounds
Within this essay a case study has been provided examining the similarities and differences between two cultural backgrounds. A analysis on perspectives of culture has been provided. An examination of what these perspectives mean for an individual in a different society has been performed, also the essay looks at how societies can and do, deal with cultural diversity. This information was sourced from two interviewees. Background information has been provided on each interviewee and their perspective on culture was explained. A description of how culture has impacted on the life experiences and belief systems of each interviewee was explored. The way culture impact’s on each interviewees interactions with others will be described. Some suggestions regarding minimising the impact of cultural divides were supplied. Finally a discussion comparing the cultural experience and similarities and differences between the two interviews have been provided. Throughout the essay relevant references were provided to link ideas to theory and strengthen arguments.
References
Bolstead, R. & Hamblett, M. (2001). Transiting Communication. NZ: Pearson
Education
John, O. & Pervin, L.A. (2001). Personality: theory and research (8th ed). New York: John Wiley and Sons Inc.
Kosslyn, S. & Rosenberg, R. (2001). Psychology: the brain, the person and the world.
Boston: Allyn and Bacon Inc.
Matsumoto, D., & Juang, L., (2008). Culture and psychology (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Van Kreiken, Smith, Habibis, McDonald, Haralambous & Holbourn, (2000) Sociology themes and perspectives (2nd Ed), NSW, Pearson Education.
