As part of my internship at York it is important for me to reflect on my experiences. One of the “assignments” (if I can call them that) is to define my “culture.” To dig deep within my soul and in some way come up with what this “word” means to me.
In my opinion there is no set definition of what culture is. I can go into the Oxford dictionary and provide their definition but I think this definition should be subjective. Living and growing up in Canada I find myself sharing commonalities with other cultures. My almond shape eyes are a cause for confussion for many as many can confuse my features as being Asian.
I find that I don’t belong to one specific group, because I have a difficulty relating to just one culture. I can probably go into a lengthy blog about where I was born and where my parents are from etc etc...but in the end this is insignificant in defining my definition of culture.
Coming back to the country I was born has been difficult because people expect you to assimilate the culture easily since in essence if you were born here than it’s your culture. But how can I adhere to a culture with opinion, ideas, or rituals that I do not understand or much less agree with.
So at this point in my life I come to the question of who am I? Does my culture define my identity?
I am a woman, of Hispanic back ground, born in El Salvador and who grew up Canada. I consider myself both Salvadoran and Canadian. I proudly carry my Canadian passport, like Larissa I also listen to the CBC (radio one), and enjoy a big plate of poutine. I am as much Salvadoran with my appetite for "queso duro," "horchata,"and "pupusas,"
I am my own culture. I can transpose my culture freely, and preserve ideals and morals I deem important. But most important in my culture I expresses myself without inhibitions.
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I like how you ended this post by saying that you are culture and that you have a stake in constructing culture.
ReplyDeleteFoul! Fore! Flag on the play! There are a couple of bloggers out there who would rather deny the existence of a definition of culture than figure out if they can define their own. Mi amor, we all have a culture and yes it is individual. It doesn't have to be defined based on your citizenship or geographic location but an attempt at definition beyond snacks would be appropriate.
ReplyDeleteThe reason I push is that our culture colours what we take in and what we put out into the world. Remember my screen door analysis from orientation? You need to be able to recognize what your culture is so that you can understand where your biases lay. Once you recognize how your culture creates distortion, you can start to interpret the world beyond without the perversion. Does that make sense?
An example would be how time and timeliness is hugely important to Canadians. Another intern mentioned in her blog how there are bus schedules and maps everywhere on the TTC which precludes people from saying they are late because of public transit. So when a colleague of yours comes to work in ES late, what do you think? Do you have an expectation that everyone is at work at a certain hour and if it is more than a couple of minutes beyond that, they better have a darn good excuse? How does that expectation affect the way you view someone? Less committed to the job perhaps?
I hope I have illustrated why it is important to know your cultural biases. I don't like the word bias because it unrightfully has a negative connotation. BTW, I love pupsas!