Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

Culture is a term that has different connotations to individuals. This can be a result of family, age, experience, and self-awareness. Three people were interviewed and asked comment on their ideas of culture and diversity in Canada.

The first person is a 76 year old woman, who grew up during the depression, on a farm. Her grandfather and mother escaped oppressive conditions overseas, but the cost of their freedom was to leaving her grandmother and ailing aunt behind. They never reunited. To this woman, my mother, culture means understanding your family heritage. Maintaining traditions will keep you attached to your family and “culture” regardless of where you live. To my mother, diversity means differences and the different ways that people do things.

The second person interviewed is a 50 year old woman who grew up in Trinidad and immigrated to Canada. To this person, culture also means maintaining family recipes and traditions. However, it includes yearly visits and weekly phone calls to the family who remained in Trinidad. My friend believes that Canada is her country, although born in Trinidad. Her children born in Canada have adjusted to the different lifestyle. Visits to see family often leave her frustrated, as a warm climate, collective focus and community size result in a slower pace of life and laid back lifestyle. This woman sees Canada a being diverse and accepting of different cultures, beliefs, and attitudes.

The third person interviewed is a 25 year old male, born in Canada. To him, culture entails being aware of other people and experienced in the “ways” of other people, travel is dominant in his world. For this man, some family recipes are intergenerational and remind him of his grandparents. However, as members of his family reside across Canada, he has a different perspective on diversity. He believes diversity exists in Canadian communities and evolves with the introduction of new Canadians

I have learned that culture family experiences, as well as experience of my community influence my culture.  There are many cultures within; my work culture, home culture, maternal culture, global culture, and social culture.  We can not generalize based upon what we think we know about a person based upon their culture. What we see is only the tip of their cultural experiences.
 

 

Sources:

 

Building a New Home.  Retrieved January 21, 2014 from http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/mb_history/50/commemoration.shtml

Village in Trinadad.  Retrieved January 21, 2014 from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tyler-wetherall/havana-in-a-day_b_1883175.htm

We are the World.  Retrieved January  21, 2014 from http://www.83toinfinity.com/tag/multiculturalism/