Cultural Background Summary free essay sample

Culture is defined as the system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts that the members of society use to cope with their world and with one another, and that are transmitted from generation to generation through learning. Culture helps to understand how things are created, developed, managed and changed. Each culture is unique, People will not find any culture that is exactly like another culture but they can find many similarities. Some similarities are their dedication to their families, religion and their own native cultures as well as fitting into the culture in which they live. Differences between cultures seem to almost outweigh the similarities. Some differences, other than language barriers, are personal and family values, what is considered polite, how hygiene is regarded and what food they eat. My culture has shaped the way that I have lived my life. Within my community there were major Catholic influences. My parents were devout Catholics and many of their friends were as well. Our community was not diversified, but was mostly Catholic, so where friends, authority figures, social gatherings and public hangouts. It was not until high school when the diversity emerged. My parents grew up with Catholic teachings, considering they grew up in a small town in Portugal just outside the city. My mother’s family had a farm. The men’s role would be to work the farm from sunrise to sunset. My mother and grandmother were charged with cleaning the house and cooking for the men when they ended their workday. Today I continue to live my life with the same family structure. I would like to pass them down to my son the same way my mother did to me. As I approach the experiences of assimilation, acculturation, and a climate of pluralism; my identity has been molded. Assimilation is the process of becoming part of or more like a group that someone was not previously part of. Assimilating into a new group involves the addition of new knowledge or information or traits from that group’s culture to what someone had already learned or known. My parents moved to New Jersey from Portugal as young adults. My mother learned English at the same time as her children did. She became a translator in her community. Through hard work and determination my mother able to assimilate into the American lifestyle, my father did not. My mother expressed to her children the importance of an education but to also not lose sight of the heritage. Thus, the children grew up with an American culture, but incorporating their principle Portuguese culture as well. Acculturation is the process of adopting the beliefs and behaviors of another group. As a child I was raised in Newark with an ethnic background of Portuguese and Brazilian following the Catholic faith. I spent most of my time as a child playing with the children from down the street who were African-American, Puerto Rican and Italian. The multicultural environment was enriching. My father belonged to the Portuguese Club where they taught how to read and write Portuguese. They also taught Portuguese cultural history. I would go with my father and observed some of the classes that were available. As time went on, I joined the club and learned Portuguese folk dances, experienced specific cooking techniques and distinct customs. Cultural pluralism is the process of maintaining each own cultural identity within a largely diverse community. While growing up with the family down the street I learned about their Italian culture and was involved in some of their traditions. During Christmas time they demonstrated the traditional Feast of the Seven Fishes. Traditionally on Christmas Eve dinner was seven different seafood dishes. This celebration is a commemoration of the wait, or Vigilia di Natale, for the midnight birth of baby Jesus. While benefiting in this traditionally Italian custom I realized the similarity in maintaining my Portuguese identity and beliefs during the holidays. In conclusion, my identity has been molded through the interaction of cultural experiences I encountered through the assimilation, acculturation and a climate of pluralism in my life. I continue to live my life with the same virtues that my family passed down to me but also with the assessment of shared beliefs, values, and an appreciation of the customs of other cultures around me. As an individual, I have a better understanding of the uniqueness of the world and benefit in being a part of it.