Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

I spoken with my brother and two of my friends. My brother's definition of culture is how people interact with each other everyday. He believes that culture is the way we act, speak and make decisions. His definition of diversity is things that make us different from each other.
My best friend, Sonja, defines culture as the place we live in. She believes that culture is the society we live in that makes the rules of how we live together. She defines diversity as a the uniqueness of each individual . She believes taht each one of us is diverse from the next person.
The last person I interviewed is Yuko, an early childhood professional from Japan. She defines culture as a something that lives in us and around us. She believes that culture is expressed in art, mannerisms of each other, and the way we treat people in our society. Her definition of diversity is a difference in our manners and abilities. She believes that our diversity makes us unique in our experiences and interactions.


I think the feedback I received showed how we all see culture in a different line. Yet, most of the definition were similar in  My brother and my best friend defined culture as the dominant society.Yuko who is an early childhood professional had a broader definition of culture. I believe that when most people define culture as part of the dominant society because it is most prominent. We often omit the families that we grow up with or don't think of it as part of our culture. All of them defined diversity as being different from each other. Both Yoku and my best friend believed that being different shows uniqueness.

Receiving feedback this week has showed me that in order to understand culture and their differences, we have to dig deeper and show others how deep cultures run. It can be difficult to understand cultures if we are mostly focused on the dominant cultures. This class has shown me that there are many layers of culture and I think we sometimes forget that it is not always only the dominant culture that shapes us but also our families and friends.