Culture

So I've been thinking a lot lately about culture. My culture to be specific. I had a conversation with a friend the other night and we were talking about what our cultures were exactly. However, culture is really hard to define for the average American. It is easier to look at China or Mexico or Kenya and see what their cultures are. But what is American culture?

Maybe I should define what culture is first. I just learned (30 mins ago in my very first class of the semester- Human Diversity!) a basic definition of culture:

Culture is a dynamic system of rules that
-can be implicit or explicit
-are established by groups to ensure survival
-involve attitudes, values, beliefs, norms, and behaviors
-are shared by a group but held differently by each unit within a group
-are communicated across generations
-are relatively stable but can change

I suppose our culture includes freedom, justice, independence, and a strong sense of rights. But beyond those abstract terms, our culture is quite diverse.

This got me thinking about my own culture. What is the dynamic set of rules of my family? A trait that I didn't realize was particularly unique is our supper ritual. Last week I had some friends over to my house and supper was ready while we were there. My parents invited them to join us, and since we weren't done with what we were doing, we took a break for supper. My two friends were both shocked to realize that we would be eating supper together - as a family, around a table. No TV. No newspaper. We have always had a "no reading at the table" rule (unless it was an encyclopedia, of course. =-D ). Just real food with real conversation with the whole family (that was in town anyway) around the kitchen table. One of my friends said besides holidays he didn't know when the last time was that his family sat around a table for supper. We just sat and talked to each other about our days and our lives and such. This is commonplace for me. It would be weird to be at home around supper time and not eat together. Even if we go out, we still do it together unless we have specific other plans. Supper is a group event. It's not a burden that you have to be home for supper and there's no getting out of it, but it's just an unwritten rule that we eat supper together if we are available.

For my intercultural communication class last year I had to actually define my culture with one idea. What is the thread that goes through every part of your family culture? What is irreplaceable in your cultural community? I thought about many things, but the thread in our "blanket of culture" is learning. It's a tricky thing, not nearly as tangible as food or conversation or cars. Just learning. But if one thinks about my family, it's true. The only exception to our reading rule? Reading the encyclopedia to find clarity on a subject. Often a subject through the years for my parents was sharing computer or networking knowledge so as to better supply the library or the church or our house with refined technology. And along with computers, how many computers did we have on and in use in our house at one point over break? Oh yeah. Seven. It's ridiculous, really. We're all always trying to better ourselves by learning more and experiencing more (and how did I better myself? I ditched Windows and got a Mac!). No one in my family just sits around all day and does nothing. We read books, we make music, we do puzzles, we work on projects, we make plans, we share opinions. Idleness is not a desire. A life without gaining knowledge is not an option. We learn through everything. And we in turn teach through everything. This seems to be the foundation of my family's culture.

What's your family's culture? Though it's maybe harder to define as an American, I think it's really important to take the time to define your culture; what makes you unique, what are your priorities, what do you value in certain situations. It makes communication with others a lot easier and more enjoyable when you define this for yourself. You may be surprised what is unique to your family!

P.S. Culture is not linked with race hardly at all anymore. Race is becoming a nonexistent term in relation to defining a person, especially in America. Here's a link my prof sent us that talks more about this. It's really interesting! http://www.pbs.org/race/002_SortingPeople/002_00-home.htm