Blog # 2

The way that Parisa felt that she was treated by her European peers really interested me while I was reading. They thought of her as a stereotypical Muslim woman and were not expecting her to be creative and expressive. Her peers were not open minded what so ever when it came to Parisa’s culture. They were only thinking of her in the stereotypical way. Her European peers seemed to be practicing the essentialist views of culture since they could only view Parisa in one way and were surprised when she acted another way. Essentialists see culture as very “black and white”. They don’t see how culture can be intertwined with others and how individuals within a culture can still be unique individuals. The idea that if you think that you need to know about someone’s presumed national culture before you can effectively communicate with them is also something that caught my attention while reading. By thinking that you need to know about their culture first, you are defining the person before you even meet them. However, that is how essentialists think. They think that each culture is completely different and that all the persons in a culture are the same. A non-essentialist would get to know the person first before making a judgment on that person. The saying “you can’t judge a book by its cover” is how a non-essentialist would view the idea of communicating with people and getting to know them. The thought that when people are in strange environments, they can sometimes exaggerate specific aspects of their culture kind of confuses me. I understand that when a person is in and awkward situation, they tend to stick to things and topics that they are most comfortable with. However, I find it odd that people would play into the stereotypes that society has given their own culture. Like I said before though, maybe they think that those aspects of their culture will be able to be understood best since outsiders to their culture have probably some knowledge of the stereotypes. I feel like being comfortable is what the essentialist view of culture is all about. In the essentialist view, cultures are not complicated. The borders between different cultures are very clear and there is no mixing, no connections and no critical thinking involved. In my opinion, the essentialist view is rather boring. I also agree with the idea that we all have our own unique cultural identity. As Holliday shared, he is part of a variety of different cultural groups and so is everyone else. If people within the same cultural groups find themselves being part of other and different cultural groups, then I think it’s obvious that even people that share a culture can still be very different. We talk about this idea a lot in my Bilingual Education classes. A lot of times, Hispanics are lumped into one large cultural group. While these students may share the same native language and in that sense share an aspect of culture, they are all extremely different. A student from Mexico and a student from Honduras eat different food, listen to different music and may even speak different dialects of Spanish. It’s important, as future educators, to recognize that even though students may seem similar in certain aspects, they are all unique and have their own experiences that shape their own personal identity and culture. 

Blog # 1

While reading the chart on pages three and four in Intercultural Communication I found the essentialism and non-essentialism views on culture to be really interesting. I think that the essentialist view of culture is a more conservative and close-minded way to think about culture throughout the world. I do believe it’s true that there are different cultures in different countries and regions that each have their own unique customs and beliefs, etc. However, I agree more with the non-essentialist belief that cultures can overlap, have similarities and that people can belong to different cultures at the same time. When I think about myself, I can identify with Italian culture, Austrian culture, Midwest regional culture and even the culture of being an ISU college student. The way that I can relate to various different cultures goes along with the non-essentialist view of membership for cultures. Non-essentialists believe that people can belong to different cultures in different societies. All of these cultures are different yet I can find them all within my own personal culture. I very much disagree with the statement from the essentialist view of culture in regards to relation, saying that “The world is divided into mutually exclusive national cultures. People in one culture are essentially different from people in another culture”. After reading this statement I realized that I agree with the non-essentialist idea of culture. Like I said before, I agree that each culture has unique characteristics; however, I believe that there can be intermingled and similar characteristics among different cultures. As a future Bilingual Education major, it’s for me important to be culturally sensitive and show a mutual respect for all of the cultures represented by my students. However, I also think it’s important to show the students that we can find similarities within all cultures. By showing my students how cultures can be related, I think that will help students understand and respect their peers’ unique individual culture while also creating a community within the classroom. On page seventy-three in Intercultural Communication, the idea of non-essentialism is also discussed. I like the idea of “small cultures”. A family, sports team or group of friends can be small cultures. Each of these different groups have their own way of speaking, dressing, and may have their own traditions that they take part in. I also believe that these “small cultures” can be made up of culturally diverse people that share certain similarities and can find common ground amongst each other. I think that a classroom is a small culture. Each classroom has their own rules and regulations. Each classroom has certain standards and a certain code of conduct that the students and teacher follows. The idea of a classroom being a small culture goes along with my belief that a classroom should be like a community. Non essentialists believe that the small culture approach considers any instance of socially cohesive behavior as culture and I think that a classroom of students falls into that category. Culture really can be found anywhere; it doesn’t necessarily have to be associated with what country you are from, what language you speak, what food you eat and what religion you practice. Everyone that lives in the United States is part of an American culture even though we are all from different backgrounds. Some people believe that the United States doesn’t have a culture since we are all so different. I think all of our unique differences is what makes our culture. The culture of America is the diversity that can be found within everyday life. Whether it be our ancestors, parents or you yourself that immigrated to America; we all came for the same reason: freedom, liberty, a better future. I believe that those three qualities are also part of the American culture that we all share. We are all different yet equal and bring our own individual cultures to make one large culture.

Hey!

Hi, my name is Jillian Yonke and I am a senior, majoring in Bilingual Elementary Education. I'm excited for this course and learning about TESOL throughout the semester!