Humanities and Culture: Discussion

Consider your youth. When cultures raise a child, there are values, attitudes, traditions or beliefs that are communicated. The child must adapt to these elements to find their place in the culture. Often, for children, the first influences of culture are behavioral. This can be as simple as participating in holiday festivities, completing expected duties around the house, or maintaining that "we always do X on Fridays." Behavioral expectations nearly always serve as demonstrations of a belief. For example, we always eat dinner at the kitchen table is meant to demonstrate time spent as a family in communication.

Please choose a story from your youth when your culture was communicated to you, and you responded by adapting or rebelling. Identify the cultural value, belief, or tradition that was expected of you. Who was in this culture and taught it to you? Why was this such an important cultural element for you to learn? Tell a story about how it had an impact. Finally, note whether this is still a part of your behavior or belief system.

Address the Unit 6 reading material on India and / or the John Maeda TED talk; include citations and references.

Gannon, M. J., & Pillai, R. (2015). Understanding global cultures: Metaphorical journeys through 34 nations, clusters of nations, continents, and diversity. Sage Publications.