1. CULTURE

2. How do you define culture?
Why does it matter?
Culture is the system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts with which the members of society use to understand their world and one another. (NCCRESt, 2012)
“Culture is the context for everything” —Saskatoon Public Schools, 2011
Culture shapes people’s values and beliefs: Think about how your own culture shaped your values and beliefs and how your culture plays into the work you do.
Picture source:
sites.tenafly.k12.nj.us
Video on picture: (what can of asian are you?) – someone asking about heritage.
5 minutes to discuss the questions and write down answers on your easel
Then each group will have 1 min to present to the whole group
Sum of the list of things discussed:
Are we born with a culture? Culture is not something that we are born with, but rather it is learned – imparted to us through our upbringing and exposure to the practices and rules of conduct of the culture which we are part of.
Culture is shared by a society and members of a society agree about the meanings of things and why. Elicit examples – how do we share culture? Please give us examples
Culture is dynamic – always changing. How is culture changing?
Culture teaches values and priorities, which in turn shape attitudes
Culture prescribes behavior and members of a society usually behave in ways that they think appropriate or acceptable in their culture. However, what may be acceptable or appropriate in one culture may be unacceptable in another culture.

3. Cultural “Tree”
Culture has often been compared to a tree. The visible part of the tree (branches, leaves, etc) represent the visible parts of culture (food, dress, music etc). However, it is the part of the tree that is not visible – the roots – that determine what the tree looks like. Similarly, it is the invisible aspects of culture (e. g. shared values and beliefs) that determine – to a large extent – how people dress, what, when and how they eat, how they dance, what behavior they find right or wrong. -

4. Cultural “Iceberg”
Question: What are the implications of the iceberg analogy?
Most of the iceberg (beliefs, values) is under the surface?
The visible part of the iceberg are behaviours?
– Edward T. Hall used an iceberg to further explore the components of culture.
cultural differences are hard to perceive, students may find themselves reprimanded by teachers but fail to understand what they did that caused concern.
There are aspects of our culture that is visible and invisible.
What are some of the visible aspects of your culture? Dress, food, language, literature, music, games, rituals, visual arts, festivals
What are some of the invisible aspects of your culture? Beliefs norms, communication styles, handling emotions, values, notions of time, notions of modesty, ethics, competition vs cooperation, etc.
We need to go beyond the surface to really get to know the person so that we can avoid stereotypes, prejudice, racism and discrimination.

5. Activity #1: What is in your cultural backpack?
Distribute the handout and ask participants to fill in the artifacts from their own culture. Compare the responses looking for similarities and differences. Of the cultural artifacts, what ones are of most importance to you in your personal and professional lives?

6. Culture: Biases
How we react to people from different backgrounds is influenced by many factors:
Our own personal experiences with people from that background.
What we've heard about people from this background from our families, peers, the media, popular culture, school, religious institutions, and so on.
Whether we see ourselves as sharing any values, goals, and ways of doing things with people of this background.
Whether people from this background have any control over the things that make them different from us.
How much power we believe people of this background have in our society and any laws or special programs we know about that affect how people of this background are treated.

7. CULTURE: ASSUMPTIONS
Activity #2: Based on your experience, what are some of the beliefs and assumptions that you might have about the following cultures?
Brazilian
Syrian
Indigenous (Aboriginal)
American
Ukrainian
Chinese
Somalian
Invisible culture is not always taught in explicit instruction.
It is very important to learn both visible and invisible culture. And to better understand culture we need to recognize that sometimes we interpret what we see but actual meaning may be different. And sometimes, we have this urge to change our culture in order to adapt to another culture. BUT PLEASE DON’T. There is no need to change. All we really have to do is to become more self aware of the biases and stereotypes that we have. Really a sense of awareness that things might be different for different people. So try to refrain from judging too quickly!

8. Activity #3: Self-assessment
CULTURE: ASSUMPTIONS
Activity #3: Self-assessment
What are your perceptions of people from different racial or ethnic groups? With language or dialects different from yours? With special needs? What are the sources of these perceptions (e.g., friends, relatives, television, movies)?
Have you experienced others’ making assumptions about you based on your membership in a specific group? How did you feel?
When you were in school, how often did social relationships develop among students from different racial or ethnic backgrounds in the classroom and in the school? What was the nature of these relationships?
Source: Adapted from Bromley (1998).

9. DIMENSIONS OF CULTURE Sense of Self and Space:
Distance/Touch/Formal/Informal
Communication and Language:
Language/Dialect/Gestures/Expressions/Tone/Direct/Indirect
Dress and Appearance:
Clothing/Hairstyle/Grooming
Food and Eating Habits:
Food Restrictions/taboos/Utensils/Hands/Food Preferences/Manners/Rituals
Time and Time Consciousness:
Punctuality/Promptness/Age/Status/Pace
Sense of Self and Space Distance
Touch
Formal/Informal
Communication and Language Language/Dialect
Gestures/Expressions/Tone
Direct/Indirect
Dress and Appearance Clothing
Hairstyle
Grooming
Food and Eating Habits Food Restrictions/taboos
Utensils/hands
Food preferences
Manners/rituals
Time and Time Consciousness Punctuality/Promptness
Age/Status
Pace
Relationships Family/Friends
Age/Gender
Status/Authority
Values and Norms Group/Individual
Independence/Conformity
Privacy
Respect
Competition/Cooperation
Beliefs and Attitudes Religion/Spirituality
Position of Women
Social Order
Mental process and learning Rational/Emotional
Holistic/Individualistic
Work Habits and Practices Work ethics
Remuneration/Promotions
Division of Labour
Status of type of Work

10. DIMENSIONS OF CULTURE Relationships Values and Norms
Family/Friends/Age/Gender/Status/Authority
Values and Norms
Group/Individual/Independence/Conformity/Privacy/Respect/Competition/Cooperation
Beliefs and Attitudes
Religion/Spirituality/Position of Women/Social Order
Mental process and learning
Rational/Emotional/Holistic/Individualistic
Work Habits and Practices
Work ethics/Renumeration/Promotions/Division of Labour/Status of type of Work

11. “Collectivist” vs. “Individualistic” Cultures
Hall (1976) describes societies as being either “collectivist” or “individualistic” cultures:
Collectivist – have strong interpersonal bonds and extensive networks with members of their in-group.
Individualist – compartmentalize their personal relationships; they prefer lots of background information.

12. Intercultural Communication
Collectivist Cultures: Asian, African and Natives of Canada and America
Less focus on verbal interactions
More focus on nonverbal interactions
Often use indirect style
More reliant on hierarchies
Implicit: Context is more important
Silence/long pauses are valued
Individualist Cultures: Mostly Anglo-European Americans
More focus on verbal interactions
Less focus on nonverbal interactions
Mainly use direct style
Value equal status
Explicit: words are more important
Silence is viewed incompetent & uncomfortable

13. Cultural Adjustment Curve
Step 5: Adaptation and assimilation; bridging into the community, social engagement, language proficiency, employment, friendships, cultural mosaic.
Step 3: Building skills and knowledge; Language, schools, housing, food, relationships, norms, employment. Children often adjusting quicker than parents.
Step 1: Everything is new, different and exciting; a new chance and opportunity; “a gift”
Step 4: Cultural adjustments, social norms, employment, housing, engaging different communities.
Step 2: Frustration, annoyance; “culture shock”; challenges (language, food, weather, money, homesickness)