Pick one concept from the assigned readings that you found useful or interesting and discuss it.
A concept I always find interesting (an especially so in this chapter), is the concept that cultures are learned. I work with children, and it's always amazing to see similarities between children and their parents. From the moment we are born we are aware of the cultural patterns that take place, and the according consequences and privileges received by choosing to abide by these patterns. I don't know how many classmates this holds true for, but in kindergarten we truly had "gender appropriate" toys. It was very rare for the girls to be playing with blocks and the boys to be playing with Barbies. It seems like we are taught from a young age what is "right" in our culture.
Growing up, my family had a rule that after dinner, each member of the family had to put their own dish in the dishwasher. If one of us didn't do this, we would have to go back and fix the mistake or they may have been a consequence. In other households, many dishes are left untouched in the sink until the next day. This little act between my family is a way that we express our culture, even among a small group It's funny how little cultural patterns can seem. We learn through accepted behaviors. I truly agree with Trenholm when she writes "We are so well programmed that we seldom stop to think that culture is learned." (Trenholm 344). It was my trip to Scotland this past summer that I truly thought about how different various communities or cultures can be. I think by traveling, constantly visiting other places and different cultures, we slowly can break the barrier that limits connection between cultures.
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Dinner with my family consisted of all the women preparing the meal, while the men just lounged around and waited while watching a baseball game. It was a sign of respect because the meals that these incredible women provided were far beyond the men's capabilities. till this day, the women in my family always do the cooking for some reason, unless it was a barbecue, and family comes to our house to pay their respects and eat. Sometimes family I havent' seen in a while show up. Its like an event there. In my apartment though, between my wife and I, I tend to do most of the cooking. I got most of what I know from my mother.
This was a concept that I found interesting as well. I do agree that there are similarities between children and parents. All of the important family traditions will continue down in each generation. When you talk about gender specific toys, I also agree that when growing up children are taught to like only certain toys. This is definitely something that our society teaches us at a young age. My family also had certain traditions when it came to dinners and chores.
I always used to notice when visiting my friends houses, the different ways that they lived their lives. I used to come home and tell my parents all about what the other family got to do. It was interesting to see how some families really kept their cultures alive and how other families changed and adapted to a new or different culture.
After moving from Ireland, my family definitely tried and still tries to keep our culture alive. It was very important to us. I also learned a lot when visiting other countries this last summer. I do believe that we can break the barrier that limits the connections between other cultures.
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