ABC

Cultural Diveristy

 

 

 

“One of the greatest regrets in life is being what others would want you to be, rather than being yourself.” ― Shannon L. Alder

The concept of diversity encompasses acceptance and respect. It means understanding that each individual is unique, and recognizing our individual differences.  These can be along the dimensions of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs, or other ideologies.  It is the exploration of these

differences in a safe, positive, and nurturing environment. It is about understanding each other and moving beyond simple tolerance to embracing and celebrating the rich dimensions of diversity contained within each individual.

           Culture refers to the beliefs, ideas, traditions and behaviors portrayed by certain communities and are passed from one generation to the other. Cultural diversity involves the changes that have taken place comparing what was deeply rooted in culture in ancient times and how it has been changing with time. Employees can bring varied belief systems and degrees of religious observation with them into the workplace. These differences can sometimes manifest in overt needs, such as getting certain holidays off, dietary restrictions, clothing and prayer requirements. The differences may be nicer, simply informing employee personalities and the character of their interactions with others. Religious diversity in the workplace creates a need for effective communication, respect, and empathy among workers. Just as with other points of cultural diversity, differing beliefs have the bonus of additional perspectives.

            Over the Thanksgiving Break I had a chance to interview one of my mother’s coworkers that has a different cultural background than me. I interview Linda Johnson who’s from South Africa. While interviewing her it was a little bit hard for me to understand her. South Africa cultural background is a little bit different from the American background. The culture of South Africa is known for its ethnic and cultural diversity. The South African black majority still has a substantial number of rural inhabitants who lead largely impoverished lives. It is among these people, however, that cultural traditions survive most strongly; as blacks have become increasingly urbanized and Westernised, aspects of traditional culture have declined. Urban blacks usually speak English or Afrikaans in addition to their native tongue. There are smaller but still significant groups of speakers of Khoisan languages, not included in the eleven official languages, but are one of the eight other officially recognized languages. There are small groups of speakers of endangered languages, most of which are from the Khoisan family, that receive no official status; however, some groups within South Africa are attempting to promote their use and revival. South Africa is often called the ‘Rainbow Nation’, a term which was coined by the former Archbishop, Desmond Tutu, and neatly describes the country’s multicultural diversity. Because of its colonial past, South Africa has a large number of Afrikaans- (descended from Dutch settlers) and English speakers (the British began colonizing the region in the 1800s). French Huguenots, Germans and Portuguese arrived from the 1600s and brought many slaves from India and modern-day Indonesia. Islam and Hindu traditions and culture are also therefore prominent. After interviewing her I was a little bit shock at how much of difference that we as two countries has. Hearing all of the history behind South Africa and the struggles that they had to overcome I was interest in taking a trip in the summer to visit South Africa and experience some of the different things that do. I can learn something from them and they could learn something from me.

Diversity is the art of thinking independently together. Diversity comes from many different things. Although everyone is raised differently we are still a like in some type of way. If we cannot now end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.