What is Your Culture?

Today in my Cross Cultural class we discussed the idea of culture. How do you define what your culture is? One of our first projects is a reflection paper in which we define our culture and values, both as we learned them growing up and as we see them now. This is a hard question. How many times have you really stopped and thought about what your culture consists of? Is it my race? My religion? The foods I eat and the music I listen to? Or, is it all of the above? Is my culture uniquely Black or uniquely American? Do I consider myself Black or African American? So many questions run through my mind when attempting to address this issue. Wikipedia defines African American culture like this:

African American culture in the United States refers to the cultural contributions of African ethnic groups to the culture of the United States, either as part of or distinct from American culture. The distinct identity of African American culture is rooted in the historical experience of the African American people, including the Middle Passage, and thus the culture retains a distinct identity while at the same time it is enormously influential to American culture as a whole.

African American culture is rooted in Africa and is a blend of chiefly sub-Saharan African and Sahelean cultures. Although slavery greatly restricted the ability of Africans in America to practice their cultural traditions, many practices, values, and beliefs survived and over time have modified or blended with European American culture. There are even some facets of African American culture that were accentuated by the slavery period. The result is a dynamic culture that has had and continues to have a profound impact on mainstream American culture, as well as the culture of the broader world.

After Emancipation, unique African American traditions continued to flourish, as distinctive traditions or radical innovations in music, art, literature, religion, cuisine, and other fields. While for some time sociologists, such as Gunnar Myrdal and Patrick Moynihan, believed that African Americans had lost most cultural ties with Africa, anthropological field research by Melville Herskovits and others demonstrated that there is a continuum of African traditions among Africans of the Diaspora.^[1] The greatest influence of African cultural practices on European cultures is found below the Mason-Dixon in the southeastern United States, especially in the Carolinas among the Gullah people and in Louisiana.^[2][3]

African American culture often developed separately from mainstream American culture because of the persistence of racial discrimination in America, as well as African Americans' desire to maintain their own traditions. Consequently, African American culture has become a significant part of American culture and yet, at the same time, remains a distinct cultural body.^[4]

So, what do you think? Do you agree or disagree? Is there anything you would add or take away from this definition?

I am loving this class, by the way, and I will probably post on it from time to time so bear with me if this is not your cup of tea. I think race relations in this country, especially now that we have a Black president, are back on the table for open discussion and I enjoy hearing from others what they think. It can sometimes be uncomfortable to address but when done respectfully and with an open mind can be very healing as well. As always, thanks for reading!