Activity #4
1. One privilege that my culture holds is land ownership. This is a privilege afforded to most households since there are very few families in Haiti who do not own land, and when you compare this to other cultures it is significant. Another privilege I have is that I have the opportunity to be extremely close to my grandmother who lives with us. It is the practice within the Haitian culture for widows and widowers to live with their children and grandchildren in one house. I also get to enjoy the season of Carnivale with its parades, music, food, and abundant consumption of alcohol.
Use your promo and get a custom paper on
"Culture Questions".
2. As a member of the minority, my family is in the small, but growing middle class. I am immediately marked as middle class by my small French vocabulary, and by the fact that I do not straighten my hair. I am viewed by the wealthy upper class, lighter skinned people with suspicion since they are afraid I may commit some sort of crime against them. Even though I have medium color dark skin, I am still in the lower social class. This is ironic because we refer to all other outsiders, even those dark skinned ones, as blan (white).
3. When you are in a position of powerlessness you behave as if the whole world is out to get you. You may respond to having no power with bursts of rage and even violence. You would feel as if there were no hope and would, therefore, not care about paying bills, doing your civic duty, etc. I would want others to treat me with dignity and respect even though I had no power. I would not want for someone in power to speak down to me, but would rather prefer some small act such as being encouraged towards getting an education or breaking free from the cycle of poverty. A person in power could totally turn around a powerless person’s behavior by helping him out in some small way while letting him maintain his dignity.
4. If I were to wake up as a minority in a totally different culture tomorrow, I would definitely have less prestige and power. I may not have the opportunity to attend school or even live in a home with my extended family. I may be in a situation where some or most of my freedoms have been taken away from me. One of the privileges that I enjoy now is freedom to make my own decisions and live my own life as I see fit. The only people I really have to answer to are my parents-my father in particular.
5. In my Haitian society, I can pass for someone of the upper class, and if that were suddenly taken away from me (in other words, if I were even lighter skin) I do not think I would tell anyone that I was really middle class. I would want them to continue to think that I was of a higher class because that would just make things easier for me. I recognize the moral dilemma in pretending to be something that you are not, but if it makes your life easier, then why not pursue it? People have preconceived notion about stereotypes and that could work to my advantage if I were in this situation.
6. One problem I would face would be language. In my culture, the upper classes speak French, and I only have a small vocabulary in this language. A second barrier would be education. The wealthy class in Haiti is highly educated, and I believe that my speech and grammar would give me away as not being as highly educated as a person of the higher class would be. A third barrier would be the fact that I am not married, and marriage is expected among the upper classes. A fourth and final barrier would be my nationality as I see myself as Haitain rather than French. The wealthy consider themselves to be French.
7. It would be easier to adjust to a new culture if I knew the language and could speak it fluently. Communication is key in assimilating into a new culture. If there were someone who looked and sounded like me, I would probably be able to adjust more easily. In order to gain acceptance I would have to work at overcoming the barriers I wrote about in the previous question, and I would need a mentor to assist with that. I would need to make sure that I dressed in the same manner as my new culture and behaved in social situations in a like manner to my new culture.
Activity #2
8. When speaking to someone, Haitians stand very close and even hold hands. Men hold hands with men and women hold hands with women but only if they are close friends. We gesture, sometimes wildly, with our hands when we are talking or trying to make a point. If I am speaking with someone who is of a higher status, I will not look them directly in the eye. This is a show of respect. Something that Haitians do that is very disconcerting to other cultures is to stare. We do not consider this rude at all, and we love to stare at people-especially foreigners.
10. When Haitians are speaking to one another, we wait to speak until we are sure that the other person has finished his sentence. To interrupt someone is considered to be quite rude. You want to make sure that the person is finished speaking before you speak, but you do not want to drag the silence out interminably since that could become uncomfortable for both parties. The Haitian culture teaches us to be respectful in our speech but to not be afraid to express ourselves. Someone from a different culture may respond to this question in much the same manner. In fact, I think it is safe to say that most cultures value respect and manners as do the Haitians.
11. In the Haitian culture, feelings are expressed quite vividly and openly. Gesturing wildly when speaking to each other demonstrates we are full of life. We are a passionate people who are often prone to express displeasure with loud shouting, and happiness with joyous singing. From cradle to grave we are in the midst of this bright vibrant culture that values being heard. We have opinions and are not afraid to voice them. Some cultures shy away from this and consider it tacky or crude to be so open and loud, but not the Haitians. Other cultures may be more subdued, but not the Haitians.
