Culture & the formation of identity

Can culture be developed and not just genetic?

Some anthropologists believe that culture is ‘human nature’ and that all people have a capacity to classify experiences and encode classifications symbolically (like language.)

I believe this is true.  If you spend 10 years in the United States, and then decide to live in another country, you can develop another sense of culture that way.  If you were born in France, and you moved to the U.S. when you were a baby, your sense of culture is your life in the U.S. (because you would’ve been so young when you moved.)

In the Culture Anthropology reading by James Ferguson and Akhil Gupta, they examine the differences between society and culture.   They also talk about how our maps of territories are so different from each other and mean different things to us.  Something also mentioned in the reading it is it means to be a multicultural being.

Something I found interesting about this reading was the topic of an ‘ethnographic map.’  I think this is something to take note of because of the way we go define people.  It states that we name and define cultures because it’s easiest to do, and that we describe people to meet their territories.  The article states that we do this because it’s the only way of making a ‘cultural grid’ that lets us describe people and where they live.

The only thing I didn’t like about this term is the fact that someone can’t define themselves as two cultures here.  That it had just been talking about multiculturalism, but then it’s taking what that means away.

If I was born in Poland, and raised in the United States, I would have to define myself as one culture.  If I lived on the Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri border—it would be the same thing.   What about those who spend half a year in one country and half in another?  These people are conflicted with how to define themselves, and are then living out pieces of what make them who they are.  No subcultures would exist, and we definitely wouldn’t be diverse.  People would come to America just to taste ‘american food,’ etc.  Our way of life now and what we’ve been brought up to have (walking down the street and being able to get Chinese food, having diversity in our college classes, etc.) wouldn’t exist.

What does my culture mean to me?

I define my culture as the way I was raised.  Being able to make my own decisions about politics, religion, etc..have made me the person I am today.  I was raised that my decisions are mine alone, and I can be the only person to determine who I am.  Both of my parents, raised conservative Catholics, wanted my older sister and I to explore and take advantage of the options they didn’t have.  I consider my immediate family a part of my culture, and some of the things my family celebrates or does are part of my ‘culture.’  I also consider culture through those experiences I’ve been given.  Having the option to explore the world of religion, politics, and life in general have defined my ‘own’ culture and what it means to me.