Conglomeration of Cultures
By: Alexandra Tantoco
American culture is the conglomeration of cultures and ideas.
Photo Credit: University of Berkeley, Center for Latin American Studies
It's beautiful thinking about how people would've never met or exchanged ideas without the connecting factor that is America. Simply listening to each others experiences and watching stories come to life through art is one of the most powerful forces in American culture.
American culture can be defined through its social cues and values. Learning when it's appropriate to be formal or informal and being direct with one's opinions to peers are just a few traits of what Americans are known for. Contrasting to many countries around the world, America is known as an individualistic culture. There are more than 100 words in the English language that start with the prefix "self." The pressure to be independent and at times, successful at a young age (typically at 18) reflects on the founding morals of being self-reliant. Although, people who come from different cultures tend to pick and choose what they want to inherit from American culture. An example of this would be how many Americans put their elders into nursing homes while some Asian, Latino, and African American families bring their elders into their own homes.
The future of American culture is reliant on the upcoming generations. Recently, American society has emphasized the importance of speaking up. You cannot acknowledge American culture without acknowledging that cultures have been stripped down in the past, marginalized groups have been ignored or killed, and that there is still a lot of work to do. The youth of America is trying it's hardest to change the narrative. To go against the negative aspects of America's past narrative and to bring out the beauty of those once ignored.
Hi Alexandra,
ReplyDeleteI like your title, I believe it catches the readers eye and makes that person interested on what they are about to read. You have a good amount of text, explaining in detail about what describes an American. I completely agree with you when you said, "How people would've never met or exchanged ideas without the connecting factor that is America." Meeting different people is important because you learn about that person and what they do and how they were brought up. Great work with also talking about social cues and values and also about the future generations and how they will be brought up. I enjoyed reading what you had to say about American Culture.
Cierra
Interesting post! I think you can take that suffix "self" and probably add it to thousands of words. It's even been modified to describe people taking images of themselves on smartphones: "selfie." When you talk about the nursing home issue, I wonder if there is an economic component to that, too? When a one-parent-working household becomes a two-parent working household, having fewer people in the home can lead to use of nursing homes. And people are living longer, too (well, America isn't the best at longevity, but still) and for some it might be a safety issue for someone with a family member who has ALS or Alzheimers to get round-the-clock care. But I see where you're coming from. Yes, of course, many families who aren't close might use institutionalized care instead of the home for early parts of disease progression. I wonder what this says about America? With opportunity comes anonymity?
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