Genesis Bobo
9/6/18
Journal 2
2213 M05, Atchley
J2. Ch. 2: Culture and Interpersonal Communication
How do you think your culture differs from other cultures in the world? (See Cultural
Differences, p. 32. and/or Table 2.3 In a Nutshell: “Seven Cultural Differences”, p. 39.)
Choose whichever culture you belong to that influences you the most.
My culture differs from the vast cultures in the world by the way we are taught to love, learn,
and grow. Coming from a typical middle class African American home, we aren’t really shown
what it is like to be raised by both parents. Most times our mothers struggle to get to where they
are but still have everything else in order from a child’s perspective. With growing up, we treat
relationship validity the same way. If we feel like our mother did a good job of raising our family
by herself, we may think its ok to do the same in our lives. Not saying that this is appropriate, but
it is something that we face in the African American culture. Our beliefs are shifted because over
time this cycle just repeats itself until someone else steps in and breaks the barrier. We aren’t
taught to love one into marriage before barring a child. Although some people within my culture
do things “the right way” referring to religious beliefs or whatever else modern society does, the
mass majority of my culture deals with the same scenarios and outcomes. A lot of other cultures
in the world follow what they are accustomed to as tradition, so I just think in our culture the
tradition is for women to be expected to hold up an entire family on her own. I think that I relate
to the “high context culture”, because we grow and relate our lives to previous interactions
within shared experiences.