On Culture

I have been fascinated with the idea of culture ever since I set foot on Colombian soil. I have continued to explore cultural differences since then. There is not only cultural differences between countries, but between regions of a country, between religious denomination, even between family units, if you want to go that far.

I think it was Aristotle who insisted that we define terms before talking about anything. Indeed, he insisted that most arguments are mostly about definitions of terms.

So a definition of culture would be a good place to begin:

"Culture is an integrated system of learned behavior patterns that are characteristic of the members of any given society. Culture refers to the total way of life of particular groups of people. It includes everything a group of people thinks, says, does, and makes."
(from Living in Colombia by Hutchinson, et al.)

This is my first introduction to culture, through the concept of culture shock that was carefully outlined in the above mentioned book. By experiencing culture shock personally, I learned a lot about what defined my culture and made the culture I was currently living in different, even 'strange' at times.

What are the stages of culture shock?

1. The Honeymoon period ~ Just what it says - nothing is wrong with this culture and everything is right and beautifully different!!
2. Flight, Dependency or Fight ~ None of these strategies are healthy and a healthy mind moves beyond this stage. Flight is retreating into a cocoon and avoiding all outside influences, i.e. creating a North American oasis of your home. Dependency is the other extreme = "going native". Fight is insisting on how 'wrong' the culture is and how 'right' your way of behavior is.
3. The Road to Recovery ~ This shows that you are on your way to being a healthy part of the culture. You are more open to cultural differences, you participate more, you may even joke about your cultural faux pas.
4. Cultural Adjustment ~ You now accept the host culture as a different way of living. You are able to live in it and appreciate the differences without being totally immersed and lost in them.

What is fascinating about this is that everyone goes through culture shock at different rates, depending on your length of stay. It actually takes longer to go through if you are moving to a country for the long-term (10 years) than if you are planning on being there for just 6 months of a year. Another thing that is interesting is that re-entry culture shock (returning to your home culture) can actually be a harder adjustment than the initial culture shock.

Now, for me it has been a difficult adjustment to life here in Canada, or should I say, Western Canada - for the culture of East vs. West I feel has made it more difficult for me. For example, when I have visited my sister-in-law in Winnipeg, I felt that the culture there was more like the culture I grew up in near Philadephia than here in Abbotsford. Winnipeg is definitely more of an urban culture. Abbotsford, technically, is a city, but not a city like I have ever experienced before in any place I have lived before.

Bibliography:

Hutchinson, William R. et al. Living in Colombia: A Guide for Foreigners. (Yarmouth, Maine: Interalculture Press, Inc.) 1987.