Culture Shock Is Real, Ethnic Or Age Group

Throughout the reading "How to Write About Africa" by Binyavanga Wainaina, the author was mentioning exactly what people, in general, see and hear in the average about Africa. What catches my eyes the most about this reading is how many people talk about African countries as if they had the same health problems, culture, economy, nature and so on. The climate diversity, land, plants, animals and people divided into five continent. Africa is one of them. However, if this continent is so big, so diverse, and as complex as any other continent, why do we treated as a country?

Between America and other European nations, stereotypes and misrepresentations have ultimately plagued the continent of Africa. To every side there is often another story, yet unfortunately for the many countries of Africa, they are ultimately victimized and suffer through further oppression. According to Curtis Keim’s book Mistaking Africa, Keim suggests that Africa is essentially under the public microscope, it tends to be scrutinized, and compared to European nations and America. Keim elaborates on human natures need to group people, places, and things, which creates the theory of superiority or dominance over races, cultures, and even religions.

Culture is a behavior that consists of several critical elements, such as language, religion, race and ethnicity, clothing and politics. Culture is what one does in his/her daily life. In order to understand others, we must first keep in mind that every culture carries its own set of values and assumptions. Culture is an evolving, ever changing civilization, which includes several different groups people. For immigrants, America is a land of opportunity; for others it is just the best country in the world because of its economic success and/or its democratic political system. Americans usually value independence a lot, believe in equal opportunity, and have a direct communication style. In exploring the

Culture is one of the most relevant elements that can define not only a society but also a country’s cumulative beliefs and system. Often noted as the origins of a country, culture is definitive in the sense that it harbors all the elements that can provide justification on the traditions and norms set by the society for its members. More often than not, the society members follow norms in order to create a harmonious community, and the beliefs and the traditions serve as the poles or grounding rules for each member to follow. Culture is very dynamic in the way that it can change over a variety of foreign influences but what is permanent about it is that original elements about it often lingers with the influences, therefore making it multi-faceted and broad. More importantly, culture serves as an individual and unique trait each society has, and therefore sets it apart from other countries and other societies.

Since the inception of human civilization there have been countless cultures and societies which have helped shape the current world today as we know it. The modern human race dates back more than 200,000 years and in that time frame many cultures have risen to great virtue and success only to deteriorate or cease to exist altogether. First before examining one of these cultures we must know what culture truly means. The Army’s Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) Culture Center defines culture as a “dynamic social system,” containing the beliefs, behaviors, values and norms of a “specific organization, group, society or other collectivity” learned, shared, internalized, and changeable by all members of the society (Watson, 2010). In

What Peter Berger means by the first statement, in which he links sociological discovery to culture shock minus geographical displacement, is that sociological discoveries and realizations are very often made in one 's own society. When they are made, they might come off as shocking because they are being viewed in a different light. You can go to the nearest church or park and make new discoveries with what you observe in an open state of mind.

Culture refers to a system of norms and values that are shared amongst groups of individuals and when they are taken together they represent a living system. In America there are different cultures. Each culture has its advantages and disadvantages. The current problem or issue is on the problem of race in American culture. The history and the effects of race, and analyzes why people think about race as a problem in American culture and why it has to be addressed.

When learning about the history of the world, we can not ignore the fact that Africa plays a significant role. Many believe that Africa is the birth place of all races, and although that is true, the history and cultures of Africa and its natives are misunderstood among Americans. People do not take the time to expand their knowledge about Africa, yet they create their own perceptions of the continent based upon the image that America created. America creates this stereotype that Africa is inferior to the other continents by picturing them as savage like individuals who live an insufficient life. To truly understand Africa, you must understand these two important elements: the demographics of Africa and the true history of Africa

There are many myths and stereotypes of how the media portrays Africa to be. The media has stereotyped Africa to be poor, hazardous, hot, underdeveloped nation, violent and spiritual country (p, 37). In the chapter “How We Learn”, Curtis Keim focuses on the specific sources that stereotypes Africa to be over populated country with exotic animals. Also stereotypes the people to be illiterate and not well educated people. People take negativity from different sources of media and base their opinion upon the information given and that is how people learn about Africa.

Power is a tool constantly being used as narrative to persuade people. History shows how European presence has rape Africa’s inhabitants of their language, food, and traditions. African- American are being feed the narrative that Africa is a continents with several under-developed countries,

Africa is a bountiful and beauteous continent filled with unique individuals, various attractions, and a myriad of cultures. It is a land of genetic diversity, technological achievement and riches. From the East African nation of Kenya where expansive wildlife reserves and national parks can be found to the Arab republic of Egypt in the North where pyramids harken back to the past, no part of Africa is the same. Yet despite this, there are those who refuse to see the real Africa and instead choose to perpetuate outdated and racist stereotypes. The numerous stereotypes about Africa are detrimental, not just to the continent, but to Africans as well.

Culture Shock or Cultural Adaptation is a major issue facing the non-Indigenous staff, who are working in ATSI community and Aboriginal children who are attending a non -indigenous service. We see it in possible symptoms like desiring to leave or feeling the need to indulge or feeling tired and unreasonably strong feelings of anger and sadness, and depression may result from any smallest and silliest of things (Culture shock) .

The world develops and continuously expand in magnificent ways, computers now function like a human brain, it is possible these days to communicate instantly with people around the globe due to video conferencing. There is no rebut that mankind has evolved in remarkable ways, unfortunately there is still a great deal of imbalance and misunderstandings that exist in civilization, around the globe. It seems that the the world over looks the one place called Africa that covers six percent of the earth’s surface in which 1.1 billion of the worlds populations lives. Their are many stories about Africa that has been rooted and seems to be misinformed, with a lack of understanding and stereotypes.

What is meant by ‘Africa’? A number of questions come up when trying to define it; is it geographic? Or can 'Africa ' be considered a racial definition? Is Africa even one single entity capable of being defined? There is a predominant idea that there is something different or strange about the continent, that it is violent, alien and 'savage '. This false idea has been 'invented '. At what point did African otherness become the norm? I will argue that the modern interpretation of 'Africa ' was 'invented ' during the European colonial period as a method of separation, splitting the Earth into distinct and arbitrary racial blocks which conformed to the racial science of 19th century

The concept of culture is something that defines many aspects of one’s life. From physical objects to different ways of thinking, culture adds significance to human life and makes groups of people distinct from one another. Culture is essentially a group of people who come together with similar interests and points of view. According to the Center for Advanced Language Acquisition of the University of Minnesota, “culture is defined as the shared patterns of behaviors and interactions, cognitive constructs, and affective understanding that are learned through a process of socialization.” From a more sociological perspective, culture is a way in which people come together in order to fulfill their needs. These shared patterns and ideas identify the members of a culture group while also distinguishing those of another group.” Culture is one of the things that sets the United States apart from the rest of the world. Not that the rest of the world is not cultural, but the circumstance here is different. Many people of different cultural backroads come to this country in search of a better life. As a consequence, the United States has become a place where many cultures merge together like a colossal pot soup.