As I research my Capstone Project: "Understanding Culture in Higher Education Today," I find that as I interview others about their cultural values and beliefs, many people are shy or maybe do not wish to reveal their deep cultural values and beliefs in, perhaps certain areas like religion, but maybe are more outward spoken about family values or educational values or work and community beliefs.
Karen
I think a lot of people do not want to talk about their cultural values for fear of causing a cultural clash with others or offending others. Religion does impact and shape cultural values, another reason why people may not like to share this with other people and keep it for themselves: what is acceptable is some cultures, may not be so in others, and vice versa. As humans, we are more comfortable sharing our cultural values with like people, or with people who show an open mind to accepting or at least understanding others.
I agree with Messaoud. I deal regularly with my own cultural clash being an ex-Catholic pantheist in a region that is very strongly Bible Belt. I find myself 'hiding' because I must be responsible toward my students and their up-bringings, wanting them to keep their best values, while at the same time, stop being "miraculistic" in their beliefs. I think that we are moving toward a new stage in which this conversation will come out into the open and we will critique not only worldviews/religions/beliefs, but all cultural practices, on a world-wide scale, within the next 25 years. And I think the yardstick will be the future survival of our species.
I wonder if it might also be that some cultural values are revealed in public discourses and therefore already consicously formulated while others are hidden for member of a cultural community as they are so deeply incorporated that they are taken for granted. Therefore it might be even difficult to formulate these incorporated values.
Thank you for your responses. Well, then, if hidden or perhaps one is shy, a cultural metaphor may be the best thing to talk about instead of the culture (Bernard, April, and Fernandez, Adonis Diaz, 2012). The author uses the Yoruba proverbs. I like the fable about the turtle who decided to swim deep down into the sea to the center of the earth to locate the secret of life. He then met a volcano (I'm not sure what a volcano means here) who shared his secret and then wrote on his back. Then the turtle met a fish which looked at the writing and remembered it by heart. Soon, the man captured the fish and ate it. Then man discovered the secret to life. (Baba Ogunda Ariku, 2010 as cited in Bernard, April et al. 2012).
There is a social subconscious just as there is an individual subconscious.
Societies are not aware of most of the processes in which they are immersed. It is difficult to identify the values and beliefs that form the social culture, bearing in mind that, in many cases, this identification involves recognizing issues that people prefer to keep hidden.
Response to Karen's "Understanding Culture in Higher Education" :
Does culture hide much more than it show?
There are various reasons that could be explored to expose why an individual cultural background have the tendency to fluctuate within our society.
For Instance, cultural tides often disappear when discussing education because of the social environment often differ person to person; especially, when a person background do not fit their future intention or goals.
Furthermore, I do believe every culture has advantages and disadvantages that contribute to the primary purpose for an individual not disclosing their true culture!
Overall, I think this was a great question to present from your research!
Dear Edjohn:
Thank you for your response to the question about culture hiding more than it shows. In my Literature Review Matrix attached, the author, April Bernard and Adonis Diaz (2012), they use the cultural metaphor of the turtle in a fable that originated in the Yoruba tradition of West Africa. It is interesting how much meaning hides in a story or metaphor.
Nitza, Amy (2017), talks about how culture hides more than it reveals and cites Hall, 1959, pp.29-30, in her article, "To a Classroom in Botswana (and Back) in search of Cultural Understanding (Nitza, Amy, 2017).
I am glad you mentioned the social environment. Because along with cultural sensitivity, the environment cannot be overlooked!
Another important point you mentioned is one's background matching or lining up with future goals!
More research needs to be done in this area.
Thanks again!
Hello Karen.
For me, your questions are about social identity. If you ask people about their values, you get answers about their social identity. 'Values' in a cultural sense are shared between people who may or may not feel that they are one group or society; most people are unconscious of their shared values in that sense, like fish about the water in which they swim. So yes, culture hides much to people themselves. On the other hand, outsiders will look at a society and perceive things as very strange; so yes, culture shows a lot. Travelling can be a good way to consider both one's own and other cultures in a broader perspective.
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