Cultural Paradigms are unavoidable in our world. With the differences and distance between each one of us being so great, it is no wonder these paradigms exist.
The above image is a perfect example of a paradigm that presents itself in our society today. These blind men stumbled into an elephant. As they each grasped different parts of the elephant, they called out what they could feel and what they whole-heartedly believed it was. Of course, an elephant is a very large animal with many moving parts and the men could only feel their tiny portion. This caused contention, frustration, and confusion among them.
beliefs and views of the people around us?
It is true that we often do not have the full picture and can be quick to make assumptions of what we believe to be correct. When someone comes along and tells us something different, our first reaction can be to disagree or argue.
A culture paradigm is a "role-concept which we use to negotiate our notion of self and our relationships with others in our everyday lives." Culture can exist in one's country, city, religion, school, workplace, home and family. A culture paradigm can be a belief or view of oneself and others. A tradition comes from a culture and is passed down from generation to generation.
Why do you think it could be important to question tradition?
Delali Bright, in her speech titled "Cultural Clashes in Defining Beauty," shared her insights. Bright goes on to tell her story, "I was born and grew up in Togo in West Africa, and in my culture, a thin body is not synonymous to beauty. Being thin was considered unhealthy, probably poor, and definitely not beautiful.... Then, in my 30s, I moved to America. And suddenly, I was beautiful!" In this short quote, we see how her entire view of her body and self changed purely because of her change in location and culture. I definitely recommend listening to the rest of experience featured in her TED talk. We see here, that she spent 30 years of her life believing she wasn't beautiful and unhealthy because of what she was told and what was believed to be true in her culture. We need to be aware, focused and open to what is going on in our communities, our schools and our homes. We cannot let the opinions and traditions of other people define ourselves and our worth.
We can be anything that we dream we can become.
References:
Arditi and The Idea of Cultural Paradigms: Page 8
Cultural Clashes in Defining Beauty - Delali Bright https://www.ted.com/talks/delali_bright_cultural_clashes_in_defining_beauty
Briana:
ReplyDeleteI am here visiting your blog. I enjoyed a lot reading your post about "Cultural Paradigms". You described perfectly What is a paradigm and How does it influence in the daily life, culture and communities. I like when you quote this part: "We cannot let the opinions and traditions of other people define ourselves and our worth". It is so important to remember this, in the world so superficil we live and with parameters a little distorted. Good Post!
Hello Brianna! Excellent explanation. I loved the picture full of colors and people from around the world. I think that as you said, we can allow our cultural paradigms to divide us, or to bring us together, learning from each other.
ReplyDeleteWell done :)
Hi Brianna, I am enjoying reading your blog, and how you organized it. It is true, besides being from different countries, we are also within a religion that is considered different from others. I agree with you it can separate us or bring us together.
ReplyDeleteHey Brianna! Great article, thank you! I loved your insights and thoughts. I like how you stress that we must not allow others to define our self-worth as well. It is a really important concept to remember.
ReplyDeleteHello Brianna, nice post. A long time ago I have read the story, and I enjoyed reading it, I like your post,
ReplyDeleteHi, Brianna! I love how you explain cultural paradigms. Great example! Nice post!
ReplyDelete