Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

My maternal grandmother was born in China and migrated to Singapore with her grandmother and brother (her mother was already living and working in Singapore) when she was 12; in 1944. She was raised baptist, as her mother was, and practiced until the day her mother died, in 1962. As I spoke to her (with the help of my mother as a translator), she described culture as a combination of tradition, folklore, language, festivals, and literature. She also defined diversity as a place of origin, differences in culture, and religion. 

My grandmother's definition of culture included both surface and deep culture where festivals are what can be seen and is easily represented whilst traditions, folklore, and language are elements that relate to the  intangible essence of culture that can vary for each individual (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010). Although our background of each element that she described differ from one another, the idea of culture still has the same foundation. In describing diversity, the elements described do represent diversity but are not limited to these for an individual. I do not believe that my grandmother would, for example, include sexual orientation in her description of diversity but it does contribute to a part of diversity in our society, especially now when it is a topic that is more widely recognized. Inquiring about other's definitions of diversity and culture, it is often that the aspect of religion is brought up. I had not realized the extent to which many classify religion as a large part of their own diversity. With this in mind, I now value the importance of religion not only to each individual but to society as a whole because religion often provides foundation for many customs and traditions that we practice in modern society even if we, like myself, may not be religious per say. 

References

Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Learning about culture, language, & fairness. Anti-bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves. (p.56). Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.