Post #4

In our class, we began learning about culture, and different norms found within different cultures.  When our teacher asked us to think about any different cultures we are a part or have experienced, I initially drew a blank.  I have never spent an excessive amount of time outside the Midwest my whole life.  But then, I thought about the way life was when I lived in Michigan for the first 12 years of my life, and how differently it actually is from suburban Chicago, even though the two are geographically near each other.  In Michigan, we proud Michiganders (which actually is the correct term for people from the great peninsula) have a certain arsenal of lingual terms and gestures that those who do not dwell there wouldn't understand.  First, when a Michigander meets a fellow native of Michigan, we ask where they're from in the state.  And every time, the person will hold up their right hand, palm out, and point to approximately where they are from on the mitten.  Another thing is that in Michigan, we have a chain of restaurants called Leo's Coney Island.  This restaurant is essentially a traditional diner, but one that serves Greek food.  And they are located in almost every single strip mall in the Detroit metropolitan area.  So, when you are in Michigan, you can tell someone you are going to Leo's, and they will completely understand what you are talking about, while someone who is not from Michigan will ask in confusion "Who is Leo?"  A third predominant term used by all Michiganders is saying "Up North."  In Michigan, everyone vacations "Up North," and when you tell people you are going "Up North," they know with absolute certainty that you are talking about going to northern Michigan to enjoy the beaches of Lake Michigan.  The list of terms and gestures that are used in the subculture of the great state of Michigan goes on and on. 

Thinking about this other culture that I had grown up in helps me to see some of the different ideas we have learned about in class in action.  The idea of non-material culture, which is essentially anything that is unique to a culture that you can't see, like language, gestures, specific rules and practices, is evident when I think about the culture of my home state.  On the other hand, the material culture-which is a term that describes exactly as you would expect, the items unique to a culture- of Michigan is basically identical to the material culture of the rest of America.  This unique non-material culture found within Michigan is a great example of a sub-culture within American culture.  While overall, the way of life in Michigan is very similar to the way life is practiced in the rest of America, Michigan has a few differences that give it its own subculture, because they are things that non-Michiganders would not understand.  

Within the realm of culture, there are two categories that different practices are grouped into: non-material and material culture, which are as I just described above.  The material culture in different cultures is the one that is most easy to see.  In the film we watched in class God Grew Tired of Us, the "lost boys," who were refugees of the Sudanese civil war, were brought to America to have a chance at life until their homeland was no longer too dangerous to live in.  When the boys arrived in America, what they were initially shocked about was the stark contrast between the material culture of America and where they grew up.  The things that shocked them the most were the things that we Americans are so accustomed to, we never give them any thought.  Things like electricity, running water, indoor plumbing, refrigerators, single person beds, garbage cans, etc.  The boys experiences extreme culture shock, which is when you find yourself in the middle of another culture and are taken aback by how different it is from your own.  Seeing people so shocked at these extremely common pieces of our culture in America gives you perspective as to how completely different people's lives can be in different parts of the world.  Not that they are in some way deprived, it's just that we are so reliant on our modern conveniences, that the idea that other people could live so well without them is a shock to our systems.   

The other type of culture, non-material culture, includes anything that isn't a material possession.  Things like language, gestures, and the norms of a culture.  Cultural norms are divided into three categories: folkways, mores, and taboos.  Folkways are things that are not very important, forgotten rules of a cultures.  Things like not eating with your elbows on the table, or not holding the door open.  They are the kinds of things that if you did them, people might notice, but they would not judge you for them (even though I, personally, find it incredibly rude to not hold doors open, and think it is a very simple act of kindness, but that's irrelevant).  The second type of norms are mores.  Mores are things that are a bit more severe than folkways, and if you did or didn't do these things, people would judge you.  In Western culture, an example of a mores would be that if you are eating, especially in public, you don't eat certain foods with your hands.  If you went to a restaurant, and started chowing down on fistfuls of spaghetti, people would start to question that immediately.  While they might not confront you about it, they will think there is something wrong with you.  Finally, taboos are norms that are so forbidden and just wrong that most people wouldn't even think about doing them.  Things like picking your nose in public, or farting on a date, or talking about what people do in the restroom, or basically anything that you can think of doing that would be mortifyingly embarrassing.  

In class, we read an article about a Danish woman who was visiting America with her husband and baby.  When she and her husband went to dine at a restaurant, she left her baby in its carriage outside on the sidewalk.  When passer by's saw, they were shocked, disgusted, and decided to call the police.  The police took the child away from its mother, and she had to go through great lengths to get it back.  In America, leaving your child unattended in a busy city is a taboo, and everyone here wouldn't even think about doing it.  But, in Denmark, as well as many other northern European countries, leaving your baby outside while the parents dine in a café is completely common practice, and no one there would question it.  These differences in non-material culture caused culture shock for both the mother and the Americans who saw the child.