observe Cultural Determination: Simply a Race Issue?
I am a woman, who happens to be white. I possess my own personal cultural identity, but our society does not classify it as being “white.” I am hesitant to refer to culture as being either white or black because to stereotypically label it limits the depth of understanding the complex nature of culture in its entirety. Culture cannot simply be referred to as a race issue and I am consequent proof of that. Within our melting pot of a Nation, the personified ingredients have blended and one’s culture is no longer strictly determined by the color of their skin. As a grown woman, the forming of my own personal ideas, customs, and beliefs has had less to do with the color of my skin and more to do with my individual life realities, which have exposed me to a diversity of people and places. Within our society, the cultural aspects of a variety of races are expressed, but the prevailing issue here lies in the question: how much of culture is actually determined by race? If a white child is born and raised in the conditions which are usually misconceived as belonging to black culture, of which culture does the child belong? The lines have been blurred and other characteristics, such as class stature, geographic location, and social mentality are as much of a cultural determinate as race, if not more.
observe Good Passion
I would like to introduce to you an interview with a young
Map of Indonesia
female Muslim from Balikpapan, Indonesia. She is 20 years old coming from a democracy that is 88% Muslim with a population of 241,973,879 citizens. The exchange rate is one dollar for every 10,107 Indonesian Rupiah. An Al-Qaeda linked terrorist group, Jemaah Islamiyyah also continues to present a threat, after attacks against foreign interests in Bali in 2001 and 2005, and Jakarta in 2003. ZowieWowie interviewed this young woman to reveal her perception of the world today. Her name is Widya Puteri and she has given us permission to show her picture with the veil from her homeland.
Feb 5, 2006, 03:50:00
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