Lesson 5 — Activity 1: Culture and Identity
Completion requirements
Lesson 5 — Activity 1:
Culture
and
Identity
Courtesy of Pixabay
Culture is everywhere — but what is culture?
Culture is a shared set of practices and traditions that characterize a society or group of people. Culture can include clothing, food, traditions, ceremonies, spiritual practices and beliefs, language, family structure, and communication styles.
Culture is often, though not necessarily, correlated with ethnicity and racial identity. Culture plays a large role in individual identities. Helping young people recognize cultural influences all around them helps them understand themselves.
Culture is a shared set of practices and traditions that characterize a society or group of people. Culture can include clothing, food, traditions, ceremonies, spiritual practices and beliefs, language, family structure, and communication styles.
Culture is often, though not necessarily, correlated with ethnicity and racial identity. Culture plays a large role in individual identities. Helping young people recognize cultural influences all around them helps them understand themselves.
Everyone has a culture, and everyone is different. Sometimes people in various groups often look at people in other groups as "different." Many of these differences are related to culture — ways of living and beliefs that are handed down from one generation to the next.
Courtesy of Getty
All people share basic needs (e.g., food, shelter, etc.), and each of us learns a set of behaviours and beliefs from the people we grow up with (e.g., the kinds of houses we build and the foods we eat), and each person has unique talents and preferences
(e.g., "I'm good at math"; "I don't like chocolate"). When we talk about the behaviours and beliefs that a group of people have in common, we are talking about culture.
In the activity below, you will begin to think about and identify aspects of your own culture.
In the activity below, you will begin to think about and identify aspects of your own culture.