Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
Heritage Assessment: Indian, Chinese and American Cultures
In using the heritage assessment tool, three (3) cultures were considered and compared: Indian (author's culture), Chinese and American.
Indian
The author's culture is highly influenced by rural Indian culture, as s/he was raised in India until s/he was 25 years old. Because of this late influence of American culture, my Indian culture has remained stronger within me. This is reflected in the author's lifestyle, which strictly adhered to traditions and values held important by the Indians. Raised a Catholic, the author is actively involved in the Church and participates in activities like Bible reading and celebrating religious holidays. The author's strong Catholic Indian identity is also reflected in her social circle, which primarily consisted of Indians sharing the same cultural identity as her and practicing Catholics.
However, when talking about health maintenance, the author mixes the influence of Indian culture with the principles of Catholicism. While she subscribes to the belief that one must approach a medical doctor when sick or not feeling well, the author also applies her local Indian knowledge in providing remedies to 'simple' illnesses like fever and joint and muscle pain. To cure these simple illnesses, the author simply uses herbs and different kinds of plants that are known in her native hometown as having medicinal properties. But she primarily administers these to herself and does not extend it to her family. When her family gets sick, she would go immediately to a medical doctor to have them checked.
Chinese
The Chinese interviewee/participant...
during her teen years. Since she grew up during this critical transition period, the influence of U.S. culture has become stronger and this has become her 'main' culture more than her Chinese identity. As a practicing Catholic, she was actively involved in religious activities such as praying, reading the Bible, and observing religious holidays and traditions. At the same time, her mother had taught her the 'Chinese way' of addressing medical concerns and problems. She was taught different techniques to ensure that she can maintain or regain her or her family's health through eating specific dishes or food and taking Chinese medicines made from indigenous plants. Her mother exposed and made her familiar with the Chinese drug stores who offer these herbal medicines for both very specific and simple ailments. Like most Chinese in her community, she has become adapted to a special diet that included regular intake of tea and herbs that would make her strong and feel and look young. The Chinese traditional health practices her mother taught her are extended to her husband, an American, and children. So far these health beliefs and practices have served her family right, and helped hem prevent simple ailments from escalating further.
American
Born and raised in America, the American interviewee was introduced early to Protestantism, but eventually declined to join any religious groups. While he does not label himself an atheist or non-believer, he has managed to create his personal religious philosophy and would like to keep it private and not share this with others. Raised in the U.S., he is a firm believer of medical…
references to documents in history." ICCROM Working Group 'Heritage and Society.' Available at: http://cif.icomos.org/pdf_docs/Documents%20on%20line/Heritage%20definitions.pdf
The program primarily supports the local Chinese communities to maintain younger generation's heritage background, and spreading Chinese culture in the U.S. The classes are normally held two to three hours on weekends with Chinese language lessons and other traditional cultural and art activities. Most students have high levels of oral proficiency in Chinese, but needed to enhance skills in literacy. Chinese heritage schools are mainly supported by two groups:
Therefore, today's society in the United States is diverse, which is something a social worker needs to understand and know how to deal with each diverse group. Furthermore, through research, it has been discovered most ethnic groups that live in the United States consist of young people, which means by staying in this country, they grow accustom to their surroundings. Once they have grown accustom to living here, they
For instance, multiculturalism is the official policy of Australia, but New Zealand insists on a bicultural stance. This is quite backwards and must be rectified. Multiculturalism is a theory (although it is vague) about the bases and groundwork of a culture rather than a practice which subsumes cultural thought processes. Multiculturalism was redefined by Said's "Orientalism" as well. Looked at broadly, the term is often used to describe societies (especially nations)
Following are Hofstede's four categories and what they measure: Power Distance (PD) is the "extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally" (Hofstede 1998) with a small PD meaning more equality in the society, and a large PD meaning less. Individualism (ID) defines whether the society expects people to look after themselves or not. Its opposite is
Such relationships in childhood begin with the parents, and for Asher, these early relationships are also significant later, as might be expected. However, as Potok shows in this novel, for someone like Asher, the importance of childhood bonds and of later intimate bonds are themselves stressed by cultural conflicts between the Hasidic community in its isolation and the larger American society surrounding it. For Asher, the conflict is between the
16). In comparing a number of literary elements in one story, Smith and Wiese (2006) contend that at times, when attempting to transform an old story into a modern multicultural version, cultural meanings of the original story may be lost. In turn, the literature does not subject the reader to another culture. For instance, in the story about the fisherman, that Smith and Wiese access, the plot remains similar plot,