Voodoo is a system of spirit worship brought to Haiti by slaves from Africa. In 1791, leaders of a slave revolt against France held a secret voodoo meeting in a mountain above Cap Haitian at which they dedicated their country to evil spirits. After their victory over Napoleon’s armies in 1804, they attributed their success to voodoo. As recently as 2004, then President Aristide, a former Roman Catholic priest, renewed this vow. People who practice voodoo believe that everything, good or bad, happens at the whim of spirits.…
What does Bentley mean by cross-cultural history? Cross cultural history is the history of the interactions which different cultures have one each other. These interactions can be on an economic basis in the form trade as they exchange goods. There are cultural exchanges as different societies come in contact with one another. This contact can result in traditions, beliefs etc being carried to areas not originally from as the influence of the society spreads with he people.…
A Clash of Cultures American practice is to isolate medicine as its own trade, while Hmong practice is to accept that medicine is intertwined with all aspects of life. This cultural base is what fostered miscommunication between the Lees and the American medical system, and is what caused both sides of Lia’s medical care to be wildly contradictory. Neither the Lees nor Lia’s doctors budged on what they deemed to be correct medical practice, and misunderstandings between the two sides are what caused Lia’s medical care to be so tumultuous. Hmong believed that every aspect of the body is intertwined, and that the soul is the most integral part of life.…
My Own Cultural Clash All parents have high hopes for their children, they want them to become a: lawyer, doctor, engineer, or something along those lines, most adults just want their children to be successful. My career was practically chosen for me as early as the 3rd grade. I stood above everyone in the crowd, literally, I was 5’4”. I’m tall and black, so everyone had assumed I was either heavily into some kind of popular sport, but stereotypically the question I was most frequently asked is “Do you play basketball?”. What made it even worse is that my mom expected to me play basketball, in fact that’s what she would tell my whole family.…
Sue et al. (2007a) also created a taxonomy of various examples of racial microaggressions, and posited how these could present in the lives of people of color. Some examples include: A) Alien in Own Land, which assumes that people of color are foreign born, B) Ascription of intelligence, which refers to labeling someone’s intelligence based on his or her race, C) Color blindness, which occurs when people deny an individual’s racialized experiences (i.e. “There is only one race; the human race”), D) The Criminality or Assumption of Criminal Status, when a person of color is assumed to have had a history of criminal behavior, and may subsequently be followed around a retail store, E) The Denial of Individual Racism, when someone tries to deny…
Why do you like puppies? I know it is a weird question but really why do you like puppies. Is it because they are extremely fluffy and adorable? Or is it because culturally you just love them?…
Beginning in the late 1400s, the contact between the Europeans and the Native Americans has claimed to shape the time period into an era called the Collision of Cultures. This time period experienced drastic changes amongst these two groups, which primarily were not supposed to be as life changing. Everyone in America and Europe were completely unaware of the existence of each other—much less aware of how to interact and get along with one other first hand. The Collision of Cultures seemed to be inevitable while the Europeans constantly searched for bigger and more beneficial ways to better themselves. On the other hand, the Native Americans were settled in their own ways and they seemed content until the Europeans came along.…
Writing Assignment #11: Rebecca Wilson Dr. Wade Davis is a noted Harvard ethnobotanist and is author of the book “The Serpent and the Rainbow.” In this book he writes about the special ingredients that bokor’s use to make “zombie powder”. All of these ingredients can be found anywhere in Haiti, but it takes a special magic, spell to conjure the ingredients into a potion. These ingredients only work during a ritual Vodoun ceremony and will only work if the person truly believes in the ritual, magic of the potion, and zombification prior to the administration of the potion and ritual Vodoun dance. Dr. Wade (1985:162-165), list several ingredients in “zombie powder”, from snakes and different species of toads and frogs to tree leaves and poisonous plants, millipedes and different species of tarantulas; of all these ingredients Dr. Wade believes without a doubt that the poison within different species of puffer fish called tetrodotoxin is the most powerful ingredient within the “zombie powder”.…
In the United States, respect is earned for success, wealth and achievement. Children are encouraged to be independent and make personal decisions. Transferring the same traits in other cultures can cause communication crisis and cultural conflict. This paper discusses how in the case, "Shame and Making Truth," the move was taken by Cameron Hay to expose and accuse a family member of stealing from her resulted in conflicts between individualism versus collectivism, high and low context culture, and indulgence versus restraint cultures. The paper also discusses various ways the author could have employed to successfully address the problem without causing a cultural conflict and communication crisis she experiences using examples from the text,…
Nowadays teaching in the school very differnet than before. In the United States many differnt cuklures are presented. Differnet culture has there point of view. From my point of view, I think teachers sould not have to point out their social or political views knowledge to students in the classroom.…
Nwoye serves as an example of a cultural collision having a beneficial effect, since becoming a Christian drastically improved Nwoye’s mental state and protected his physical health. Throughout the novel, Okonkwo regularly torments his son in order to fulfill his necessity for Nwoye to be absurdly masculine. Also dealing with his internal conflict between personal morality and gruesome cultural traditions, Nwoye was in desperate need of emotional resolutions. The arrival of Christianity in Umuofia provided Nwoye with an unfamiliar and benevolent spiritual figure, as well as a community with ethics similar to his own. In Things Fall Apart, author Chinua Achebe uses Nwoye’s character development to convey that a cultural collision may be able to positively alter one’s life.…
Throughout all of history, as early as records show, only one slave revolt was successful; the Haitian Revolution. This rebellion was unique and complex, which is why it was so auspicious. The Haitian revolution was so successful because of the large ratio of slaves to white men, the experience slaves had with rebellions, the preoccupation France had with its homeland and, the slaves finally had allies to revolt with. Imagine being worked close to death every day in the blistering heat, waiting your entire life for the one day you can pay off your debt and be a free man.…
During a time when the ideas of freedom and natural rights were emphasized, justice was truly not universally applied. This time occurred during the Age of Enlightenment when people were reimagining their previously held ideas with new ideas that felt more humane for society. These new ideas supposedly would shape their actions and culture, but they would be scarcely used in society. The irony of these “enlightened” ideas clearly showed itself through the practice of slavery. At the time of pre- Enlightenment, slavery widely existed.…
This case is a study of cultural negotiation and understanding. It is important to understand the role of leadership because of the differences in the Japanese vertical-hierarchical leadership structure verses the western horizontal-egalitarian leadership structure (Lewicki, J.R., Saunders, D., & Barry, B., 2011). Kelly is a Canadian citizen and employed as an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) by the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program (JET) in Soto, Japan. A conflict occurs between Kelly and her Japanese supervisor, Mr. Higashi over the allocation of contractual leave entitlements. This discussion will address the development of the conflict between the JET staff and the ALT.…
According to philosopher and author Carlos F. Fraenkel it took meeting another culture that he began to realize just how deeply divided we are on the fundamental moral, religious and philosophical issues. After spending time studying in Cairo, Fraenkel befriended some Egyptians classmates and after a serious of discussions they all began to wonder and eventually question about each other’s way of life. This discussion ultimately began his quest an exploration how people cultures may be different, but that every culture want the same things out of life and how can each culture respect and honor each other truth as they know and live by. Fraenkel was bought up as an Atheist, his parents were Political refugees in Europe, but eventually settled…