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 Discussions about ethnic diversity can be difficult due to the tremendous cultural complexities that surround the issues. Is there a way of looking at our ethnicity and culture that will help give meaning to our conversation? I think there is. Let me suggest four distinct levels of culture as a framework for our understanding. Think of them as concentric spheres. 
The core level is human culture -- what all of us share
-- our physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual capacities.
It's what makes it possible to understand grief and joy across
language barriers. (Ironically, this is why individuals have more
in common than cultures do.)
The next level is our primal culture -- those characteristics
we are born with and cannot change. Gender is primal. Race is
primal, and so is inherited ethnicity, those birth characteristics
that form one of the more than 3,500 ethnicities in the world.
Nonetheless we are all unique, so we can never assume we know
someone just because we know his or her ethnicity. Stereotypes
easily turn into prejudice and racism.
A third cultural level is absorbed culture. It includes
our nationality, language, religious experience and communal ethnicity.
Absorbed culture modifies primal cultural influences. For instance,
a Norwegian raised in Mexico may act and feel more Latino than
Scandinavian.
The fourth, or outermost, level is learned culture. Closely
linked with absorbed culture, it's usually the result of conscious
choices. For example, to get along in the North American educational
system, one needs to learn how to study in certain ways that are
different from home or communal learning.
Learned cultures are necessary in a world of rapid transportation
and instant communication. Yet in some ways, they are "outside"
of who we are at the core, and can leave us feeling detached unless
they are reinforced by our primal and absorbed cultures. Consequently,
first generation college students are more likely to experience
the culture shock of college life than those whose parents went
to college.
Because learned cultures are shaped and controlled by a dominant
or host culture, minority cultures often feel a limited degree
of ownership and identification with the learned culture. However,
as the learned culture becomes more a part of their total
culture, minorities add to their absorbed and primal cultural
roots. But this in turn creates new forms of cultural tension
and confusion. A multiethnic culture is a learned culture
in itself. It is likely to be uncomfortable to everyone becoming
a part of it.
These levels are helpful in understanding cultural complexities,
but our ultimate identity is found in relation to God. We can
enjoy multiethnic fellowship, yet any attempt to find peace and
security solely through our human associations will be unsuccessful.
As Augustine said, "Our hearts are restless until they find
their rest in Thee, O God." Bob Fryling serves as director of InterVarsity® Press. |
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