Cultural Complexities
Is There Hope For Multiethnic Understanding?by Bob Fryling
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."
Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this article for educational purposes provided this permission notice, and the copyright notice below are preserved on all copies. Not to be reprinted in any other publication without permission. © 1997 InterVarsity Christian Fellowship of the USA. All rights reserved. This article first appeared in the Spring/Summer 1997 issue of Student Leadership Journal®.
Unless otherwise noted, all materials on the urbana.org web site are Copyright InterVarsity Christian Fellowship / USA. All rights reserved.
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