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aeapeontehlistContent.jsp course idm_53557 1&content; id-1763321_1&mode-reset; Assignment 2: Topics of Intercultural Varience Writing on topics of intercultural variance (five topics; five points each for a total of 25 points (2-3 pages on each selected topic) e primary goal of this assignment is to enable you to research and talk to people of a different culture on a practice that tends to vary from meaning of their practices. It woul understand the reasons behind or beliefs that support that practice the meaning and significance culture to culture. This gives you an opportunity to understand the underlying It to appreciate a certain practice of a cultural group unless we behind that fficul practice. Let us take, for example, a topic like "weddings." Wedding practices differ from culture to culture either on the basis of their religious or ethnic orientation or of national origin or any other tradition or norm o people. Select one culture of your choice (it could be, for example, the Hindu culture from religious perspective o the African American culture from an ethnic perspective or Mexican culture f choice is unlimited!), do some library research, talk to and interact with people who belong to that cultural group and write your report on their wedding practices. Try to explore the communication-culture relationships f that group o rom a national origin perspective (t Given below are eight topics of intercultural variance. Select five, select a different culture for each topic you like write on, and begin work. Dating and Marriage Food and eating habits Dress and ornaments Family structure Gender roles Concept of death Rituals and festivalsExplanation / Answer
Dating and marriage
Intercultural variance refers to the difference in practices, rituals, ways of being that different cultures may possess. While studying dating and marriage in the American context, it was found that most Americans were confused about the concept of dates in itself. This meant whether the casual hanging out with people they liked of either sex was considered a date or not. The highest turnoff factors in dating for Americans of both the genders were lack of hygiene. Other than that, for women, lack of employment, smoking, too much drinking habits and being overweight was another turnoff. On the other hand the most attractive aspect in potential partner for an average American was wit and good sense of humour. 26-30 was considered as an ideal age for most respondents in the study to marry and settle down. This means that despite the individualistic culture of America, they do eventually move towards marriage, stability and having a single partner for long term. In 6 months to 2 years of dating, average Americans would be comfortable in moving in together and making it ‘official dating’. Another factor that has been seen to be solid in influencing marriage practices is the fact that children are no more groomed in a way that they need to grow up in order to be responsible and run a family. They are instead encouraged to launch themselves in their careers, spending the most crucial 20s in getting additional degrees, studying for competitions, honing their skills and attempting to grow in many ways. With the increase in awareness regarding importance of self care, they have started taking interest in activities like Yoga, meditation, health care and nutrition, etc. Connecting this to the communication that takes place in their system, non verbal gestures communicate signals that are different from that in many other cultures. For instance, greeting with a light hug or a pat, making firm handshakes are a norm. Moreover, rising in fist outwards in the air is a sign of victory, hands on hips is a sign of hostility or being faced by a challenge. Similarly, dating is not considered with a marriage prospect in mind, but more casual in nature. Second marriages, divorces are also seen to be more common amidst them.
Food and eating habits
Food and eating habits in Indian context are studies by various research teams and investigators. They are suggestive of the fact that 32% of India’s total food market food processing industry is one of their most lucrative. It is ranked 5th in terms of its food production, consumption, export and expected growth domain. This industry contributes the most to the overall GDP and plays a huge role in their economy dynamics. Amidst themes like experimenting the most with cuisines certain states of the country like Bangalore are on their highest mark. Dependence of packaged food and ready to eat out is also great as compared to many other nations. Moreover, the food is heavier and cooked in oils and spices to meet the vast and varied taste requirements of its subparts. Eating out takes place the maximum in state of Bangalore. This can be related to the fact that most professionals are settled in Bangalore. Moreover, cooking and preparing for the next day becomes time consuming and effortful given their busy schedules. Maximum attention is given to the serving sizes rather than the nature of food, packaging quality, convenience in buying, etc. Consumers in India demand more transparency from food packaging firms. Indians also seem more open to differences in the pricing of food. They believe in lavish and grand eating habits, heavier dishes are considered signs of royalty indeed. Customer knowledge regarding food, its components and ingredients however needs to be enhanced for more mindful consumption to take place.
Family structure
Family structure in China has seen rapid changes in the past few decades wherein the age of marriage on an average for women has been seen to increase from 18 to 20 and the family sizes also seem to slash down. This was mostly in an attempt to control their population which was the highest. Staying together with extended families like the brothers and their families has become a rare practice. Nuclear families are therefore on the rise as opposed to joint family structures and opting for lesser children and having smaller families for a smoother functioning is on the rise gradually. More acceptances on a national level for living separately from adult children were seen in China. This led to the proportion of three generational families living together decline dramatically. This change can also be attributed to the increased debates around the need for family planning and structuring in China. It was later found that staying together in three generational families was not a matter of choice in China, rather a cultural pressure in terms f being socially accepted for ages, i.e. for the sake of pragmatism. The cultural value systems and belief systems in China are centred around togetherness, unity, working collaboratively, joint problem solving, helping each other (altruism), empathy and compassion. These cultural norms around collectivistic orientation probed the families to be staying together despite wanting the opposite for various reasons like need to privacy.
Gender roles
The history of gender roles in Japan suggests the role of patriarchy like many other nations. It essentially believed women to be dependent on men, produce heirs, stay at home and be nurturing towards their families. Men were considered as the heads of the families and the ones who were bread winners for the rest of the family. Women were subordinates to men in every way and had to right to exist in light of owning spaces. This refers to the fact that they could not legally own property and were not entitled for claiming any. The civil code of 1947 however brought shifts in the way in which this was viewed. Women were now entitled to claim property, they could own spaces, they could inherit family estates, they were given the free will to marry and divorce, they gained parental rights and could also vote legally. However, this was merely on paper and even post this time, women were considered inferior and continued to be made dependent on the male members of the households. This can also be attributed to the work practices that prevail in their nation. The work practices are such that they consider men to be fully devoted to their work and accept it as a higher priority than family. They are also underpaid for their work. In this case women become the full time parent by default. Men aren’t much beyond work and women aren’t considered much beyond motherhood. They are expected to raise a child with utmost care and nurturance since it is part of their implicitly defined duty. Also 22-27 was the age ideally for girls to marry in Japan, failing which they were often socially outcast by the society. The terms used for husband and wife also literally meant ‘owner of the house’ for former and ‘one who remains inside the house’ for the latter. The belief systems were therefore literally ingrained and deeply embedded in their systems. The women were expected to submit to their fathers initially, followed by their husband and finally to their sons towards her end of life. This is much in sync with many other nations where similar practices are followed, even to date. Slowly however, gender roles did change in Japan and now women too are earning participants of the house, given more privileges than before, engaging in decision making at various levels and considered mostly equal counterparts to men. The media outrage still supported men as being portrayed as the stronger sex in many ways.
Concept of death
The concept of death is viewed as ending of one life and entering the aftermath (next life cycle). The belief in reincarnation resonates deeply in their culture like many others. It is separation of body and soul wherein the consciousness continues, but the body and form changes its manifestation. The sinners souls are extracted in a painful way according to their beliefs, whereas the ‘good souls’ get an easy and pain-free death. Murder, suicide and mercy killing are all considered as grave sins in their culture and are strictly prohibited. This is much related to the theory of karma where individuals are to pay for the deeds they engage in during their lifetime. However, they also claim that death is nothing to be afraid of and is to be holistically accepted as it comes. It marks a transition between one realm of reality to another. The bodies are laid to rest by creating their graves. It is believed that angels come to collect the ‘bad’ soul and carry it to the sky with them, but before that the soul is wrapped into a dirty and smelly cloth which is dreaded by it. However, when a righteous soul is put to rest angels smile beneath and a perfume-like scent is spread across.
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