Chelsz

Looking back on my first semester of returning to college this last year since I began teaching at the very same college often leaves me in deep reflection. When I entered the door into my first anthropology class, I could not even tell you what anthropology was. I was working on a communications degree as I wanted to be able to work in the not-for-profit sector with it and cultural anthropology was a requirement. It was a night class and I was dreading sitting there for three hours a week.. that was until I began to learn, to see, to understand – the power that anthropology has. As Ruth Benedict once said, “the purpose of anthropology is to make the world safe for human differences”. I realized its mission was important and I wanted to be a part of that. I very often credit anthropology for making me the person I am today, but looking back at the first piece of writing I ever did for an anthropology course, September 14th, 2016, 8 years ago today, I realize that anthropology didn’t make me who I am, instead, it empowered me to outwardly be the person I always was.

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Have you ever thought deeply about your own morals? Where do your ideas come from? Who taught you right and wrong? Culture is a persons certain way of thinking and behaving based on a group they belong to. This could be a large group like a school system, or as small as your immediate family. The way we are raised, the things we are taught, and even the people we are surrounded by are constantly helping dictate what is important to us.

So what is important to me? How does my culture affect my life?

If you were to sit down and make a list of the things that are important to you in your life, it is very likely that your list is going to be similar to someone that comes from your same community and background. Like minded people tend to stick together; this tends to reinforce people believing their way is the right way. If you can belong to a group, and can name fifty other people thinking and doing the same as you, why would it make sense to think otherwise?

I grew up in a small community. Living the life meant drinking cheap beer, riding four wheelers, counting down to hunting season, and buying all your necessities at the local dollar store. No one really had much, but that was fine. What gave them meaning in their life was just enjoying their life, something I took for granted. It’s a good example though about how culture is passed on to your children and typically stays the same within a community. I pulled out my old yearbook a few days ago to go through my graduating class and stalk them one by one on Facebook. The majority of them seemed happy and successful in their own ways. A few have been traveling, some moved out of state, but more than anything, a lot of them never left our hometown. I saw photos of them hanging out in their backyards drinking Busch light, status updates complaining about salmon season, and pictures of their kids from their first day of school of the year, at the same school we all attended.

When I look back to how my culture was as a child, and compare it to now, I see major differences. I’ve often times wondered how this happened. How was I raised with a certain standard of life, and ended up completely different? What is the difference between myself, and those that stayed in my hometown? Different from myself and my family? I honestly think one of the biggest reasons was the relationships I had with my educators. My good grades gave me confidence and my bad grades were met with grace and kindness. I was able to travel to Europe at a young age, my poetry was celebrated by my English teacher, and the assignments I didn’t hand in were met with an “are you okay” instead of anger over incomplete work. My experiences as a child and teenager were life changing. I often thought it was for the worse, but reflection makes me consider it was perhaps, for the better.

I think culture is an ever changing thing. Communities change, people change, and sometimes people change their communities. Every person you meet is going to have different priorities, different things they find important in life. The most important thing when it comes culture isn’t always what your culture is, but how accepting you can be of others and the time you take to understand. Does my mom have a fish tattoo with the fish decor to match in her bathroom? Yes. Does this make her different than me? Yes. Does this make what she finds important in life any less important than what I do? No.

Culture affects me, because it keeps me on my toes. It helps me constantly learn, understand, and get to know people better. I take the time to do more than notice someone is different; I stop and figure out why they are doing it differently, and why it is important to them.