There can be thousands of interpretations, thoughts and impressions about family, marriage, kinship and marital residence depending on who is doing it and the background from which one has been brought up. But all the views are very interesting and sometimes debatable. In my interpretation, marriage, kinship and family have altered trends of life in many cultures, especially where there have been intercultural or intertribal marriages. These forms of marriage have enlightened many societies about changing roles of men and women.
It is a good trial that has passed the test when women from other cultures do duties that have been associated with men and surprisingly the cultural beliefs that have prohibited women from these duties have been abandoned. Women around the world are great and respected leaders, for instant many African cultures are too tough but imagine for the first time in the continent (in Liberia) a woman has been elected president. This is a very positive sign about rigid cultures that are changing. In some nations racial segregation is rampant.
This phenomenon is in existence because of diverse practices or cultures and the languages which play vital roles in many cultures. This denotes the danger of extremism or total observance of culture. This is when people feel outsiders have invaded their culture and it will be a threat to their identity as s group. Strong adherence to culture may divide a society or has already divided many a societies. Indeed many nations in the world have been divided along tribal, racial lines because of extreme adherence of culture and the associated identity. Not only divided communities or societies but armed conflicts and turmoil as well.
Many wars and other armed or unarmed conflicts have been fueled by people’s culture and identity versus culture of identity. Part Two Anthropological glasses on the local community Everywhere there are classes but the way they form somehow doesn’t follow any blueprint. For instance in campus, students have identified themselves into various groups but some factors favor this kind of groupings. For example, smokers identify themselves as soon as they join campus. But it is healthy that identification through color is no longer in existence but a meager percentage of students use it to identify themselves into groups or classes.
Nonetheless, there are two or three groups of students that are clearly identified. Class or stratification factor has played part in their formations. These groups include the rich and the poor, those serious in class with their studies and those who are not serious then a few in class of white and black albeit very few identify to these grouping. But the most encouraging trend is that these groupings are not extreme, they are very neutral and they have been neutralized for the reason that there is a lot of sharing right from the library to hostels and from class to the cafeteria.
These make a very wide difference when comparing them with the groups which are discussed in the text, the text groupings tend to take an extremism dimension in their cultural setting which when compared to the local community or university are flexible and there is no remarkable degree of separation between the groups. In my observation this form of culture is very different because even ladies intermingle with gentlemen freely and there exists an aura of freedom for all and sundry.
Finally institutions like universities and colleges have played an important role in connection to various cultures by bringing these diversities to one main culture without force. For instance color segregation has been dealt with intellectually because there is a lot of sharing within and without class. Part Three Vital lessons in this course There are many lessons that I have learned throughout this cause. Some of these lessons include the factors that have contributed to inequality and segregation and what has been done to counter this phenomenon.
How stratification or class was born and how soon or later it will disappear from society. Any form of identification may severely damage the conscious of some people regarding other cultures. Education can change one’s culture for the better and for the worse if not both. The interest of learning a new culture also encourages the other people of different cultures to have the urge of learning something new but may depend on the expression of one party to the other. Another lesson is how family, kinship and marriage are closely knit in society.
As people are crossing borders and oceans for new adventures they are getting absorbed to other cultures and languages and their identity is no longer the same. Language has not been given the intensity it deserves in matters of any culture anywhere. Some people may not totally forget their culture and language but they do not practice, and gradually it disappears. Of course my argument must be clear that this tribal, clan and racial intermarriages are very positive towards promoting harmony anywhere in the world but the factor itself is harmful to the survival of some cultures and languages.
And by assurance, this is causing a very hot debate as already many cultures, languages, groups of people and tribes are disappearing or they are totally extinct. One other important lesson is the relationship between environment and man. Environment shapes culture and change in the environment alters the behavior and the living patterns of people thus culture in general. Environment is part in shaping man’s culture and man’s activities have been detrimental to the environment hence cultural change. (Embers 2007)
