‘Name’
“Course #/Assignment”
Culture, constructs and shapes a person’s beliefs and moral values. Cultural identities are not just based on ethnicity or religion, but on many other factors such as age group, class, nationality, education, gender, etc. As LeBaron states, culture is the lens through which a person views the society around him. (LeBaron para 4) Cultural conflicts arise due to the differences in perception, of an incident or idea, which exists between people belonging to different cultural groups. LeBaron opines that, the important thing to understand about culture is that it is always changing, and it is detrimental to conflict resolution if we stick on to the preconceived notion about a particular culture.
Often people belonging to certain cultural group, like for example, Anglo American culture, tend to think their beliefs to be the ultimate standard for cultural norms, and they try to measure others against this standard. Even white people with best intentions in mind, try to eradicate racial discrimination, by way of granting people of other races privileges which would change their way of life more Anglo American like. This according to Paggy McIntosh, is a phenomenon called white privilege, whereby as white people grow up they are groomed to treat certain privileges they experience in day to day life, without realizing that they are being handed an unearned advantage. She says
“I think whites are carefully taught not to recognize white privilege, as males are taught not to recognize male privilege.” (McIntosh, para 4)
She goes on to list out some favors which she enjoys on a day to day basis that are not available to her African American counterparts. Personally, these points listed by her made me realize how simple things in life such as moving into a neighborhood that suits your lifestyle, is much easier when you belong to a particular race and vice versa. I also recognized how by not identifying and acknowledging the existence of White privilege, one could unintentionally hurt the feelings of another group which could result in a cultural conflict. McIntosh says for years she didn’t understand why her African American colleagues felt resentment towards White Women, until the day she realized she has been enjoying undue advantages because of her skin color. (McIntosh, para 6) This explains LeBaron’s point that
“Cultures affect the ways we name, frame, blame, and attempt to tame conflicts.” (LeBaron, para 18)
This point is better explained by the story of Terry Tobson. Terry is a white man travelling in Japan by a train, where he encounters a drunken laborer, who assaults a young woman and harasses an old couple and exhibits all forms of drunken tantrums. The author, a martial art student, sees this as his opportunity to play hero, defending the innocent against tormentor and rises to tackle him. But an old Japanese man was wise enough to understand that the troublemaker is nothing but a person mourning a personal tragedy, talks to him pleasantly. And by sharing with him how he also drinks sake (the same drink taken by the laborer) and shares the evening sunset with his wife, he makes the laborer open up and pour out his miseries and the scene ends amicably. This incident makes the author rethink the way in which he practices "Aikido," and decides he should from here on practice it according to the words of his teacher:
"Aikido is the art of reconciliation. Whoever has the mind to fight has broken his connection with the universe. If you try to dominate people, you are already defeated." (Tobson, para 3)
This story again is an excellent example of LeBaron’s point that conflict resolution can be done through telling stories which make the person understand his sense of self and using metaphors are a compact way of conveying lengthier ideas. (LeBaron, para 47)
Conclusively, it can be said that in today’s changing demographics, cultural identity plays a major role in many conflicts and cultural conflict education is a vital means for establishing an amicable environment in any organization and country as a whole.
Reference List
Terry Dobson.(2009) An Obese White Gentleman In No Apparent Distress. Retrieved from http://www.terrydobson.com/pages/train.html
Michelle LeBaron. (July 2003). Culture and Conflict. Retrieved from http://www.beyondintractability.org/bi-essay/culture-conflict
Paggy McIntosh. White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack. Retrieved from http://www.racismagainstindians.org/WhitePrivilege/InvisibleKnapsack.htm
