A variety of our cultural perspectives on ethnicity, race, and identity offers a wide range of perspectives that affect our individual and collective characters and perception of ourselves and some of the important roles played by these factors in clarifying how we interact with the world around us. This enables us to understand racial and ethnic identity growth and articulates the unique experiences in the past and present of various ethnic groups. Ethnicity affects almost everyone in life. It has a positive influence in that it may provide us with a sense of identity and belonging enabling us to understand who we are and our origin, according to Assiri et al (2013). It can have negative influence by, creating divisions between groups of people resulting in discrimination, prejudice and conflicts or wars.
Members of a certain ethnic group have a shared identity and historical sense. An ethnic group is a collection of people that considers itself different from other people in a way and have a common heritage and background. Different factors distinguish people from one another through skin color, nationality, language, cultural traditions etc. Ethnicity develops and changes with time, hence particular ethnic group emerges and changes with time as a result of social and political developments.
I am a Saudi Arabian female citizen coming from a big single parent family. I am in America to further my studies. I am a Muslim by birth. I am ethnically an Arab, as we immigrated as pilgrims and settled in the Hijaz region near Red Sea coast. We came from the Arabian sub-continent and Arab countries. Saudis live with many other groups of people including Asians from India, and Pakistan, South Korean citizens, and many others. The Saudi Arabian government does not permit non-Muslims to go in into the Medinah and Mecca cities (Al-Gahtani et al., 2007).
Our culture mostly is Arabian and Islamic and is intensely religious, traditional and a family oriented structure. Many traditions and values are centuries old which cane from Arabic civilization. The dominating religion is the salafi Islamic which arose in 18th century. Conservative behavior and dressing code is of high importance in Saudi Arabia following the enjoying good and forbidding wrong principle. There are rules both socially and legally to ensure this principle is followed. Alcoholic drinks are prohibited in Saudi Arabia and there are no public theatre and film exhibitions (Al-Rasheed., 2010).
Islamic observance dominate our daily life where each and every Muslim all over country has to pray five times a day in the mosques. The weekend starts on Friday to Saturday since Friday is a holy day, unlike other countries where the weekend is Saturday and Sunday. We have only two religious holidays which are Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr according to Salafi doctrine (Assiri et al., 2013).
There is a high degree of social stratification and cultural homogeneity passed from generation to generation. There is a link between population diversity and social stratification. There is tribal status group that claimed that purity of descent from their ancestors and could claim possession of the honor that emanates from origin nobility.
The Saudi people allow cultural encouragement participation which makes it possible to achieve a common planned direction for growth. This is because culture participation makes significant contributions to the connections of the Saudi people, promoting wellbeing. Citizens are empowered, identity are characterized, and positive change in behavior is valuable, community development and social cohesion are some of the cultural aspects of my origin. There are three basic effects which are as a result of culture participation. They include;
Intrinsic effects which make us to seek and want to utilize cultural goods such as local entertainments, foods etc. Instrumental effects such as use of music as therapy for emotional disturbance or engagement in cultural practices that makes one troubled. The culture is used to achieve unrelated aims.
And finally functional effects which function to sustain and develop our society such as fostering civic participation, participation in community development projects and retaining of our community identity (Al-Krenawi & Graham., 2000).
There are several advantages which arise from our ethnic practices which include;
Since our ethnicity teaches us how to live with people, there exist a good multicultural relationship in Saudi Arabia. The communities in Saudi are properly managed in order to enjoy such benefits. There exist a balance between expression of diversity and integration to established cultural norms.
Since the family is the basic primary unit, every family member has a role to play such as the parents are in-charge of the household, divisions of tasks among family members, etc. This leads to specialist and division of labor among family members which is both applied at home and at workstations. This leads to increased productivity of employees. It is also clearly evident that married people are wealthier than unmarried people. They earn more income, and mostly they invest more of what they earn. They make good workers and are quickly promoted in the workplace (Hofstede & Geert., 1983).
There are social and economic empowerment programmes of Saudi people as a family role in Saudi. It has been clearly shown that the family is a major organization where production, reproduction, consumption and accumulation of roles are carried out. This causes economic and social empowerment of the people. This involves family resilience and family capital formation. There is existence of social capital which are basically the resources allowed to be possessed by family associates which depends on social and economic states conditions. Family resilience enables family to withstand from life’s disruptive challenges.
There exist marital harmony and satisfaction. The Islamic religion stabilizes and improves marriage. There are teachings on how to ensure peace and harmony exist in the family from the Koran. Since Islam is strictly followed in Saudi, and all family members engage in religious practices, they derive more satisfaction from family relationships. Saudi women are also known to be more disciplined. They have a decent dressing code. They uphold their cultural values thus maintaining their culture (Al-Rasheed., 2010).
Saudis people regularly visit their family members and relatives. Women are known to have their routine jobs like visiting each other during daytime hours. For men, socializing occurs in the afternoon after Maghreb which lasts until midnight. They gather in groups of close friends, age mates, work mates etc. and have a meal, share jokes and engage in other activities. This improves their social life and relations.
Saudi people have formal greetings which involves conversing for a bit when meeting. They enquire about each other’s health and family conditions but, never about another man’s wife, as this is considered disrespectful. Saudi people are hospitable to strangers through provision of maximum comfort. This contributes positively to the good relations among Saudi citizens and other people.
Ethnical teaching also involves training on how to protect the vulnerable members of the society or strangers among the Saudi people. This includes providing childcare support, and provision of care for disabled and ill persons as well as offering protection to orphans. The grandparents in Saudi are responsible of caring for the sick and dying and supporting their orphaned grandchildren. Provision of foster care which results in family dissolution by birth or death of ones parents has led to economic empowerment for the orphans and the sick (Hofstede & Geert., 1983). This has helped remove many victims from such crises. Women are also responsible for carrying home based care models through which they are offered support by the Saudi Arabia government.
In Conclusion, regular ethical practices have both benefits to one’s relationship, marital status, professional life, etc. The best practices improve people’s health condition, academic achievements, economic wellbeing, improves one’s self-esteem and compassion with others. The practices can also address many professional social problems. It improves personal correlation with coworkers. It makes one committed to his or her professional duties. Cultural diversity and ones origin are fundamental in the growth of an individual as they provide the basic tenet that make up the personality of a person. From a personal perspective I come from a region that upholds cultural and one is bred through the traditions and norms that govern his or her culture. My origin has instilled fundamental morals that have helped in my coexistence in society with other individuals. My personality is as a direct consequence of my previous background that have helped develop and shape me as an individual. Upholding my origin is critical and should be practiced at all times.
References
Assiri, A., Al-Tawfiq, J. A., Al-Rabeeah, A. A., Al-Rabiah, F. A., Al-Hajjar, S., Al-Barrak, A., & Makhdoom, H. Q. (2013). Epidemiological, demographic, and clinical characteristics of 47 cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus disease from Saudi Arabia: a descriptive study. The Lancet infectious diseases, 13(9), 752-761.
Al-Rasheed, M. (2010). A history of Saudi Arabia. Cambridge University Press. p 36-63
Al-Gahtani, S. S., Hubona, G. S., & Wang, J. (2007). Information technology (IT) in Saudi Arabia: Culture and the acceptance and use of IT. Information & Management, 44(8), 681-691.
Al-Krenawi, A., & Graham, J. R. (2000). Culturally sensitive social work practice with Arab clients in mental health settings. Health & Social Work, 25(1), 9-22.
Hofstede, Geert. "The cultural relativity of organizational practices and theories." Journal of international business studies (1983): 75-89.
Hamdan, A. (2005). Women and Education in Saudi Arabia: Challenges and Achievements. International Education Journal, 6(1), 42-64.
Vogel, F. E. (2000). Islamic Law and the Legal System of Saudí: Studies of Saudi Arabia (Vol. 8). Brill, p337-471
