Culture
Essay Preview: Culture
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Every nation possesses its own unique culture, or way of life, that sets it apart from other areas of the world. When emigrating from ones homeland to another, people often adapt or assimilate to the new culture in order to fit in. At the same time they merge with and hold on to their original cultural ways. By applying certain theories to an interview with a young Albanian girl, this became quite evident.
The subject I interviewed was born in Tirana, Albania and goes by the name Lily Alaj, although her bona fide first name is Albulena. The fact that she did not offer her birth name at all until asked, and still wanted to be referred to as “Lily”, made it very apparent that the name Lily makes her feel more comfortable in America. Lily is a single, 19 year old student attending Fordham University in New York City. She has received ten years of United States education, yet only became an American citizen two weeks prior to the interview. She very contentedly stated, “When I became an American citizen a few weeks ago, I experienced the most Americanized feeling ever”
With much certainty, Lily is very proud of her distinctive cultural heritage. Even in America she carries traditions of her native homeland. She emphasized on the positive aspects of Albanian food that her family makes frequently. In the household, the Alaj family speaks English 60% of the time. Her brothers and sisters have a bicultural education as well. Lilys family immigrated to America in search of work and opportunity, as these aspects of Albania did not have nearly as much to offer them. The fact that they disagreed about the political position of Albania also contributed to their departure. Lily explained to me that Albania was under communist rule until 1991, and that the shift from such a way of life was slowly but surely progressing there. She also added that Americans are unaware of how well off they are living in this great country, applying ignorance as the only negative aspect of most American people.
Overall, Lily loves Americans. She feels that “they are the greatest!” She believes that the three most prominent characteristics that Americans possess are, a very strong work ethic, respect and genuine care for one another, and a strong sense of liberty. Coming from a historical communist country, Lily takes the subject of liberty very seriously. Like many who immigrate to America, she has a very idealistic view of the country, stating, “The most positive thing that I associate with America is the fact that anything is possible; if you work hard, you can do anything!”
Moreover, while listening to Lily, I realized that her orientation toward knowledge was a little ineffective. Terminology like, “Americans are the greatest! You can do anything! Ð…Fordham is crazy!” all contribute to the examples of her verbal expressions. Other than the ineffective orientation, I thought Lilys interaction management was well presented.
Unquestionably, conversation with Lily was immense. She was able to communicate well both verbally and nonverbally. Her eye contact was always appropriate, she never showed any signs of boredom or disinterest, and her starting and ending conversation interactions were very efficient. Because this interview was task related and we had never previously met, I felt there would be a sense of awkwardness. Instead of defining the situation as a task, Lily made me feel like it was more a social activity. She didnt seem nervous or highly frustrated at all. In my opinion, she was neither judgmental nor predictable. I thought I was falling in love in a semi joking sense, but attraction is certainly a non verbal form of communication that could affect the outcome of comfort and response.
Furthermore, it became apparent that Lily comes from a low context culture. While these terms are sometimes useful in describing some aspects of a culture, one can never say a culture is “high” or “low” because societies all contain both modes. “High” and “low” are therefore less relevant as a description of a whole people, and more useful to describe and understand particular situations and environments. Due to low context, time keeping is very important to Lily. Carrying an agenda at all times is a good example of how this affects her persona. She claims she is very studious, organized, and her desired pace of life is fast. We conversed about this for a while because I seemed to be of the latter. I explained that in my opinion, humans are always occupied by their senses. Always being occupied by clocks, appointments, schedules, and fast paced living seems to distract people from stepping aside and really contemplating life and the beauty of it. Our perspectives were different but we enjoyed elaborating on the topic. There was no judgment or bitterness, as we wanted to understand each others perspectives. While later thinking about the topic, I realized that this view could have stemmed from the fact that she came from a place with very little opportunity for her, and now that she seemingly “has the world at her fingertips”, she is anxious to soak up as much as possible and take nothing for granted.
In addition, another example of the low context affect on Lily is her precise linguistics. Every statement she made was to the point and very crisp. There was not a lot of hesitation on her part. However, an irony that I depicted concerning Lilys verbal skills was the fact that her responses would alter from small bits ineffective orientation (“Americans are the best!”) to a more precise and specific use of language (“I believe that the American people are thoughtful, generous, and possess many positive qualities”). I was impressed with her vocal qualities and her use of verbal communication. I feel that often when I communicate I say things like “um” in the middle of sentences which could distort communication with someone from a low contextual culture. As the interview proceeded, I grew more aware of this concept and began to be more specific about topics and descriptions. By learning the pragmatics of her language use, conversation prospered. I started asking more questions rather than a “shoot the breeze, lets have a beer” conversation.
Lily explained that gestures are important in Albanian social life. As well as the usual handshake, it is normal for men who are friends to greet each other with a light touch, although not a kiss on either cheek. The famous confusion when an Albanian shakes his or her head for “yes” is common. To place