Individual+cultural+identity

Read the information about the following people and in groups discuss the question below.
1 Fareed is 65, and was born in Fujairah. His parents had ten children, and were poor farmers in a rural area. He never went to school, and has continued to farm in the same area as his extended family. He has been married for 48 years, and has seven children and fifteen grandchildren. Fareed likes to hunt and fish, and is very active with his local mosque.

2 Sheikha is a 28 year old divorcee, and has her own apartment in the same apartment building where she grew up in Dubai. She and her three brothers were raised by their mother, who struggled to keep them clothed and fed by juggling minimum wage jobs. Sheikha knows very little about her father, other than that he is from Syria and divorced her mother when she was a baby. Sheikha dropped out of high school and got married at 15, when she had the older of her two children. Two of her brothers are currently still at school, as is the father of her youngest child. Sheikha is studying, and hopes to go to nursing school someday.

3 Malik is 43 years old, and moved to the UAE from Iraq five years ago to escape the war in his country. He owned his own newspaper at home, but now works two jobs, and shares an apartment with three others, while saving money to bring his wife and children to join him in the UAE. Malik dreams of having his family with him, so that they can open their own business and their children can get a good education.

4 Sara is a 28 year old, born in the United States and raised by her mother, who taught at the local elementary school, and her father, who worked for the United States Postal Service. Sarah is an only child, but has close relationships with both sets of grandparents who still live in Palestine. She graduated with honors from high school, and received a scholarship to a prestigious law school. She currently works as a corporate attorney with a well-known law firm in Abu Dhabi. Sarah loves live music and theatre, and enjoys going out at weekends.

5 Raheem is a 32 year old Egyptian, raised in an urban environment in Cairo. His parents were members of the Muslim Brotherhood movement, and were well known political activists. Raheem has been attending protests and marches since he was young. He attended college, with a major in political science and Middle Eastern studies, and is currently working on his Ph.D. in political science while teaching in the Political studies department at a local college in Dubai. His dissertation topic is “The Use of Force by Urban Police Departments”.

// Adapted from: // National Institute for Urban School Improvement. (2005). Understanding Culture. Retrieved March 22, 2012, from National Institute for Urban School Improvement: []


 * Element of culture || Notes from the "Understanding Culture" readings ||
 * family roles || * who is the breadwinner
 * age when young people become independent
 * caring for older family members ||
 * family ties || * who is a considered part of family
 * value the individual achievement of family member
 * value the collective action of the family ||
 * taboos || * Telling on member of the family outsider about discussion of politics or religion
 * Directness to ask question ||
 * autonomy || * Dichotomy between individualistic and collective culture
 * Individualistic support individual person to achieve her or his goal
 * Collective support group like: family, friends ||
 * status of age || * General respect for all members for that culture
 * Some respect only for more hierarchical fashion
 * Little respect for the young ||
 * education || * Prepare student for college or work
 * Some family sees teach student only in school
 * Other views to shared between family and school teach the student
 * some family by transmission knowledge form expert to novice ||
 * time || * Some culture should be on time
 * Other culture don’t care about exactly the time ||
 * space || * Different way of greeting
 * Some by shaking hands
 * Some by kissing
 * Some people set closely
 * Some should have personality space ||
 * gender || * Many culture believe the girls should be: shy, quiet and nice
 * On the other hand, other culture believe boys must aggressive, assertive and loud
 * Some culture say when the girls married she should stay at home and take are for the house equipment ||
 * language || * Languages can be formal or informal depend on the situation
 * Using slang or dialects in place of formal languages
 * The way of telling stories
 * Body languages
 * Some culture keeps hands close to their body. However, the other culture use hands to explain what they said.
 * The language is not only spoken and written words, but it’s also non verbal communication. ||
 * grooming || * Consider not only appropriate
 * Other culture like behavior would be consider and in appropriat ||
 * presence || * Society dictates their acceptable presence
 * Accept stander for group by age ||
 * life cycles || * In many culture the teenager are seem as old to be responsible for themselves
 * Also, when the children became mature that many significantly across culture group
 * In many culture believe when the children be mature, they enough to responsible for themselves. ||