Critical Thinking Essay on Challenges to Identity

Being alienated from each other by seas and mountains, the human population is one domain enriched with cultural diversity. With lives practically unrelated, the human conspecific under isolation created a particular way of life, religion, and culture as their own identity as an ethnic group or tribe. Cultural identity is the most common metric for measuring how members of the human population relate and identify with each other. While culture takes a deeply rooted position the lives of people, being static, it faces an imminent threat to its existence and continuity. Every human community has its own set of beliefs, rules, and customs governing sexual orientation, religion, education and any other societal aspects. This essay, therefore, seeks to identify the challenges cultural identity faces.

While identification with culture is always easy bearing in mind that people of the same culture share the same function of communication: language, -disruption due to migration or wars predisposes people's current culture either dilution or adoption of a new culture. Beyond the perils of arriving in safety, a two-year-old Muslim, displaced from his/her place of residence due to war, adopting a different culture of the majority can be overwhelming. Trying to understand the cultural background of this new location called home can be confusing, and attempting to reach societal expectations can be hard being a battle for this young child. The displaced child may not understand why find handshakes between males and females are acceptable, which, is contrary to the Muslim culture. Cultural divide involves in-depth issues ranging from body language to overt activities such as interaction with local communities members and establishing a sense of belonging. For every new immigrant, striking a delicate balance between one owns culture, and the existing is quite hard. (Hays, 43). Refugee children in new schools face the uphill task of stomaching discriminatory acts and gestures from classmates of different cultural origin which if left unattended to may result in depression. (Hays, 43). Cultural divide based on tribe, religion, political influence and race affect ones culturally identity drastically.

In many developing countries today, a derail in science and technology is equated to general backwardness and snail progress. A casual glance in any office indicates that 75% of office dialogue is carried out via smartphones and emails. Contrary to this change, in the past, meetings, discussions and thought sharing took place in an open person- settings. A one on one conventional method of study was employed. Is it rational to, therefore, purport that technology has been the leading cause of social and political upheavals in developing countries? Does technology, christened as a "bestial force" responsible for the chaos experienced in human relations? Culturally, a family dinner should comprise of all members seat, taking turns, to talk and opine while having dinner but a new trend that has been rearing its ugly face on the family table is the smartphone. It is no surprise to see teenagers glued to their smartphones all day/night long lending credence to what may perhaps paint a picture social degeneration. Why is that we yearn to wear brunette weaves, lighten our skin or even wear blue jeans? Global communications and broadcasting influence human choices every day and some of these options involve meddling with culture. (Hays, 43)

Cultural shock-a personal disorientation experienced by a person upon visiting a culturally different environment. With this shock manifesting itself in four stages, honeymoon, negotiation, adjustment and finally, adoption, the cultural shock comes with mixed feelings. Others fully integrate new culture while others find it hard to adapt to a new culture. A typical African woman, brought up along cultural lines might experience ambivalence if taken to a place like Miami. Inculcated in her by the family, is the expectation to keep her covered from the roving public eye. An encounter with white women, dressed in what she may perceive as a scanty beachwear is likely to bombard this African woman with a cultural shock. Failure to incorporate or identify this new culture might lead to transition shock symptomized by boredom, anger, compulsive drinking, hostility towards host natives, and withdrawal. To her friends and relatives, integrating this new culture in her life could also mean she has been stripped cultural identity as an African woman. These symptoms, construed by the native population may take the negative trajectory leading to even more widespread discrimination.

Conclusion

Various Cultures, though dynamic, protecting its existence is indispensable. Host countries should seek to understand the chronology of cultural differences of its immigrants. This helps halt dismissal of other people's culture for your own. Technology, invented to make life better has undesirable effects on culture, but that is not to say that technology should be abrogated from the vicinity of humankind because technology, on the other hand, has powered the reduction of the world into a global village. Language as culture is still existent where television and radio channels broadcast the different cultures and views of people despite geographical locations. As a result, to protect our cultural identity, all world leaders should unite in diversity and promulgate the same to its citizens.

Works Cited

Hays, Pamela A. "Addressing cultural complexities in practice: Assessment, diagnosis, and therapy." (2016) page 43: 14801-000.