Racial harmony day celebration in Secondary school, where i wore an indian Sari.
A cultural dance performance where we wore batik skirts for a malay dance.
A dinner and dance event that required me to model in a Cheongsam.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Intercultural communication. What comes to your mind first when you see this word?
There are many definitions of the word "culture".
In short, it is simply " cultures are templates for living".
Or to further emphasize, it is defined as "the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another...includes systems of values and values are among the building blocks of culture." by Geert Hofstede.
Living in Singapore,we are a society with many races and thus, we have a very mixed culture here because of the different people who are born here or moved here to live.
Each and every individual has their own set of identity and culture develops from their way of living.
We tend to take on a somewhat common culture when we live in the same country for some time.
An example is, Singaporean's first language being English, second language being either Chinese/Malay/Tamil( based on mainstream schools Mother Tongue language) and third language being, Singlish(for the majority).
I'm so used to hearing all the "la", "lo", "leh" in my daily life, everywhere i go.
So much so that, when i travelled to Taiwan for a holiday trip in April this year, i was so happy to hear a few Singaporean guys speaking Singlish. Somehow, it felt like i was back home..in Singapore:)
Knowing about different cultures would also help, when you're immersed in a new environment.
For example, Taiwanese all stand on one side of the escalator, so that those who are rushing can walk down "smoothly without people blocking".
Knowing the culture of the country you are visiting ,is important so that you will not offend and not be offended by the locals there.
To end off this entry, i just wanted to say that i appreciate and enjoy living in Singapore, whereby its a multi-racial country and i can embrace various cultures and soak in the atmosphere of various festivals. : )
11 comments:
Cultures are a by product of social constructions, as such their origins often are derived from other cultural influences.
The recent Malaysia-Indonesia media war on their cultural origins and superiority is an example of cultural meshing at it's purest form. Both nations lay claim to unique cultural elements such as malay food and dance. Yet it is ironic that as they are fighting over the issue, they do not recognise that they share common cultural origins, and therefore should share and celebrate their cultures together!
Culture is ever evolving. Compare the mainstream chinese pop music to the orthodox chinese music a century ago. We thus must recognise the sad truth that cultures do change over time and some do go extinct, thus it is important for different cultures to come together to celebrate both our similarities as well as differences!
i totally agree that the two countries should celebrate their similarity in culture, instead of trying to pick out the differences.
Although people in a particular culture are similar, there are still evident differences because every individual is unique.
Therefore, if its possible, every culture should embrace other cultures! =)
Remind me of my primary and secondary school years whereby I tried our Sari and other races' costumes. It is such a wonderful thing to be able to have racial harmony.
It taught us how to see beyond races and embrace one another culture.
We all wish for others to understand our culture but 1st of all, we need to be open to step into other worlds and understand theirs' culture.
=)
Racial harmony and racial discrimination is only a thin line apart. That thin line that separates them are people's willingness to understand and accept. However, it is human nature to doubt and adopt a self-serving biasness towards others, so I think we are still far from a day where there are no stratification between and even within the different races.
yes, living in a multi-racial country like Singapore, it prompts us to try to understand other races' cultures.
But no matter how hard we try, it will be tough to really familiarise and be so comfortable to soak into the other races' cultures, just like them.
There is still that line of distinction. That "invisible" border.
This topic is very relevant to singapore context, as we have different races embracing different cultures of their own. Above our own needs and desire for people to accept our culture, why not take a step forward to accept that of others? There is a need to develop deeper understanding among different ethnic groups, in order to eliminate or reduce the differences among them. Only through this and also tolerance for one another, we can build up a strong intercultural communication.
That's why I love Singapore. We actually mix around with other races.
There's so much racial disputes elsewhere which makes Singapore the place to be for those who just hates such racial discriminations.
One thing that contributed would be the common language we all speak, English. Without it, it'll be pretty hard to communicate with each other. Common topics are by at large in our country with NS being the most common amongst the guys.
Yeap, Singapore ftw! :)
I agree with you - "Each and every individual has their own set of identity and culture develops from their way of living."
Every culture, race and religion may be different, but are equally unique in their own ways.
Singlish, though it may sound crude at times, is indeed an important part of our Singaporean culture. It is what makes us unique and differentiate us from the people from other countries.
Our muti-racial and religious society is anothr unique factor. Because of this large diversification, the government decided to make English our First Language. This is what makes us so special because most of the other countries have their own language - a paritcular language that almost every single person in their country speaks. Singapore, on the other hand, has people with various Mother Tongues.
Love intercultural communication. It broadens your perspective and allows u to gain experiences without actually living throug it~
Indeed, every culture is just so unique! Living in this multi-cultural society, we should learn to apprciate and embrace other cultures. I think this can start from schools. For instance, showcasing chinese/malay/indian cultures through performances or presentations. I think celebrating Racial Harmony Day, just like what you did, is simply one way of showing that we appreciate one another's culture. Seems like you had great fun wearing the costumes!:)
yeah! i totally agree with velvet and alyssa! =)
Our country is so unique because we all share/learn the common language: English. And at the same time, learn our mother tongue language (based on our race).
Because of this unique learning system, it has made us,Singaporeans, common in an uncommon manner! =)
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