Reaction Paper #2 The White Massai

Last Thursday, our professor from the “Culture” course, Nuria, brought a movie to class. The movie is called “The White Massai”. It is a very interesting movie because you can see the reality of being with someone from a different culture, having totally different rituals, traditions, behaviors and so on. Of course, there are many differences between them and many miscommunication problems as well. The movie was about a girl named Carola who is from Switzerland and a Massai warrior called Lemalian who fall in love. 

What is amazing is the fact that the movie is based on real life. It really happened! Everything starts when Carola and her boyfriend Stephan go to Kenya, they meet Lemalian and Carola falls in love with him. When Carola and her boyfriend are at the airport, she decides to stay and look for Lemalian. She does but he is already home. So she goes to Samburu and stays at the house of an European girl. To get there, it takes her 13 hours by bus. She finds Lemalian and they start living together, eventually they get married and have a baby girl named Sarai. 

Carola opens a shop in Lemalian’s village but it is not successful because Lemalian gives too much credit to the mini chief. Time passes by and because Carola is friendly with her customer, Lemalian thinks that she has a boyfriend and calls her a whore. 

She gets sick of being treated that way for no reason, so she decides to tell Lemalian that she is going to Switzerland because her mother wants to meet her daughter, so Lemalian signs a document giving Carola consent to take Sarai out of the country. Carola never goes back to Kenya.

For me, this movie shows a lot about two such different cultures that anyone would believe one is right and the other one strange (Is this what you wanted to say?). Many things were shocking to me. For example, the first time when Carola and Lemalian were alone, Lemalian made love to her but it was without passion and it was really quick. Carola was confused but for Lemalian that is the way they do it, but luckily Carola taught him how to do it in a better way for her.  Besides that, when girls are fifteen they are ready to get married and they cut their clitoris. That is so dangerous, they can even die and their sexual organ might get an infection.  Something interesting is that women are not allowed to show affection for their significant other in public nor can see other men directly to the eyes nor be friendly because that means you have something with them, like if they were your lovers.

That is my point of view; some people may believe that is right, some may agree with me. We are all different and we have to accept our differences. Let´s try to get along and that way we will have a better world.

Reaction Paper #1 “Culture and Communication- The Relationship between Communication and Culture, Characteristics of Culture, Glimpses of Culture”

In the article “Culture and Communication- The Relationship between Communication and Culture, Characteristics of Culture, Glimpses of Culture”, it is shown that culture is created and changed through communication between individuals and there are factors that may affect it. Culture can be developed in a two-person relationship, groups or even in organizations and each one has its own identity. The relationship between communication and culture is vital, otherwise it would be almost impossible to conserve and transmit all traditions, rituals, laws, customs and so on from one generation to another within a culture.  Technology and the media can contribute to learning from other cultures but it is well known that culture can be affected by them; the most appropriate example would be that countries with great access and control of technology will overpower those who have less resources. In my opinion, humanity would not exist without culture and communication because it is the way we can be identified and it is a great tool for survival.

As the author captured in his article, all social units develop a culture. In a two-person relationship, partners develop their history, share experiences, have a language pattern only they can understand and have specific habits; for example in Costa Rica couples tend to give nicknames to their significant other. On the other side, groups have specific characteristics; for instance, they have a certain way to greet each other and usually have specific vocabulary to do so. Organizations also have their own culture. Companies can have different ways to train their employees, may have different dress codes and even different ways to lead.  On a daily basis, people should develop communication skills to be successful; culture must do it as well because otherwise it would not survive from generation to generation and would disappear. Technology and the media play a great role. They transmit cultural background, traditions and customs to different countries, that way people can learn from other cultures.  As well, it may have disadvantages because developing countries will not have the resources to let the world know they exist.

As Edward Hall said, "We should never denigrate any other culture but rather help people to understand the relationship between their own culture and the dominant culture. When you understand another culture or language, it does not mean that you have to lose your own culture."

Introduction Culture II

This is the first time I create a culture blog, and I think it will be a great experience we will have in the Culture II course. The blog is something completely different than we used to do in the Culture I course and I am really excited about it. I know it is going to be time consuming but I am going to do my best. I expect to improve my English language skills because I need to write a lot, so I am sure I will improve not only my vocabulary but also my grammar and writing skills. I believe we will have a very good time publishing posts about the different assignments and activities related to culture. I hope you can all enjoy my blog!