Politeness in the Hartley Library

I want to discuss politeness in the library. Do you actively seek to be respectful of others and follow library rules? Or are you one of those people who leave the library in a mess?

Its peak exam season and Hartley Library is rammed. You need to be in there by 9am to have a seat, 8.30am if you want a seat with a plug. Everyone is feeling stressed out and inevitably this can lead to grouchiness, but one should never take that out on your fellow students; I mean they are in the same predicament as you.

When you are in the library day after day, week after week in exam season it can be easy to be annoyed by the smallest things. Whilst in the library yesterday I interviewed some students the things they find as impolite in the library.

   1)   Alex: The most impolite thing is definitely leave the toilets a mess. The girls toilets are always disgusting, I mean there are only like two toilets on a floor as it is, so we need to keep what we have clean.

   2)   Natasha: I get annoyed when the person next to be is constantly looking at what I am doing. We all when we first sit down, have a sneaky look to see what subject the other person is studying, but constantly looking over is just rude and distracting.

   3)   Tashan: When someone has saved a seat for either their selves or a friend. Fair enough when you have a lecture or lunch and you are back within two hours tops. But some people leave seats for the whole day, whilst others really need to space to do some actual work.

If you see someone saving a seat, how could you go about asking them if you can have it? Brown and Levinson (1987) came up with an influential theory- Face Threatening Acts (FTA). This was part of a wider theory in the area of linguistic politeness. 

This theory had three main notions: face, face-threatening act, and politeness strategies. The theory examines the options one has to express a question/demand and tries to gauge the reaction of the respondent.

You can either ask the person for the seat or not.

1) Yes- You engage in FTA

2) No- You do not engage in FTA

So if you have asked, how do you do this?

-      - One the record: ‘Hi, could I please have that seat as it isn’t being used’

-      - Off the record (ambiguously): ‘Oh, I have a lot of work to do and nowhere to sit’

-      - On the record, baldly without redress: ‘I am going to sit here and work’

-      - On the record with redress: ‘I was wondering if I could possibly sit here and do work, but only if you don’t need it, don’t worry otherwise’

The on the record, baldly without redress would probably not be your first choice as it is quite abrupt and rude, especially as it is a peer in society, you cannot tell someone what to do when you don’t know them, in this type of situation it is quite ‘socially inappropriate’.  A family elder or boss in a work environment can maybe use this form of FTA as that is more appropriate.

The student you may be asking may be from another culture, like China, where social norms are different. They will need a way to be able to refuse politely while ‘saving face’. The student may also be British, but still also need a non-threatening way of being asked as on the record, baldly without redress can be quite intimidating. 

Thus accommodation is important; we must understand that people are different. H Giles in his 2009 work The process of communication accommodation said “In most instances, it is desirable- even necessary – to converge, to adjust our language patterns towards those of our conversational partners” suggesting we should be understanding of the people we talk to and adjust ourselves appropriately.

Whilst revising yesterday evening in the library, a friend who was sat close by turned to me as the guy in the seat next to her left to go home, and said “Wouldn’t it be nice as if you’re leaving to go, you look at the person sat next to you and you say ‘Good luck in your exams, hope everything goes well’”  I laughed and agreed with her, it would be nice, but in today’s day and age, you don’t really talk to people you don’t know. Gone are the days of walking past a stranger in the street and nodding your head with a ‘Good morning’, we all keep to ourselves and our circles now and I am not sure whether that’s more polite or less.

Source:

. Brown, P., & Levinson, S. C. (1987). Politeness : some universals in language usage. Cambridge: Cambridge 

University Press. 

. Giles, H. (2009). The process of communication accommodation. In N. Coupland & A. Jaworski (Eds.), The 

new sociolinguistics reader (pp. 276-286). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Tweet Tweet

As someone who doesn't have Facebook yet has Twitter, I am constantly teased by my friends as to the reason why. I tell them having never really had Facebook, I don’t understand the need for it- You can’t miss what you've never had. Twitter on the other hand seems more useful to me, I can follow who I want and connect with/hear from those I need to. My friends are ‘Facebook friends’ with a whole bunch of people they don’t ever talk to and when I ask what the point is- they just shrug nonchalantly and reply that’s just how it is. 

Although Facebook and Twitter share many of the same useful characteristics like connecting instantly without the need for physical closeness, it seems to me that twitter has the upper hand –it’s more of a communication service than a true social network because it focuses on creating a stream of information that resembles a conversation, rather than just grouping friends together. There’s no better way to find out fast, what if anything is happening in the world, from anywhere in the world. Or communicate with those you need to regardless of location. When I went to Dubai last year I struck up a close friendship with this photographer from Canada and occasionally tweet each other today to see what we’re up to and arrange meetings. 

Some social medias come and go, think MySpace, Hi-5 and Bebo, but I don’t think Twitter’s time will ever pass, it doesn't need to constantly evolve like its competitors in terms of aesthetics, that’s because the content that fuels twitter constantly changes.

Source:
. https://twitter.com/

MSN

MSN has really catered to their multi-lingual customers.

Here is the UK version http://uk.msn.com/

The Japanese version http://jp.msn.com/

The UAE version http://arabic.arabia.msn.com/

A company with a good multilingual website(s) should take into consideration placement of texts and images, colour, translation, keywords and usability. Different cultures read in different ways so placement of text and images is very important to the overall usability, acceptance and conversions of a site. Western cultures read left to right, whilst Middle Eastern cultures read right to left and Pacific cultures read top to bottom. The UK version had lots of pictures and links to extra stories. The UAE (Arab) MSN site is very user friendly I found.  The text flowed from right the left. The site was actually in Arabic rather than a few words translated here and there like I have found on other sites, there are fewer pictures than the UK version, but the site that was the most text focused was the Japanese version, very text orientated with little pictures.  Once again MSN have done a brilliant job in catering for their Japanese customers by making it totally Japanese with no English apart from names like Outlook, Twitter, and Facebook. Colour holds very different meanings in different countries, so it’s important to understand the meanings. MSN have kept all three sites looking very neutral using very little colour on the backgrounds.

One criticism would be that when on the English and Japanese site, I could not find how to switch from one language/country to another. On the Arab UAE version of the site, I could see there was the option to change to the English, KSA, North-Africa or Egypt versions of the site. But no wider range. MSN could perhaps add a drop-down bar with languages and flags to choose from to get rid of this problem.

Funny or Racist?

When does a stand-up routine stop being funny and just become plain racist? How does one decide when the comedian goes too far? Comedy isn’t one of those black and white areas, where it’s easy to judge if something is right or wrong, its complicated and so that’s probably why there’s a lot of debate over it.

Comedy can be a very effective tool to break down racism. It’s a great way of getting rid of cultural barriers without the awkward ‘Am I being racist?’ Political correctness can at times be a pain in the arse.

Yet there are have been obvious times when comedians have crossed THAT line. A famous example of this is Michael Richards’s stand-up act in 2006. He shouted racial abuse and epithets at the audience that had nothing to do with his act. 

Here’s the video.

 

It was an incident that shocked many because he was pretty famous and up until the quite respected. 

However not every race-centred joke turns into a massive debate. Loads of comedians see stand-up as a way to open doors and allow dialogue to flow about race. One example of this is Russell Peters, he is an excellent comedian who has the ability to address serious topics involving race but in a hilarious way. 

Here’s a video of him doing some stand-up. Enjoy :)

Dirac's

Here is the traditional Somali dress worn by most women- Dirac's.  I only started wearing them this year when I became more interested in my culture.My mum gave me a variety of dirac's to take to university and wear around the house. My housemates have also started wearing them and have asked for me to get them some. It was interesting to explain to them part of my Somali culture through the story of the dirac.

Chinese Americans

After an interesting lecture about China and Confucius, I had a look at some videos about China and their diaspora. Here is a video about the surprising reverse emigration taking place. Enjoy

Game of Thrones

Game of Thrones is now a TV series that most of you will have heard about if not seen. But before it was made into a TV show it was a fantasy fiction series- A Song of Ice and Fire. Which ever way you have encountered George R. R. Martin's story, I'm sure that you will agree that it is refreshingly different from most stories out there today. Now being a huge fan of the books, I was worried and skeptical of whether a TV show could convey the plot complexities or do the books any justice at all. I held out from watching the TV version until my house mate convinced me to watch it.

GRRM has created an entirely new and complex world. It’s widely spoken of as being one of the most influential fantasy fiction series, ranked amongst the likes of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. He is an author who has no qualms about killing off your favourite character. No one is truly ‘good’ or ‘bad’ which for me made it such a compelling read and more similar to real life than any other fantasy book I’ve read. The plot consists of a power struggle for the throne of the seven kingdoms.
Ps...I have changed the name of my blog....after a friend of mine pointed out my surname would be the perfect pun. Culutre-Ali....get it?

Wants....

In a world where humans always want more, here are some things I want/love......

These are the pinstriped trousers I originally wanted, but I managed to get a pair for only £9!

Shoes!

I was online shopping recently and came across these boots! LOVE LOVE LOVE!! After purchasing them, I realized they were coming all the way from china so would take forever to arrive! It also made me realize that a lot of items I've been looking at recently come from China. I think they have some really exciting trends coming from there and a lot of the time, when certain styles come into fashion, they hit East Asia first before Europe/UK.

Fashion is an integral part of culture. From the Egyptians to the Irish, all cultures have their own traditional dress. Its been used to symbolize who you are and where you come from. Now fashion is largely aesthetic in the modern world, but still can be used to 'show your personality'.

Some people may think they aren't making a concrete fashion statement when dress for the day. But more often then not, they have put some thought and effort into what they are wearing because people judge you on what you wear and vice-versa. For example, in the work place, you must dress smart, or if we saw an unkempt person we may assume tramp. Wrongly or rightly it just shows we judge people on appearances and what they are wearing is a large part of appearance. 

Lastly here are some links to a few fashion blogs I have been loving recently. Enjoy :)

http://glossfashion.com/le-happy/

http://nicola-claire.blogspot.co.uk/

Moving out...

When I first came to university in Southampton, I like most other first year students would be living out and alone for the first time. The city itself was a whole other world away from the hustle and bustle of London. It shocked me that there was only one ‘main’ place for shopping- West Quay, that there were no tubes to get you places quickly and even small things, like the colour of the buses. I hadn't ever really actively thought about what colour the bus would be in Southampton, but I definitely remember my distinct surprise at their difference to the good ‘ol red bus at home.

I live in a very multicultural part of London, so when I came to university it seemed like almost everyone was white or Chinese  rather than the ‘super diversities’ of London. 

Vertovec (2007) says that Super-diversity is characterized by a tremendous increase in the categories of migrants, not only in terms of nationality, ethnicity  language, and religion, but also in terms of motives, patterns and itineraries of migration, process of insertion into the labour and housing markets of the host societies and so on.

I remember sharing these sentiments with fellow Londoners, as we bonded over how Southampton had nothing on London. At home, there is quite a large community of Somalis, I’m pretty sure I saw two or three in the whole of my first year. I have never really been ‘involved’ in the Somali community, but seeing them would bring me a sense of comfort, it was ‘normal’. I would ring my mum and she would comment on how my already questionable Somali had gone rusty. “Is there no one you can speak to in Somali there?” she would say. The first semester was a rough one for me, as I imagine it can be for most first years. The content of my course wasn't what I was expecting, my flat although lovely, weren't ‘my’ type of people and I even hated cooking for myself, so either I didn't eat or had takeaway. Eventually I acclimatised- it was either that or dropping out. I found my niche, my circle of friends and realised that the difference in my course was simply the jump from A-Levels to University. I can honestly say I have had the best few years so far; I've met amazing people, Southampton is definitely home to me now, on a par with London, they are both different and have different things to offer and I LOVE LIVING ALONE, I never thought I would have said that when I started.

In short, I’m guessing in life you will move around, travel and meet different people, give it a chance because in pushing yourself out of your comfort zone you will gain huge insight into yourself. 

Source:
Vertovec, S. (2007) Super-diversity and its implications. Taylor & Francis

Stereotypes

It is apparent that the portrayal of women in images and television have helped negative and sexist stereotypes to flourish.

"Women are continually assaulted by images of other 'women' showing fragmented faces and bodies available for male pleasure. We need to 'reclaim' our faces and bodies from such appropriation and to 'put them back together' again if we are not to remain ideologically fragmented ourselves." - feminist Jo Spence (1978/79) This suggests that woman's perception of herself will change for the worse if we don't 'reclaim' the representation of females in tv/images.

Desperate Housewives, has been an off/on favourite TV show of mine for a number of years. It however has many different stereotypes of women which I shall go on to tell you about.

The name itself stereotypes women before we have even started to watch it.  Each housewife’s lives may seem to be a prim and proper in this neighbourhood yet is full of dark secrets as these women hide behind their conservative facade. Over the duration of the show, the women have proven that they are capable of anything and I mean anything. I’m talking from being a nurturing mother, to murder, alcoholism and adultery. Though at first I did not notice, as I watched on, I found this show reinforces the stereotypes of women and those made through the media.

The 4 main characters are Lynette, Susan, Gaby and Bree. Lynette who is a mother of five children is a stay at home mother. Bree like Lynette is an accomplished business owner and she prides herself on her home and cleanliness. Both of these women represent the stereotype of the domestic wife and mother. Gaby, who is a former model, prides herself on her personal appearance and her beauty. She represents the role of the sex object. The show presents a number of different stereotypes of women, including: the wife/mother, the seductress, modern woman vs. housewife and the sex object.

Both Bree and Lynette are stay at home mothers, who face the challenge of balancing the task of maintaining their social status and the welfare of their children. They portray the roles of the wife/mother by sacrificing their individual dreams to support their families. Bree is an obsessive and compulsive housewife who is punished for being too perfect and is determined to rescue her marriage. This represents women as not having independence if a man is not present in their lives. Bree is described as “preppy-lovely…Her first life was neat, her china polished, her designer ensembles perfectly pressed” This description of Bree shows that she is exactly how every housewife wants to be portrayed- stress free. However this perfect lifestyle seems to perfect and is done to mirror how a ‘real housewife’ should be and disguises the real problems she faces.

Throughout the beginning seasons of the series, Lynette could be seen to challenge stereotypes through successfully attaining a high management position at her job by hard work. She represents the wider debate of the pressures placed on women in modern society- the career route or the family route. When her husband needs her to be more there for her children, she is faced with the decision to give up all her hard work for her home, where her ‘real job’ is. Instead of trying and defending her years of hard work, she surrenders her achievements for nappy’s and an apron and leaves behind her job. Also, when she did work, it was in the same position as her husband, who hated the fact that she was more successful than him. “I’m not gonna hide behind my wife’s skirt!” was a particular quote that struck me, it showed he was ashamed that Lynette was better at the same job as him, he found it unbearable because she was a woman and as a man he felt as though he should be more successful than his wife. This for me represents wider society as a whole and a real issue facing the ‘modern woman’, we are constantly being told that it is impossible to be a good mother and a successful career woman. Lynette is more often than not dressed quite shabbily and looks tired, especially in comparison to Bree, this suggests that the ‘modern housewife’-Lynette is struggling as opposed to the ‘traditional housewife’-Bree.

Susan represents the more vulnerable and overused characteristics of women. She is predominantly presented as a mother and kind of reminds me of the stereotypes of a 1970’s women- 'weak, ineffectual and victimised' as Barrie Gunter said in his 1995 work 'Television and Gender Representation'. One of her main storylines is her battle with another woman in the show Eddie over a man named Mike. They fight and backstab each other in order to get what they want suggesting women will do anything to get male attention. Susan is also constantly always portrayed as having relationship disasters. She is shown as weak because she always ends up in tears after a relationship crisis, emphasising "the typical gender expectation that women are to be weak and emotional" from Gender and Negotiation by Laura Kray and Leigh Thompson. Women are depicted as insecure because they are unable to deal with rejection from the male.

Gaby solidifies the stereotypes of the sex object, the seductress and the age old stereotype that women want to marry a rich man. As an older woman she dresses proactively and isn’t afraid to speak her mind. Gaby is constantly dressed in tight clothes and high heels. Her make-up is ALWAYS perfect, first thing in the morning-perfect, before bed-perfect, in the shower-PERFECT. If I was to be analytical, I would say that her heavy eye make-up and red lipstick show that make-up is used by producers to stimulate sexual arousal.  Gaby takes advantage of her good looks to get what she wants, as does Carlos-her husband, for his business purposes. When Gaby complains to him that one of his business partners is constantly trying to “grab her arse” he laughs and says “If he wants to grab your arse, you let him”. Now personally, if a woman wants to use her sexuality to further herself in the world, I think it’s fair enough, if not necessarily right/moral. But for a man to use a woman to further himself, that is plain wrong, it suggests that she is his ‘object’ and his to use. Carlos pays Gabby's way in the world, she is reliant on him for money. She plays into the stereotype "that all women want to marry a rich man and live happily ever after" (Kray and Thompson)

Generally, I found that Desperate Housewives reaffirms to its viewers the stereotypes that have been implanted in contemporary media and does not allow us to see the true power women have over their lives. Feminist Germaine Greer writes "every women knows that regardless of her own achievements, she is a failure if she is not beautiful" I think this is a issue not properly tackled by the show, however it does need to be taken into consideration that this is JUST a show and is it their duty to tackle questions about society today?

Source:
Spence, J. (1978/79) "What do people do all day? Class and gender in images of women", in Screen Education. vol.29, pg 45
Gunter, B. (1995) Television and Gender Representation
Kray, L and Thompson, L. (2005) Gender and Negotiation. vol.26, pp103-182 

Globalisation

Globalisation is perhaps one of the most overused words in academic and public debate. However, it is important for us to confront it if we are to truly understand modern society as it is becoming increasing apparent everywhere. 

My local high-street for example, where there is a halal meat centre, Polish corner shops, Chinese/Indian restaurants and an international food store. In addition, there are a few supermarkets which sell food from all around the world. Gone are the days when importing produce meant waiting weeks for ships to arrive, and even then a limited selection would be fit for consumption. We now have a massive and INSTANT selection, which is a result of globalisation; it has opened the doors of countries, so we can have easier access to one another’s goods. 

Ex UN Secretary General Kofi Annan once said "The main losers in today's very unequal world are not those that are too exposed to globalisation, but those who have been left out."  This to me suggests that it is those communities that isolate themselves from global activities and trade that will suffer most. It is also countries with comparative advantages to trade that can benefit most from globalisation, this is because they can produce a certain good(s)/service(s) at a lower marginal costs thus prompting trade, even if other countries have an absolute advantage. Hence the world is moving towards becoming a global community that is interdependent on one another for survival.  

Stuart Hall (1993) said that ' the present intensified phase of globalisation has favoured the tendencies pushing nation-states towards supranational integration- economic, and more reluctantly, political and cultural: weakening without destroying the nation state' This would suggest that globalisation is destroying a nations uniqueness in them all integrating, however Hall does add that whilst this is happening globalisation is 'strengthening' the local allegiances and identities within nation states' suggesting that they are holding onto their identities. 

Globalisation is evident in many areas like literature for example, The Alchemist a book written by Paulo Coelho in Portuguese, has been translated into 67 different languages. Enabling authors to reach a vast audience and have huge cultural impact. Unsurprisingly, it is The Bible that is the worlds most translated book (Over 2500 in at least one book of The Bible) showing that globalisation has helped the spread of religion.  

Also, in regards to language, I have always found it strange that when British people go on holiday, most of us just kind of expect everyone to understand English. It is the ‘global’ language. When I travelled across Europe with my friends, we didn't speak/understand the native language of a single country we visited, we just had the expectation that we would get by. We acknowledged that it was an ignorant mind-set, but we could do nothing to change it. We got by just fine everywhere with only just a bit more difficulty in Budapest, where there were barely any English signs. I had to quash the feeling of anger in me when we used to get lost, and remind myself that it is not their ‘fault’ and perhaps I should have taken the initiative to learn Hungarian. 

I find that the UK schooling system is very different to other countries when it comes to teaching modern languages. Not nearly enough emphasis is placed upon it. Foreign workers are better candidates for jobs because they can break communication boundaries. In society today, where the Far East is becoming increasing powerful, economically and politically, perhaps the UK government should introduce teaching reforms similar to those in Australia, in which children are taught Japanese, Indonesian and Chinese and therefore increase their future prospects.  

Globalisation evidently has led to huge income disparities around the world. Here's a graph taken from the World Bank in 2008. And its said to think that the inequality has probably increased quite dramatically 5 years on.

Here is a picture of Portswood High-street in 1937. How things have changed!

Source:
Hall, S. (1993)  'Culture, Community, Nation' in Cultural Studies. vol.7(3), pg 354.

Earth's Children

Earth's Children is a series of books I read a couple of years ago. When I first started my Intercultural communication in a global world module, I was instantly reminded of these books, so I recently re-read them and LOVE how what I'm studying links into it.

The books are basically a pre-historic fantasy series by Jean M. Auel. Its set 30,000 years ago and is based on the period of coexistence between Cro-Magnons (early modern humans) and Neanderthals. It follows the story of Ayla, a Cro-Magnon female and her life amongst Neanderthals.

She at a young age becomes separated from her human family and is found and raised amongst a clan of Neanderthals (the clan). Now, it is not conclusively known whether neanderthals and humans actually coexisted together; but whether or not this is the case, these books are an awesome read about the clash of cultures between the two species.
Ayla is exiled from her clan and forced to give up her half human-half neanderthal son. A few years later, she comes across some of her 'own' and from here we read about her struggling to find her own identity. She belongs, yet does not belong. Although she looks like these people, she is vastly different from them, even unable at the beginning to communicate vocally like them, but instead communicate via sign-language, hand gestures and body language. Her customs, beliefs and ideologies were totally different, yet these were her people.

Evolution and the migration bought the Cro-Magnons into Neanderthal territory, and it was the Neanderthals inability to change and innovate the way they lived that eventually led to their extinction. Auel speculates that the Neanderthals reluctance to change is a 'function of their cognition' and are dependent upon 'racial-genetic memory', this basically means they can't help it. Its in their DNA. For example they continue to chase animals with spears when hunting, whilst the Cro-Magnons came up with projectile spears. When the Clan comes across this, they still refuse to change their ways even though it would seem to make their day-to-day life easier. Perhaps if they had changed, the race may have survived although they would have had to adopt some of the ways of the humans, thus loosing some of their identity. Contact between the two species was very limited and they both sort to keep it that way, having negative conceptions of each other.

The Cro-Magnons thought of the Clan as animals (largely due to their inability to communicate vocally) so would not ever voluntarily mix with them. Whilst the Clan see the humans as 'Others' who's spoken language is useless babbling and highlights their limited intellect. Both however are distinct and fluent forms of communication, where you can convey everything you need to 'say'. It shows that communication and language is not just verbal, the Clan communicates with hand-signs, body posture, facial expressions and physical gestures. They do add in the occasional spoken word to emphasise a gesture, although this is limited and 'grunt-like'. Each species separate language makes up a large part of their cultures and is unique to them. So when Ayla first joined the Clan at age 5, she learned how to communicate non-verbally, and joined a new culture, so much so that when she encountered her first human- Jondalar, she had lost the ability to 'talk'. There are also other cultural differences, including attitudes towards sex, reproduction, religion, social hierarchy and etiquette.

They go through a process of mutual learning, teaching each-other about themselves, with a mixture of surprise at their similarities and confusion/shock at the differences. Jondalar begins to question his prejudices against the Neanderthals and is fascinated to learn of their 'intelligence'. That they can actually communicate rationally had been up until then inconceivable and bought home truths about the two species's similarities. It is the preconceived stereotypes about the Neanderthals such as that they are no better then animals that has led to their persecution.
The books continue to see Ayla really grow as a character and a person, discovering who she is- a mixture of all influential parts of her life, she for me defines multiculturalism in this fictitious world.

I really do recommend these books if you get a spare moment, enjoyable and very informative!

Southampton's Turtle Bay

Last week, I went out to eat at Turtle Bay with a few friends. Turtle Bay is in central Southampton, so next to the civic centre and Solent University. It was around 7ish when we got there and as per usual it was p a c k e d. When it first opened I was sceptical as to how well it would do in the still sluggish economic climate. However, it has shocked everyone with its success. When I ask myself why, it’s not that Soton lacks nice restaurants; I mean take a stroll down Oxford Street, so maybe then it’s the type of food. For those of you who don’t know, it serves Caribbean food & drink. The music there is pretty perfect and for perhaps those few hours you’re there, you are transported away from Southampton and can almost….almost envision sunshine as you look out of the huge glass windows.

Turtle Bay is bringing a little bit of Caribbean culture to the Southampton and we seem to love it, this is a clear example of when cultures mix well. Although it’s obviously different to say The Empire Windrush that came to Britain’s shores in 1948, the first large group of Caribbean’s to come to the UK after World War II. People are more accepting to say an Indian restaurant than to whole group of Indians moving in next door, I’d like to think however we- the UK are past this stage of intolerance. To a certain degree I think there will always be prejudices, I just hope it’s insufficient enough to allow us all to get on and live together peacefully. I love the food here, today I ordered Curry Goat, Jerk fries and a Raspberry Reggae cocktail. Even my Jamaican housemate approves of the food; I enjoy it so much, because it’s so different to the standard Chinese, Indian, Italian, etc.

The clientele here in Turtle Bay are diverse, there are parents coming down to see  their kids for the day, old couples, young couples and like us groups of friends. It’s telling that everyone in here looks as if they can afford it. I wouldn’t say Turtle Bay is high-end; you can get great food for around £15. But that is a price many people aren’t willing or can’t afford to pay.  I remember an earlier conversation with a friend where we discussed that the people who frequent places like this, aren’t like those in our local area of Portswood. No homeless looking people or young mothers dragging pushchairs, why is this? It is because people tend to stick to where they are most comfortable, where they won’t stick out. Its location probably adds to its popularity, central of any city is a prime spot. Do I fit in? I look around at everyone eating; well we are here at the same time eating, so for that reason yes, I feel comfortable. 

What is 'Culture'?

Culture is one of those words that has many different meanings. Its a powerful tool for human survival. It seems to be more a concept than a set word with a single definition.
An agreed upon definition is  culture is the shared patterns of behaviors and interactions, cognitive constructs, and effective understanding that are learned through a process of socialization  These shared patterns identify the members of a culture group while also distinguishing those of another group.

Culture is constantly changing and easily lost, hence why some societies try to separate themselves in order to protect their culture, they are 'distinguishing' themselves from other cultures/societies. Whether this is entirely good or bad is debatable and a matter of opinion. In my opinion, people have the right to stay within their cultures as perhaps they feel safe in the 'known'. However in this increasingly globalized society, its harder for cultures to be entirely separate  and today, you can mix in a multi-cultural society, and learn from others but not loose yourself. This is because in today's world there are more ways for diaspora/migrants/immigrants to keep in contact with their homeland.

Edward T. Hall's ideas and metaphors from 'Beyond Culture'

1. Culture = models and templates
2. Culture is the medium we live in, like the air we breathe
3. Culture is innate, but learned (i.e. we are born with the physical necessity and capacity to specialize our bodies, brains, hearts in line with cultural patterns.)
4. Culture is living, interlocking system(s)--touch one part, the rest moves.
5. Culture is shared, it is created and maintained through relationship.
6. Culture is used to differentiate one group from another. (In other words, division into groups comes first; deliberate differentiation via cultural symbols comes second.)