Reflective Writing

Culture is a big part of everyone's lives, as there are many different religious, ethnic and historical influences. For this assignment I had to select four photos which relate to my personal culture, identity, human rights, and a historical influence.

My photo for personal culture is of the beach as it is where I’ve grown up and it’s somewhere I am very familiar with and enjoy the surroundings. I have always lived very close to the beach in which I relate it to my culture of being from New Zealand. My personal culture involves the beach, water, sun, and outdoors. Cultures all have different ways of acting and perspectives of life. Ryan (2010) has recognised multiple cultural aspects within the countries he visited. In my own experiences I have also noticed these things.  For example in countries such as Dubai and Egypt, women wear full length clothing and show only their eyes.

I have selected a photo of my family for my second photo as we have a close relationship and enjoy being with each other.  Although we have a larger extended family, they are the main people which I am surrounded by. There will never be a last anything as it will always continue and is repeated throughout people and cultures (James, 2015). I particularly like how James mentioned this in the lecture as no matter what happens your family will also continue and always be there with you.

I have gained more insight through our class discussions relating to human rights. I have noticed that there are many different angles and perspectives. I firmly believe that everyone should have equal rights and opportunity regardless of ethnicity. My photo is of the Auckland city mission which I believe does a great job achieving results to allow people to gain hope, warmth and food. I also think that no one should be living on the streets and be without warmth, a place to sleep and food to eat. I have learnt a lot about human rights within our paper, and I connect strongly with the idea that these are things which should be available to all human beings without bias.

My historical photo of my mother and myself at our Marae expresses how migration has influenced my life, this is a significant action to me as I am both Maori and European so it is a historical event I am grateful for and pleased that the migration of the Europeans to New Zealand occurred.  I agree with Edward (1976), in which he states that different cultures have many different thought patterns and values which are known as hidden under the water level. The ice burg model is viewed this way.  If we personally do not look into a particular culture in enough depth we will only see at face value the behaviour. I have learnt from our class discussions on this paper that we cannot judge a culture we are unfamiliar with just by what we see on the surface and we need to look further into the ways of the culture before making direct opinions.

These ideas have influenced me since I shared my photos. I enjoyed sharing the photos as I have been able to express who I am and what my culture and beliefs are. I have noticed that it is possible to have very different views on the same photo, depending on your personal interpretation. There are multiple views yet none of them are wrong as they are all individual opinions.

References:

James George. Lecture 2015

Edward T.Hall’s Cultural Iceberg model. www.constantforeigner.com

Ryan, M. (2010). Preface. In Cultural studies: A practical introduction. Hoboken: Wiley, pp.viii-xii.

Word count: 585
Olivia Sanderson -14861466