Learning the American Culture

Last Thursday, July 18 and Monday, 22, 2013, our class was honored to receive two guest speakers, namely Professor Patty Delaney and Professor Dave Landers.

During the first talk, we debated about the American cultural values. According to Professor Patty Delaney, if you leave your culture, you will certainly feel uncomfortable with a situation one day, you'll go through that moment of confusion, during which you are not really at ease, because you are facing a new situation that your culture may consider as incorrect. That is what is referred as “culture shock”! The Professor told us that it is normal to live this uncomfortable situation. When you accept it, the next thing is to share your own culture with people you deal with every day. Also, adjustment is necessary. Everyone thinks that his/her culture is perfect. So it is necessary to accept other people's culture as they are. 

Furthermore, the professor argued that when you go back to your country, certain things you were probably doing before leaving will become weird to you because you experienced another culture. This is called “reversed cultural shock”. What happens is that you unconsciously reassess your own culture.

Besides, the professor informed us that we will certainly be going through three stages which are: the honeymoon stage, the irritation stage and the adjustment stage.

To sum, these are among many others, the different points we talked about. I assert that all this information was very important for us and I personally enjoyed the conversation with her. For, it will better equip us with the cultural understanding of the USA and the strength necessary for adjustment during our stay in the USA.

The second talk was with Professor Dave Landers. His talk addressed the greatest concern that most of us have, namely, Gender Issues and Sexual Harassment.

The main point I appreciated in his talk was about the notion of social construction. According to him, our environment, our parents, our religion, our friends the media, etc. contribute to shape our world view and perspective. That’s why we may find certain things wrong while the same things are totally accepted elsewhere. This difference is due to our social construction. 

We also discussed about the legal definitions of sexual harassment and rape. These norms are very different in my country. For example, it is acceptable to stare at a girl for a long time, or to insist on inviting her everyday... As long as you don't touch her body, you are fine. In contrast, none of these actions I have mentioned above is accepted in the USA. Again and again, these were very important things to know, because due to cultural differences, one may have trouble with another person or with the police without knowing that he/she is doing something wrong.

In conclusion, I have really understood many aspects of the American culture through these two talks and I still hope that the remaining guest speakers will provide us further important information. May I be permitted to acknowledge not only my Professor Maggie, who did her best to arrange all these talks, but also all the guest speakers who, although very busy, allowed their time and effort to meet us. May everyone receive here, my profound and sincere gratitude!

Aboudou H BERTHE, from Mali.