African communities

Your cultural journal is a place for reflection and for connecting the topics we learn about in class with assigned activities, your experiences and observations.

Unit 1 is designed to increase your:

1. Understanding of terms (culture, nationality, race and ethnicity) and frameworks (the cultural context of behavior; week 1).
2. Understanding of etics and emics and cultural worldviews, in particular horizontal and vertical forms of individualism and collectivism (week 2).
3. Understanding of enculturation and acculturation, in particular acculturation agents and strautegies (week 3).

Cultural Journal #1:

Please respond to the following prompt:

• Reflect on your culture. In this reflection, incorporate topics and terminology we have covered in unit 1 (e.g., broad and narrow definitions of culture, nationality, race, ethnicity, biopsychosocial model, etics, emics, individualism, collectivism, enculturation, acculturation, enculturation/acculturation agents, acculturation strategies).

Your assignment should be 300 words in length. You must use correct grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. Remember that the purpose of this assignment is for you to reflect on the qestions that are posed and relate your reflections to topics that we cover in class. The goal is reflection and course connection. Please be thoughtful in your responses.

Assessment Criteria: Your journal will be graded based on being turned in on time, length, writing quality, conceptual accuracy and course connections. Points will be deducted:

• for journals that do not meet the length requirement (your maximum score will be based on the number of words you write).
• (one point) for every two writing errors.
• for content that is conceptually or factually inaccurate.
• if there are no course connections.

Answer preview

Religion provides guidance and a framework for the appropriate ways of thinking and behaving, which are passed from elders to the young generation through stories, bible readings, and church teachings. Most Africans are Christians and Muslims. In the ancestral state, people used to worship in shrines and offer sacrifices, but as the world is changing, most people worship in churches. At a young age, people are taught the right morals of dressing, talking, and acting. For example, in African culture, it is believed that, as a woman, you are not supposed to walk around wearing a short dress as it symbolizes a lack of morals and respect.

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