Only after coming to know another culture can a person truly begin to understand its people

Only after coming to know another culture can a person truly begin to understand its people.
Describe a specific situation in which it might be possible to understand a people without knowing about their culture. Discuss what you think determines when knowing another culture is necessary for understanding its people.
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Members of a community learn from each other through repeated interaction and through time, they develop a "culture"---or set of shared values, goals, and practices. In order to understand a community, one must get to know their culture. This is best accomplished actually living among the people for an extended period of time. Of course, one may glean aspects of a community's culture through textbooks and documentaries. However, it is impossible to fully understand a culture unless one has personal experience integrating into the community, as well as approaching it with an open mind.

By living amongst the people of a community, one gains a more nuanced understanding of the culture. For instance, by attending religious ceremonies, parties, and family gatherings, the outsider can interact with members and feel--not just see--what they value in life. They can observe what they prioritize as a community by understanding the type of work they do to make a living and what they do for diversion purposes. A community, for instance, may highly value their relaxation time while another may be run by a clock and the need to accumulate wealth. A community's conception of time, indeed, can truly be understood only if living in the community.

"Knowing" a culture involves fully integrating into a community. This entails, among others, speaking the community's language and being able to communicate directly with various members. Oftentimes, there may be certain ideas and sentiments that cannot be fully expressed in translation and having the ability to speak directly with members can offer valuable insights about a people. Integrating within a community also involves living in similar conditions as those of the members. For instance, if an American expat continues living a life of luxury among the African tribe he is purporting to study, he will not fully understand any struggles and conditions that motivate members to live life in the way that they do.

There have been numerous examples in history where outsiders have imposed their will on a group without truly understanding important cultural factors. For example, European powers in the 1960s partitioned Africa in a way that satisfied their own interests; that is, by placing rival tribes in the same country and splitting up friendly clans. The problems of genocide and famine that ravage Africa today are partly due to poor planning in the part of the European powers. They failed to understand the African people by ignoring cultural aspects that perhaps would have had great influence in the direction of the continent.


If one is truly interested in learning about a community, he will one way or another try to understand the culture. Granted, one may learn about people through studying textbooks describing history, geography and other facts. This, however, is a superficial understanding of a people since communities consist of much more than hard facts. Culture encompasses more nuanced aspects of a community. Often, aspects of culture cannot be adequately described in words but rather, can best be "experienced" through direct interaction with the people. Furthermore, one must also approach the other culture with an open mind and recognize one's own biases before making judgments.