You may pick a good one - Essay Example

Sur Lecturer Cross Cultural Comparison There are very many cultures in the world amounting to a world of cultural diversity. I am likely to meet people of various culture and ethnic groups. This paper seeks to discuss various similarities and differences in values, beliefs, customs, perceptions of others, and the self. The two identified cultural groups are the African Americans culture and the Hispanic Americans culture. These two ethnic groups are distinguished by race, language, religion, and intermarriage customs and values.

Both the two cultures have different origin as depicted by the names of the groups. The two cultural groups exhibits differences as described in the following paragraphs.African American has traditions, values and customs concerning death. This is drawn from the various ethnic, culture and religious backgrounds they exhibit. Some of the common practices exhibited by African Americans in their values include: High involvement in the burial and mourning preparationA family and friends gathering at the residence of the deceased to share griefA wake in which songs, music is playedA meal shared among the loved and grieving people after the funeral and wakeLess acceptance of cremationAn intense faith in religion and church observance integrationCommemorative gifts and memorial serviceExpress grief through physical manifestationBelieve in life after deathAfrican Americans also have distinct patterns of language.

Some of the developed languages among the communities here include; Gullah popular with the Sea Islands and Creole common to the Louisiana. The African American culture is also associated with academic legitimate dialect due to its logical structure; however other people consider this as slang because of the poor Standard American English command (Hudgens 57). The African Americans also practice a variety of religions ranging from Protestant Christianity to Muslims.On the other hand, Hispanic Americans possess diverse cultural and custom background.

They include people from Puerto Rico, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Spain, central and South America, and Mexico. Some of the common cultural values and customs they exhibit in relation to death include:Friends and family are encouraged to form part of the commemorationRosary said by the loved ones surviving at the residence of the deceasedMass is included in the funeral service and the loved one are highly encouraged to show their griefThe survivors show commemoration of the loved ones with comments or promises which are taken very seriouslyMany gifts are offered to cover the burial and funeral expenses Hispanic Americans are often united by language, customs, values and religion.

However, an extensive diversity exists among them in their traits. Some of these values include; family commitment, belief on the child behavior reflecting the family honor, a strong system of support to the family, duty to care and hierarchical order in the family siblings (Dunn 239). Hispanic Americans are hence different from the African Americans in language, religion, customs, values and beliefs as mentioned in the paper.Works CitedDunn, R. Learning Styles of African-American and Hispanic-American Elementary-SchoolStudents.

Journal of multicultural counseling and development. 2000. 21(4): 237-247.Hudgens, B. The relationship of cognitive style, planning ability and locus-of-control toachievement for three ethnic groups (anglo, african-american, hispanic). Dissertation Abstracts International, 2001. 53-08