Perspectives on Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Perspectives on Culture - Essay Example societies, widely grouped into Nilotic, Bantus and Cushitic, cultural diversity is widely evident in day-to-day life .Different cultures are accompanied by unique customs and norms, some surprising and shocking while others are common to all the cultures. Norms refer to particular rules concerning right and wrong in a society while customs are the society’s practices (Tierney, 2007).   Many elements of culture and diversity such as aesthetics, ceremony, ethics, health and medicine, gender roles, folk myths, religion and spirituality, gestures, grooming, sexuality, taboos and ownership differ among societies. Gender roles, for example, differ greatly among these societies. The Maasai-a Nilotic tribe mainly comprising nomadic pastoralists, surprisingly assign the role of building houses and cooking to women in their community whereas men are expected to protect the community and look after livestock. This is not the case with the kikuyu (a Bantu community) or luo (Nilotic) and many other cultures where houses are built by men. Religion and Spirituality, including purpose in life, the possibility and type of afterlife also has great diversity among various societies. Each society has a unique ‘god’ that they worship and believe in. The gods have different names and are believed to reside in specific places where they can be worshiped and consulted at specific times. The kikuyu community for example believes their god-ngai, lives a mountain so they face this specific mountain during worship. Another surprising variation in element of culture among the Maasai is evident in their status- attitudes and behaviors related to people of different rank like age, wealth, office or fame. This community considers keeping more livestock and having more children a sign of wealth, the more a person has the wealthier he is. Living among these communities requires knowledge of their language and acclimatize to their food. Language is a set of  shared symbols that