Cultural Collage

 

The definition of"culture can be a really vague one. The term "culture" refers to the universal human capacity and activities to classify, codify and communicate their experiences materially and symbolically. It marries with almost everything, e.g., political culture, food culture, car culture, gay culture, beer culture, gun culture, or even bathroom culture. It is accompanied with not only positive meanings, e.g., cultural understanding, cultural exchange, intercultural competence, and cultural evolution, but also negative ones, e.g., cultural dissonance, cultural bias, cultural invasion, culture war, cultural supremacy, and cultural imperalism. The complexities of culture, indeed, are reflected by the various interpretations of the symbols in human societies from dissimilar worldviews.

 

American Indian Experience (Native American culture)

  • Southwest Field Trip to Indian Reservations

2004 summer I went on a cultural immerision field trip to New Mexico and Arizona. 15 days and nights on Indiana reservations (including the Grand Canyon) with 16 other BSU students. A memorable experiences! And plus after so many years, I still keep in touch with many of my travel companions... View PowerPoint of this trip>

The Sister-City Tie (International culture)

 

The Culture of Food (My favorite culture)

"If it looks good, eat it!" -- Andrew Zemmern, Bizzare Foods

 

Currently, Muncie, Indiana residents have nine Chinese restaurants at which to devour broccoli beef and kung pao chicken. That's a pretty high amount when you consider the size of Muncie. What compels the owners of these restaurants to come to Muncie, of all places? Both established and newer owners say they came to Muncie for similar reasons - stable business and low competition. They all agree the competition in big cities like New York is greater than it is in Muncie...

 

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A Cultural Trip

 

If you ever get a chance to visit China, read some tips for traveling around-- "Speed down alleyways on your Beijing bicycle, slurp steaming noodles in the shadow of a Shanghai skyscraper and wake up spellbound to the desertscapes on Xinjiang... seek the Terracotta Warriors of ancient Xi'an or a few moments with the pandas of Chengdu..."

 

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