The word culture has many different definitions depending on what disciplines a person finds the definition. In fact, “as early as 1952 a review of the anthropology literature revealed 164 different definitions of the word culture” (Samovar, Porter, & McDaniel, 2010). In this paper, the author will discuss the different meanings of culture and how different sources define the word culture differently. Then, the author will give viewpoints from three interviewees about what culture means to them and what they think or know about Deaf Culture. Finally, the author will define his own marching band culture using the five hallmarks of a culture and compare his culture with the Deaf Culture.
Defining Culture The word culture originated in the mid-15th century from the French word culture, which is derived from the Latin word colere, meaning fostering, inhabiting, or cultivating. The Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA) based at the University of Minnesota defines cultures as, “the shared patterns of behaviors and interactions, cognitive constructs, and affective understanding that are learned through a process of socialization” (Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA), …show more content…
The most apparent similarity is the family aspect. Members of both the Deaf culture and the marching band culture are friendly and welcoming. And members of both communities build each other up for the betterment of the whole community. Another commonality appears when language is analyzed. Deaf culture has their own language and Marching band, although it’s not considered an actual language, has music and music notation as their language. Both cultures have traditions and stories that are passed down. Overall, these cultures have commonalities, however, the hallmarks of Deaf culture greatly outweigh the hallmarks associated with the Marching Band