Multicultural Awareness Paper & Immersion Experience
Deja Roberson
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
This Multicultural awareness project will help me gain insight on different cultures as well as improve my knowledge and understanding of cultural diversity. Based on my reflection paper and little exposure I had to interview these groups of people. I decided to immerse myself with the middle eastern culture, specifically people of Arabic descent. When I think about the Arabic group of people the stereotypes I think of are muslim culture and they all wear Hijabs; or they all are terrorist or villains. I think that typically Americans think all arabs practice muslim culture when most of them actually practice christianity. …show more content…
The vast majority of Americans do have a stereotype in mind when we think of terrorists, and that stereotype is of someone of Arab descent.
For centuries the Arabs have played the role of villain, seducer, hustler and thief, the barbarian lurking at the gates of civilization. In the late 20th Century new images emerged: the fanatical terrorist and the suicide bomber. Arabs have become the all-purpose villains or buffoons across all American media, including books, films, television, and computer games. In movies we all know of the same typical look The Sheik who has long flowing robes, a beard, sunglasses, a Hijab. In the movies you also have these sexy women as belly dancers in the middle east. American media has evolved to depict a more balanced view of most cultures, but Arab stereotypes remain one-dimensional. Hollywood has always relied on stereotypical depictions of "bad guys" and after the fall of the …show more content…
I met a lot of people at the festival who do the same things as me and attend the same college as me but just don't have the same skin color as me and cultural background. I thought that if I wouldn't have attended the festival or done this paper I would've still had the same thoughts and feelings about certain types of cultures and people based on things that happen on the news or in the media or that I see on my television all the time. The festival opened up doors to a deeper understanding of an unfamiliar place. Cultural immersion is really just a matter of getting out of your dorm room and into a different environment and into the world around you. Integrating yourself into a culture doesn’t take a lot of work, but you have to actively
Deja Roberson
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
This Multicultural awareness project will help me gain insight on different cultures as well as improve my knowledge and understanding of cultural diversity. Based on my reflection paper and little exposure I had to interview these groups of people. I decided to immerse myself with the middle eastern culture, specifically people of Arabic descent. When I think about the Arabic group of people the stereotypes I think of are muslim culture and they all wear Hijabs; or they all are terrorist or villains. I think that typically Americans think all arabs practice muslim culture when most of them actually practice christianity. …show more content…
The vast majority of Americans do have a stereotype in mind when we think of terrorists, and that stereotype is of someone of Arab descent.
For centuries the Arabs have played the role of villain, seducer, hustler and thief, the barbarian lurking at the gates of civilization. In the late 20th Century new images emerged: the fanatical terrorist and the suicide bomber. Arabs have become the all-purpose villains or buffoons across all American media, including books, films, television, and computer games. In movies we all know of the same typical look The Sheik who has long flowing robes, a beard, sunglasses, a Hijab. In the movies you also have these sexy women as belly dancers in the middle east. American media has evolved to depict a more balanced view of most cultures, but Arab stereotypes remain one-dimensional. Hollywood has always relied on stereotypical depictions of "bad guys" and after the fall of the …show more content…
I met a lot of people at the festival who do the same things as me and attend the same college as me but just don't have the same skin color as me and cultural background. I thought that if I wouldn't have attended the festival or done this paper I would've still had the same thoughts and feelings about certain types of cultures and people based on things that happen on the news or in the media or that I see on my television all the time. The festival opened up doors to a deeper understanding of an unfamiliar place. Cultural immersion is really just a matter of getting out of your dorm room and into a different environment and into the world around you. Integrating yourself into a culture doesn’t take a lot of work, but you have to actively