Martin Brown about His Culture - Essay Example

Not Specified 30th Jan., An Interview on Martin Brown about his culture This paper records an interview that I conducted on Martin Brown about his culture; Mr. Brown is an American, an American by birth. The main aim of this interview is to interact with a person of a different culture and to get an understanding of another culture. After the interview, the paper explains what I have learned through the interaction in the interview, the paper also gives my thoughts regarding the interaction. Lastly, the paper explains whether or not the interaction has changed the way I consider other cultures. The following is the verbatim record of the interview that I carried out on Martin Brown. Question: Mr Brown, have you ever travelled to another country? Response: Yes, I have travelled to a number of times to Africa, especially to Kenya. My uncle, Eric Turner, works with the UN at Nairobi in Kenya, and so, I pay him a visit there from time to time when I am on holiday. Besides Kenya, I have also travelled to the two other East African countries, i.e. Tanzania and Uganda, which both border Kenya. Question: I am an international student from China. What do you know about China? Response: I think I know quite a lot about China, especially about their economy and their philosophy. As a Philosopher, I have read widely about the Chinese Philosophy, especially about the works of Confucius. On economy, I am really excited by the fast pace at which the economy of China is growing; if the economy of China continue growing at the same rate that it has been growing with for the last one decade, China will inevitably be the greatest economy in the next few years. Question: Apart from reading Chinese Philosophy, how else have you learned about China? Response: Besides reading Chinese Philosophy on text books, I have also learnt a lot about China from Newspapers and from watching news on TVs. As an avid reader of newspapers, I have been able to keenly follow the rate at which the Chinese economy is growing. Question: From what you have learnt in Chinese Philosopher and from what you have learnt about Chinese people from the Newspapers and from watching TVs, what is your impression of the Chinese people? Response: The main impression that I have about Chinese people from their Philosophy is that Chinese are peaceful people and they are communitarian. From Newspapers and the news that I watch in TVs, I have learnt that Chinese people are very hardworking and innovative. It is actually their hard working nature and their creativity that is the main reason behind their economy’s fast growth rate. Question: As a Chinese citizen in US, I have always wondered why the Americans love showing their emotions in public, especially kissing in public, or even crying in public as a way of expressing one’s emotions. This is quite different from how we, the Chinese people, express our feelings and our emotions. Can you please explain to me why you express your feelings and emotions in this way? Response: Your question my friend makes a lot of sense especially in light of my experiences in Kenya and the other East African countries that I have visited. In East Africa, crying in public, especially for men, is viewed as a form of weakness; also, people are discouraged from expressing their romantic feelings publicly; kissing publicly is discouraged by many African cultures. In response to your question, I cannot actually give you a good logical reason why we express our feelings and our emotions differently from the way you do. The only thing that I can tell you is that this way of expressing feelings and emotions is deeply rooted in American culture, i.e. our cultures allows expression of one’s emotions and feelings in public and for the people who are born or acculturated into American culture see nothing wrong with expressing one’s feelings in this way. It’s all about how we were socialized as children. Question: How often do you communicate with your family Mr Brown? Response: My family lives in Texas and I communicate with them daily. I call my wife at least three times a day. I also call my parents at least once per week. Question: What food would you say is the most representative of USA culture? Response: I would say that Pizza is currently the food that is the most representative of USA culture. Question: Do you interact with people from other cultures? If yes, how do you find that interaction different from interacting with the other Americans? Response: Yes, I do interact with people from different cultures. Many of my closest friends are actually people of other cultures. The interaction with the people of other cultures is actually different from interacting with the people of my culture because people of other cultures have a different cultural worldview and they, therefore, have a different approach to issues. Question: Lastly Mr Brown, is there anything that you would like to share with me that is relevant to this paper? Response: Yes there is. What I would like to say is that from my experiences of interacting with people of different cultures I have learnt that there is no culture that is better than the other, all cultures are actually good. The only reason why many people view their culture as being superior to other cultures is that they have never gotten time to study the other cultures well. Interacting with people of different cultures will help you to appreciate their culture. Lesson Learnt in this interaction with Mr Brown The main lesson that I have learnt in this interview is that there is need to interact with people of other culture, and to make an effort to understand their cultures, I have also learnt that there is no culture that is superior to the other cultures. For that reason, I feel that this interaction is quite important in my life for it has taught me important lessons on how to relate and to view people of different cultures. This interaction has actually changed the way I view people of other cultures, I have learnt to respect people of other cultures. Read More