Explore More!

Explore More! in Cultural Anthropology. Sign up to take the free courses and learn what culture is really all about!  Each Course is designed to take about four weeks.  Each Course has four Lessons.  Each Lesson is designed to take about a week.  However, all learners can work at their own pace. There are quizzes to test knowledge of the Learning Objectives; and Certificates may be granted for taking a complete set of Courses.  For instance, the Global Villages have three Courses or a total of 12 Lessons.  After completion of the entire set of three Courses, you may earn a Certificate of Completion.

Whether you are a traveler, a student, a business person, or simply a life-long learner, the Courses here will enlighten your thinking and attitudes toward yourself, your family, your community, and your country.  The Courses and Lessons are designed for understanding and acceptance of all humanity and seeks to dispel divisiveness and disunity among all peoples.

It’s All About Culture provides quality online cultural education within a Cultural Anthropology format.  As a Professor of Anthropology, I will take you on a cultural journey to gain a realization that human beings share more commonalities than differences. Both culture and diversity are much  more than outward appearances. Diversity, in fact, even becomes apparent in human commonalities.  A few commonalities are pointed out in the What is Culture? presentation below.  Be sure to enlarge the screen after clicking on the link.

https://itsallaboutculture.com/what-is-culture-power-point-presentation-5/

The most simple cultural patterns, seen in the above presentation: eating, bathing, education, nurturing children, fetching water, and entertainment, are commonalities in all cultures.  Yet, there are great varieties of cultural differences (diversity) in these patterns.

For example, a cultural commonality is music.  Music has a great deal of variety in every culture.  The instruments used, the way people move to their music, the ways voices harmonize, and the ways people use music in their culture are very different.  The following is an example of traditional Ethiopian music and dance. Enjoy.

Why Study Culture?

We are witnessing global culture changes daily.  We do not often recognize how profound culture changes affect us as individuals, families, communities, and all the Global Villages in distant places.  The purpose for learning about culture is to develop an understanding that the world we live in, our own worldviews, along with the choices we make, are all culturally connected.  Understanding culture opens our eyes; so we are not just looking, but also seeing.

In Order to Embrace Diversity, We Must First Embrace Culture

When we look at people all over the world, we first notice appearance.  Differences in appearance are the most notable.  Appearances, are quick mental notes we make, according to what we see, which transfers into “us and them” instead of “we.”  However, the study of culture teaches us that our real differences have little to do with how we look.  Our differences, as well as our commonalities, are more about culture than anything else.  An example here shows how important local cultural knowledge is.

What is culture?

Why do we need culture?  In fact, why does culture even exist?  Do all cultures have the same value, or are some cultures better than other cultures?

The answers to these questions leads us to understandable concepts that can help in conflict resolutions within our families, our neighborhoods, our communities, our cities, and our nations.

What is Culture? Lesson 1, is a free lesson, which answers those questions. Answers bring about changes in attitudes about who we are and also who everyone else is, too.

It’s All About Culture

A learning environment that teaches you why people believe their own culture is the best.  This perspective holds cultures, communities, and nations together.  That kind of a biased view, as you shall see, becomes problematic as soon as we cross cultural boundaries.  Learning to recognize when we are culture bound and when we are reasoning with biases, gives us some breathing room in order to see others in ways we might not think about.

Sometimes we don’t even recognize our own cultural ideas, values or perceptions.  We simply do not realize all the cultural characteristics that inform us and guide us in our daily behaviors towards others.

Some topics covered in the courses offered here are: 1) Defining culture and learning that acquiring culture begins at birth through a process of enculturation 2) adaptation how we use our culture to adapt, 3) Discovering that “other” cultures are as ethnocentric as we are, and 4) That our environment, customs, beliefs, attitudes, goals, technology, and material possessions are intricate puzzle pieces that make up every person’s worldviews.

Learning the essence of culture teaches students, in an illustrative way, that diversity is so much more than phenotype. In order to truly embrace diversity, we must embrace culture and its many cultural components as well.

Knowledge of cultural components will help you in every facet of your life.  Get started now on a real cultural journey.  The four free lessons in What is Culture? will give you a greater understanding of the role, which culture plays in your own life.