Kuma Chapter 12

As I started reading chapter 12 I was reminded of a particular "cultural teaching" moment I have recently been challenged with. A good friend of mine from Spain is planning on visiting this summer and "seeing America". He has plans to drive to certain cities in the U.S with an American friend or two and then other buddies from Spain. He is always speaking of the "cultural experience and learning" he will be able to do so that he can finally understand Americans. I keep thinking to myself, "Ok he can drive from Chicago, to Denver, to Vegas, and whatever other one or two more cities he has planned, but he won't even be close to having a true cultural understanding of America." For example, I say to myself- I am from Chicago, right? So I am, technically, apart of this culture. However, consider all the other subtypes which Kuma mentions such as, the suburban lifestyle vs. the urban lifestyle, the African American culture vs. the typical white american culture. Or, you could simply think of the Northern vs. Southern cultural norms which includes discrepancies in dialect, food, and an overall way of life. Or from East to West, Native Americans, etc. The list is never ending within this one country!

So then, how can we ever truly include these multicultural cultures that exist within one culture? Now that's a lot of culture! As future educators, we are told over and over again how important it is to have our students connect, relate to, and to almost empathize with the content- in this case- the culture in which they are studying. I think Kuma makes a valid point, that this restricts the language learner into forming an almost subconscious  judgement of a culture because it lacks the the rich diversity  L2 learners bring with them. However, I think Kuma needs to take a little further and say that this not only ignores the diversity L2 learners bring with them, but also the multicultural variations within one culture. It may be expecting too much because it seems that this is almost never ending, not every person is the same even if they are from the same physical or linguistic environment, obviously.

I think the answer is that we must then create a critical cultural conscious awareness which he suggests. This, as Kuma states, can allow inherent culture and learned culture to blend and form some sort of negotiated meaning. I think it could be argued that this is being done on at least one level for every citizen of our world who has some sort of technological access such as T.V., internet, phones, etc. Our students, whether language learners or not, are constantly being faced with global issues that they must, at some point, take on a perspective. If this is true for mono lingual students, than it must be especially true for bilingual, or multilingual students. It is therefore, almost obligatory that our language learners are exposed to and aware of the multicultural varieties within one place. Knowing ones own culture and finding such an identity in our growing world is essential to the understanding of others.