"No culture can live in its own substance in the long term." (Günter Grass)

Which problems can occur in the living together of different cultures? Which enrichment does the living together of different cultures offer?

Hermann Hausmann - 24.02.2019 @ 10:22

This is my text about cultural borders and I hope it will give you the chance for reflection and reaction.

Ina Schleinitz - 08.05.2019 @ 08:51

Barriers of Culture

by Arlette Schmelz, HPS Buxtehude/Germany

Culture defines us, our childhood, our education, our future. Culture is a part of our whole life. But what is culture? The word truly has a lot of meanings.

The question of culture

First of all, if you want to apply culture to sciences, the word would have different meanings in ethnology, history, psychology, sociology, religion or pedagogics. But what truly influences our lives in a multicultural society, is the totalizing concept of culture. This describes a collective, which shows similar structures of thought and action, for example the same religion, which leads to a sense of unity.

The word itself is just as diverse as the different cultures within a country. Just because one lives in Germany, does not mean that one identifies with being a German.

Cultural Diversity

Every country consists of a people which has made it what it is right now. Every people consists of individuals, who live an individual life. But if someone lives, thinks, acts differently, how can this individual still be a part of the collective of a people? McDougall states in his book The Group of Mind, that “the requirement for a random crowd of individuals to form a collective in the psychological way, is that they all have to have something in common, like a unified interest in an object.” This can be used to solve the problems of cultural tension. A country full of individuals, who are members of different cultures and groups, is unified by exactly that: being one country. This country is the object of interest  everyone is interested in, it unifies these different groups and cultures into a people. Due to this, there is no problem with different cultures, religions or traditions. This diversity is in not bad at all, in fact it's the very opposite: What would a world be without colors? The world would be a dull, black and white world, and just as boring as the old black and white movies of our parents. We learn from each other, and most importantly we learn that there isn't just our culture. Early we learn that there is more on earth than we know from our home, which is incredibly important to develop a sense of empathy and especially tolerance. Due to this I would say we need diversity, we want diversity. Why is Spain so much more popular for German tourists than for example the Black Forest? Simplicity is boring, I think we can all agree on that.

This leads to the question why, after this early longing for diversity, there is still tension, quarrels and even war between cultures due to “irreconcilable ideological ideas”. Because we refuse to acknowledge that there is no better or worse in the question of religion. This is portrayed quite well in the play Nathan der Weise written by G.E. Lessing, a German writer who didn't just influence the era of enlightenment, he was one of its core creators. In the play he writes about the inter-religious quarrel of the three monotheistic world religions, and mentions their common ground, wanting a world of tolerance, not of religious divide.

History has to be seen in Truth and Faith, doesn't it?

Well, which Truth and Faith is the one one trusts the most? Most probably their own.

We are their blood, they give us love since our birth, they never lied to us

How should I believe my father less than yours, or contrarywise?

Can I demand of you to denounce your ancestors' lies, and believe my own, or contrarywise?

This is what Christians want, isn't it?

In this excerpt Lessing shows that there is no better or worse. We believe in what we have been taught, and others believe in what they have been taught. Our beliefs aren't wrong, just because we believe in something different. It's all a question of perspective.

The problem is that we see our culture as superior, and those of our enemies or opponents as inferior. We search for errors in the beliefs of others, to reinforce our own.

Humans are often narrow-minded and do not look over their own horizon. Humans just want to live in their own little bubble, where they know and love everything. So is it the right way to introduce a culture and name it the “only right” one? Please don't do this!. Let us preserve diversity, force humans into tolerance and into bursting their bubble. Please accept everyone's beliefs and accept every world view you encounter, as long as they do not discriminate others.

I will respect your opinion as long as your opinion doesn’t disrespect anyone else’s existence. Culture means love, unity and diversity, which we need to save at any price. Our world is big enough for different values to coexist.

Hey Arlette!

I really enjoyed reading your article. I began to think about how different cultures are and of course how these differences often divide people from various cultures. 

When I read the headline one book appeared in my mind. „The Hate U Give“ by the American author Angie Thomas. The Young Adult novel is about Starr, a sixteen-year-old black girl who witnessed the death of her also black friend Khalil. He got shot by a white police officer for doing absolutely nothing wrong. Starr was angry because the cop escaped justice but yet afraid to speak up. In the media Khalil even got presented as a drug dealer. So it‘s very clear that black people are guilty until proven innocent. Khalil was poor, black and from a rough neighborhood so it was almost impossible for him to appear innocent. 

This book is really important because it points out racism and the broken criminal justice system in the United States where black people are still murdered for doing nothing wrong. It‘s just unbelievable how so many people still think they are superior because of their culture or skin colour. Like you stated in your article, no culture or religion is superior over another and people need to learn that. Khalil just died because the police officer felt superior and we need to change that.

Leonie Reiter - 19.05.2019 @ 15:51

Hi Arlette, I really liked your article, it is very well written and easy to read. 

I completely agree with your point of view, even though I don't think that a world without prejudice and cultural disagreements is likely to happen in the near future. Two different groups of people raised in different religions and cultures will inherently have clashing systems of values and ways of seeing the world, and when those people meet or they have to share space together, it inevitably must lead to a conflict. There are great things about cultural diversity, but it also has its downsides. That being said, I still think that the world of different cultures mixing and enriching one another is a beautiful idea - it just may be difficult to achieve in our current reality.

But I think, that books might actually be a simple way to gently educate people about different cultures. It can be just as simple as reading a book written by someone from another country, and it already can us give some perspective about their views. I recently read this book by Yaa Gyasi called "Homegoing" about two sisters from 19th Century Ghana, and their descendants. Since their upbringing is so distant from mine, it was fascinating to read about their culture and I feel like I know a little bit more about it after reading the book.

It's not a perfect solution, bringing people together is much more complex than just reading books abour different nationalities and cultures, but we need a place to start, so the books might as well be this place.

Julia Pawlak - 13.06.2019 @ 22:41

Hello Arlette, 

I think your article is really interesting and the topic is very important in today's world.

In my opinion, the answer to this question can be found in Ryszard Kapuściński's book 'The Other'. The book contains a series of lectures on the concept of 'Other', meaning a man from a foreign cultural circle. I found an interesting quote in it: ''The experience of spending years among distant Others teaches [...] that only kindness to the other being is the attitude that can move the string of humanity into it.''

In this quote Kapuściński shows how one can break down barriers between cultures, which he experienced in practice. 

Joanna Stolarska - 14.06.2019 @ 21:47

Hello Arlette! I'm really impressed by your article- it's amazing how well you managed to capture the whole idea of tolerance and unity. I think the lack of them is one of the world's greatest problems, because it holds us back from dealing with other serious issues such as climate change, environmental pollution etc. We won't be able to do anything unless we realise that it's OUR problem, and soon it will be OUR children's one. It's really sad to see politicians debating on pointless matters and offending each other instead of doing something for the common good. I think they could follow Jon Snow's example, who is one of the main characters in "The Song of Ice and Fire"- a series of epic fantasy novels written by George R.R. Martin (which the famous TV series Game of Thrones is based on). Since Jon is a great warrior and brave man, he is chosen as the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch at a very young age. His main responsibility is to keep Westeros safe from Wildlings- people living north of the Wall. He considers them as dangerous until he learns that there is something worse than them on the other side of the Wall- an Army of the Dead, which marches on Westeros. After that he does all he can to unite the Northern Houses, the Night Watch and... the Wildlings (which he sacrifies very much for) against the common enemy. As this example shows, despite our differences not only can we join our forces to achieve the common goal, but also learn useful things from each other that may help us in the struggles to come. 

Amelia Marchewczyk - 16.06.2019 @ 10:21

Hey Arlette, 

I enjoyed reading your essay, however I have to disagree with your statement that we should "force humans into tolerance and into bursting their bubble". 

I think that the problem of rising intolerance to other cultures lies in breaking that "bubble" with force, without any social dialogue. Leonie brought up a good example of a society in which the bubble has been bursted forcefully. Despite being "the land of the free", the United States is still ridden with racial and cultural problems. Police abuse black population, specific districts, or "Ghettos" for black, Asian and Latino communities. We could easily give more examples.

Nobody should ever expect that everybody will accept a new culture at the moment it appears. In my opinion the integration of other cultures into society shouldn't be forced, acceptation and tolerance comes with time. Let's look at the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany or the United Kingdom – these countries, in comparison with the US, have much less internal racial, ethnical, religious and cultural problems. And if we strive for a multicultural society, in which different values coexist and people live peacefully, we should look up to those countries.

Jakub Fenert - 17.06.2019 @ 23:14

Hi Arlette! 

We really enjoyed reading your article and agree with you. We like the idea of diversity in a country a lot. It's important that there are different cultures in one country so everyone can learn about other cultures and learn to treat them equally.

We immediately thought of "The Red Queen" by Victoria Aveyard when we read your article. It's about a girl called Mare. She's got red blood like the majority of the population has. The other people have silver blood and powers. Some can for example control fire, water or metal. Therefore the silvers feel superior to the reds and look down on them. They control them and the whole land. But there are reds who are resisting the silvers. It's a group called the Scarlet Guard and they consist of reds who want to end the leadership of the silvers. Mare has just discovered that she has powers but of course no red has powers so she's dangerous to the silvers and she starts a revolution.

Your article just reminded us of that because the silvers feel like they are superior when they aren't. Every person is of worth even though they are different. Unfortunately some people won't ever change their opinion so there are silvers who definitely don't want to give away their standard and will always look down on the reds. It's like that in real life. Some people don't see people from other cultures or skin colour as equal.

We hope that one day all people from all cultures, skin colours and nations will be living in peace and acceptance. Every human being is equal and people need to understand that not everyone is the same.

Klara Welmsö - 03.10.2019 @ 14:55