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h6 ; iay • March 6, 1998 The Battalion i mors Y aces °f t£e cultural Spectrum lidenb give insight into diverse backgrounds as International Week ends By Marium Mohiuddin Staff writer is to ompui it the d: nchest ?r. It is; ‘jjotiati, s tlie^T^ 0 ^ 3 ^ mar ^ s l he wrap up of International Week, what most people iiondHP 10 P e to l:,e t * ie beginning of cultural awareness at r Iexas A&M Uni- , a( j er ^ JL,§versity. InternationalWeekrunsatA&M every spring semester: the j ntern aditional cultural displays, the food buffet and the talent show. How- kIs, th ' er * there has to be more to this week than walking through the Memo- i rom al Student Center looking at people’s outfits, admiring their displays i [j ad lasting their cuisine. is( j n :i Even with the acceptance of International Awareness Week, a hot faros rebate still plagues the minds of students about the importance of tulticulturalism and having these types of classes mandated as part :1 ofipf the curriculum. on | v The idea of America being founded upon several cultures has been t 1: i laved out to a multitude of ears. Many people acknowledge this fact nd even accept the influx of more cultures to the American melting pot. However, the question that needs to be asked is “What makes cultur- I awareness important and essential to all Aggies?” Td probe this question further, five campus leaders of cultural groups f ere asked about the importance of studying culture at A&M: Ikhide Imumorin is vice president of the African Student Associa- on Imd an animal genetics graduate student. • Mariela Gonzalez is secretary of the Costa Rican Student Associa- >81?: on ^nd a freshman agricultural business major. • Rongwei Yang is vice president of the China Club and a mathemat- :s graduate student. of He? • Rajesh Marimathu is president of the India Association and a busi- :Thesssadministration graduate student. da' •T.J. Johansen is president of the Norsemen Club and a senior petro- sum engineering student. ali0f America is considered to be a melting ppt, den: belt howhajLYQur culture enhancedAniericanc.ultU.re? s. Hr thar Mi >st of the leaders agree that when it comes to two cultures mixing, lred, he cultures have added color and passion to America. rldl1c Im umorin said the African culture has brought to America what most to Cultures bring — themselves. qws; "Xhe first thing I would say is ‘Is there such a thing as American cul- t84> ure?he said. “Yes, and compared to other cultures it is elastic. Other ail hires come to America and add on to it. The end result is the sum of ts gaits.” ■onzalez said Costa Rican culture has brought life to American culture. "America is really the same,” she said, “but Latin Americans have their wn way of doing things. They [Costa Ricans] are all different and they ring that to America.” Yang said there are a lot of differences but there also has been a big ontribution from China. America is a typical western culture,” Yang said. “Most people have hepeame philosophy and the same religion. But China is different and dds color to America. America is young, but China is 4,000 years old. merica can learn a lot from Oriental Tradition.” Marimathu said the Indian culture has added a great deal of its di versity to America, jf “The Indian Culture has brought a lot of diversity and traditional val ues to America,” he said. “We are very diverse and there are a lot of lan- ^ guages in one country. From a cultural point of view, we are strong in our ie " culture and have brought that here.” Johansen said, like most European countries, the culture of Norway is similar to America. What makes your ciijture unique and what could people learn from it? Imumorin said the African culture is unique because it is diverse and jlis composed of many countries. fife “It is a continent, so it is very multicultural,” he said. “Moving from the jsouih to the north, there is a wide spectrum of people. It is like night and Rfda^. We have Arabs in the north, whites in the south and the majority of qfjAfriea is black.” I'Africans are very traditional,” he said. “Americans want things to be TmOre effective, quicker and less expensive. Africans have preserved the tway things are done. This is what our forefathers did. They are the same Ftraditions.” ibonzalez said the uniqueness of the Costa Rican culture is formed be- JcaUse the country is peaceful. TWe don’t have an army,” she said. “We are called the Switzerland Jof America and our former president won the Nobel peace prize. It is Really small and democratic. There is not much crime. The peo ple are friendly and the tourists love Costa Rica because of that. We llive peacefully.” Yang said the Chinese culture stands apart because of the nature | offhe people. “The difference is the way people think,” he said. “Americans are out spoken, they can express themselves and share what they want. Ameri cans have a more sharp and clear idea about what they believe to be the difference between good and evil. Chinese are more tolerant about things being good and bad. We are more conservative and take our time ex pressing our opinion.” “Chinese have a great respect for family values and are closer to their families,” Yang said. “The daughters and sons are more respectful of parents, because the parents have more obligations to their children. Parents are responsible for finding jobs for their children and setting up their social standards. In the U.S., parents don’t do that, which is not a bad thing.” Similarly, Marimathu said Indians are more devout to culture and family. “There is a very strong mesh of cultures in India,” he said. “We have a rich culture and we are brought up to respect it and preserve it. We are taught to respect our parents and elders. We are also taught to honor our history because this is the way we got our freedom.” Johansen said Norway is small in comparison to other countries ■ : . , and may not have the diversity of America, but it does have warmth and kindness. “We are very friendly and very open,” he said. “We are not very su perficial. What you see is what you get. The people also like to be exposed to different cultures because they like to learn.” What are some bigmisconceptiops about your culture andyour cojuntry? Imumorin said Africa has been attached to many misconceptions since people first settled the continent. “I was aware before I moved to America that there were misconcep tions but I did not think people still believed them,” he said. “There is a misconception that the country is broken and that we are a dark conti nent. They think we are the backwards part of the world, that we are sav ages and that we live in trees.” “One guy asked me if there are skyscrapers in Africa,” Imumorin said. “I felt pity for him because of how much knowledge he needed to gain. So, I answered him that the U.S. ambassador lives in a tree. Many think only the white first-world countries are technologically advanced and that we are still backwards. Someone else had asked me if there were uni versities in Africa. I thought to myself, ‘How do you think I got to A&M to do my PhD? I had to get my bachelor’s and master’s from somewhere.” Gonzalez said the misconceptions about Costa Rica emerge from peo ple believing all Latin-American countries to be the same. “I can imagine that most people don’t know where the country is,” she said. “They generalize us. They find it amazing that we study here and know a different language and have a different culture — that we can live here and adapt.” Yang said ideas about China stem from non-objective reporting. “Americans care more about the politics of China than the tradi tions,” he said. “They are not objective because the information com ing in is not objective. Most information comes from movies like Red Corner ox Seven Years in Tiber which are political, not historical. We are a communist country and America is a capitalist country. People are scared to listen to us.” Marimathu said similar to other countries, India has unfortunately been shrouded in misconceptions. “They think that we are snake charmers and that we ride elephants to school,” he said. “This country is thousands of years old. The people may be the same but the country is evolving with the times. India is on its way to becoming one of the top economical countries in the world.” Johansen said the misconceptions about Norway are about the weather. “It is not always cold or snowing,” he said. “It is a nice environment. We have four very distinctive seasons. The summer is beautiful, warm and nice.” Describe what a typical person from your country is like mid what nrake§ the country Imumorin said since Africa is so big there are many things that com bine to make it beautiful. “Africa is the origination of human life,” he said. “It was and will al ways be beautiful. It is the land of contrast, from the hot sand dunes of the Sahara to the thick jungles of the coast, from the grassy areas along Angola to Namibia. So many things about Africa are beautiful and natural.” Imumorin said some common items among Africans are their food and their clothes. “The common food is casava which can be found in over 300 mil lion homes,” Imumorin said. “I was practically raised on it. It is like potatoes and from country to country they use this, the difference is the end product.” “Africa is also very festive. For funerals, weddings, parties and [spe cial] occasions, they dress very colorfully. Almost every country knows how to dress up very well.” Gonzalez said Costa Ricans enjoy the same flare of color in their dress. “A woman would wear a long skirt of three different colors, which they chose themselves,” she said. “The shirts are white and off the shoulder. “A typical Costa Rican would eat a lot of Gallopinto, which is beans and rice. This can be found at almost every meal. Everybody also drinks coffee.” Yang said commonalities among Chinese are their relations with one another. “Chinese visit their neighbors more and are open with them,” he said. “Instead of a family, they have a small community. “It is very pretty country. I love the land, the mountains, the rivers. It is marvelous,” he said. Marimathu said the identifying factors and the beauty comes from the combination of different people. “The most beautiful thing is the unity and diversity,” he said. “It is a conglomeration of multicultures, religions and languages. They have beautiful places like Kashmir and Kanyakumari. There is an overabun dance of beauty.” “The dress depends upon the region,” Marimathu said. “The food has a lot of spices and the majority of people don’t eat pork or beef, just main ly lamb, fish and chicken.” Johansen said Norway’s beauty comes from the natural aspect of the country. “We have beautiful scenery, mountains and fjords,” he said. "Fjords are valleys that have been eroded away and filled with ocean water. You can find them all over Norway.” Johansen said the common aspects among the people are the foods they eat and their dress. “There is a lot of fish. We are exposed to more fresh things because we are right off the coast. We have a lot of fishermen and a lot of water,” he said. “You will also find a lot of people wearing knitted woolen sweaters.” Insight into other countries always has been stressed upon society since prekindergarten. Teacher after teacher has said a person can not learn unless they learn about other cultures. Yang said the importance of learning about other cultures is so that relationships between people can grow. Imumorin said people need to learn about other cultures to under stand how to relate. “Students are very misinformed,” he said. “You should learn now while you have the chance instead of waiting until you grow up. Broad en your education now. A guy once told me best when he said T inter rupted my school to get an education.’” Congratulations Fabulous 4.0 / s! 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