Valuing cultural diversity and honoring the cultural stories of the people we come into contact
Valuing cultural diversity and honoring the cultural stories of the people we come into contact
with begins with self-awareness and thoughtfulness. The purpose of this assignment is to
encourage you to think about, define, and articulate your own cultural story and worldview, with
the goal of identifying strengths and areas for growth. Understanding your own cultural beliefs
and values can help to make you aware of potential bias and limitations. Culture is race and
ethnicity, and also nationality, language, gender, religion and spirituality, sexual orientation,
socioeconomic status, disability or ability, and size, to name just a few identities. Belonging to a
cultural group influences every aspect of one’s life, including beliefs, values, attitudes, and
worldviews. When we understand our own cultural backgrounds, we can better understand how
these identities affect others.
INSTRUCTIONS
Write a 3-5 page paper (not counting the title page and reference page) describing your culture
and worldview. You do not need to write an abstract. Follow current APA professional style
standards. Cite and reference our textbook, Cultural Engagement, by Chatraw and Prior
(2019), as a source used for support in each main section of your paper. This is the only
source required for this paper. You may use Scripture as well. Because you are writing about
your personal culture and worldview, it is appropriate to use first person pronouns (I, me, my, for
example) for this assignment.
Begin your paper with a brief introduction (do not use a heading for the introduction). This is
typically one paragraph that explains what the paper covers.
Define what is meant by culture in the first main section, Defining Culture. Explain how culture
is defined in our text, and then define your own culture in this context. There should be multiple
citations for Cultural Engagement in this section.
The next section of your paper should address Faith and Culture. This section is for you to
articulate your faith beliefs that you identify with. How important is your faith to you? It is
important to know what you believe and be able to clearly state this.
The third main section, Contemporary Issues, contains your exploration of your personal
culture and worldview beliefs regarding contemporary issues (examples from our reading
include sexuality, gender roles, abortion, reproductive technology, immigration, race, climate
change, animal welfare, politics, work, arts, war, weapons, capital punishment). Do not use
subheadings for this section; use paragraphs to separate main ideas. As you define your culture
and worldview, focus on topics that are of the greatest significance to you personally (in our
course reading, this concept is referred to as cultural salience). This is an important concept from
our reading, that individuals place different priorities on aspects of their culture, and it is up to
each person where this significance is placed. Aim to explore at least three contemporary issues
from our reading in this section. You must cite Cultural Engagement in this section multiple
times to show how you are interacting with the text.
End with a Conclusion where you summarize what the paper covered, and include closing
thoughts. Discuss how this paper helped you and what you learned from the experience.
HSCO 509
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