My Cultural Learning Experiences

Tomasello discusses how humans pass on cultural learning to their children. When people think of culture, they often make assumptions that individuals belong to one culture. You may hear comments such as "In Japanese culture, people live in large households with extended family members" or "Black people listen to rap music". Statements such as these are generalizations that many people in society hold. People are identified by cultural stereotypes. Culture is thus limited to one's racial or ethnic background. My question is: What about people belonging to more than one racial/ ethnic group?

I will attempt to answer that question with examples of my own life experiences. I belong to more than one racial group; my mother is black and my father is white. This has given me a very rich cultural upbringing. When I think of cultural transmission; family traditions, customs, and ways of life come to mind. I grew up with multiple experiences from exposure to different cultures coming together. I would like to point out that it's not just your genetic make-up that makes you who you are. Cultural and social learning have significant connections with the environment children grow up in. Imitative, instructed, and collaborative learning shape children based on the joint attentional scenes they are exposed to (Tomasello, 1999). Therefore just because someone belongs to certain groups through biological inheritance, doesn't mean that they will be exposed to the cultural learning that the specific group(s) traditionally experience. My boyfriend is an example of this. He is black, however he was adopted and raised by white people. Although he was born a member of a particular race, he was never exposed to the cultural learning that takes place in many black families.  

Cultural learning experiences in my life have been diverse. Traditions are one way people transfer culture to their offspring. My father is from England, and thus I grew up with many British customs and traditions that my Canadian friends were not exposed to. One clear example was the types of food I was brought up on. Of course I ate foods that are commonly associated with North American cuisines, but I also ate meals that many all-Canadian children did not eat. One of these foods are Yorkshire puddings (one of my favourite foods). Playing with friends on a Sunday evening often commenced with us asking what the other had for dinner. When I replied with meals such as roast lamb, roast potatoes, and Yorkshire puddings with gravy, I often got funny looks or comments like: "You eat lamb!", or "What's Yorkshire pudding?" - By the way it is not a dessert pudding as some may assume (please see Picture # 1).
Picture # 1(Yorkshire puddings)



My father had my brother and I christened in the Church of England near where his parents lived. He said he wanted his children to be christened on British soil. I have turned this experience into a little family tradition. I grew up visiting family in England many times (every couple of years), and still go over there to this day. When I have children I also plan on having them christened in the same church, and will bring them over frequently to see family, so that they grow up with some of the cultural learning that their grandfather passed on to me.

Not only did my brother and I have frequent visits to England, but we also went to Digby often to spend time with family from my mother's side. My grandmother and aunts would tell stories of black history to us; especially our own roots. My grandmother wrote a book containing our family's history and how we came to Canada (American slave trade).

Looking into the concept of the "Ratchet Effect", I'm sure everyone can see examples within their life experiences, especially with the advances in technology that are shaping our joint attentional scenes. Although I am not actively inventing new or improved modifications, I participate by utilizing products of the "Ratchet Effect". My mother prefers to communicate and engage in her daily activities with the cumulative cultural evolution that was common during her younger adult years. As Western technologies advanced with collective collaberation resulting in modifications making things faster and more efficient, these improvements were culturally transmitted to me by current society. Although my mother has "jumped on the band wagon" for some modifications, she continues to do some things the "old" way. For example, if she has questions for a company she will go into the facility and ask in person, whereas I will call to see if my questions can be answered over the telephone without needing a face to face encounter. When I try to explain to my mother that it is faster and cheaper (save on gas, parking fees) to phone, she will respond by saying that this is the way she has always done things and that she wants to go in person. I see my way as more efficient because phone calls and emails save time. But perhaps my mom's way of in-person contact is more efficient with respect to saving a piece of human culture that the digital impersonal world is steering away from. How will future modern inventions affect the human race's capacity for communication?

Below is an "I Am From" poem I wrote about my cultural learning. These poems are fun to write. You should make one up about yourself!

I Am From

By: Natalie Hodgson

I am from the motherlands of Africa and England

Digby clams to Yorkshire puddings

Braids and side ponytails swaying to old school beats

I am from "Who's your people?"

To terms like "high yellow" and "light skinned"

English fish-n-chips with mushy peas

I'm black and white, and oh just right!

References

Tomasello, M. (1999). The cultural origins of human cognition. Cambridge Mass.: Harvard

             University Press.

Picture # 1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yorkshire_pudding

Calling all intentional agents!! Evolution, Creation, and simple chat?

Tomasello claims that we must begin our understanding of human cognition by exploring how human beings came to be; by an evolutionalists' view of evolving from the ape species. I disagree with his position based on a different view shared by many people in the world. I am referring to the Christian belief system that God created mankind in his own image (Genesis, The Holy Bible). I don't believe that God is an ape, and thus I feel that mankind was created by God as one species, and not a species that came to be after millions of years with great ancestors that are apes. There are multiple theories and explanations of how we got here (some scientific and some religious) that would dispute Tomasello's pure evolutionary account. Based on the fact that evolution as the beginning point for humans has not been proven as a fact, the author should present alternative views for the origins of human cognition in a neutral way.

I found Tomasello's arguments to be biased and weak. He argues against common beliefs such as nonhuman primates having an understanding of others as intentional agents; put simpler, the awareness of other members in their species having goals for their actions, but his only evidence is his own research (Tomasello, 1999). I am not doubting his role as a well-established and educated researcher, however, he references himself far too much which gives me the impression that his position is biased. I also found that his examples focused on limited sources of chimps and infants/ young children (presumeably from middle-class Western culture). It would have been beneficial to read about studies conducted on infants/ children from different cultures/ languages. Another area I was interested in learning about but wasn't mentioned or covered by Tomasello was if there was any research on twins with respect to the learning processes of infants/ young children. I am curious to know how twins would respond in some of the studies (especially studies that conclude that infants are able to cognitively do certain things at certain points and in a specific order; 9 months, 12 months, etc.) given that they would have been exposed to the same cultural experiences (my assumption is that they are raised in the same household).

I am not suggesting that I challenge all of Tomasello's points. In fact he has made some very persuasive claims of how humans are different than other animals on a social-cognitive level, and provided descriptions of studies that appeared reliable (his own research and that of others). In fact, he is right on the money when he states that the social shared learning that exists in human culture sets us apart from other primates. It is through our complex language systems and cultural bonds that we can share knowledge and build on/ modify our accomplishments. Our ability to communicate and share information allows us to collaboratively learn and advance together (Tomasello, 1999). I believe that other animals are capable of simple language systems that we will probably never understand. Animals can't talk our human languages. Parrots and some other animals can learn words or phrases but this does not result in them being able to carry a functional flowing conversation with another person. Just as we can bark with dogs but it doesn't equate to shared social dialogue. Many animals can produce a range of vocalizations, and I feel that these are forms of simple language in which they are capable of some variation of shared understanding. For example, dogs have different barks/ sounds in different situations: playful barking with other dogs, angry barking at dogs where there is a threat/ conflict,  barking to inform owner of an intruder, growling, etc. Especially with examples where dogs are interacting with each other, I believe they have the ability to understand some meaning when they exchange sounds.

If the main message that Tomasello wants to share is how our species is unique in the fact that we have culture and can come together with a shared social purpose, then why does he push his evolutionary position so hard? It would be perfectly fine for him to declare his view as a possibility, however, he should skip the lengthy conversion-style evolution introduction. There are many parts of his writing that I disagree with, however, there are also many aspects that I completely agree with. I will close for now as I have plans to share knowledge with other intentional agents over a nice tall glass of wine!

 References

The Holy Bible: King James Version. (1974). New York: Penguin Books USA Inc.

Tomasello, M. (1999). The cultural origins of human cognition. Cambridge Mass.: Harvard

             University Press.

Picture # 1: http://biologos.org/questions/early-interpretations-of-genesis

Picture # 2: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1070671/Evolution-stops-Future-Man-look-says-scientist.html