Cultural Post #7

[David R. Stevens]

The reading for this week was on Cultural Competence and the importance of understanding culture.   I think it is very important to understand various cultures, especially when you are going to be interacting with it.   For example, when I went to Peru for a Medical Missions Trip, we spent weeks talking about the cultural of the people and political climate of the country.  Many things come into play when talking about culture and trying to understand it.  However, some cultures are far removed from our American culture that we can hardly try to fathom, understand, or appreciate such a different culture without an open mind and spending time immersed in that culture with someone to guide you through the culture. As long as you leave behind all of your preconceived notions and go into a new culture with a clean slate, I think that you will be fine going into a new culture as long as you can follow those around you.  However, if you reserve your preconceived notions such as Genital Mutilation (as mentioned in the paper), and try to tell the people to stop then you are impending a culture of its cultural significance and tradition.