Running head: CULTURE ESSAY

Culture Essay
Manalee Patel
University of Kentucky
CIS 110
July 21, 2015

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Abstract
This essay discusses the importance of general culture and the importance of culture in Africa.
The essay then speaks of multiple assumptions or stereotypes made up about the culture in
Africa. It discusses how each stereotype is proven wrong or right. It talks about how people miss
out on the beautiful culture because of the assumptions that are made about the lifestyle,
community, education, government, food, religion, climate, and environment in Africa. As each
topic is being continued it is compared to the United States of America. Since people in the
United States of America make such great assumptions, it shows how those assumptions come to
be and it compares the stereotypes to what the life in Africa is actually like. This essay also
speaks of how each of the topics connects to immigrants that came from Africa to the United
States of America. It connects to them personally and shows their point of view in all the
stereotypes and assumptions that are made about them.

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Culture Essay
Culture is defined as the way one was brought up to affect the way they presently think
and act. A persons culture affects the future of that him/her because their actions in the future
correlate with the way they were brought up. Usually, people from America make assumptions
about African immigrants. Most Americans assume that growing up in Africa features a very
hard life and that no one would want to live there. This is because of the cultural background of
Americans. Since they were brought up learning that Africa is not a good place to live, they
believe what they are told. Americans often assume that since someone was brought up in Africa
and moved to the United States of America, they moved here due to the low economic level in
Africa. The stereotypes build up as time goes by. That specific culture can greatly affect a person
in multiple different ways.
People from Africa grow up in a very family-oriented lifestyle. Africans consider family
to be a very important concept. The typical African family is not made up of the typical man, his
wife and children. Each African is part of a larger community. The bond of a family is to cherish
and help each member. The family in Africa is considered to be the entire community which
usually includes extended family as well. In the United States of America, it is abnormal for the
immediate family to get together with their extended family every week. But in Africa, each
family member looks forward to seeing the entire family together at least once a week. I just
remember a lot of family time and doing things together and its not so busy that we only see
each other on the weekends or anything like that, its more of we saw each other almost every
day and we just spend a lot of time together said Mahilet Tarekegn, an immigrant from Ethiopia
(Personal communication, July 13, 2015). Africans cherish the family and community they are
blessed with each and every day. They show a lot of care and affection for each member of the

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family and allow themselves to always make family their first priority. When Africans
immigrate to the United States of America, they often miss that feeling the most. Since the
United States of Americans do not have a similar family bond, Africans feel intimidated and
home sick. Family for Africans is usually what craves them to want to go back to where they
originally came from.
In Africa, there are people walking about the streets wherever you go and being friendly
with each other in the community. Everyone knows everyone. However, in the United States of
America, people have a completely different culture. The culture in the United States of America
tends to be more independent and private. It is very rare to see people walking around, smiling
and being friendly to one another; especially, if they are strangers. Most Africans come here and
feel very lonely because they are forced to adapt to the private and secluded lifestyle. They have
to get used to not seeing so many people engaging in friendly conversations wherever they go.
Even if there are people who walk in a street, they tend to be in their own world rather than
interacting with people around them. It is very hard to find places in the United States of
America that have the same friendly environment as Africa.
The education system in the United States of America is much simpler than the education
system in Africa. Education in the United States of America can make any person successful if
they do well in school. In Africa, because of their academic system, it is complex to obtain
higher levels of education. The reason for the lack of prosperous schooling in Africa is due to the
absence of appropriate educational facilities. It also has to do with unequal opportunity for
education and the lack of teachers. Most Africans who become teachers either move to bigger
cities or out of the country. So the smaller towns are left with a minute number of teachers. This
results in overly sized classes for each teacher. Since each student does not receive enough

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attention, it results in low standardized scores. Due to these circumstances, Africans want to
move to the United States of America. The only issue for me in Ethiopia and for my parents,
theyre wanting me to get a better education said Mahilet Tarekegn (Personal communication,
July 13, 2015). It is the biggest reason for migrating to the United States of America. Parents
want their children to have the education they never could have in Africa, so they decide to move
to the United States of America. The education system in the United States of America spends
more time for each individual student than any other country. Immigrants from Africa tend to be
very thankful of the opportunities they are able to have. They learn a lot here in the United States
of America than they ever would in Africa. Due to the help of counseling in school and dedicated
teachers, students from Africa are able to gain a lot more knowledge which will prepare them for
the future. This enables these kids to be able to go to college and be successful enough to have a
steady career.
Africa does not have a specific type of government for the entire continent. The societies
there have two levels of government. A particular level of government is made for local cities
and groups. The other level of government is independent and is national made for independent
nation-states. The two levels have caused multiple conflicts and disagreements. The government
in Africa always has final say. There are multiple things that need to be fixed but the government
does not attempt to fix them because of the lack of money and resources. African immigrants
enjoy the freedom they receive in the United States of America. In the United States of America,
the government has its rules and structure. There is a process to make a law and the citizens of
the country are the most important people. In the United States of America, citizens are able to
go against the government. If a group of people disagree with what the government says, all they

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need is a petition and they begin to protest. That would be impossible to do in Africa because of
the lack of organization they have.
Living in Africa, people are very limited to what they are able eat and what type food
they have access to. The food they have access to mostly consists of solely the type of food that
their particular country has. Although they have McDonalds, theres not nearly as many in
Africa as there are in the United States of America. The food in Africa has also been influenced
by countries like India, Britain, When Africans move to the United States of America they have
access to a lot of food. Everywhere they go there will be a different type of food there. It doesnt
just consist of food from the United States of America but from all over the world. For instances
there is food in the United States of America from China, India, Greece, Italy and many more
countries. Along with the diverse types of restaurants, there are plenty of grocery stores that
allow people to access all types of food for a cheap price. The ability to obtain food easily is far
greater in the United States of America than in Africa.
The religion in Africa consists of mainly Christianity and Islam. There are multiple
religions in the United States of America because of the amount of immigrants. The Christians
from Africa come here and add variety to the United States of America. Most African immigrants
are proud to be the religion they are. A certain type of religion, Christian Orthodox, is very
unique in the United States of America. There are multiple people from Africa who are Christian
orthodox. There is also a low population of Islamic individuals the United States of America.
Africans with unique religions are very proud to be a part of the melting pot country. African
immigrants also tend to enjoy the variety of religions in the United States of America because it
allows them to discover more religions. Those discoveries can also lead to the belief of a new

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religion. They are very accepting of other religions and allow themselves to be open to learning
about other religions.
The climate in the United States of America changes throughout the year. The seasons are
the typical winter, spring, summer, and fall. The weather in Africa is usually constant throughout
the entire year. It is very hot and the air is very muggy. The average temperature in Africa is
approximately 93 degrees Fahrenheit. For immigrants, it is very hard to transition from the
constantly dry weather in Africa to the changing weather in the United States of America. At
first, most immigrants will get a cold and become sick. As time passes, they tend to adapt to the
weather change, but it takes a lot to get used to it because it is not the environment they were
brought up in. Some immigrants would rather have the sun beaming down on them the way it
does in Africa, while there are some African immigrants that would rather have the weather the
way it is in the United States of America. This is because some immigrants tend to dread having
to live in the humid environment in Africa. After coming to the United States of America the
immigrants tend to feel less tired and they are able to be more active because the weather tends
to be a lower temperature and easier to breathe in.
Since the weather in Africa is so dry, the environment consists of many wild animals.
There are many wild animals living not too far from a village in Africa. Africans are very open to
animals because the environment they grew up in is made up of a variety of animals. There has
been a problem with human interference with animals in Africa. Due to this, many Americans
tend to assume that Africans are friends with wild animals. They may not realize it but these
assumptions can often be taken to offense. A young woman named Feven Weldemicael shares:
This one kid once asked me if I owned a pet lion and I can understand since America is
such a sheltered country, but I feel that I wish there will learn more before they speak

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about it so openly because it can hurt other people because when I first came here I was
actually really hurt by it because they thought I didnt have a house, I didnt have a meal
to eat, I came here to the united states to get better education and not because we didnt
have a better lifestyle or a way of living (Personal communication, July 13, 2015).
Growing up in Africa, immigrants usually tend to be surprised by the shortage of animals
everywhere. In the United States of America, it is very rare to find animals roaming around
without any people around. Compared to animals in Africa, animals in the United States of
America are extremely tamed. Another environment difference is the air pollution in the two
countries. Africas pollution has been crucial for multiple years. There is a lot of litter and the
country is not well taken care of. There is not a lot of protest against pollution so nobody usually
does anything about the polluted air. Plus, even if they wanted to protest it, they would not be
able to. In the United States of America, the air is much cleaner than the air in Africa. The
African immigrants usually like that it is not as polluted because the air is fresh. They know that
there is a higher chance of them being healthy in the United States of America than they would
be in Africa.
African culture has multiple stereotypes, most of which may be hurtful or offensive to
African immigrants who hear them often. People say what is on their mind without thinking how
it may or may not affect people around them. Africa does not consist of only hot weather where
everyone is nearly nude with dirt covering his or her body. People tend to take one thing they see
and blow it out of proportion. If they were to look into the beautiful continent of Africa, they
would see that it is more. Instead of seeing the children who beg for food, they would see the
children laughing and playing outside having a good time with their friends and family. Instead
of visualizing a country filled with people who live in huts and have wild animals as pets, they

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would see people living in a normal house, in a normal neighborhood. It is all these assumptions
people make from education to government to environment. They believe what they are told and
miss out on the great culture that makes up the continent of Africa.

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References
Africa. (June 01, 2008). Africa Research Bulletin: Political, Social & Cultural Series.
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Carr, E. R. (February 01, 2005). African Environment and Development: Rhetoric,
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Realities. Professional Geographer, 57, 1.)
East African Community. (December 01, 2013). Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia,
6th Edition.
Lake, A. (January 09, 1995). An African culture of democracy. U.S. Department of
State
Dispatch, 6, 2.)
Piper, B. (March 01, 2007). African education and globalization. Harvard Educational
Review,
77, 1.)
Stambach, A. (May 01, 2006). African Education, Culture, and Modernity Unwound.
Comparative Education Review, 50, 2.)

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