My Family Culture

Scenario:

A major catastrophe has almost completely devastated the infrastructure of your country. The emergency government has decided that the surviving citizens will be best served if they are evacuated to other countries willing to take refugees. You and your immediate family are among the survivors of this catastrophic event. However, you have absolutely no input into the final destination or in any other evacuation details. You are told that your host country’s culture is completely different from your own, and that you might have to stay there permanently. You are further told that, in addition to one change of clothes, you can only take 3 small items with you. You decide to take three items that you hold dear and that represent your family culture.

The first item I could take is my cell phone. My cell phone contains pictures of my family members, friends, pets, and a downloaded version of the Bible. It also can hold pictures of family identification. These things can keep me connect to the ones I love, my spiritual connection and forms of family identification.

My second items would be money. People flock from all over the world in search of a better life for themselves and their children, and amid all those languages and traditions, the only common currency is money. It is a medium of exchange. Money is what helps preserve a culture. Our family will need food, clothes, and everything that will sustain our lives. Nowadays,how do you get these things like food and clothes? Then you must know the answer is Money. Money is cultural. It is something that does not exist beyond the human, it is something that functions between humans, in a social and political world (Nye, 2017).

My last item would be a bag of black hair products and styling tools. The women in my family take pride in maintaining a decent appearance. Taking care of our hair is one the cultural things among the women in my family. Black hair needs special combs and moisturizers because of its thick curls and coarseness.

If had to give up two items and keep one item on arrival I would keep my cell phone. Although these items are part of my culture they are these least important. My cell phone would hold many pictures of my family, friends, pets. events, and all of our personal documentation and identification, which I could still access even if there was no internet connection.

I think this assignment was very hard. There are so many things that I have accumulated throughout my life or that I need that I would not want to part with. My pets, my jewelry, photo albums, my medicines, credit cards, and my plants etc. Narrowing it down to items that are cultural made it a bit easier. The things I did chose are things that I feel are essential for me to maintain my identity and dignity.

Reference

Nye, M. (2017, August 2). Money, power, and religion: Exploring belief and cultural imagination. Retrieved from https://medium.com/religion-bites/do-you-believe-in-money-28d8d1cf9557