The primary goal of these assignments is to enable you to research and talk to people of a different culture (other than your own) on a practice that tends to vary from culture to culture. This gives you an opportunity to understand the underlying meaning of their practices. It would be difficult to appreciate a certain practice of a cultural group unless we understand the reasons behind or beliefs that support that practice — the meaning and significance behind that practice.
Let us take, for example, a topic like “weddings.” Wedding practices differ from culture to culture either on the basis of their religious or ethnic orientation or of national origin or any other tradition or norm of that group of people. Select one culture of your choice (it could be, for example, the Hindu culture from religious perspective or the African American culture from an ethnic perspective or Mexican culture from a national origin perspective (the choice is unlimited!), do some library research, talk to and interact with people who practice that culture, and write your report on their wedding practices. Try to explore the communication-culture relationships.
Given below are five topics of intercultural variance. Select two, select a different culture for each topic you like to write on, and begin work. This will result in two different topics and two different cultures.
Dating and Marriage
Food and eating habits
Dress and ornaments
Family structure
Rituals and festivals
Cant be the Jewish Culture!!
You can select any culture, other than your own, that you would like to work on. Also, select a different culture for each of the two topics you select so that at the conclusion of this assignment, you will have an opportunity to study and understand at least two different cultures, their practices and their communication-culture relationships