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A great way to introduce a visual organizer for newly gained information.  This article also discusses the benefits of teaching culture through literature. Allowing students to depict a characters cultural identity, allows them to relate it to their own and compare it to other characters.

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Janine M. Schall

As a professor of undergraduate and graduate children's literature courses, I have always encouraged my students to read global and multicultural literature. I believe it is important for students to experience the breadth and variety of available literature and to explore new cultures. When books are set in unfamiliar cultures, however, some readers have difficulty understanding the culturally driven behaviors and motivations of characters. It is easy for readers who do not understand how culture shapes behavior within a particular cultural setting to misinterpret the actions, beliefs and values of characters and how the characters interact with others within that setting.

Many students have simplistic understandings of culture and cultural identity, which leads to essentialized expectations of human behavior as people reduce the complexity of what it means to be human to labels and stereotypes. When readers approach multicultural or global literature with such a limited set of labels and understandings, it is easy to misconstrue the reasons characters act in the ways that they do. Instead of characters' actions making sense within their cultural setting, readers may view their actions as weird, exotic, or wrong.

Rather than being essentialized and simple, culture and the cultural identities of people living within a culture are hybrid, interrelated, and constantly changing. Every person participates in a number of different cultural groups, which wax and wane in importance depending on time, location, and context.
Identity Intersections
One way I have encouraged readers to explore the cultural backgrounds and cultural identities of book characters is through a learning engagement that uses identity intersections. An identity intersection (Foss, 2002) is a graphic representation of interrelated and interconnected aspects of one person's cultural identity (see Figure 1). The intersection identifies the cultural groups that a person claims affiliation with and indicates how those cultural groups interact to influence the way that person lives their life. Depending on how it is used, this learning engagement can help students recognize the importance of their own cultural identities to how they live their lives and the influence of cultural identities on how book characters live their lives.

Figure 1. Identity Intersection format.

Identity intersections are created when one carefully considers how different aspects of a person's cultural identity have shaped her/his life. This includes membership in easily recognized cultural groups based on race, ethnicity, religion, language, socioeconomic status and gender, but also other types of group membership such as geographic region, education level, physical ability, and family. Although the identity intersection begins with the format developed by Foss (2002), students are encouraged to add or remove any aspects that they perceive as important or unimportant to the cultural identities under examination. Students often choose to add memberships in groups based on professions and hobbies to their identity intersections.

Once students have decided which aspects belong on their identity intersections, they think about the influence each aspect has had on their lives or the life of a book character. Each aspect of cultural identity may be more or less important at different points in life or in different contexts. For example, Beth, a recently married female student, talked about how both her perception of herself as a woman and the way other people treat her have changed since her marriage. She reported that her gender had gained a more prominent role in her life as she and her husband were figuring out their roles in the marriage and as she was beginning to think about having children.

Students also consider how various aspects of their cultural identities are connected. Aspects of cultural identity are interrelated and influence each other. For example, after reading the realistic fiction novel La Línea by Ann Jaramillo (2008), one small group created an identity intersection for the character of Elena. They discussed how her fierce independence had been fostered by her family structure, the absence of her parents who had migrated to the United States, and the guidance of her loving grandmother.

Students create a graphic representation of the cultural identities in an identity intersection. Some students choose to use the same format as Foss' original identity intersection, but I encourage them to emphasize perceived importance and interrelatedness through the way they organize aspects, and how they use size, color and font. Aspects that are perceived as most important can be emphasized by making them larger than less important aspects. They may also be placed in such a way as to show their importance, perhaps by putting highly important aspects at the top of the identity intersection or by placing them at the center and arranging other aspects around them. Connections between aspects can also be shown, for example, by writing connected aspects on the same line or in the same color.

Finally, students reflect on their work through writing or discussion. Like many learning engagements, an identity intersection can be a rote formulaic assignment if students are merely labeling aspects. The power of the identity intersection as a learning tool is in how it supports thinking about culture and cultural identities. Opportunities for reflection and thought should be woven throughout this engagement.
Beginning with an Exploration of Students' Own Cultural Identities
Before we begin using identity intersections to examine book characters, we examine our own cultural identities. We do this so that students have an example of what kind of thinking is expected in this engagement, but also because I believe that students need to understand the role culture plays in their own lives in order to understand how important it is for others. Many students, particularly those from white, middle-class American settings, are not accustomed to thinking about themselves in this way. They believe strongly that the way they live their lives is an individual choice and the idea that membership in various cultural groups influences their choices is a difficult concept for them to grapple with. Because of this, as we begin working with identity intersections students are reading professional articles about identity and exploring children's literature related to the theme of identity. Modeling my own identity intersection has also been extremely important. I introduce this engagement by creating my identity intersection on the projector and talking about how each aspect shown on the intersection influences how I live my life. Next, students create their own. Sometimes this is done in class; other times it is a homework assignment. When done as a class assignment, students have time to talk about whatever parts of their identity intersection they'd like to share. When done as a homework assignment, students write a 1-2 page reflection as part of the assignment.

The two examples below are from identity intersections completed as homework. Excerpts from their written reflections are below each identity intersection.

Figure 2. Elena's identity intersection.

In her reflection, Elena described her identity intersection:

For my identity intersection I capitalized the things that I find most contribute to my identity. These were things such as my family, my religion, and my school. I also connected the things which I felt had a strong link. The things that connected were mostly hobbies that I enjoy doing. Although this is my identity now, my identity is continually changing....I do not have a certain system to my identity intersection except that I tried to keep the things closely connected together.

Elena used Foss' basic format and included many of the aspects that appear on that format, including age, gender, religion, language, ethnicity, physical ability, geographic association, and family structure. She also added her political affiliation and hobbies/interests. Elena did not include anything about her race, nationality, or sexuality, most likely because she did not believe that they influenced her life in a significant way.

Figure 3. Mara's identity intersection.

In this excerpt from her reflection, Mara describes her identity intersection:

I made my identity intersection a one-way circle because right now in my life, things are pretty circular. Eventually, when I graduate next May, I will exit onto one of those streets. My life is one-way because I don't believe in going backwards or having regrets. I try to learn from my experiences and grow from them, always moving forward, closer to my dreams.
The words I chose to identify myself are pretty self explanatory. The words closest to the rainbow are those things that are most important to my identity today, especially being a 26 year old female student who is also a recovering alcoholic/addict. The fact that I am Jewish and from New York is significant also since it affects how I relate to people.

Mara chose to modify Foss' format into an organization more meaningful to her life. She included aspects such as age, gender, religion, class, ethnicity, urban background/geographic association and family structure. Like Elena, she added political affiliations. She also added some values and personality traits. Mara chose not to include anything about her race, sexuality, language, or physical ability.
Using Identity Intersections to Explore the Culture and Cultural Identities of Book Characters
After students have had the opportunity to explore their own cultural identities through identity intersections, we use them to examine book characters, particularly for books that portray unfamiliar cultural settings. Students have done identity intersections both as individual reflections and as an engagement to support and extend talk during literature discussions.

In our children's literature course students regularly choose multicultural and global children's literature to read for literature discussions. To prepare for these discussions, students are asked to complete an individual reflection about the book. Students are sometimes assigned the reflection format and other times can choose whether they want to reflect through writing, art, music, graphic organizers, or other methods. These reflections give the students a place to record their initial thinking about the book, which leads to richer, more thoughtful discussions.

Jenny used an identity intersection in her reflection to examine the main character in Catherine, Called Birdy (Cushman, 1994), a historical fiction novel set in medieval England. In this book, spirited and independent Birdy struggles with her constrained role as a noble female while also trying to thwart her father's plans of marrying her off to a rich man.

Figure 4. Individual reflection in preparation for a literature discussion over Catherine, Called Birdy.

In her identity intersection, Jenny included aspects such as gender, age, class and religion. She also added many personality traits. Jenny brought this identity intersection to her small group literature discussion and shared her work as the group began talking about the book. This gave the group an initial direction. Throughout the discussion, Jenny referred back to the identity intersection, explaining why she included these particular aspects and connecting them with specific events in the book. The group spent a long time talking about what it would be like to be female in medieval England.

At other times we used identity intersections as a group engagement in order to extend and support talk during literature discussions. The small groups always had time to freely discuss the book, but after this open discussion, I often asked them to focus their discussion on an exploration of a single theme or character. When focusing on characters, the group chose which character to talk about, and created an identity intersection as they examined the character. In the example below, a group discussing Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan (2002), focused on the central character of Esperanza. In this historical fiction novel, Esperanza lives a privileged and pampered life in Mexico until her father dies and she and her mother are forced to flee to the United States for a life as migrant workers.

Figure 5. Group identity intersection for the character of Esperanza in Esperanza Rising.

At the end of the discussion, the group explained to the class that they organized the aspects of Esperanza's identity into the shape of a rose, because roses were important symbols in the novel. The aspects of her identity that they perceived as foundational to the immature Esperanza at the beginning of the novel were written in green on the stem, and included nationality, language, class, gender and family structure. The group created the bloom of the rose with aspects of Esperanza's mature identity at the end of the novel, including age, class, geographic association, family role, and several personality traits.

Creating identity intersections as a group activity during a literature discussion extends discussion as group members debate what aspects are important to the character and how each aspect affects their lives. Group members tend to return often to the book to find proof for their assertions about the character. Although the focus in this part of the literature discussion is on one specific character, it is common for the discussion to be wide-ranging, touching on other characters, plot, intertextual connections, and connections between the text and group members' lives.
Final Thoughts
There are challenges with using identity intersections. One recurring challenge is simply getting students to grapple with the idea that the way people live their lives is influenced by their membership in various cultural groups. Because dominant American cultures are highly individualistic, many students believe that values, beliefs, and actions are entirely personal choices. Related to this is the difficulty in helping students understand the difference between aspects of cultural identities and personality traits. Students are often more comfortable talking about personality traits and must be encouraged to focus on cultural identities.

It is important to provide students with multiple opportunities to think about cultural identities through class engagements such as identity intersections, discussion, children's and young adult literature, and professional readings. I find that though some students will be unable or unwilling to shift their thinking about cultural identities, using identity intersections several times across a semester will show growth in the complexity of their thinking.

Using identity intersections with undergraduate and graduate students has helped them think about culture and cultural identities in more sophisticated ways. The opportunity to reflect on their own lives has shown them how aspects of their cultural identity encourage certain behaviors or ways of thinking and how membership in particular cultural groups influences how people live their lives.

As a tool for exploring book characters, identity intersections focus and support thinking about cultures that are unfamiliar to the reader. This support, along with the talking, thinking, and learning that students do in relation to global and multicultural literature, adds to the understanding students build and the enjoyment they receive from reading books set in unfamiliar cultures.
References
Cushman, K. (1994). Catherine, Called Birdy. New York, NY: Clarion.

Foss, A. (2002). Peeling the onion: Teaching critical literacy with students of privilege. Language Arts, 79(5), 393-404.

Jaramillo, A. (2008). New York, NY: Square Fish.

Ryan, P. M. (2002). Esperanza Rising. New York, NY: Scholastic.

Janine M. Schall is the Graduate Reading Coordinator at the University of Texas-Pan American College of Education. She also serves as Associate Dean for Graduate Studies.

WOW Stories, Volume IV, Issue 6 by Worlds of Words is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://wowlit.org/on-line-publications/stories/storiesiv6/.

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Exploring Cultural Identity Through Literature * Page 6 of 6 * Worlds of Words

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This issue of WOW Stories shares four vignettes from classrooms where teachers and students explore identities

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This book is a great way to encourage discussion about diversity. It is an easy way to introduce students to cultural diversity and encourages respect of the vast differences of people who are in our everyday lives.

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WHO WE ARE! " Robie H. Harris, Children's Book Author

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K-Gr 2-Presenting several diverse families enjoying the various attractions at an amusement park, Harris explores the numerous ways that people are alike and different. Many examples are presented; for instance, while we all have many of the same body parts, those parts come in different shapes and sizes.

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A great site for students to research and gather facts about the United States. It is also helpful in explaining how this information is gathered and what a census is.

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Language use, English-speaking ability, and data on limited English-speaking households are currently collected in the American Community Survey (ACS). In the past, various questions on language use were asked in the censuses from 1890 to 1970. The three questions below were asked in the census in 1980, 1990, and 2000 and are the same questions asked in the American Community Survey.

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This site includes a video with various images and information on culture. In the article it also dives deeper into the terms related to culture and briefly discusses culture based on various regions. This is a great site for students to begin comparing their culture with another from a different region.

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American Culture: Traditions and Customs of the United States

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American culture is a diverse mix of customs and traditions from nearly every region of the world. Here is an overview of US holidays, food, clothing and more

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Vocabulary is such an important part of teaching culture. Allowing students to have access to various flashcards, both virtual and printed enables students to develop a clear understanding of words associated to culture. This website does just that.

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Click here to study/print these flashcards .Create your own flash cards! Sign up here.

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A great way to gain understanding of different cultures. This article gives tips and suggestions for understanding, respecting, and accepting cultural differences. This information can help encourage and build classroom communities.

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You're living in a vibrant multicultural country, so it's great that you want to understand cultures other than your own. There are a few ways to do this, but the most important is to remember that we're all just people who are trying to do the best we can.

What is 'cultural awareness'?

Cultural awareness, or cultural sensitivity, is being aware that cultural differences and similarities exist, while not judging people based on that. A non-judgemental mindset lets you observe cultural differences without labelling them as 'good' or 'bad', or 'right or wrong'.

This doesn't mean that you have to be an expert in other cultures. It just means being willing to be open-minded and to ask questions to get more information, rather than having a knee-jerk reaction to anything you don't agree with.

Why is cultural awareness important?

Australia is super-multicultural, which means that people and traditions from many other countries and cultures are noticeable and celebrated. More likely than not, you're going to meet many people and experience many situations that are unfamiliar to you.

Developing your understanding of other cultures, or 'cultural awareness', lets you have more meaningful interactions with those around you. You're building your respect and empathy for other people, and celebrating your differences as well as your similarities. This makes you less likely to treat someone differently, just because they are from a different culture or ethnicity than you.

Ways to build cultural understanding and awareness

It can be very easy to stick with what you know, rather than try to meet people who are different from you. However, actively trying to understand and embrace cultural differences can open you up to a whole world of experiences. Here's what you can do:

Become self-aware

Work out your own beliefs, values and personal biases. This includes biases about your own cultural background.

Yep - it can be confronting, but by doing this you'll be able to think about how these traits might impact on your approach to and understanding of differences.

You could try: Think about what assumptions you make about your friends, peers, people you work with and strangers you see walking down the street. What assumptions do you make about people from the same background as you?

Do your own research

Learning about different cultures can be a great way to develop an understanding of cultural diversity.

You could try: Check out some foreign films on SBS or Netflix, attend a local food festival, or search for some online resources. For example, check out Common Ground 's resources for learning about Indigenous Australian culture and history.

Talk to someone from a different cultural background

Try and get to know someone from a different cultural background better. You don't necessarily have to ask them directly about their culture, but by getting to know them as a friend or peer, you'll automatically find out more about their life and experiences. Just being curious and open-minded can be helpful.

You could try: Have a chat or catch-up with an acquaintance, friend or coworker that you've wanted to get to know better. Remember to treat them just like you would anyone else, and don't think of them only as a way to get to know about other cultural backgrounds.

If you'd rather try your luck online, there are sites that help you look for an international penpal. This is also a great way to practise your language skills if you're learning a language.

Travel!

One of the best ways to experience and understand other cultures is to actually live among them. It might take a while to save for, but planning a trip overseas to a country you're interested in can be the best way of opening yourself up to new cultures.

You could try: Check out some virtual travel and history experiences from the comfort of your own home.

Be more accepting

Sometimes, for one reason or another, it's not all that easy to understand some cultural differences. In these situations, the best approach is just to acknowledge that some people are different and to accept that that's okay. You don't have to understand, or even agree with, someone in order to accept them.

You could try: Practise being empathetic towards the people around you and be mindful of your thoughts about others. Try not to compare or judge. Learn more about how you can become more accepting.

Culturally different, with diverse opinions

Even if you hear or read something about a certain culture, it's important to realise that this doesn't mean everyone from that particular background acts/thinks/believes the same thing. Just as not everyone you know has identical beliefs, people who come from different cultural backgrounds aren't all a certain way, either.

Think beyond stereotypes

One of the biggest difficulties to overcome in understanding cultural differences is making judgements based on one opinion. Do your own research and make an effort to actually learn about people, instead of making broad-brush assessments. Stereotyping people from different cultural backgrounds can impact their quality of life and opportunities.

Everyone is unique

The main thing to remember is that everyone, no matter what their cultural background, has their own unique opinions, habits and ways of life. The sooner you accept that everyone is different, the easier it becomes to understand and embrace cultural differences.

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You're surrounded by different cultures and races everywhere you go. Here are some ways you can understand cultures that are different from your own.

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A brief video that explains what culture is and how to teach it. It also discusses the importance of allowing students to research and find out about their own cultural identity, and then to share their gained information through a presentation.

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This site includes a video and a series of cultural references and explanations. It is very well organized, easy to read, and contains a great deal of useful information to know and have handy while teaching culture lessons. I love how it also includes external resources to other useful sites, such as The Center for Advance Research on Language Acquisition.

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is the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, encompassing language, , cuisine, social habits, music and arts.

The Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition goes a step further, defining culture as shared patterns of behaviors and interactions, cognitive constructs and understanding that are learned by socialization. Thus, culture can be seen as the growth of a group identity fostered by social patterns unique to the group.

"Culture encompasses religion, food, what we wear, how we wear it, our language, marriage, music, what we believe is right or wrong, how we sit at the table, how we greet visitors, how we behave with loved ones and a million other things," Cristina De Rossi, an anthropologist at Barnet and Southgate College in London, told Live Science.

Many countries, such as , , , the , , and are noted for their rich cultures, the customs, traditions, music, art and food being a continual draw for tourists.

The word "culture" derives from a French term, which in turn derives from the "colere," which means to tend to the earth and grow, or cultivation and nurture, according to Arthur Asa Berger. "It shares its etymology with a number of other words related to actively fostering growth," De Rossi said.

Western culture

The term "Western culture" has come to define the culture of European countries as well as those that have been heavily influenced by European immigration, such as the United States, according to Khan University. Western culture has its roots in the Classical Period of the Greco- era (the fourth and fifth centuries B.C.) and the rise of Christianity in the 14th century. Other drivers of Western culture include Latin, Celtic, Germanic and Hellenic ethnic and linguistic groups.

Any number of historical events have helped shape Western culture during the past 2,500 years. The fall of Rome, often pegged to A.D. 476, cleared the way for the establishment of a series of often-warring states in Europe, according to Stanford University historian Walter Scheidel, each with their own cultures. The Black Death of the 1300s cut the population of Europe by one-third to one-half, rapidly remaking society. As a result of the , writes Ohio State University historian John L. Brooke, Christianity became stronger in Europe, with more focus on apocalyptic themes. Survivors in the working class gained more power, as elites were forced to pay more for scarce labor. And the disruption of trade routes between East and West set off new exploration, and ultimately, the incursion of Europeans into North and South America.

Today, the influences of Western culture can be seen in almost every country in the world.

Eastern culture

Eastern culture generally refers to the societal norms of countries in Far East Asia (including China, Japan, Vietnam, North Korea and South Korea) and the Indian subcontinent. Like the West, Eastern culture was heavily influenced by religion during its early development, but it was also heavily influenced by the growth and harvesting of rice, according to a research article published in the journal in 2012. In general, in Eastern culture there is less of a distinction between secular society and religious philosophy than there is in the West.

However, this umbrella covers an enormous range of traditions and histories. For example, Buddhism originated in India, but it was largely overtaken by Hinduism after the 12th century, according to Britannica.

As a result, Hinduism became a major driver of culture in India, while Buddhism continued to exert influence in China and Japan. The preexisting cultural ideas in these areas also influenced religion. For example, according to Jiahe Liu and Dongfang Shao, Chinese Buddhism borrowed from the philosophy of Taoism, which emphasizes compassion, frugality and humility.

Centuries of interactions - both peaceful and aggressive - in this region also led to these cultures influencing each other. Japan, for example, controlled or occupied Korea in some form between 1876 and 1945. During this time, many Koreans were pressured or forced into giving up their names for Japanese surnames, according to History.com.

Latin culture

The geographic region encompassing "Latin culture" is widespread. Latin America is typically defined as those parts of Central America, South America and where Spanish or Portuguese are the dominant languages. These are all places that were colonized by or influenced by or Portugal starting in the 1400s. It is thought that French geographers used the term "Latin America" to differentiate between Anglo and Romance (Latin-based) languages, though some historians, such as Michael Gobat, author of "The Invention of Latin America: A Transnational History of Anti-Imperialism, Democracy and Race" (American Historical Review, Voll 118, Issue 5, 2013), dispute this.

Latin cultures are thus incredibly diverse, and many blend Indigenous traditions with the Spanish language and Catholicism brought by and Portuguese colonizers. Many of these cultures were also influenced by African cultures due to enslaved Africans being brought to the Americas starting in the 1600s, according to the African American Registery. These influences are particularly strong in Brazil and in Caribbean nations.

Latin culture continues to evolve and spread. A good example is Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, a holiday dedicated to remembering the departed that is celebrated on Nov. 1 and Nov. 2. Day of the Dead dates back to before Christopher Columbus landed in North America, but was moved to its current celebration date by Spanish colonizers, who merged it with the Catholic All Saints Day.

Mexican immigrants to the United States brought the holiday with them, and in the 1970s, artists and activities brought focus to Día de los Muertos as a way of celebrating their Chicano (Mexican-American) heritage, according to the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The holiday is now well-known in the United States.

Middle Eastern culture

Roughly speaking, the Middle East encompasses the Arabian peninsula as well as the eastern Mediterranean. The North African countries of Libya, Egypt and Sudan are also sometimes included, according to Britannica. The term "Middle Eastern culture" is another umbrella that encompasses a huge diversity of cultural practices, religious beliefs and daily habits. The region is the birthplace of Judaism, Christianity and Islam and is home to dozens of languages, from Arabic to Hebrew to Turkish to Pashto.

While there is significant religious diversity in the Middle East, the predominant religion by numbers is Islam, and Islam has played a large role in the cultural development of the region. Islam originated in what is today Saudi Arabia in the early seventh century. An influential moment for the culture and development of the Middle East came after the death of the religion's founder, Muhammad, in 632, according to the Metropoliton Museum.

Some followers believed the next leader should be one of Muhammad's friends and confidants; others believed leadership must be passed through Muhammad's bloodline. This led to a schism between Shia Muslims, those who believed in the importance of the bloodline, and Sunni Muslims, who believed leadership should not pass through the family. Today, about 85% of Muslims are Sunni, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. Their rituals and traditions vary somewhat, and divisions between the two groups often fuel conflict.

Middle Eastern culture has also been shaped by the Ottoman Empire, which ruled a U-shaped ring around the eastern Mediterranean between the 14th and early 20th centuries, according to Britannica. Areas that were part of the Ottoman Empire are known for distinctive architecture drawn from Persian and Islamic influences.

African culture

Africa has the longest history of human habitation of any continent: Humans originated there and began to migrate to other areas of the world around 400,000 years ago, according to the Natural History Museum in London. Tom White, who serves as the museum's senior curator of non-insect invertebrates, and his team were able to discover this by studying Africa's ancient lakes and the animals that lived in them. As of the time of this article, this research provides the oldest evidence for hominin species in the Arabian peninsula.

African culture varies not only between national boundaries, but within them. One of the key features of this culture is the large number of ethnic groups throughout the 54 countries on the continent. For example, Nigeria alone has more than 300 tribes, according to Culture Trip. Africa has imported and exported its culture for centuries; East African trading ports were a crucial link between East and West as early as the seventh century, according to The Field Museum. This led to complex urban centers along the eastern coast, often connected by the movement of raw materials and goods from landlocked parts of the continent.

It would be impossible to characterize all of African culture with one description. Northwest Africa has strong ties to the Middle East, while Sub-Saharan Africa shares historical, physical and social characteristics that are very different from North Africa, according to Britannica .

Some traditional Sub-Saharan African cultures include the Maasai of Tanzania and Kenya, the Zulu of South Africa and the Batwa of Central Africa. The traditions of these cultures evolved in very different environments. The Batwa, for example, are one of a group of ethnicities that traditionally live a forager lifestyle in the rainforest. The Maasai, on the other hand, herd sheep and goats on the open range.

What is cultural appropriation?

Oxford Reference describes cultural appropriation as: "A term used to describe the taking over of creative or artistic forms, themes, or practices by one cultural group from another."

An example might be a person who is not Native American wearing a Native American headdress as a fashion accessory. For example, Victoria's Secret was heavily criticized in 2012 after putting a model in a headdress reminiscent of a Lakota war bonnet, according to . These headdresses are laden with meaningful symbolism, and wearing one was a privilege earned by chieftains or warriors through acts of bravery, according to the Khan Academy. The model also wore turquoise jewelry inspired by designs used by Zuni, Navajo and Hopi tribes in the desert Southwest, illustrating how cultural appropriation can lump together tribes with very different cultures and histories into one stereotyped image.

More recently, in 2019, Gucci faced a similar backlash for selling an item named "the indy full turban" which caused considerable anger from the Sikh community, according to . Harjinder Singh Kukreja, a Sikh restaurateur and influencer, wrote to Gucci on Twitter, stating: "the Sikh Turban is not a hot new accessory for white models but an article of faith for practising Sikhs. Your models have used Turbans as 'hats' whereas practising Sikhs tie them neatly fold-by-fold. Using fake Sikhs/Turbans is worse than selling fake Gucci products."

Constant change

No matter what a culture looks like, one thing is for certain: Cultures change. "Culture appears to have become key in our interconnected world, which is made up of so many ethnically diverse societies, but also riddled by conflicts associated with religion, ethnicity, ethical beliefs, and, essentially, the elements which make up culture," De Rossi said. "But culture is no longer fixed, if it ever was. It is essentially fluid and constantly in motion."

This makes it difficult to define any culture in only one way. While change is inevitable, most people see value in respecting and preserving the past. The United Nations has created a group called The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to identify cultural and natural heritage and to conserve and protect it. Monuments, buildings and sites are covered by the group's protection, according to the international treaty, the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. This treaty was adopted by UNESCO in 1972.
Additional reporting by Live Science Contributors Alina Bradford, Stephanie Pappas and Callum McKelvie.

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Culture encompasses religion, food, what we wear, how we wear it, our language, marriage, music and is different all over the world.

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The North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources is a great site to find out about NC's local cultural diversity, This site also is great for information on events and places that help to enhance and build NC's cultural future. Students could be introduced to this site and then reference back to it for further research and to see what culture events strike their interest.

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NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources

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Home to North Carolina's state parks, historic sites, museums, aquariums, zoo and other cultural attractions and programs.

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An easy to read and understand article that can be used for students to reference on their own, or as demonstration for a whole group lesson. This article discusses what culture is, some terms related to culture, and differences and similarities between cultures. This particular article also showcases photographs taken of various cultures.

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Culture is a pattern of behavior shared by a society, or group of people. Many different things make up a society's culture. These things include food, language, clothing,...