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American Culture Vs Arab Culture

Decent Essays

The rate at which migration is increasing globally calls for the need to understand the differences that exist among cultures. The Arabic coffee hour is an event where Georgia Southern University Students learn about the Arab culture. At the start of the event, there was self-introduction to break the ice then coffee was brewed and served as refreshments alongside cookies. After this, videos about the Arab culture were watched on YouTube. There are over 200 million Arabs in the world and at least 1.9 million people of Arab descent in the United States. These include people from Morocco, Palestine, Egypt, Lebanon, Tunisia, Kuwait, Syria, Somalia, Libya, Yemen and Jordan. The three major religions of the Arab world are Islam, Christianity and …show more content…

Just like the Edo culture, Arabs value family. Family is the center of everything with the father as the head of the household. The father serves as the protector and is expected to take care of the family financially. He also has the first and final word in every aspect of the family’s life like education, health, marriage and so on. Also, the male child is more valued than the female child. This is because girls will marry into another household, while the boys will carry on their family’s name. Also, respect is stressed in the Arab culture. Children are meant to respect the elderly and ask for their opinion, even though their advice may not necessarily be taken. The only difference between the Arab culture and mine is their way of dressing. Unlike my culture where people tend to dress however they choose, the Arabs are very conservative with outer appearance. The style of music is also different. Attending this event made me realize that if you take the time to learn more about various cultures, you will realize there are more similarities than differences. For instance, I was able to write many similarities between my culture and the Arab culture, but I could only talk about one difference. Therefore, knowing this makes me tolerant of other’s culture as well as culturally competent. Also, thanks to the Arabic Coffee Hour, I have a different perspective of life and have become more respectful and understanding

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