TWELVE DIMENSIONS PAPER

Twelve Dimensions Paper

Gohar Sharif

7608482

HSF 1210-17W SEC 1

Debashis Dutta

February 7, 2017
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Throughout history, differentiation has caused the greatest conflict in

society. The term different is defined as not being the same as someone or a

group of people, and divergent in nature. The simple term different creates

diversity between aspects such as race, religion, sex, sexuality and many

more. Bringing the term diversity or difference into society, creates

confusion, inequality, and in some cases, harm between the people. Today,

the different members of the set community have been capable of stepping

out of the minority social level. However double standards between race,

religion and sex will somehow have its place as the foundation of society and

the mentality of those within it. This paper will include how the twelve

dimensions of culture and the diversity wheel apply to my personal life, as

well as how I may use them when working with others.

The 12 Dimensions

There are many different cultural dimensions that apply to my personal

life. The first dimension is my history. Both my mother and father were born

and raised in Afghanistan. They faced many losses in their lives and suffered

through the poverty and war of the country. Amongst their own families, they

were able to flee from their homeland, and worked to make a living in

Canada, a country of freedom with a better lifestyle and opportunities. I was

born in the Centenary hospital in Scarborough, Ontario. At the time,

Scarborough was the most affordable and convenient city for my family to

live in. A mother and father with no post-secondary education, it was difficult
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to find a well paying job without harsh labour, as well as a proper home. After

my younger sister and brother were born, my parents realized that

Scarborough was not the safest location for their children to live in. There

was this negative influence within the people of Scarborough that began to

reach the behaviours of my siblings and I, therefore my parents made the

decision to leave the city and move to kitchener. Kitchener is the city where

my parents were able to find more stable jobs with a better pay and position.

We still moved from defiled apartment buildings, to agitated housing

neighbourhoods. Today, we now live in our own home in Huron Village. This is

where my journey in high school and postsecondary began.

The next dimension that greatly applies to my life is social status. As I

mentioned before, neither one of my parent attended post-secondary

schools, therefore a stable job was very difficult to find. My mother told me

stories of when I was younger and how she had to stay home to take care of

me since they did not have the income for a babysitter. This meant that the

only income that came into the house was from my father, who spent days

and nights working. During most days I would not see my father. My mother

told me how during this period, we even had difficulty finding money for a

sufficient amount of food. Most of the money that my father would make

would pay for rent and various kinds of bills. Therefore, we were left with

using food stamps to bring food into our home. That would be the time

where my parents fit into the low class social status. Today, they have

managed to find better jobs that have helped us move to a middle class
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status. They both work as managing positions in retail work which increased

their pay and provided them with many financial benefits. When I hit the

age of 16, I decided to find a part-time job. Working part-time provided me

with some savings for school, as well as it helped cover a few expenses

around the house that would have been the responsibility of my parents. I

became a right hand support to my family.

Value orientation is another aspect of culture that greatly applies to my

personal life. The values that are taught in my home are greatly influenced

by two different cultures. One being the Afghani culture, that my parents

were taught and raised with, and second being the Canadian cultural

influence. The values from these two cultures have created a very positive

form of discipline. It has also taught my siblings and I to open our eyes and

face the world in a socially acceptable and well mannered way. Values such

as respecting your elders, greetings, formality, respect to all outsiders, family

orientation, and commitment to all aspects of life are just a few important

values that come from Afghanistan. These values a very much similar to the

other countries around the world. Back in Afghanistan these values were

more so strict than what they are today. In our home, the Canadian culture

tones down the sternness of these values, making them more modernized

rules and expectations, that also benefits us when we face the canadian

society. If we still lived by the strict values coming from Afghanistan, we

would most likely not be as socially acceptable. The most interesting and
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acceptable value that my parents reminded me all through my life was smile

to any stranger that comes your way, for just a smile is a form of charity.

Then there comes religion, as one of society's most important

dimension in culture. The beliefs and practices that were taught to me as a

child have greatly influenced who I am today. I was born into a family who

practices the religion of islam. The way I speak, dress, eat and interact with

others are all guided by Islam. Over many years, Islam has always been

identified as a religion of violence, vengeance and terror. Having said that,

society does not look at the true purpose of Islam, and the peace, obedience

and modesty that comes with it. Islam is a religion that has influenced the

morals and values taught in our home. It is also a religion that has taught me

the value and meaning to life, as well as it is a method of concentration and

meditation for when I am deeply stressed. Therefore I find religion one of the

most important dimensions of culture.

Spending most of my time at school and work, recreational time

becomes very important for me. I have always viewed myself as a very social

individual. During my recreational time, I choose to spend time with my

friends or family. Dressing up and going out to restaurants with my friends

gives me the time to release stress and to be myself. I also enjoy spending a

lot of my time with my family. Living in an Afghan household, we always have

big family gatherings and outings. I very much enjoy my time with my family

because they are the only people I can truly express my emotions to, and
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receive the greatest support. Being around the people I love brings me the

greatest warmth and joy.

When it comes to healing beliefs and rituals, I believe that I am

between searching for support from a doctor and finding natural remedies. I

am someone who does pay much attention to their personal health, but

tends to always look out for others. In most cases I do believe that the

doctor's authority and judgement is more important, but I also do encourage

looking at natural remedies to health issue because the medication

prescribed and cause more harm to natural immune system.

The small group interactions done within my family is greatly

influenced by two cultures. In Afghanistan, during many gatherings or

occasions, the men and women tend to sit in different rooms. This is

influenced by the religion of Islam, stating that men must lower their gaze

when confronted by a woman. Therefore, in certain occasions they are split

into two different rooms. However, here in Canada, my family no longer

follows that expectation. Men and women celebrate and sit amongst each

other in the same room. Men and women all play the same roles during

gatherings such as hosting, cleaning and entertaining. This creates a strong

bond and enjoyment between all members of the family when these events

take place.

The diet and food that take place in our home is very diverse. My

mother is a very great cook and knows the recipe to all Afghani dishes.

Because my father loves traditional food, I have learnt to enjoy them as well.
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However my younger siblings have a hard time enjoying many Afghani

meals, therefore my mother has taught herself to cook many other ethnic

foods such as Italian, Chinese, Indian and the occasional American/Canadian

dishes. The most common Afghani dishes are made of rice, all kinds of meat,

mostly red meat and lots of spices. I personally love Afghani food, and enjoy

trying other ethnic foods as well.

Since I was a child growing up, I always found the need to buy clothes

that were the same as the other children around me. My mother would

always look for clothing that were appropriate and helped us fit in with

everyone else. The way I dress is very much guided by the Canadian and

American culture, for that is what I had been exposed as a child from the

media. However, I always tend to see the modest perspective of dressing up,

which means the exposure of my body reaches to an extent. Since I am

muslim, and choose not to wear a hijab, it is still expected for me to dress

with respect towards myself and others around me. I have grown to accept

that expectation that comes from my religion. When I was younger, I used to

dress more so like a boy, and was considered being a tomboy. Today I

have slightly grown out of the tomboy look and have become more self

conscious to the way I look. I now dress more on the feminine side.

Family life process is another dimension of culture that has relevance

to my life. The gender and family roles within my family have always been

equally distributed between all members. Both my parents are equal when it
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comes to decision making, discipline, cleaning, cooking, working and looking

after financing. Although my father is the dominant figure of the family, the

control and say against many aspects of our family is in the hands of both

parents. The role between my siblings and I are a little bit different. My

younger sister is not yet eligible to work, therefore she helps take care of

some of the housework, such as laundry and cleaning. My younger brother is

also not at the age to work, or take responsibility of housework either. I work

part-time to help support my parents financially and help with work around

the house. The roles between the siblings are equal, however it varies based

on our age. When we reach an older age, we are given more responsibility to

take over outside and inside our home. Back in Afghanistan, gender roles

were much more important in families. The men and boys would work

outside from morning until night, and the women and girls would clean and

cook at home. Boys also had more advantages to doing a lot more activities

than the girls did. Here in Canada, my siblings and I work and follow the

same rules and expectations. We are all expected to do work inside and

outside the house, and there are no double standards when it comes to

activities and leisures with friends.

Art and expression dimension of culture has its place in my family as

well. My family has this great passion for music and artwork. My grandfather

used to be a well-known musician and singer back in Afghanistan. He

inspired my father to become a musician as well. My father was in a jazz/rock

band called The Embryos back when he lived in Germany. His stories about
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his tours across Europe inspired me to get into music as well. I enjoy singing.

I sing in front of large groups of people and in special occasions. I also play

the guitar and admire learning how to play the piano as well. My father also

had his own recording studio during his time in Germany, which has also

inspired me to compose my own music. My siblings also have the talent of

singing, and when we bring our work together, it brings great joy to my

family.

The last dimension of culture is language and communication. My first

learnt language was dari, the main language of Afghanistan. This is because

my mother had spent a lot of time with me at home when I was a child. She

did this because both her and my father thought that it is important that I

know my own tongue to communicate with my elders who do not know how

to speak english. They also believed that if I learnt dari first, english would be

easy to learn later too. However, shortly after learning how to speak dari, I

was able to catch on to the english language from television shows, which

prepared me for when I attended pre-school. I believe that verbally I am a

strong individual, however nonverbally, such as written text does give me a

hard time. I also have the greatest interest in learning other languages. I

have now taken spanish for two years, and wish to learn it fluently. I had

always been told not to swear as a child, and follow that expectation today

as well. I have taught myself to respectfully communicate and approach

another individual, no matter their relationship to me. The only situation that

may cause me to swear or curse is when I am truly angry at something.

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The Diversity Wheel

The different dimensions of diversity help me with examining my

personal identity and the privileges that I have amongst society. It was very

difficult to determine these privileges since I am an Afghan female, who

practices the religion of Islam. Many privileges would not have applied to me

if I had lived in Afghanistan. But because I am in a country of freedom and

opportunity, there are people like me who fight for their rights and have

found their place in society.

The first privilege that I have is my education (Anzovine & Boutilier,

2015, p. 17). With my education, I have a better understanding of how

society functions and changes. With my education I am offered a series of job

opportunities that individuals without education have hard time getting. My

education is a privilege, because it has been earned, and can be enhanced

over many years. Not all people of the world have access to the same level

of education or the opportunity for education at all.

My second privilege is language (Anzovine & Boutilier, 2015, p.17).

Being in Canada, I have gained privilege because I have now have the same

speaking tongue as everybody else. I am capable of communicating with all

members of society and I can attended educational institutions teaching in

the english language. English being one of the worlds most powerful

languages, I can communicate with people outside of Canada as well. The

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language gives society evidence of my knowledge and opportunities to

function amongst them.

Another privilege that I have gained is recreation (Anzovine & Boutilier,

2015, p.17). My recreation is a privilege because it is greatly influenced by

the Canadian culture. I spend my leisure time outside of the house amongst

my friends, which is not common for an Afghan girls. An afghan girl would

stay at home with many restrictions with going out with friends. However,

living in Canada, going out and spending time with family and friends is an

expectation to experience relationships.

Social status is another privilege that I have gained in my life

(Anzovine & Boutilier, 2015, p.17) . As I mentioned early in this paper, we

used to be a low income family who struggled to make a stable living. Today

my family is identified as a middle class status. Being in the middle class

means that we are as stable as the rest of society. We are given the

opportunity to buy clothes that are not second hand and more acceptable to

wear amongst others, we live in a nicer and still affordable home, we are

capable of attending school and postsecondary education and we are

capable of enjoying other attributes of life without straining ourselves from

spending too much. Those who are in a low class status family, are not given

as many opportunities as I do. They are also considered an outcast to the

rest of society and do not receive attention as they should. Therefore, being

in the middle class status is a privilege for an individual who has worked to

receive that status.

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Finally, my clothes and the way I choose to dress is another privilege in

society (Anzovine & Boutilier, 2015, p.17). As a girl raised in Canada, I have

grown to dress the same as all other females. However, because of where I

am from, and the religion that I practice, there is a certain way that I am

expected to dress. As a muslim girl, I am expected to wear a hijab at this

point of my life. Although, to wear a hijab is a choice, many muslims see me

as someone who does not take their religion seriously. A hijab is an attribute

that easily spots me as muslim within the Canadian society. It is difficult to

admit this, but choosing not to wear a hijab has become a privilege for me.

With the way I choose to dress, I have modified and blended in a socially

acceptable way, as other Canadian girls do today.

Having privilege is not gained on its own today. To have privilege over

an aspect is to earn it. Which means, that you may have started from

somewhere lower, and found your way up that is more acceptable in society.

There are others, who are born into a well privileged home, and do not need

to work for a fitter social status. Since I have experienced conflicts based on

who I am, where I come from, and what I possess, I understand how a person

that lacks privileges is faced with the rest of society.

When working with someone who has less privileges, I must treat them

as if they are nothing less than me. From the different aspects of life that my

family and I have worked for, I better understand how they feel, and must

not treat them as a minority when working with them.

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I must also be aware of the way I may communicate with them, as they may

not understand what I am saying, or may take a situation directly in offence.

I must also know that they may not yet understand the route to finding their

privileges, and should give them their time before judgement is made.

Working with individuals who lack privileges can be a very sensitive

field. Many of these individuals come for support, therefore it is my

responsibility to work up to the expectations and professionalism that they

have based on my position, and should not leave them stranded. The lack of

privileges already set them in a place that is outside of the rest of society.

Someone who has the knowledge and working in the human service field has

the greater responsibility of making all members of society equal and one.
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References

Anzovino, T., & Boutilier, D. (2015). Walk a Mile. Toronto: Nelson.