J.C.'s ePortfolio

Fine Arts

DANC 1010 Dance and Culture

For this class, the project assigned was to do a life history interview on someone from another culture. The culture of the person I did this on is from the Philippines. The point of this project was to learn about what that person's culture is like so to have a better understanding and eliminate bias judgments. I've never had any bias thoughts about anything in my life but I certainly got some great knowledge about Philippine culture. It was lots of fun talking with my consultant and I thank her for providing me with a good basic background about the Philippines and it would fun to go there someday and see it for myself. Now let's take a gander at what Philippine culture is like and what was learned during this interview.

Reflection

Culture is an essential part of being human, without it, people wouldn’t have character. Each country has people with a uniquely different culture that can be identified from their traditions, food, clothing, and more. This life history interview did just that by identifying what separates Philippine culture from others. It provided a great learning experience to know about Filipino’s and showed that there is much to learn about the world. Time for some reflecting!

When doing this interview I was totally surprised to find out that my consultant (female) never felt different when she immigrated here to Utah. She told me it's because while growing up in the Philippines she was exposed to many cultures and people so no reason at all to feel different from those in the state of Utah. The main reason my interviewee came to Utah was because it seemed like a really great place to live and provide an opportunity to see new culture and she doesn't regret it one bit. My consultant even remarked that she's glad coming here and it'll never be forgotten. 

The world is a very big place, I have always been curious about all the countries that make it up and this interview opened up a whole new world to one that is different from North American culture. This project taught me a lot about Philippine culture such as to what they wear (similar to U.S.), the food they eat, traditions, what separates them from other cultures, and how it was like for him or her to move to Utah. It also showed me that there is much to be learned about cultures and it can be an amazing thing because then maybe I'll want to go to a particular country someday and experience if for myself. When I did this interview I had no assumptions at all about Philippine culture because I was taught to not judge other based on accusations from other people. For myself, I take the time to really get to know an individual and find out about them before making a judgment and I will always be that way throughout my entire life.