Culture Chat : Who are we?

Meet the Authors

Hello Dear Reader! 

We are two College Professors who love talking about Culture. Chatting about Culture. 

There's a lot to be said about it, and since we teach Communication Studies, we thought we'd bring the two together, and stimulate your thinking about Culture in everyday life.

Join us on this journey as we make meaning of the things we share, join our Culture Chat Videos on Youtube, our regular Blog Posts here, and follow us on Twitter @culturechatshow !

Do you remember playing with LEGO blocks as a kid?

So many different shapes, colors and abilities. 

No two perfectly alike it seemed, yet they made a great set. 

And it took all of them to create something amazing. 

Missing a piece? Job is incomplete!

For a long time now, the US has been on the road to realizing it's people. 

Realizing what they are capable of, willing and able to do, and how they express themselves. For that's what people are - uniquely capable, and similar in so many ways, just different in how they express it.

Sometimes, the differences in how we express our uniqueness can rub others the wrong way. And when there are different kinds of people at work, in your neighborhood, at school or even in your family, that can make for quite a lot of friction. 

But it doesn't have to be that way.

It is with this challenge - the challenge of living in a multicultural society - that we are starting Culture Chat, a YouTube and Blog series to identify Communication challenges and solutions around Culture. 

Click on the link below to watch Episode 1!

Watch Episode 1 of 'Culture Chat' - How can we live in a Multicultural Society?

Have you ever wondered what 'Culture' means?

When a group of people share something - beliefs, a sense of right vs. wrong, a set of traditions to pass on, some rules to live by - this becomes a 'thing', a reality, a sort of Communication bubble we live in to get along. A Culture, in other words. 

With the US though, we have two interesting things happening - we have people whose parentage is from over 100 countries around the world -  AND we have individualism - where people wish to express themselves to their fullest potential, in their way. 

That makes for a lot of dialectic stress - push and pull - of sameness and difference, but in a good way. Our sameness as humans and US Americans binds us together, and our differences as cultural others challenges our thinking and broadens our mind. 

Neither one is successful without the other. 

 Our Goal

"What should I say in this situation?" "Is this an okay word to use?" 

"I saw this on the internet, what does it mean?"

Much of the discomfort around Culture is the doubts and misunderstandings around word usage, appropriate behavior, historical contexts and the like. 

As Professors of Communication and Culture, we hope to rest some of these doubts, create understanding and help contextualize US and World events. 

Don't know the difference between an Archetype or Stereotype? We'll talk about it.

Not sure if Race and Ethnicity are the same thing? Read about it here. 

Unsure how to deal with inappropriate behavior? There may be a solution for that too.

We welcome you on this journey of better understanding the cultural strangers in your life, including the strangers at home.