discovering missions - Southern Nazarene University

245187 Disc Missions ins 9/6/07 1:04 PM Page 92
92 How Culture Affects Mission
one at that table has been served before anyone starts to eat. In Italy, people are
expected to begin eating when they are served. To an Italian cook, letting a
plate of food sit and cool down after it is served would be an affront. The Italians
reason that the food was served at just the proper moment; therefore, eating
must begin!
Surface and Deep Levels
External or surface manifestations of culture can be identified by simple
observation. For example, the meanings cultures assign to colors can be quickly
picked up by an outsider. In some cultures, black is the color of mourning
while in others, white is the color of mourning. Many cultures now consider
pink a girl color and blue a boy color, a reversal of what those colors represented
in the 19th century. Another example of surface level cultural phenomena is
how food is eaten. In some cultures that is done with a knife, fork, and spoon.
In others, chopsticks are used and in still others, people pick up food with
their fingers.
Noticing a culture’s different customs, food, clothing, and language can be
somewhat like seeing the tip of an iceberg. When people see a floating iceberg,
they are looking at only about an eighth of it because the rest of it is below the
waterline. Because so much of an iceberg is unseen, it makes a good analogy
for understanding culture (see fig. 7.1). That is because, in addition to the external
behavior and material objects that can be seen and even immediately understood,
many significant cultural components exist only at an internal or
deep level. At this below-the-waterline level are beliefs, values, and core identity
thought patterns. They may be things based on kinship, gender roles, the
idea of modesty, work ethic, social rules, ways of handling conflict, and decision-making
processes. This deep level of culture shapes thoughts and behaviors
without people even being aware that it is going on.
The academic discipline that studies culture is called cultural anthropology.
It is one of the sciences, but instead of working in laboratories, cultural anthropologists
do fieldwork. The term anthropology combines a Greek word, anthropos,
which means “man or human,” with the suffix -ology, which means
“language about” or “the study of.” Thus, anthropology means “the study of
humanity.” Cultural anthropology narrows that focus to human culture.
Commonalities and Differences
Anthropology is a word that is also used in theology to talk about
commonalities of the human race. In terms of culture, however, anthropology
looks at differences.