In chapter 6 of Outliers, a concept called "culture of honor is introduced." It was when Appalaichian families and settlements would band together and fight each other for the honor of their ethnic group, which at the time was mainly Irishmen, Englishmen and Scots. The honor was decided in combat and the victor would leave in glory whilst the loser would be shamed in front of everyone else. The different bands of settlers would all help each other and work, build and herd together. Because of the inability to farm in the uneven mountains of Appalaichia, herding animals was the best source of food, which meant that the mobile animals could easily be stolen from their herders, which resulted in the need for families to band together to defend themselves from enemies ready to steal their food. Thus, the family, and the family feud were born.
Cultural legacy, I believe is defined by a person living up to standards set by their family, or other members of their ethnicity, and being able to live up to their lives of glory or triumph.
My ethnicity is very diverse. I am German on my mother's side, and Albanian on my father's. Both are cultures based on honor. I have relatives that fought in World War I on both of these sides. I have always been interested in making my family proud, and I tend to use stories such as my Grandfather Victor saving a man from a burning plane in Korea, to inspire myself to always keep a clear conscience and to have a mindset of serving my nation. I believe that my cultural legacy is to serve my country in it's defense, and to be a nationalistic devoted citizen, just as my ancestors were to their respective flags.
i agree and disagree with your opinion. i agree that your culture of honor is determined by your parents and set by your ethnicity. but it also is based on how you take things and apply it to your self. for example, if the turners and howards offspring chose not to participate in their families trivialities, then the family feud between them would die out. but since the parents hated each other and the over all family hated eachother, the child had no choice but to join the fight. also, my parent are both from a different country. one from the dominican republic and the other from jamaica. they both went to school but only my dad graduated. even though they didnt get far educationally, my dad still got a great job as a computer tech and my mom as a jewlery crafter. my cultural legacy is to be smart, go to a ivy league school, and get a good job. this cultural legacy comes from nowhere but i still have it. that is how i agree and disagree with your statement.
ReplyDelete-Andrew