The Myth of Cultural Literacy

Introduction

This essay centers around the different types of literacy one can encounter in the world. Here I asked myself what does it really mean to understand a culture. I’m very proud of some of the metaphors used in this essay. I would like to further my metaphorical ability in future writing assignment.

Advanced Essay

As Americans, we are privileged to be exposed to diverse experiences. With this comes a perceived understanding of many cultures and their influences, but in fact, full cultural literacy is near impossible to achieve because the full depth of a culture is made up of many different subcultures. Culture is neither simple nor static.

My great-grandfather was born and raised in the backwoods of Mississippi during a turbulent time for African Americans. As a black man, he lived with perpetual danger. Through visits by the KKK, physical exploitation, and exploitation of black women, he has developed a much different opinion about gun ownership than I have.

My maternal great aunt, Henni, was a beautiful woman in her time. She was a tall 5’5” with long, wavy hair that rested in little curls at the ends. Her skin was a light coffee color, much like mine. Her facial features displayed an uncharacteristically delicate quality for her time. She was a nexus for all types of attention, good and bad.  

When she was at the ripe age of sixteen, a man, almost twice her age, arrived on the front porch. As he knocked on the door, he crooked a sly smile, not expecting to be greeted by the stoic face of my great grandfather. My great grandmother's exact words were something like “That big old man weren’t expecting your granddaddy to open the door. His smile dropped so quick you could feel the breeze.”

I can imagine that his smile dropped for two reasons. The first would be that my great grandfather met him at the door. The second was the shotgun Granddaddy cradled in both arms, the way a pageant queen might hold a bouquet. He cocked the gun. A hard gulp was taken. "I don't want no trouble, sir. I just wanted to see Henni," the man said, though much weaker than he intended.

Granddaddy was unbelieving. "You chased my daughter through a field, tried to snatch up her up and now I’m finding you on my porch?", he said in a low aggressive tone.  "Leave." I imagine him saying this part slowly, like a one liner from an action movie. In that instant the act of having a gun empowered him to defend his daughter from the advances of a white man in the Jim Crow South. Although he threatened violence in its expression, my great grandfather’s only intention was to protect his daughter, a pure and understandable sentiment.
One can see why easily see why my great-grandfather would favor access to guns. In his worldview, guns weren’t an offensive weapon, but rather a tool for defense. From my perspective,  I find guns to be overwhelmingly dangerous. My grandfather and I were from the same culture but at the same time we were raised by different cultures. The culture that raised me is like a tumorous growth on the back of his, a mutated and morphed version of what was once his culture. Although are part of the same origin, different experiences yield different offspring. Both create opposing views to the other.  The question about the acceptability of guns can't be answered simply. There are a thousand ways to think about this one issue, each supported by their own cultural experience.  

The writer Ravi Zacharias once said "With no fact as a referent, what is normative is purely a matter of preference.” He’s saying that nothing is universally true, especially not on a cultural level. Think of sub cultures as different type of dance. Like dance, each subculture is founded in its own philosophy.  Like ballet and hip hop sometimes these philosophies are diametrically opposed. This makes a superficial understanding achievable but to fully understand these philosophies one must commit to them and you can’t fully commit to two opposite ideas. One might say that commitment isn’t necessary for understanding but the great Chinese philosopher Confucius would disagree. In The Analects, the sacred text of Confucianism, he says that without life long commitment learning is impossible.

To fully understand a culture, even one of origin, in all of it's dimensions would require an real world understanding and encyclopedic knowledge of each individual subculture. Culture is too vast and ever expanding to grasp in its entirety. To put it mathematically, there are just too many variables, but this doesn’t mean that we should turn inward and deny ourselves culture in all of its forms. I purpose that we embrace this unknown. There is so much culture can provide for us.