Week 1: Two Cultures

The existence of multiple cultures constantly affects different facets of my everyday life. For example, at UCLA the distinction between north and south campus creates a divide and tends to perpetuate stereotypes between students in the sciences and students in the humanities. This idea of two cultures was presented by C.P. Snow in his 1959 lecture where he explained the divide between natural scientists and literary intellectuals. As a Physiological Science major, I would fall in the category of scientist. Last quarter though I took a class that examined mental dysfunction in both the scopes of biology and sociology, and as a nice break from the redundancy of regular classes, it demonstrated how diverse cultures can be combined to produce positive outcomes in health and society. 

A figure taken out of Abnormal Child Psychology, 5th ed.

As a Filipino-American, I have also been influenced by two cultures growing up. While my parents fed me food like lumpia and adobo and taught me to speak Ilocano, I also enjoy a good bacon cheeseburger and stay up to date with American pop culture. This cross-cultural disparity can sometimes cause issues, but I like to view it as a source of new inspiration and enrichment. As Kelly and Bohm bring up in "The Third Culture" and "On Creativity," such combinations generate opportunities like new things to explain and new ways of expression.

Kali Suite, Samahang Pilipino Cultural Night 2013

One of my favorite activities here, Samahang Pilipino Cultural Night promotes cultural awareness through performing arts and community involvement. During the past few years participating in this production, I've learned that it presents a space for people to understand the traditional and the contemporary, and it celebrates the merging of various backgrounds to the natural creation of a new entity – which might be seen as a “third culture.”

Overhead view of UCLA campus

Change is constant, and with cultures - whether they be academic, ethnic, or whatnot - continuing to overlap, new cultures are certain to form. It will be exciting to see how this concept will play out in relation to science, art, and technology.

References

Bohm, D. "On Creativity." Leonardo, 1968.  1(2): 137-149.

Kelly, Kevin. "The Third Culture." The Third Culture. N.p., n.d. Web. Feb. 1998.

Mash, E. and Wolfe, D.A. Abnormal Child Psychology, 5th ed. Wadsworth Cengage Learning (2013) p 145.

Snow, C. P. The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution. New York: Cambridge UP, 1959. Print.

Vesna, Victoria. "Toward a Third Culture: Being In Between." Leonardo. 34 (2001): 121-125. Print.