TOPIC– CULTURE, RACE & ETHNICITY

Understanding concepts: reading, recording and

reassessing – Students are introduced to these
concepts and how they differ from each other,
then apply them to their own experiences.

Aims
To help students differentiate between the
concepts of culture, race and ethnicity .
What to do
• Prior to distributing the sheets, divide the class into three groups
and allocate one of the concepts to each group.
• Have students brainstorm words and phrases associated with their
concept and record on butchers’ paper.
• Ask a representative from each group to present their ideas to the
whole class.
• Hand out the definitions sheet and work through the definitions with
the class.
• Review each of the brainstorming sheets in terms of these
definitions.
• Hand out the questions sheet and have students complete them
and compare with classmates.
Culture, Race & Ethnicity definitions
• These concepts are complex and are often
confused or thought to mean the same thing –
but they do not. Many different definitions of
these terms exist, and the following are
examples :
Culture
• Culture is not about superficial group differences or just a
way to label a group of people.
• It is an abstract concept.
• It is diverse, dynamic and ever-changing.
• It is the shared system of learned and shared values,
beliefs and rules of conduct that make people behave in a
certain way.
• It is the standard for perceiving, believing, evaluating and
acting.
• Not everyone knows everything about their own culture.
Race
• The term ‘race’ is not appropriate when applied to national,
religious, geographic, linguistic or ethnic groups. Race does not
relate to mental characteristics such as intelligence, personality or
character.
• Race is a term applied to people purely because of the way they
look.
• It is considered by many to be predominantly a social construct.
• It is difficult to say a person belongs to a specific race because
there are so many variations such as skin colour.
• All human groups belong to the same species (Homosapiens).
Ethnicity
• Ethnicity is a sense of peoplehood, when people feel
close because of sharing a similarity. It is when you share
the same things, for example:
• physical characteristics such as skin colour or bloodline,
• linguistic characteristics such as language or dialect,
• behavioural or cultural characteristics such as religion or
customs or
• environmental characteristics such as living in the same
area or sharing the same place of origin.
Culture, Race & Ethnicity questions
• How does culture define who a person is?
• What is your culture?
• Is this the same as your ethnicity?
• What is a common belief about race and how is it untrue?
• Identify some stereotypes you know of about a particular group of
people.
• List some of your values, beliefs and customs (3 of each).
• What are some of the things from your culture that you are proud of?
• What are some of the things about your culture that you don’t like?
• How would you describe Malaysian culture?
• What are some cultural issues in Malaysia today?

The observable aspects of culture such as food, clothing, celebrations, religion and language are only part
of a person’s cultural heritage. These things make up how you live and what makes you accepted in
society.
Fill in the table below with information about the new people/culture you had studied.
Compare your information with that of your classmates.

Cultural feature What is acceptable What is not acceptable

• Food - -
• Clothing - -
• Celebration - -
• Religion - -
• Language - -
• Non-verbal - -
communication
• Behaviour - -
• Rituals - -
• People’s names - -

Adapted from a Living in Harmony Funded Project, ‘Culture & Colour’, Northern Beaches Neighbourhood
Service, NSW, 2005