USA: +1 508 290 1604 
Sign in
QUESTION
Respond to the following questions:
- Describe your culture as you would to an alien. Include descriptions of cultural elements, material culture, social institutions, individual beliefs, aesthetic considerations and language. Be very detailed!
- If this alien wanted to become acculturated to your culture, what would this process entail? In what aspects would it be difficult for the alien? What aspects would be easy?
- Consider that you were once this alien. You came into this world naked, with no language, beliefs, opinions, attitudes, values, or any of the other things that currently make you…you. Discuss what elements of your culture influenced your worldview and how you came to learn your culture. Who/what had a significant influence into you becoming yourself?
- What influences may someone else have had that have led them to become very different than you?
ANSWER
The Acculturation Process for Individuals Alien to the Indian Culture
One of the fascinating cultures is Indian, where all sorts of cultural elements are visible. When you get to India or interact with Indians as an alien, you will notice that their religion, cuisine, languages, philosophy, dance, music and movies make up most of their cultural elements. All of these elements are wide and dynamic when explored individually. Since most Indians are Hindus, followed by Muslims, you may have to dress decently when approaching their worship institutions in mosques and temples. However, access is usually restricted in some worship institutions.
Indians believe in God across all religions, although with different names for each God. The most significant feature is their unique cuisine, which has been borrowed worldwide. If you want to communicate, be sure to have some knowledge of Hindi and English. However, most speak Hindi, while English is reserved for the educated and a few people with exposure. Still, the two languages were made official as the use of English continues to widen.
As an alien to the Indian culture, you should learn the Indian values, beliefs, language then customs aided by mannerisms. At the same time, you should ensure you discover behaviors like their diet and what is accepted and considered morally upright in Indian society (Dow, 2011). The assimilation process can be the easiest for you as you seek to learn and integrate what you come across and experience. I suppose this process will not be easy but will require patience, willingness to learn, and good observation skills. For instance, religion will be complex, as well as language, as they take time. The overall mannerisms will also be consuming, given you met it midway and requires time and close interaction to learn.
Elements of a culture influence one’s worldview and the learning process. One of these factors is language (Barkan, 2011). Language forms the basis of learning culture, followed by behaviors and mannerisms. By observing how people dress, talk, and behave, one can get a worldview and enhance cultural learning.
I believe age is one of the influences another person may have that lead them to become very different from me. At the same time, their lifestyles and how they react to external forces, like exposure to a new culture, significantly impact their outcome. As a young person, I may become different from an older person because they have been in the same environment for a long time and have been exposed to less external culture. However, this does not mean culture abandoning but the influence of acculturation.
References
Barkan, S. E. (2011). Sociology: Understanding And Changing The Social World. Boston, MA: Flat World Knowledge, Incorporated. https://open.lib.umn.edu/sociology/chapter/3-2-the-elements-of-culture/.
Dow, H. D. (2011). The Acculturation Processes: The Strategies And Factors Affecting The Degree Of Acculturation. Home Health Care Management & Practice, 23(3), 221-227. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1084822310390877
