Anne Johnson's Cultural Reporter Post 1

Culture is comprised of learned behavior, common histories, attitudes, and communication. Culture can be broken down into shared and unique histories from different groups of people. Some groups’ histories are given a public voice, while others’ histories are absent. Judaism has its own culture, a rich history with myriad experiences, some horrifying and others triumphant.

Judaism and Jews possess a history and identity that are complicated. According to Rich (2011), Judaism is a religion. The confusing aspect enters when some self-identified Jews do not identify with the religion at all! There seems to have been a shift- some Jewish practices are seen by the actor as cultural activities, not as religious actions. Next, in the 1980s, Jewishness was ruled as a race by the Supreme Court, for anti-discrimination laws. However, Jews are not a race, there is no genetic distinction for being Jewish. Then, Jews are often considered a family, a nation, and an ethnic group. There is disagreement and agreement with most of these categories. The final take away is that Judaism and Jewish people are a culture that is complex and layered with past experiences.

I plan to study Judaism by using the dialectic approach to culture and communication (Martin and Nakayama, p. 74). I will focus primarily on the interpretive approach, by interacting and engaging with Jewish people. I will conduct interviews, and attend Jewish services and celebrations, if I am invited to participate. I am a Resident Assistant, and one of my residents is Jewish. I plan to ask her if she will teach me more about Judaism!

References:

1.     Martin, J.N. & Nakayama, T.K. (2013). Intercultural communications in contexts (6^th ed.) New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

2.     Rich, Tracey R. (2001-2011). What Is Judaism? Judaism 101. http://www.jewfaq.org/judaism.htm

3.     http://wrgroup2a.wikispaces.com/Judaism