CAPS #6- Megan Merrill

For the past four years, I have been a member of a sorority here on campus. For three out of those four years I have lived in my sorority house with +60 other girls. I initially joined a sorority my freshmen year for a chance to meet new people and establish a fundamental group on campus that I could call my own; I have done that and much more. What I could not have predicted four years ago is that these girls would help me embrace new cultures that I otherwise would not have contact with. Within my sorority, there are girls that are of Mexican, Italian, and Israeli decent, as well as girls who practice Jewish, Lutheran, Catholic, and Christian religions. By living in close quarters with such a diverse group of women, I am able to immerse by self in their cultural backgrounds and practices. 

By livening with such a diverse group of women, I have been able to reap the benefits of acquiring knowledge about different parts of the world from which their family originates. An example of this is a sister is from Eilat, Israel. Her family moved from Israel when she was only 6 years old, however she frequently travels back there as many times as 3 times per year to visit friends and family. From speaking with and learning about her experiences, I have learned her family priorities are placed much higher than other priorities such as school. We can discuss what we have in common such as how our families are both very important to us. What I learn from these talks are how through our different cultures and how we were raised is how different we express our commitment to family.

            With this same girl I just discussed, I do however have difficulties embracing and remembering her religious practices. I respect every religion and those who practice is, but I at times forget what acts others participate in order to follow their religion. The sister who is from Israel also follows the Jewish faith and practices. In order to do this she must refrain from eating pork and at times, not eat at all for a certain amount of time. Because her religion is not my own, I do find myself forgetting these set of rules that she must follow. By doing so, it may make my self-come off as inconsiderate to the things that are important to her. Daily, I must remember what her dietary restrictions are due to her religion and be sure to account for those restrictions when joining her for meals.

The personal-contextual aspect of dialect (Martin & Nakayama, p. 397) parallels the relationships that I have within my sorority and the women in which I interact with on a daily basis. As the text stated, there are aspects of relationships that are personal- consistent from situation to situation. Which leads to the level of how personal these situations are by the context of the matter. Because my sorority is filled diversity, it is common that I meet and go out with other from ethnic/racial backgrounds. When it comes to issues such as religion practices, there are many types are visible within my house. However because there are such various practices, they are widely known and accepted with the group because we understand the engagement of many cultural contexts.

The differences-similarities dialect is also very much present within my sorority house. The cognitive consistence dialect (Martin & Nakayama, p. 398-9) within the house is apparent by the fact that we as a house are connected between the existing knowledge which is that we all wanted to be a part of a sorority house on campus, and that we also share the new stimulus our freshmen year of a new situation and context of collegiate life. The ideas of balancing differences and similarities are present through the religion and nationality differences in which I discussed earlier. A final dialect that is apparent living in a sorority house is the cultural-individual dialectic (Martin & Nakayama, p. 399).  Because communication if both cultural and individual, the women in my house communicate and learn in very different manners. Whether is be relaxed and laid back, or strict and straight forward, I must take into account those who may have had different upbringings due to their cultures and adjust my communication to what best fits the situation. Generalizing communication is what can lead to possible trouble.