THREE VIEWS OF CULTURE

For the many years I have had the opportunity of observing and seeking to understand the Garifuna culture in Belize from the vantage point of my own European Amish American culture. I have seen many similarities and differences. Today I can list many strong and weak points of each culture, that is, how well the respective cultures meet the needs, goals, and aspirations of the people represented? However, here I would only like to compare and contrast the ways people view their own cultures. Then I want to suggest a third way we can view culture. This is not a technical study, but a rather casual study of what I have seen and experienced from a layman’s viewpoint and where I have come to as a Christian.

To begin with, I want to note that Garifuna and Amish have much in common as to their history and environment today. Both have been transported from one continent to another. Both are in population of under a million, and minorities where they live. Both are not quite considered main stream, but separate and distinct from the larger cultures around them. One migrated because of outward forces, the other by inner compulsion to find a place where they can live more peacefully. So both have been exposed to another culture from the original and have always been in tension with the surrounding culture. Both have maintained much of the cultures they came from several hundred years ago, and been selective of what they accepted from their cultures in which they now find themselves.

Cultures are always changing. Is that acceptable to us?  Are parts of culture negotiable?  Can we leave it or any part of it, or do we want to maintain it as a whole? The Garifuna in general idealize maintaining their culture as it stand- language food, dress, rituals, holidays, marriage within the group, ways of making a living, living in villages or units in towns or cities. The voices for the Garifuna culture are strong to defend, celebrate, and maintain the culture. The culture is esteemed for themselves to maintain a distinct identity. Garifuna culture is not negotiable, although there is a lot of unwitting absorption of surrounding cultures which constantly challenges the strictness of the original culture- whatever that is considered to be.

Much of the above analysis of Garifuna culture could also be said of Amish culture. The German language is almost sacred. European dress has been baptized by scriptures and made sacred. The Amish live in groups, and stand in tension with the surrounding cultures. Marriage may only be within the group. They maintain rituals, holidays in the traditional European way to large extent. They esteem the culture for themselves but withhold judgment largely from Christians who differ. There is some slow absorption of surrounding culture, but change is strictly regulated, more than Garifunas can do, because the Amish also have strong religious sanctions and boundaries, rules and regulations for membership.

Let me now take one step from my historical culture and take a stance that I have accepted for myself as a citizen of the kingdom of God which transcends my Amish background and culture. When I became a Mennonite, I progressed in a view of culture different from the Amish. In fact, I never fully accepted the Amish view of faith and culture even when I joined that group as a teen  In Kingdom of God culture which I idealize now, many aspects of culture are negotiable, Language, dress, except for modesty; and ethnic marriages are not idealized as in the two mentioned groups above. I can and do adopt various aspects of Belizean, Creole, Garifuna or American culture, with only the principles of the Christian faith to guide or limit me. All else is negotiable. I place no premium on my European heritage, never celebrate it, or parade it even among my own family. I only celebrate the values of the Kingdom of God, and raise them up before others as most ideal, not only for me but for all others as well. We did not try to keep our family language German, nor lament when our children married outside of our specific Amish and European culture. I only rejoiced that they married Kingdom citizens. Had they married Africans, I would be just as happy as I am today. Only Kingdom culture matters.

Social culture is just accidental and incidental, and a matter of choice. It is a product of the flow of our family history. My children live in 3 states and we [lived] in a different country from any of them. So what? Kingdom citizenship transcends place of living, social culture, and ethnic backgrounds. Language is irrelevant as a value in our extended family as well. We probably speak 10 languages, including Chinese, Russian, Portuguese, and who knows what else? Most of the next generation after mine does not speak German. In Kingdom Culture nothing is lost by this diversity of social culture. A profound unity prevails when our extended family gathers periodically and worship and renew our lives with each other because we share Kingdom cultural values. We generally hold that social culture is negotiable, although we do still have strong remnants of Amishism in parts of our extended family. But our highest values are Kingdom culture, and that is the basis of a profound identity and unity.

With the above dominance of Kingdom culture in my values and experience, I have to be humble and respectful when the Garifuna celebrate their culture- their total culture in their holidays and rituals. This is not totally easy when I feel liberated from any specific human culture that I have been a part of. I suppose this is an essay of celebration of Kingdom culture. Perhaps I am proud of it. May I be humbly so. And like the Amish and the Garifuna, I also feel surrounded by other cultures, ever feeling the tension of those cultures which try to invade the only culture to which I am committed- the Kingdom of God. This Culture is where I find my true identity.

Some Aspects of Kingdom Culture That May Differ From Other Cultures:

         Local language with some additional vocabulary;

         Values of honesty, generosity, sensible self-esteem, self-control, responsibility;

         Active love to those of Kingdom culture and those opposed to it, friends and enemies both;  Loyalty to King Jesus, imitating Him in daily life;

         A Service mentality, missional, other centered, community centered;

         Holiday first day of every week, a celebration of our King, for community building;

         Dress not selected by design, style or color, but by practicality, and decency;

          Marriage within those of Kingdom culture, to avoid definite conflict.

                                                                                                 Written in Belize, 2003