Cultural Immersion Assignment | Get Paper Help

Post a brief (no more than a few sentences) description of your selected immersion population. Attach your Final Project PowerPoint presentation to your Discussion post. Be sure also to write the name of your population in the subject line of your post.
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Immersion Project

Laura Vaughn

Walden University

Cross Cultural Ethics in Human & Social Service

HUMN-6200

Dr. Teresa Tirrito

I have conducted a limited observation, due to the Covid-19 outbreak limitations, for Muslim culture at one of my local shopping malls. My research consisted of two parts: 1. Observation Exercise and 2. Analysis of Muslim Culture at the same locale.

Observation Exercise:

• I saw mostly women
• Most of the women wore head scarves
• Often, they were with other women and/or children
• Few were with their husbands or a male counterpart/relative
• The people I saw were not in a hurry, walking slowly and talking to each other
• Some of the men were easily recognized as being Muslim by their dress and appearance. Others were recognized mostly by their skin color (only by descent)
• Generally, the women are easier to identify because of wearing the head scarf
• I saw many women with children, carrying one or two babies
• The older men seemed to be dressed in Muslim attire, while many of the younger men were more Westernized. There was saw less difference with women, although some of the younger girls were also Westernized
• I saw a couple walking arm in arm with a baby stroller.
• One of the girls had dyed her hair blonde
• This ethnic group appears to go shopping in groups
• Observing them shopping at 11.00 a.m. made me realize that many of them, especially the women, appeat not seem to have a job outside of the home

Analysis for Muslim Culture at the Shopping Mall

• I think that many of the females are housewives
• Apparently, their religious tradition still has an important role in their lives
• Community-oriented with high family values
• The men were probably working to provide for the family
• Some men dress more traditionally than others, possibly indicating a difference in their cultural adaptation
• Americans think they wear their cultural clothes to show modesty and submission to Islamic rules
• It appears that young people are more influenced by Western culture than older people. Still, among young people, it looks like girls are more submissive to religious values and/or have less freedom than the boys do
• It is quite uncommon to see a display of affection with Muslim couples
• Again, I see here a result of Westernization which is in disagreement with Islamic rules
• There is a growing number of Muslims in larger cities in Texas
• Being more communal underlines their way of life and the fact that they may be less individualistic than Americans

Observation

I was surprised to see so many Muslim women wearing contemporary Western clothing. That was an eye-opener for me. I was under the impression that they would all be strict about their religion and rules. I understand that some Americans tend to see such a culture in a narrow and biased way. There are a lot of prejudices involved with people who are different than what we were raised with. We need to educate ourselves and become more open to doing research on the Muslim culture in our city and state. Muslems tend to assimilate better than I thought or was told.

Insights & Reflection

I found out that some Muslims are more open to talking with me than I was expecting. They tend to speak about politics and the pandemic outbreak more than about their religion. Though some of them indicated that they started praying more since the COVID-19 outbreak.

Dialogue

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, I could not come close enough as I had planned to, keeping the required 6′ of social distance. However, I struck up a conversation with several families near one clothing store. They spoke English, albeit, with an accent. As I learned, they immigrated to Texas from Turkey as a whole family. They tended not to give lengthy answers. It felt like they were not very comfortable about talking to me, but overall, they were happy to be here.

Reaction & Critical Analysis of my Experience

I learned that they value the family unit, and they like having a large family with lots of children. Religion still matters a lot to them, even though they do not abide by all the strict laws of Islam. I learned that I am not a biased person when it comes to Muslim culture, but that I would like to learn more. Seeing some Muslim medical providers at work increased my interest about two years ago. The providers are quieter and more modest than Western or American women; they don’t wear revealing clothes. From some of the discussions, I realized that Muslim women, at large, tend to be more faithful to their husbands. Unfortunately, Muslim men tend to be more aggressive and violent with their wives than their counterparts in the USA.

Description of the group Values/belief orientation

Muslims tend to be more cloistered around their families/clans. They have values more centered around their religion. They are less secularized in our city than I perceived at first. Their belief system is more steeped in religion even if they do not practice it. Overall, Muslims are faithful to their families and take good care of their children.

Social interactions (relationships within and between group members)

Muslims tend to socialize more between their own nucleus and extended family members. There are more and more Muslim women working at our hospital. I have seen a few taken into our care due to the coronavirus pandemic. I have been able to encounter with, and speak to, more Muslim families than during my initial observation and analysis. They integrate into the American society well. There is still a danger for Muslim extremism, as there is in any radical unit. However, overall Americans need to treat Muslim sub-cultures in Texas with dignity and respect.

Religious/spiritual beliefs

Many Muslims tend to abandon their religion and are becoming more increasingly secularized. My research on radical Islam is, nonetheless, showing that there is still danger here and caution needs to be exercised. Study of history shows that there are radicalized elements to Islam and some sects of it will continually try to implement jihad (holy war).

At this juncture it would suffice to point out that Islam is expanding with the speed of light and spreading out as far as the Chinese border, India, Spain, and even Southern France, prior to defeating the Byzantine Empire (636 AD), the Persian Empire (641), taking Jerusalem (638) and Alexandria (640-641) (History of Islam, n.d.)

To this very day, conversions from Islam to Christianity are subject to the death penalty, though conversions from Christianity to Islam were always encouraged. “During the “Dark Ages”: 3200 churches were destroyed or converted into mosques in the Middle East. The population, initially 90% “Christian”, eventually became almost completely Muslim…The Muslim who declared faith in Christ would at once become guilty of apostasy (Trinidad), the only unforgivable sin in Islam and would be liable to the death penalty.”  (History of Islam, n.d.)

Thus, at the point of sword, many countries were taken and “converted” into Islam. Only at the battle of Tours and Poitiers (732 AD), Muslims were stopped from penetrating into Europe.  Had not those armies fought that battle there would no Christianity on the continent of Europe. That is the most challenging part, as the wars of the past actually determined the distribution of religions and religious freedoms nowadays. Citizens in Muslim countries are ‘free’ to exercise only Islam, many Christians are persecuted, and many have been martyred.

Unfortunately, lack of time and different focus will not allow diving into this subject deeply, but it will help to see that militant Islam or jihad is a serious issue to be reckoned with. However, the majority of questioned Muslim couples and youths have shown that they are a peace-loving people; they are not all ‘radicals’ and ‘extremists’, as some of us could think in America.

Roles and expectations

Men tend to dominate women at large. There is no beating around the bush here. It is evident in Muslim marriages. The men are supposed to be bosses and lords, women are to be subjugated under husbands’ authority in everything. I have heard of Muslim wifes who were repeatedly beaten by their husbands.

Language and communication

More and more Muslims tend to speak the English language though a predominant number speaks Arabic and English. Some tend to speak only Arabic and that leads to practically no assimilation and integration into American society.

Concluding remarks

My little research has shown that overall Muslims are a peaceful. They just want to have a better life. They want Pandemic to cease just like the rest of us do. Fortunately, I have not encountered any radicalized or extreme Muslims during my fieldwork. My initial impression was proven to be non-biased and unprejudiced. All the Muslims interviewed showed genuine interest in the USA and they had promising careers or studies at the universities. They tend to assimilate better into American society now than previously.

I submit that Muslim minorities should be given an equal chance in American society. Nevertheless, that is not to say that America should lower their guard when it comes to Muslim extremism and terroristic groups. There is no question about that. National security is of priority. However, in general, my field research has shown that they are people, like all of us, with fears, hopes, and dreams. They are willing to have more friends among us than we can imagine. So, the time has come to reach out into their community and do some real wall-breaking exercises of doing common projects.

References

History of Islam. (n.d.).The early expansion of Islam. Retrieved from http://answering-            islam.org.uk/Nehls/tt3.html