How does the identification of cultural universals impact our understanding of what it means to be human?

Cultural universals are all the different things that are a part of each culture, but practiced differently. This would be things like music, food, and religion. Therefore, identifying our cultural universals is what helps us to understand what it is to be human. There are many different cultures and many different practices in each culture, but humans are alike in many ways. This is what separates us from other species. We as humans may have different religions, different ways we eat our food, different music, and even dance differently, but each culture participates in each one of these cultural universals. These are the characteristics that make us as humans different from other species (Jeeves, 2010). How does the search for universals help us better understand human cultural behavior? If one learns how our many different cultures are alike we can then try to understand how each culture uses these cultural universals differently. There are many different cultural universals such as ethics, music, religion, social roles, and family structure (Smith & Davies).However, each culture performs these differently. For example, every culture has food as a cultural universal. Because we know this we can look at each culture, and see how they differ in the way they prepare their food, the way they eat their food, and the different foods they eat. Some cultures do not eat pork, while others do not eat beef. Each culture is different in the food they may eat, but we all eat food. This is just one of the many cultural universals we have as humans. What examples from your own culture can illustrate the ideas that our behaviors are impacted by our culture more than our biology? I was raised in Louisiana and I am considered to be a Cajun. I now live in Georgia, and there are many cultural differences between the two. One big cultural difference is the way we talk. I have now been in Georgia for over 20 years and to this day my husband picks on me about some of the words I use and how I say them. However, it is like this with many different cultures. We may use different words, but have the same intention for the meaning of those words. There are also different accents people have from different cultures, and different slang terms we may use. This shows us that how and where we are raised has a big impact on our behavior. If I would have been raised in Georgia I would talk differently than I do now. Another big difference is the food we eat. Where I am from we eat gumbo, jumbalya, crawfish, and many different types of sausage on a regular basis. Here in Georgia the food is different. The food here is not spicy like the Cajuns eat it, and crawfish and gumbo are not on your everyday menu. My husband was raised eating and talking differently than I was because he is from a different culture than I. However, we have now merged our two cultures together, and our children have the best of both cultures.

Smith. M. C. & Davies. T. E., Dummies.com, Cultures and Cutural Universals in Anthropology. Retrieved from: http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/culture-and-culturaluniversals-in-anthropology.html Jeeves (2010) What does it mean to be human, According to Anthropology? Retrieved from: http://socyberty.com/social-sciences/what-does-it-mean-to-be-human-according-toanthropology/