Madison Galt

Anthropology 1010 – Cultural Biography

SLCC Fall 2019
Who Is Madison Galt?

What is culture? The definition of culture is “the customary beliefs, social forms, and

material traits of a racial, religious, or social group” according to Merriam-Webster online

(Merriam-Webster 2019). That seems pretty vague based on everything we have learned this

semester. There is so much more that makes up culture. Culture is different for every person,

every household, every community, every state and even every country, and it’s constantly

changing and transforming as time passes. Back in 1871, Edward Burnett Tylor defined culture in

his book Primitive Culture as “Culture or civilization, taken in its ethnographic sense, is that

complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, art, morals, law, custom and any other

capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.” (Brown, Gonzalez and

McIlwaraith 2017, 7). This sounds better on expanding what culture is. But what does culture

mean to me?

Culture to me takes everything around a person, their language, their beliefs, their

attitudes, the traditions they’ve learned, the way they think and how they implement all of that

into the world. Every person has a part in creating the culture around them. And that is a

beautiful thing. All those different cultures coming together to create an even bigger culture.

Blending different beliefs and traditions and languages through diffusion makes us a more

diverse world. I can’t imagine living in a world where everyone was the same. Had the same

thoughts, same beliefs, the same attitudes towards everything around them. That would make

this world a very boring place, and probably one without many advances. We could still be living

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in the stone-age without people challenging other people’s beliefs. So how do I contribute to the

cultures around me?

Every household has their own culture. I come from a nuclear family. My parents met,

they got married and had three kids. My dad is the strong, handy, masculine man. My mom is

the nurturing, skillful, feminine woman. Growing up I knew my dad would always fix all the things

and my mom would cook me dinner. So where do I fall into this family? I’m the baby of the

family so if you ask my siblings I’m the spoiled one. Growing up my parents taught us right from

wrong, how to have manners and show respect to others. We’ve all heard the saying “treat

others the way you want to be treated.” These were all values that my parents had been taught

and were passing onto their children. Based on these values I was taught I went forth into the

world showing respect to people, had manners and thought I knew right from wrong. But what is

right and what is wrong?

What is right for one person can be wrong to another person, based on their culture and

what they have been taught. Some people address others with Sir or Ma’am, to them this shows

respect for that person. In some cultures that is not the case. There are specific names and titles

to be used when it comes to different people and who those people are to you. When we

learned about different kinships and patterns of descent, we learned that in some cultures they

only focus on the patriarchal line of descent (Brown, Gonzalez and McIlwaraith 2017, 179-184).

This determines who is deemed “important” in that family line. Same goes for matriarchal lines.

For me I have aunts, uncles and cousins. In other cultures aunts are referred to as mothers and

uncles can be referred to as fathers. It’s all based on what we are taught and what beliefs we

have when it comes to family and the roles that each person plays in that family.

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 Growing up in Utah there is a stigma that everyone is part of The Church of Jesus Christ

of Latter Day Saints. And for a moment I was. Talk about having certain beliefs and values and

traits to follow. I went to church from the time I was 11 to around the age of 14. All my friends

went to church and so I started going to. I was the only person in my family to go, my dad walked

away from the church when he was young and my mother was raised Catholic. I tried to follow

all the standards set unto me by the church, even though I didn’t necessarily believe or

understand most of them. Looking back I think I was only going because it was an excuse to go

do all the activities with my friends. It wasn’t until I was sitting in Sunday school and the teacher

told me that my whole family was going to go to hell and my mother was going to burn down

there because she was raised Catholic that I decided this particular culture was not for me. I

mean how come just because my family didn’t go to church that meant they were bad?

Another culture I never saw myself entering was that of high school and being a

cheerleader. I had danced for most of my life but cheer is its own ballgame. I only tried out

because my sister was a cheerleader and I wanted to be just like her. When most people think of

cheerleaders they think of catty stupid girls. I mean that’s what I thought about them. Once I

entered into that world I saw that it was just that, but different. The girls were catty but we were

not stupid. I struggled to fit into this world because my parents had always taught me to be kind

to everyone so even though it wasn’t “cool” to talk to the band geeks, or the punk kids I talked to

everyone. The lunchroom was the perfect place to go to see all the different “groups” or

“cultures” of high school. Everyone was broken off into sections based on what they were into.

No one mixed. This kept us pretty separated and all I could think was, please don’t let this be

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how the world works. I thought who I chose to be in high school would define me for the rest of

my life. Good thing that wasn’t the case.

Once I got out of high school I realized the world is huge and who I was in high school

didn’t matter. I could be anyone I wanted to be. The next culture I found myself in came with the

relationship I got in to. He was really into comic books and video games and super heroes. I

found myself taking all that on and becoming a “comic book nerd”. We went to comic con and

saw every Marvel movie there was and I knew all the back stories to all the super heroes. My

family always made fun of us because that was something we really enjoyed and they couldn’t

see the appeal to it. The comic book world is its own culture. It takes a special kind of “nerd” to

love it. I was in this world for a few years and now I’m not and I can see how unique it is.

The biggest culture I am in now is that of the work office culture. I have to dress nice and

professional each day. Wear heels and skirts when I would rather be wearing leggings and boots.

You have to act and present yourself in a certain way when at the office. I refrain from being my

complete goofy self because that wouldn’t be “appropriate” in the work place. I still try and bring

that side out in the decorations at my desk, I have Legos and unicorns and a board I put a

different joke on each day, trying to bring some life into the office and not make it so serious.

We spend so much of our week at the office why not make it fun and light when we can. I have

found that most people really appreciate my silly dad jokes on my board, people will walk by

each day just to read them. It helps us all be a little playful in a world that is so serious.

The last culture I find myself in is the gym culture. There, people dress a certain way and

most are at the gym to get a workout in. There are the few people that just walk around and

take selfies and are on their phones the whole time, but for the most part people are there to

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get a sweat on. There are a lot of different groups within the gym culture. There are the

“meatheads” that are all muscle, the people that are overweight and are working their butts off

to get to a healthy place, and the average people that are there to maintain. Even though we are

all at the gym, just like high school people are separate, the meatheads don’t interact with the

overweight people. I have no problem going up to them and asking if I’m doing a workout

correct or not because I know that they are some of the best people to ask. I can’t wait to see

what new group shows up once the new-year starts, and how long those new people last.

Each culture has something unique about it that is a part of that culture. With the church

culture I was in there are a lot of things that can symbolize that culture, even the church building

itself is a material part of that culture. In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints the Book

of Mormon is a huge part of that religion. I remember when I got baptize I got my own special

book with my name is gold on it and I thought I was so special and grown up. I finally had my

own book to read out of in class and I could follow along with what my teacher was talking

about. I never got this far into the religion but garments are another part of the LDS religion that

is very important to its members. Every small thing has huge significance in religion.

In the office work culture the attire that is worn is material culture. For me in an office

setting heels and skirts and blouses is huge. But if I worked in a warehouse I would look pretty

silly with that attire on. Each job has a unique attire that is worn. I know when I worked in a

warehouse steel toed boots were required along with our work uniform. When I worked at a

daycare we had smocks we had to wear. Even now as a state employee our identification badges

are material and a part of that culture, it allows us access to our work building.

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 Every culture is unique in its own way, and I impact all of them even if I don’t think I do.

By just participating I’m impacting it. I take in everything that I have learned from each culture

and cross them into the other cultures I’m in. Even now I bring some of the nerdy comic love I

still have into my office decorations. There are multiple people in my office that all workout so

we talk about what workouts we do on lunch breaks. All this leads to cultures getting mixed and

expanded and we start to create new cultures that will continue to grow, which is what culture

for me is all about, growth.

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 Bibliography

Brown, Nina, González Laura Tubelle de, and Thomas McIlwraith. Perspectives: an Open
Invitation to Cultural Anthropology. Arlington, VA: American Anthropological Association,
2017.

“Culture.” Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster. Accessed November 19, 2019. https://www.merriam-

webster.com/dictionary/culture.