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Eliza Christopher

Professor Evin Rodkey

Anthropology 103

5/23/2021

Short Essay

Growing up I was not surrounded by people with many cultural differences or

backgrounds than me. Growing up I went to school in Grand Haven, Michigan, where most

people around me were Caucasian American citizens with little to no cultural differences than

me. I did not have much exposure to people of different cultures however that changed when I

went on a trip to Seattle, Washington. Although this may not seem like a large cultural shock,

you will see in this paper why it was quite different than my small town in every way. From the

amount of diverse ethnic groups to the vast number of culture rich spaces there was a lot in

Seattle that would be quite a change in environment for me.

Upon visiting Seattle, I noticed that there appeared to be a strong Asian and Asian

American population. This however was not just an observation; 15.4% of the population in

Seattle is Asian and is the second largest ethnic group living there (United States Census). Along

with a large Asian population, there were also a considerable amount of people from other ethnic

groups that were not Caucasian. This was a much more diverse population than what I was used

to being around in my hometown. One of the big tourist attractions I visited with my family is

what is known as the Chinatown-International district of Seattle. Here you can start to see a lot of

the Asian culture emerge with the abundance of traditional Asian restaurants, traditional Asian

architecture, and a couple of Asian history museums that seemed to be a large attraction to many
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tourists. Visiting this part of the city was full of diverse culture and was probably the most

culturally abundant however there were many other things that were culturally different than

what I was used to seeing and acted as a main part of enculturation process. Another ethnic

group that had a cultural influence on me while I was visiting was Native American culture. In

Washington I knew there were a lot of Native American reservations as well as cities that kept

their Native American names however, I didn’t expect to see so much of their culture in the big

city. Although the Native American population is mostly away from the city there were many

museums and architectural works surrounding Native American culture. I have a small amount

of Native American in me and am a member of a tribe, however in Michigan I had never really

been around this much Native American culture itself. I visited both the Burke Museum of

Natural History and Culture and the Seattle Art Museum which both had a variety of Native

American exhibits and artworks. There were many Native American cultural events that had

happened or were going to happen, but unfortunately were not occurring while I was traveling.

The cultural normalcies were also very different in the city including the difference in the

way people traveled from place to place. In my hometown roads are wide and most drive a car to

get around if they can afford it. However, in Seattle, many people choose to get around by

walking, biking, or taxis. Because of the many slim streets and heavy traffic because of the high

population density, the cultural norm here was to not drive and find transportation some other

way. This was very odd to me because the abundance of taxi cabs and buses are significantly less

in my hometown. This is the kind of cultural norm in larger cities where commuting using

transportation methods other than a car is normal however it was very different than what I was

used to seeing. Another cultural difference than what I was used to seeing was the acceptance of

tent cities. There was an abundance of homeless people in the city and tent cities were not
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something I had ever seen before. There is a homeless population here in my hometown however

I have never seen tent cities around. In Seattle I would walk past half a block of land that would

be taken up by tent cities that were what seemed to be socially acceptable to citizens of Seattle.

You never saw any police officers trying to kick them out nor did I hear anything about it being a

problem. It was almost as if socially people just accepted that that’s where they lived, and it was

perfectly normal. Cultural differences are not always ethnicity or religion based, it’s also just

sheer social behavior, social acceptance, and many other things that many people fail to think

about. As stated in the text, culture “is a system of knowledge, beliefs, patterns of behavior,

artifacts, and institutions that are created, learned, shared, and contested” (Guest 36). This is the

true meaning of culture and it’s an umbrella term that can cover many different areas of life as

we know it.

Although there were a lot of cultural differences in the city of Seattle compared to my

hometown, there were a lot of cultural similarities as well. One of the largest differences was the

large amount of ethnic diversity and culture scattered throughout the city. Places like the

Chinatown district and all the museums really showed how much culture existed in the city of

Seattle. I don’t think it's wrong that I grew up in an area with such little diversity or a lack of

cultural differences, but I can learn a lot more when I am faced with cultural differences.

Although you can be taught and showed different cultural beliefs or values it isn’t always the

same as seeing it for yourself. I believe more can be learned by going on a trip like this rather

than only seeing one set of cultural normalcies and values, like me in my hometown.

Enculturation is important and is beneficial for all people. Even in our day-to-day life we are

informally taught different aspects of culture through the media we view and conversations with

others (Guest 36). The process of enculturation helps keep we as humans from being ignorant,
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small minded, and uneducated on the billions of people around us. Everyone is different,

however we all follow cultural normalcies, do things certain ways, and communicate different

values and beliefs. Some things like all of the Native American art and history in Seattle is a part

of my own background that I would not have had the same cultural exposure to at the time

without going on this trip. There are many benefits to an ever-evolving culture and the spread of

ideas and values. We as humans are different and we represent different aspects of cultural

groupings in this society however with the spread of ideas and information the knowledge of

cultural differences other than your own will help educate and help us grow as a society.
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Works Cited

Guest, Kenneth. Essentials of Cultural Anthropology: A Toolkit for a Global Age. 3rd ed.,

Norton, 2020.

“QuickFacts Seattle city, Washington.” United States Census, 2020,

https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/seattlecitywashington