Ethnic studies often explores aspects of American culture in relationship to identifying its uniquely recognizable features, shared commonalities, and amalgam characteristics of indigenous, immigrant, and domestic ethnic groups. Whether exploring the cultural features of a single ethnic group or comparing cultural characteristics between multiple ethnic groups, there are common manifestations of culture ethnic studies concerns itself with to include the ways people express themselves through shared beliefs, customs, traditions, language, manners, and values. The meaning of gestures, symbols, expressions, clothing, and rituals are additional features that can be included into describing culture. A more enhanced view of what culture incorporates in Karenga’s research (2015), is described as the exploration of the totality of thought and practices by which a people celebrates itself, creates itself, appreciates itself, sustains, develops, and introduces itself to world history and humanity (Karenga, 2009).
Moreover, as Gavin (2014) discussed in his presentation on his research world languages becoming halved by 2045 and making it more difficult for indigenous peoples to communicate their collective knowledge, culture, contributions, and future aspirations to the record of human history: “Knowing the foundations and composition of society cannot be determined by a small cultural group of people because doing so denies the history, language, knowledge, and contributions of indigenous or marginalized peoples, while defining them as aberrant, atypical, or deviant.”
Gavin, M. (2014, November, 07). Why cultural diversity matters. TEDxTalks, YouTube.
Karenga, M. (2009, June, 15). Interview with Dr. Maulana Karenga. YouTube.
