Building Sustainable Societies: Conscious Awareness of Culture and Language Creates a
Cooperative Nature
Culture and language have been essential to human history, and through millions of
years, Homo sapiens have learned to adapt and thrive worldwide. However, conscious awareness
of the functional, personal, and evolutionary aspects of culture and language is needed to sustain
the cooperative nature of humans. Awareness of human culture is also vital in addressing and
changing the social inequalities in American society today and it empowers individuals to act
and also express their social identity. There are many racial, economic, and educational
inequalities that are often rooted in cultural beliefs that have been apparent throughout history.
Through empowering cultural awareness and celebrating diversity, people can cooperate to
create a more just society that embraces diversity and what makes us unique. In addition, I have
had a personal experience with culture through doing service learning with my community
partner, Canal Alliance, this semester. When working firsthand with people of different
backgrounds and cultures, I learned about their strengths and struggles within Marin County and
being aware of cultural competence in the community. My personal experience through working
with Canal Alliance is correlated with gaining a deeper understanding of culture and language in
order to promote a more equitable society. A conscious awareness of the functional, and
evolutionary aspects of culture and the role of language can help us sustain the cooperative
nature of culture in multiple ways.
The goal of my community partner, Canal Alliance, is to support immigrants that are
challenged with an unfamiliar environment and a lack of resources and knowledge. Their
statement is, “We believe everyone has a right to achieve their dreams. Because when we support
immigrants, Marin becomes a place where everyone can live, learn, work, and succeed.” In order
to help immigrants succeed, they provide programs that help students learn the English language.
The program I participated in was “ESL Conversation Partners,” where I was assigned a partner
to work with and create social and educational activities with them throughout the semester. I
helped my partner, Gerardo, learn the English language through vocabulary lessons, sentence
structure exercises, and even some conversational roleplays. Even though there was a mild
language barrier, we were still able to overcome some of those challenges throughout the
semester. I was able to have a better understanding of someone from a different cultural
background and he appreciated the support of increasing his English vocabulary. This service
learning experience showed me the importance of bilingual education and the benefits that it can
bring to individuals like Gerardo and the entire Marin County. Acknowledging everyone’s
cultures and languages allows a more inclusive society that makes everyone feel valued. Overall,
my experience with Canal Alliance’s tutor sessions was a valuable experience that helped
promote my cultural competence in the community and help turn Marin County from a disparate
place to a more equitable society. By promoting conscious awareness of immigrants’ cultures,
Canal Alliance is helping to build a stronger and more sustainable community that celebrates
diversity and equality.
Through the evolutionary aspect of culture, we are able to appreciate the ways that these
cultural values have evolved over time and support the needs of people from all around the
world. Richard Wrangham’s work “The Cooking Hypothesis” is an example of how the
evolutionary side of culture explains the development of Homo sapiens. His hypothesis is that
cooking food was a big advantage in human culture and this efficient diet allowed an increase in
growth and brain development. He also hypothesized that cooking created social benefits, where
humans would share food with each other and learn to cooperate. It enabled humans to control
fire, which provided warmth, light, and the cooking of meat. Wrangham states, “Culture is the
trump card that enables humans to adapt, and compared to the two-million-year human career,
most cultural innovation has indeed been recent” (Wrangham). The reason why Wrangham notes
culture as a trump card is due to the nature of its evolvement along with human evolution. Our
ability to adapt through culture has been the key to our success and evolution. However,
Wrangham also states how a large portion of human culture developed only recently compared to
the two million years that we have existed. He is depicting the fact that we still have an
opportunity to expand our culture further into the future and more rapidly than ever before. The
evolution of culture is not just limited to the past, but Wrangham implies that there are future
possibilities. It also presents us with an opportunity to promote society in a positive manner. This
evolutionary concept relates to my service learning with Canal Alliance and helping Gerardo
learn the English language. Through learning English in the United States, I helped him adapt to
the country and gain access to any opportunities that were not available beforehand due to the
language barrier. We also promoted the cooperative nature of culture by working together to
create these social activities and exercises that benefit both of us. The important takeaway is that
everyone in the world can cooperate and communicate despite the differences in language and
we can learn to thrive and respect each others’ languages and cultures in order to create a more
welcoming and equitable society.
Being consciously aware also allows us to understand the role of cultural norms and
values that influence our social interactions. Sensoy and DiAngelo’s article on “Culture &
Socialization” explores the functional side of culture and how it contributes to social norms and
social change. They discuss how it is important to acknowledge everyone’s cultural similarities
and differences in order to create a sustainable society. Sensoy and DiAngelo claim, “There are
social, psychological, and material rewards for conformity, such as social acceptance, being
treated as ‘normal’ by family, peers, and superiors, and even opportunities for career
progression” (Sensoy & DiAngelo). In society, we still face these social pressures in order to be
seen as “normal” and gain conformity. The rewards for doing so are good motivators for
individuals to conform to the dominant culture, even if it might go against their original cultures
or beliefs. This eventually creates a marginalization and discrimination of those who do not
conform to the dominant culture, which is how racial, economic, and educational discrepancies
developed in Marin County. Losing this sense of cultural identity disconnects people from their
cultural roots and a loss of a unique perspective of the world. It makes people have a lack of
belonging, which goes against the cooperative nature that Homo sapiens have been nurturing for
millions of years and celebrate our differences. From a personal point of view, I relied on others
who were in my comfort zone, which consisted of my family and close friends, and observed
what types of actions they did and the norms they held in order to be accepted in society. Most of
my influences were from people who had good manners and by following their footsteps I
eventually developed my own habits and norms. The same concept applies to my learning in
Canal Alliance, where immigrants seek guidance from the teachers and tutors that are helping
them learn the English language. Canal Alliance will help them feel more comfortable in the
unfamiliar environment and learn to navigate the social norms of the new community. By
recognizing the influence of cultural norms and values, we can work to create a more unified
community in Marin County to benefit everyone. However, in order to reach this goal we also
need to understand the role that culture also plays in prolonging the imbalances within American
society.
By addressing and acknowledging the imbalances in American culture, having awareness
of cultural identity can contribute to a positive change in the system. Tara Yosso’s article “Whose
Culture Has Capital?” navigates the concept of cultural capital through Critical Race Theory. She
identifies six forms of capital that marginalized people possess, and these include aspirational,
linguistic, familial, social, navigational, and resistant capital. However, the most relevant capital
regarding language is linguistic capital. Yosso states:
Bilingual children who are often called upon to translate for their parents or audience
awareness, cross-cultural awareness, “real-world” literacy skills, math skills,
metalinguistic awareness, teaching and tutoring skills, civic and familial responsibility,
[and] social maturity (Yosso).
Yosso’s concept of “cultural community wealth” portrays the idea that individuals from
marginalized communities lack the skills and resources necessary to thrive in American society
instead of viewing the linguistic and cultural aspects that people have, especially children.
Linguistic capital is still overlooked in society and the reason why we need to recognize and
value this form of capital is to help create a more welcoming and accepting environment.
Bilingualism also allows children to gain access to further educational opportunities and also
increases their cognitive abilities. Yosso argues that bilingual children have increased math and
literary skills, as well as metalinguistic awareness, allowing them to be better equipped for
diverse social situations. It allows more tolerance and a more empathetic feeling toward other
cultures. Regarding the notion of Canal Alliance, they recognize the linguistic skills of
immigrants and help them adapt and thrive within Marin County. In a way, it also helps
contribute to diversity and enhances equality within the community. Canal Alliance’s language
program helps people like Gerardo which also combats any biases and stereotypes that formulate
from the immigrant community. This is also a reason why Yosso strongly suggests a
reconstruction of the American education system, as there are people who believe stereotypes
and biases if they have a lack of knowledge and understanding of other cultures. Learning the
English language and conversing with people from different backgrounds will help people
challenge their own biases, and in turn, create a more inclusive society despite linguistic barriers.
Culture and language play a substantial role in human society and having a conscious
awareness of their impact can positively affect our interactions with others. Understanding the
functional, personal, and evolutionary aspects of culture and the role of language helps us
recognize cultural differences and use this to create a unified society. In addition, seeing the
impact of social norms and values on people of nondominant beliefs and cultures will help us
work towards a more just environment where they can benefit despite their differences. In terms
of linguistic diversity, Canal Alliance helps immigrants through learning a new language and
how to thrive in the United States. From my service learning experience at Canal Alliance, I have
realized the benefits of bilingual education and how language can be used as an empowering tool
for social, economic, and educational success. It is vital to notice both the positive and negative
aspects of culture and how we can also overcome biases and stereotypes that are commonly used
to label any marginalized group. Moving forward, I believe it is essential to continue this
linguistic capital and promote English education to immigrants. We can provide opportunities for
language learning courses and encourage conversation and communication across cultures. It is
also important to remember that change is a gradual and continuous process that requires the
conscious awareness of everyone within the community. Canal Alliance has taught me that we
can overcome language barriers and work together to create a more inclusive environment to
benefit everyone, and it is first achieved through conscious awareness. It is our responsibility to
continue to educate ourselves and others, combat these injustices, and allow more inclusivity in
our lives in order to create a better future for everyone.
Works Cited
Guest, Kenneth J. “Defining Culture” in Cultural Anthropology: A Toolkit for a Global Age.
New York: W.W. Norton & Company (2014), pages 35-45.
Sensoy, Ozlem, and Robin DiAngelo, “Culture and Socialization, Chapter 3” in Is Everyone
Really Equal? An Introduction to Key Concepts in Social Justice Education. New York:
Teachers College Press, 2017.
Wrangham, Richard. “The Cooking Hypothesis,” in Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us
Human. New York: Basic Books (2009), pages 1-14.
Yosso, Tara J. “Whose Culture has Capital? A Critical Race Theory Discussion of Community
Cultural Wealth,” in Race, Ethnicity, And Education Vol 8: No 1, (March 2005), pages 69
– 91.
“Oppression and Power, Chapter 5” in Is Everyone Really Equal? An Introduction to Key
Concepts in Social Justice Education. New York: Teachers College Press, 2017.