Multiculturalism 

• relates to communities containing multiple cultures. The term is used in two broad ways, either descriptively or normatively. As a descriptive term, it usually refers to the simple fact of cultural diversity: it is generally applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, sometimes at the organizational level, e.g., schools, businesses, cities, or nations.

As a normative term, it refers to ideologies or policies that promote this diversity or its institutionalization; in this sense, multiculturalism is a society “at ease with the rich tapestry of human life and the desire amongst people to express their own identity in the manner they see fit.” Such ideologies or policies vary widely, including country to country, ranging from the advocacy of equal respect to the various cultures in a society, to a policy of promoting the maintenance of cultural diversity, to policies in which people of various ethnic and religious groups are addressed by the authorities as defined by the group they belong to. However, two main different and seemingly inconsistent strategies have developed through different government policies and strategies:The first focuses on interaction and communication between different cultures. Interactions of cultures provide opportunities for the cultural differences to communicate and interact to create multiculturalism. This approach is also often known as interculturalism. The second centres on diversity and cultural uniqueness. Cultural isolation can protect the uniqueness of the local culture of a nation or area and also contribute to global cultural diversity. A common aspect of many policies following the second approach is that they avoid presenting any specific ethnic, religious, or cultural community values as central.

HOW DO YOU LEARN ABOUT PEOPLE'S CULTURES?

START BY BECOMING AWARE OF YOUR OWN CULTURE.

It may seem odd that in order to learn about people in other cultures, we start by becoming more aware of our own culture. But we believe this is true. Why?

If you haven't had a chance to understand how your culture has affected you first hand, it's more difficult to understand how it could affect anyone else or why it might be important to them. If you are comfortable talking about your own culture, then you will become better at listening to others talk about theirs. Or, if you understand how discrimination has affected you, then you may be more aware of how it has affected others.

Here are some tips on how to becoming more aware of your own culture:

WHAT IS YOUR CULTURE?

Do you have a culture? Do you have more than one? What is your cultural background?

Even if you don't know who your ancestors are, you have a culture. Even if you are a mix of many cultures, you have one. Culture evolves and changes all the time. It came from your ancestors from many generations ago, and it comes from your family and community today.

For example, if you are Irish American, your culture has probably influenced your life. You parents or grandparents almost certainly handed down values, customs, humor, and world views that played a role in shaping your growing-up environment and your life today. Perhaps your views towards family, work, health and disease, celebrations, and social issues are influenced by your Irish heritage or by the experiences your family had when they immigrated to the U.S.

In addition to the cultural groups we belong to, we also each have groups we identify with, such as being a parent, an athlete, an immigrant, a small business owner, or a wage worker. These kinds of groups, although not exactly the same as a culture, have similarities to cultural groups. For example, being a parent or and an immigrant may be an identity that influences how you view the world and how the world views you. Becoming aware of your different identities can help you understand what it might be like to belong to a cultural group.

Cultural Differences (Namibia and Malaysia)

Culture itself comprises of how certain people live, their religious and belief, dressing codes and food habits.  I am going to give some points of how Namibian culture is differ from Malaysian culture and also try to emphasise a bit on their differences.

Namibia has 8 different ethnical groups, these ethnic group are as follow

Ø  Damaras

Ø   Hereros

Ø   San people

Ø  Vamboes

Ø  Kavangos

Ø  Vamboes

Ø   Tswanas

Ø  Namas.

 Each ethnic has different speaking way depending on the tribe. Most of the people in Namibia are black but you also find whites people. The majority are Owambo speaking and most dominant ethnics in Namibia, just like Malays in Malaysia. In Malaysia there are only have 3 ethnics namely Malays, Chinese and Indian

. In Namibia most of people practise farming and agricultural activities, and this is what makes people’s life easy. In farming we plant and cultivate mahangu and maize. We then harvest when crops ripe. We only cultivate during the rainy season (summer) because Namibia does not receive rainfall all year round. Mahangu and maize meals are staple food mainly in the Northern and Eastern part of the country. We also practise stock farming whereby some people raise cattle, goats and donkeys for domestic purposes. Stock farming is very rare because not everyone can afford to buy such domestic animals.

Marital issues

In Namibia, a man is allowed to married at the age of 25 and the woman should be 20 years old. There are steps that have to be followed before the wedding take place. The steps are investigation, engagement custom, marriage contract and enthronement. When it is time for a young man to get married, a man has to take a responsibility of finding his own bride. The family from both parties (man and woman) has to meet and they have to agree if they want the wedding to go through. In Malaysia it is different because if a man wants to get married, it is his family who will look around to identify a number of potential brides.

 In conclusion, Namibian culture is totally different from Malaysian culture. In Malaysia, many people believe in God and this can be proved by praying every day. The fact that many Namibian are Christian and Malaysian are Islamic play a vital role on the cultures sharpening between the two countries.