Codes of Cultural Behavior - Coursework Example

Tanzania s of Cultural Behaviour By Tanzania s of Cultural Behaviour My country of choice is Tanzania. I have chosen Tanzania because I once read the Bibliography of Tanzanian first president, Mwalim Julius Nyerere, and I really loved his socialistic ideals. This has made me to develop a lot of interest in Tanzania and I have always hoped to visit Tanzania one day in my lifetime. This is the main reason why I have chosen to research and to write on the Tanzanian codes of cultural behaviour. This paper begins with a brief overview of Tanzanian History and culture. After the overview of the Tanzanian culture, a discussion of five” Dos” and five “Don’ts” of the Tanzanian is given. In the conclusion, I have given aspects of Tanzanian culture that I find alien to my culture. A Brief Overview of History and Culture of Tanzania Tanzania is located on the east coast of Africa, and south of equator. Tanzania borders, Kenya, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burudi, Mozambique, Zambia, and Malawi. Tanzania is made up of two states, i.e. Tanganyika and Zanzibar. Tanganyika became independent in 1961, while Zanzibar became independent in 1963. In 1964, Tanganyika and Tanzania signed an act of union to form the United Republic of Tanzania (Culture of Tanzania- history, people, clothing, traditions and religion). On religion, the two predominant religions in Tanzania are Christianity and the Muslim. Muslim religion is predominant in Zanzibar, while Christianity is predominant in the mainland Tanzania. Besides the Christianity and the Muslim religions, there are also traditional religions in Tanzania, although, currently there number is insignificant. In Tanzania there are also other religions like the Buddhist and the Hinduism, although they account for a very small percentage of the population. Linguistically, the national language of Tanzania is Swahili. But there are two official languages in Tanzania, i.e. Swahili and English languages. But besides the two official languages, there are 120 ethnic languages in Tanzania, corresponding to the 120 ethnic groups in Tanzania. But Swahili is spoken by everybody in Tanzania, and some of the ethnic languages in Tanzania are at the brink of extinction as people switch to the Swahili language (Culture of Tanzania- history, people, clothing, traditions and religion). On ethnic composition, Tanzania has 120 ethnic groups, as we have just seen. This in essence means that there are 120 sub-cultures in Tanzania. There is, however, a distinct national Tanzanian culture that every Tanzanian identifies with. The national Tanzanian culture, however, is a derivative of the sub-cultures of Tanzania. Tanzanian Culture and Etiquettes One of the most important aspects of Tanzanian culture is respect of Marriage. Tanzanians have a great respect of the institution of marriage, heterosexual marriage, and everybody in the society is expected to marry and to have a family (Otiso, 2013). Tanzanian culture also is harmonious and based on strong social code of respect and courtesy (Alexandra, web). Tanzanians, therefore, have been known to be very respectful people. Also, Tanzanians are quite sensitive to age and the elderly people are treated with a lot of respect. In greetings, handshake is quite important in social etiquette (Alexandra, web). On dressings, the Tanzanian culture recommends modest dressing, whereby most of the body is covered by the clothes. On social etiquettes, one is expected to keep control of one’s temper and emotions in public; public display of affection, for instance romantic affection, is not allowed by the Tanzanian culture (Alexandra, web). Having looked at the overview of the History and culture of Tanzania, let us now look at five “Dos” and five “Don’ts” of the Tanzanian cultural code of behaviour that the tourists to the country should be aware of to avoid culture shock. Let us first look at five “Dos” of the Tanzanian culture. First, as we have seen in the overview of the Tanzanian culture, the people of Tanzania highly values the institution of marriage. The Tanzanian culture encourages heterosexual marriages and they advice the young people to get married to anybody that they will love, irrespective of their tribe or race. For this reason, the tourists to Kenya are free to interact with the Tanzanians and even to date and to marry there if they wish (Otiso, 2013). Secondly, although there are many religions in Tanzania, there is freedom of worship in Tanzania however. The Tanzanian culture allows one to practice their religion as long as they don’t interfere with the religious rights of other people by practising their religion. For this reason, the tourists to Tanzania are allowed to freely practice their religion in Tanzania (Culture of Tanzania- history, people, clothing, traditions and religion). Thirdly, as we have seen above, the Tanzanian culture is quite respectful and courteous. The Tanzanian culture encourages people to treat others respectfully irrespective of their tribe or race. For this reason, the tourists to Tanzanian are allowed to freely and respectfully interact with the Tanzanian, without any inhibitions. In this kind of free interaction, the tourists to Tanzania are allowed even to receive gifts from the local people, and to give gifts to the local people (Alexandra, 2013). Tanzanian culture also allows the tourists to freely shake hands with the Tanzanian people during greetings. As we have seen in the overview of the Tanzanian culture, shaking of hands is the common form of greeting in Tanzania. In Tanzania, people shake hands during greetings, irrespective of their social status (Otiso, 2013). The fifth Tanzanian culture also allows the tourists to Tanzania to freely visit people at their homes. Tanzanians have very high regard for the visitors and they warmly welcome visitors to their homes. Tourists to Tanzania therefore are allowed to freely visit people in their homes (Otiso, 2013). Having discussed five “Dos” of the Tanzanian cultural code of cultural behaviour, let us now look at five “Don’ts” of Tanzanian code of cultural behaviour. To begin with, the Tanzanian culture discourages public show of affection. For this reason, tourists to Tanzania should be aware and sensitive to this fact lest they find their behaviour conflicting with the cultural norms of the people of Tanzania (Alexandra, web). Secondly, the Tanzanian cultural code of behaviour prohibits immodest dressing. According to the Tanzanian culture, immodest dressing is wearing revealing clothes like the mini-skirts. The tourists to Tanzania therefore should be aware of this important Tanzanian cultural aspect, so as to avoid conflicting with the local culture (Alexandra, web). Thirdly, the Tanzanian Culture is overly against homosexual relationship. The Tanzanian culture views homosexual relationships as a beastly act, and for that reason, homosexuals in Tanzania are regarded as outcasts. For this reason, tourists to Tanzania should be aware of this fact to avoid clashing with the cultural believes of the Tanzanian people (Otiso, 2013). The forth prohibitive aspect of the Tanzanian culture is that, the Tanzanian culture disallows rude aggressively disrespectful mannerism. Since the Tanzanian culture encourages polite and courteous mannerism as we have seen on the overview of the Tanzanian culture, the Tanzanian people frown at any form of rude mannerism. The tourists to Tanzania therefore should conduct themselves respectfully lest they clash with the host culture (Alexandra, web). The Tanzanian culture also is strongly against sexual immorality. Tanzania culture allows sex only among the married people. For this reason, tourists to Kenya should avoid any sexual behaviour that would be regarded as a form of immorality by the local people, for instance, tourists to Tanzania should not visit brothels lest they lose the respect of the Tanzanian people (Otiso, 2013). Having discussed five “Dos’’, and five “Don’ts” of the Tanzanian culture, let me now explain one “Do” and one “Don’t” of the Tanzanian culture that is inconsistent with my cultural beliefs. I find the Tanzanian cultural behaviour, of shaking hands freely with strangers during greetings, inconsistent with my culture. According to my culture, I am supposed to shake hands with the people that I am familiar with, but not everybody. This cultural requirement therefore would make me to feel unease in interacting with the people in Tanzania. On the “Don’ts” of the Tanzanian culture, I find the cultural prohibition for one to show affection publicly, quite strange. This is because according to my culture, there is nothing wrong with showing affection publicly. This cultural inhibition, therefore, would make me to feel uncomfortable when interacting with the Tanzanians in their country. References Alexandra. Cultural Norms and Respect: Tanzanian Style. Web. Culture of Tanzania- history, people, clothing, traditions and religion. Web Otiso, K.M. Culture and Customs of Tanzania (Culture and Customs of Africa). USA: Greenwood. Print. Read More