Impact of Cultural Identity and Acceptance of Other Cultures

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The impact of cultural identity on the acceptance of other cultures Groups of people around the world that share common beliefs, motives, way of life, and language come together to create different cultures that co exist in society. However, extreme differences in beliefs and ideologies that vary from individual to individual and from culture to culture often prevent many cultures from coexisting in society peacefully and successfully. In the book War Child, by Emmanuel Jal the author recalls his childhood growing up in Sudan as a Christian child soldier fighting for the SPLA and the horrific things he was forced to witness as a result. Jal’s participation in the war has a great impact on his mental and psychological state. He also bears witness to immense hatred and brutality towards his people from the Muslims, and experiences gruesome torture and killing on a large scale. Through the cultural values he is raised with and his experiences as a lost boy of Sudan, it is shown that one’s own cultural values and experiences impact their understanding and acceptance of the cultural practices of those around them. Throughout his childhood Jal fights as a soldier in the civil war between Arabs and Christians, and the impact of the war brings about a lack of acceptance and understanding of the cultural practices of the Arab people. Because he has been raised to believe that the Muslims are his enemy, he resents them as a people and in turn is non-accepting of their cultural practices and goes on to constantly criticize their customs. “Soldiers had left the camp this morning to go fight, and I knew they would strike the moment our enemy’s prayer chants snaked into the sky. The Arabs were weak as they removed their boots, washed their feet, and knelt to speak to their god.”(Jal, 2009, pg.135).Emanuel is one of thousands of lost boys of Sudan, who since the 1980s

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