The Way of Our People

If another Australian exchange student who has never visited the US asked me about the southern culture, there are certain aspects of the culture that I would explain to them.

The Ethnos of Southern American culture and Australian culture is relatively similar as documented in my last post http://cjsamericanadventures.blogspot.com/2011/02/australia-little-america.html.  Firstly I would explain how religious belief and values form a strong part of the Southern culture, contrast to the Australian Culture. The religious values are not just a practice it’s a way of life here. An example of the extreme religious value is bars close at 12 on a Saturday night because they do not sell alcohol on a Sunday at all as it is the day of rest.

I’m not sure if its part of the southern culture or just some of the people I have met but there seems to be a cultural belief in the south still that women should do the ‘traditional’ house duties of cooking and cleaning. This is a value not seen in Australia; I don’t have to look further than my family to see this, my dad does the ironing in our house and my uncle does the cooking in their house.

If I were to describe the Southern Culture the way that the Granta Article describes Africa I would include the following, hunting, church, biscuits, trucks, football and fast food. They were the first 5 things that I thought of when I think of the south. I think the list I came up with for the southern culture actually reflects their culture; the Granata Article is far from the African culture on the basis I live with a South African and what I have heard from him is vastly different to what the article says.

I have read other peoples blogs and they refer to America being the land of the free and acceptable of individualism; I don’t see a great deal of individualism from where I have been so far. Everyone dresses the same, talks the same, eats the same, have the same cars, you can see the list goes on and on. If you don’t like a sport here in the south you’re almost an outcast, sport is a way of life to people in the south. In Australia there are a lot more individuals and they are socially accepted in the public. An example of how individualism is not active in the South is I wore my boardies out to the shops what is called a (bathing suit) in the US and my American friends could not believe I would wear boardies out when I’m not swimming; in Australia particularly in the summer months boardies are dominant clothing you will see.

I hope this helps any other Australians who want to come on exchange here at Clemson or any Clemson students who want to visit Australia.