Cultural Identity Interview and Analysis with Karen Catalano

This project will describe the rules, norms, traditions and values of an interviewee’s culture. It will answer how assumptions about norms affects daily behavior, whether the interviewee recognizes challenges or advantages related to their culture and what that person’s sources of strength are. It will provide an analysis of the theories presented in the text, An Introduction to Inter cultural Communication written by F.E. Jandt.

Cultural Identity Interview and Analysis

Romania is a land in Europe that lies southwest of the Ukraine and west of Hungary. Throughout history is has been a country where struggle is an unpleasant fact. Culture in Romania relies strongly on the celebration of such essential moments as birth, religious holidays and marriage. Assumptions about others’ cultural norms in comparison to one’s own normative culture affect daily life and produce challenges as well as advantages because rules, traditions and values are either used as sources of strength or left to die with older generations when they stop serving as strengths.

According to Karen Catalano, first generation American whose parents emigrated from Romania, her heritage is one of a dominant Roman Catholic presence where conservatism is valued, traditions and traditional dress are still honored and where there is great value in congregation. Karen’s grandmother was a Roman Catholic who, along with her father, would take her to Roman Catholic services when she was a child in Philadelphia. Karen took her mother’s religion of Lutheran regardless of these visits to the Roman Catholic Church, which ushered in a new tradition for her family, as Lutheran is now the faith of her children as well. In Romania, Roman Catholicism was strict about Church going. In Philadelphia Karen stated that she went to Sunday school and Bible study. She also visited the Presbyterian Church once with her Aunt Fanny, which provided Karen an eclectic understanding of Christianity before choosing Lutheran as her own religion. During our interview, Karen proclaimed to be morally conservative both because of her religion and because of her upbringing: this relates to the strict adherence to church going in Romania. She also stated that she believes, “People should be respectful, they should follow the rules, (because) otherwise people would be just doing what they feel like doing,” (Catalano, 2006). She frowns upon trends in dress today where young women show too much skin and where young men wear their pants beneath their hipbone. Her parents let her join the Girl Scouts through her church, which is reflective of the Romanian traditions of communal congregation as will be discussed later. Further, on the topic of congregation, Karen said that she and her family were attendees of the German Club since her father was a member. On one occasion, they spent an Easter dining in the halls of the German Club with fellow Eastern European men and women. According to Mihaela Vrinceanu, the Global Volunteers Country Manager of Romania about the traditional celebration of Easter in Romania, “Everyone… dresses in his/her best clothing, many wearing national costumes, and attends a midnight church service. Candles are lit for each person throughout the service, and people leave with candles still lit, returning home to place them in their houses and apartments. It is also said that lit candles prevent thunder and lighting from harming people as they go home.” Also mentioned is the fact that the popular tradition of paining Easter eggs carried to Romania from the Romans, yet the origin of the tradition is unknown. Another tradition in Romania that Karen had described vividly was “Kirschwei”. This celebration marks the birth of the church in Romania. “The girls got dressed like this, and got their ribbons in their hair, and they looked pretty and danced,” according to Karen, making reference to two dolls that she had as family heirlooms from her grandmother, (Figure 1). This celebration was held all throughout town and the citizens would all partake in the festivities; whether they were food, dance or drink.