What is "culture?"

When you hear the word "culture," what comes to mind?

Most of us may be inclined to think of the arts and humanities, of fine foods and museums. But in an ever globalizing world, it is important to take a closer look at an alternative meaning of "culture." 

Culture

A system of collectively shared knowledge and beliefs that shapes how we generate our own behavior and how we interpret the behavior of others. 

Our world encompasses many cultures! It is integral to remember that not everyone views the world the same way that you do. When we talk about the culture of the Democratic Republic of the Congo please keep in mind that in the same way we cannot assume everyone in the world shares the same knowledge and beliefs that we do, we also cannot generalize even the people within one specific country. There are norms and values that are mostly widespread within these larger cultures that comprise our globe, but under that umbrella of what we may call a "national culture" there are many sub-cultures and micro-cultures. This is important to note so we may clearly demonstrate that learning about the culture of one country will absolutely add to the success of your endeavors but it will by no means protect you from confusing social situations and difficulties while interacting with the Congolese people. This is where the concept of humility comes into play...