Senior Capstone Project: For the Culture
Languages & Cultures are dying…How can we make our cultural history interesting for kids?
My goal is to design something that will help parents teach children about their cultural identity & bring culture back!
During my research, I learned how important cultural identity is to a person's mental health. Unfortunately, much of culture is being lost because parents are struggling to pass it on to their children. Due to different circumstances, whether it be assimilation, time, or other reasons. Cultural identity is an important contributor to people's wellbeing. Identifying with a particular culture gives people feelings of belonging and security. It also provides people with access to social networks which provide support and shared values and aspirations.
As I interviewed different parents about their experience with integrating their culture in their families, I found that there is not only a struggle passing it on, but it’s also because a lot of them don’t know their culture. There is a lot of shame in the community when parents do not pass down the culture to their children, especially the language. This leaves them feeling outcasted. To really unlock a language, to understand it at its roots, understanding culture is key.
My solution: I am creating a type of “culture happy mailbox”, a type of monthly subscription box that will prompt exploration and curiosity into cultures. This would be something that families can do together, the importance being that this doesn't feel like another learning tool, it needs to be fun and not feel like homework. In the box, there could be stories, recipes, cultural crafts, and more. The sign-up website would be a community-like site where families can connect & share stories.
Online Community Blog + How To Videos!
On the website, parents can take a quiz so that we can find out what their child's cultures & interests are. This will help us create a personalized culture box for the child/family.
A personalized box just for your child & family!
More than just another subscription box! This box is fighting the loss of culture in our homes. Reconnecting our families with our roots.
It's no secret that cultures are being lost in America, but did you know that cultural identity plays a pivotal role in our mental health?
Bringing The Culture to School!
In addition to bringing culture to homes, we would like to bring them into schools! The idea is that schools can order them for their students based on the cultures and work the information into the curriculum. Bringing culture into school will educate more students about different cultural backgrounds, and build more acceptance.