Antisectarian

The iceberg

The iceberg (for secondary age)

Culture is a system of behaviours and beliefs passed from one generation to the next. The rules, language, religion, family systems, recreation and education that a group of people shares provide predictability and safety in their daily lives. They understand each other and the world around them has meaning.

Culture has been compared to an iceberg. A ninth of an iceberg is visible above the water but eight ninths are invisible below the water. Culture has some aspects that you can see but a much larger part that you cannot see.

Purposes of the curriculum 3-18 

This lesson contributes toward young people becoming:

  • successful learners with openness to new thinking and ideas and able to make reasoned evaluations
  • confident individuals able to relate to others and be self aware
  • responsible citizens able to understand different beliefs and cultures and develop informed, ethical views of complex issues
  • effective contributors able to apply critical thinking in new contexts

Time:

30 minutes

Materials:

Copies of the 'Features of Culture'

PDF icon PDF file: handout

Objectives:

Young people will identify features that all cultures have in common and will understand that some are visible and some invisible.

The lesson:

Draw a large iceberg floating in the sea on the board. Ask class what they know about icebergs. Emphasise the fact that most of the iceberg is hidden from view.

Look at the 'Features of Culture' handout. Explain that the list shows some of the features that all cultures have in common. (If it's possible, having pictures of people involved in everyday activities in various parts of the world will help you to illustrate this idea.)

Ask individuals to identify those features from the list that they can see in the behaviour of people and those that are invisible. As they share their ideas, record them above or below the waterline on your drawing.

Point out that there is a connection between those items above and below the waterline. In most cases the invisible aspects of culture influence or cause the visible aspects, e.g. religious beliefs are 'seen' in certain holiday customs; ideas of modesty influence styles of dress. Find other examples of this connection between the visible and the invisible aspects of culture.

You could end the lesson here and move straight to evaluation or you could extend the lesson to look at issues of sectarianism and religious intolerance. Ask class to consider whether fear of difference - of different religions, the way we believe creates cultures of fear, prejudice and so on. If so, how can we address this?

Ask class to consider steps needed to creating cultures of peace, tolerance, harmony and respect.

Evaluation:

Ask:

  • If it makes sense to compare culture to an iceberg?
  • In some cultures people smile at each other even though they may not like that person. In other cultures this kind of smiling may be regarded as insincere. What does this tell you about the visible and invisible features of culture?
  • Does it help to explain why people from different cultures sometimes misunderstand each other?