Cultural Autobiography: A Comparison of Romanian and Italian Culture

This report analyzes two different cultural autobiographies in order to understand the differences of both biographies. It covers the important facts and figures which are collected from the questionnaire of cultural autobiographies. It discusses appropriate frameworks which help an individual to understand the differences of cultures. The report also covers the similarities and differences between Romanian and Italian culture.

Project 2: Cultural
Autobiography

Table of Contents
Appendix 1.................................................................................................................................3
Appendix 2.................................................................................................................................4
3. Introduction............................................................................................................................5
4. Cultural patterns.....................................................................................................................5
4.1. Beliefs.............................................................................................................................5
4.2. Values..............................................................................................................................6
4.3. Norms..............................................................................................................................6
4.4. Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck’s theory................................................................................6
4.5. Hall Edward theory (High and low context)...................................................................6
4.6. Confucian’s theory..........................................................................................................7
5. Trompenaars F. and Hampden-Turner’s theory.....................................................................7
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES.........................................................................................................................10
Books and Journals:.............................................................................................................10

Appendix 1
My autobiography
My culture is from Romania as I was born in Bucharest, Romania. My parents were
also born in Romania. I am very happy that I am Romanian as I like the culture of Romania.
Due to the similar culture of my parents, I was not felt any problem in order to understand the
culture of Romania. It was very easy for me and my sister to understand the culture and its
value in our life as my parents are very well explained the culture in detail manner. When we
are in young age, my parents also told a story at every night which reflects us to the
importance of Romanian culture. With the help of that story, I got to know that Romania was
firstly used in three regions that are Walachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania. By growing
every day, I got to know about more facts and figures in my school books. I found that in
Romania about 90% people are from ethnic Romanian and following Romanian Eastern
Orthodox Church. During my study, I identified that Romania has a long history of foreign
occupation. There are some regions which were ruled by different people such as Ottoman,
Austro-Hungarian, and Russian Empires. Due to this, the country was divided into three
parts. Every part has their own culture which I studied in my books. It includes east, west and
south part. In the east part, the Moldova is situated in the centre. In western part, there is
Transylvania and adjacent regions are situated (Wagner-Egelhaaf, 2019). In the end,
Muntenia at the centre is situated in the south part. These are geographical parts which I
learned from my studies.
I got deep knowledge with my daily lifestyles as my parents always guided me about
the traditions and customs of culture. I found that in my culture that Romanians are generally
guided by the religious tradition as they adhere. That’s why the ethnic Romanians are
following the practices of eastern orthodoxy and because of that they are participate in
ceremonies and customs during holy week (Wang, 2021). I and my parents are belonged from
ethnic Romanians and I founded that there are two more communities are found in Romania
such as Hungarian and German community. Generally, I found that Hungarian and German
communities have some traditional folk dress both for women and men which is found to be
distinguished from ethnic Romanians. The folk costume of ethnic Romanian has been
tenaciously retained in rural areas. They are generally like to wear silk and local folk
costumes which are richly embroidered blouses and scarves. If I am talking about the

marriages of Romanians, then I am not wrong that in traditional marriages it were arranged
by the couple's parent. I analyse from my parents’ marriage that the bride's family was
expected to provide a dowry which was consists of embroidery and linen. My parents also
provided me information that in traditional ruler weddings, there were large festivals in which
the entire village was invited for celebrate the happiness. So that's why, my parents wedding
included not only the couple and their parents but also god parents, grandparents, attendants,
the matchmaker, cooks, speakers and other people. I identified that Romania is found to be
more influenced by orthodox Christianity religion. I also found that Romanian food is one of
the most attractive and interesting aspect in the culture. I found that Romanians are known for
their warm, hospitable, opinionated and animated with a good sense of humour. I also found
that Romanian culture offers variety of forms of folk arts. I also identified that Romanian
culture is very popular because of their arts such as wood carvings, skilfully woven carpets,
brightly ornamented costumes, pottery, and other elements. In the higher education studies, I
got to know that the Romanian Ministry of Culture is responsible for encouragement and
support of cultural institutions and cultural life.
Appendix 2
Person X’s autobiography
There is another student who belongs from Italy so he better understand the culture of
Italy. Italian is found to be closely related to Romanian culture but still it is crucial to
understand the difference between both cultures (Jobson and et.al., 2018). For that purpose,
firstly it is crucial to understand the Italian culture. So there was a questionnaire in which
students get questions which assists in identifying and analysing the Italian culture.
I was born in a small town of Italy. I analysed from my daily experiences that Italian
culture is associated with food, arts and music. Italian culture is the homeland of Roman
Empire. In the comparison with world’s population size, I found that it comes on the 23rd
position in terms of population size. In my knowledge, I analysed that about 93% of people
are speaking Italian language as it is the native language. I found that in Italian culture,
people are providing a great importance to family. In the Italian culture, I analyse that people
are more focused on extended family rather than on nuclear family. In my family, I got to
know that they are always considering frequent family gatherings so that they are able to
enjoy and spend time with other family members. This is the main reason that I am close to

my family and other people. In Italian culture, it is found that most of the famous structures
are identified in Italy which includes the Leaning tower of Pisa and the Colosseum. I also so I
found that it really is a home to many castles such as the Ussel Castle, Verres Castle, etc. It is
found that Italy is a home to number of world known fashion houses such as Gucci, Prada,
Armani, Versace, etc. Italian cuisine has influenced the world food culture and it becomes an
art for many. It includes pasta, cheese and wine which become very popular in today's time
(Gallagher, 2019). It is not only popular in Italy but also in worldwide countries. I loved food
as it is the life of Italians. In the Italian culture, I identified that they are celebrating most of
Christian holidays and also celebrating Epiphany on 6th January. In addition to this Italians
are known for family centric culture. They believe in families. Businesses in Italy found to be
in small and mid size. For example, Fiat and Benetton assisted controlled by a single family.
3. Introduction
Cultural autobiographies are refers to the personal narrative and interpretation of own
life (Fivush, 2019). Everyone knows that culture is different from one to another so in order
to understand the feelings and sentiments of other person, it is very important for individuals
to understand the difference between cultures. This report aims to analyse two different
cultural autobiographies in order to understand the differences of both biographies. For that
purpose, there will be a discussion of Romanian and Italian culture. In this report, it will
cover all the important facts and figures which are collected from the questionnaire of
cultural autobiographies. It will become easy to understand the similarities and differences
between both cultures. This report will be cover appropriate frameworks which helps an
individual to understand the differences of cultures.
4. Cultural patterns
It is identified that cultural models is used with for multiple meanings as it reflects
different aspects of reality. Culture is found to be the combination of norms and values that
govern an individual behaviour.
4.1. Beliefs
It is very important to know that culture is a spiritual component which is very
important part of human life. Culture represents the spiritual side of an individual and their
manifestations. Every person is different because of their culture as it provides and

experiences to the human life. It is also identified that culture reveals many norms and values
which helps to express an individual's morality, religion and science. It is found that the main
difference between me and person's X culture as I was belong to a Christian family and Mary
was belong to a catholic family. In the same time, it is identified that these two religions are
some similarities as both are celebrating Christmas and because of that there are many eating
similarities.
4.2. Values
Social values are defined as a set of values which is an integral part of social
behaviour. That means it is identified that social values aims to maintain and achieve the
balance in the behaviour of individuals. I identified there are some differences between my
cultural values and Person X's. I am belonging to the society where people are not value the
person who is focusing on family gatherings. In the case of Person X's cultural values, it is
identified that belongs to the society where families are always ready for the gatherings as
they value other people's feeling.
4.3. Norms
It is very important to note that the concept of value is associated with the concept of
norms that means both are interrelated with each other. Cultural norms are very important for
human behaviour as they guide an individual that how they can correct and incorrect
behaviour. Cultural norms shows the moral standards which should be we know by every
individual as it is the necessity of human life. For example, it is necessary to know the person
that they should not kill, lie, and steal. These important social norms which can be easily
found in any culture as I found that it learn from the family. If I am talking about me, then
some certain rules of conduct which I learnt from my family. This is the similarity between
me and person's X as both of us having learning social norms since childhood.
4.4. Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck’s theory
This theory is focusing on the people that how they are viewing human actions and
culture. It has four type of orientation which includes activity orientation, orientation of
social relations, world orientation and time orientation. It is identified that Romanian and
Italian culture are based on hierarchy so that's why there is a similarity of my and person X's.
4.5. Hall Edward theory (High and low context)
According to this theory, there are some hidden rules in communication between
individuals which should be emphasized with cultures. In the culture of Romanian and

Italian, it is identified that both our emphasis on high context of culture so they are rely on
explicit verbal communication. That means it shows that communication can be done on the
basis of direct and explicit manner.
4.6. Confucian’s theory
It is identified that in one autobiography, there are confusion cultural values in the
case of Italian one as the put the family first. But in the case of my, I founded that we are not
following family first culture because we are living in nuclear families.
5. Trompenaars F. and Hampden-Turner’s theory
Neutral vs. Emotional Culture
It is the theory which shows several differences and Romanian and Italian culture. it is
found that remaining culture is based on a neutral culture where as Italian culture is found to
be emotional as they are delivering on togetherness. I found that my family is not focusing on
family gatherings. In the case of person, the family is always focusing on family gathering
opportunities.
Hofstede's culture dimension theory
The detail of all five important dimensions is explained below which helps to
understand the similarities as well as differences between Italy and Romania culture:

 Power distance: This dimension is focusing on the fact that all individuals and
societies on not able to treat equally as it expresses different attitudes of cultures. So
the power index is focusing on the extent to which the less powerful members within
a country accept and expect that unequal distribution of power (Wang, 2018). With
the help of this framework, it is identified that Italy scores 50 in power distance which
shows that they are preparing equality and decentralization in decision making and
power. So that's why they are not liking formal and control supervision. In the case of
Romania, they scored 90 which mean that the people of Romania accept hierarchical
order in which every person has a certain place which is fixed and because of that it
reflects inherent in equalities. This is the reason that they adopted centralisation.
 Individualism: In this dimension, it focusing on the degree of interdependence of a
society among its members. In the case of Italy, they scored 76 which shows
individualist culture. In the Italy, Northern people needs an antidote of family and
friends whereas in Southern Italy, it is found there are less individualist behaviour as
they are more focused on family networks. In the case of Romania, days code 30
which show a collectivistic society that means they are focusing on extended family
and relationships.
 Masculinity: It is the dimension in which if it score high then it shows that the society
is driven by achievement, success and competition (Nasser, 2020). Whereas, if they

scored less than the society is focusing on quality of life and caring for others. So it
becomes very clear from below figure that Romania has fewer score and Italy has
high score which shows that Italy is more focused on success and achievement. This
is the reason that children are taught competition is good in early ages as it is
important for everyone life.
 Uncertainty avoidance: In this scenario, the society is dealt with the fact that future
is uncertain. So it focusing on the extent and which people of a culture feel threatened
by unknown situations and try to avoid them. In the case of Italy, this code 75 which
shows that the Italians are not comfortable in unknown or ambiguous situations. They
become very stressful as we are not able to rely in uncertain situations. On the other
hand, Romania scored 90 which is a very high preference for avoiding uncertainty.
They maintain rigid codes of beliefs and behaviour.
 Long term orientation: It is very important for every society that they should
maintain some links with their past experiences in order to deal with the challenges of
present and future. Italy scored 61 and that's why it shows the pragmatic culture of
Italy. It shows that societies believe on the truth which depends on time and situation
(Wu and Jobson, 2019). This also shows their ability to adapt traditions which can be
changed with the situations. In the case of Romania, they scored 52.
These are the important differences which can be better understood with the help of
appropriate framework. But there are some similarities found between Italian and Romanian
culture which can be understand with the following points:
 It is identified that about 77% lexical similarity found of Romanian with Italian.
 It is also identified that both languages are originated from Vulgar Latin and that's
why they are the part of same language families which helps to find similarities. This
can be better understood with the help of below figure.

CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the above discussion that cultural autobiography is the
reflective narrative statements which helps an individual to understand its culture with more
clarity as it included past and present experiences. A person can better understand that what is
the importance and value of culture. It is crucial to use different frameworks which assist an
individual to make difference between two or more cultures. In this report, it used Hofstede
cultural dimensions model or framework which is found to be appropriate in order to
understand the differences of cultures. It consists of five important dimensions that assist a
person to find the similarities and differences between cultures.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Bersh, L. C., 2018. Writing autobiography to develop culturally responsive competency:
Teachers’ intersections of personal histories, cultural backgrounds and
biases. International Journal of Educational Research, 88, pp.31-41.
Fivush, R., 2019. Family narratives and the development of an autobiographical self: Social
and cultural perspectives on autobiographical memory. Routledge.
Gallagher, R., 2019. ‘ASMR’autobiographies and the (life-) writing of digital
subjectivity. Convergence, 25(2), pp.260-277.
Jobson, L., and et.al., 2018. Impact of culture on autobiographical life structure in
depression. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 57(3), pp.382-396.
Nasser, T. A., 2020. Literary Autobiography and Arab National Struggles. Edinburgh
University Press.
Wagner-Egelhaaf, M. ed., 2019. Handbook of Autobiography/autofiction. Walter de Gruyter
GmbH & Co KG.
Wang, Q., 2018. Studying cognitive development in cultural context: A multi-level analysis
approach. Developmental Review, 50, pp.54-64.
Wang, Q., 2021. The cultural foundation of human memory. Annual review of
Psychology, 72, pp.151-179.
Wu, Y. and Jobson, L., 2019. Maternal reminiscing and child autobiographical memory
elaboration: A meta-analytic review. Developmental psychology, 55(12), p.2505.