Reflective Essay on Australian Social Customs, Family Life & Gender

This reflective essay explores the author's observations as an international student in Australia, focusing on the differences between Australian and American cultures. The essay highlights the culturally diverse nature of Australia, its social customs, family dynamics, and the emphasis on individualism. It also delves into gender relationships, noting the belief in gender equality within Australian families. Furthermore, the essay discusses the unique aspects of Australian art and music, including Indigenous Australian music and aboriginal paintings, contrasting them with American counterparts. The author provides a comparative perspective, drawing on their experiences to offer insights into the distinct cultural characteristics of Australia. Desklib provides a platform to access this essay along with other study resources.

Running head: REFLECTIVE ESSAYS
Reflective Essays
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

REFLECTIVE ESSAYS 1
I am an international student, currently living in Australia. For the past one and half year, I
have been staying in Australia to study for my degree course from a renowned Australian
university. Just after arriving in the country I had already begun to notice some of the
differences in the Australian culture from that of ours. In this essay, I will highlight my views
regarding social customs and family dynamics of Australian society. I have observed
Australia as a culturally diverse country. The people residing here have a very rich variety of
customs, languages, and cultures (Gunson, 2016). Unlike American culture, there is no
official religion of the Australian nation. Older people in the Australian community tend to
believe in god and thus the religious institutions play a major role in societies. Whereas,
most of the Americans believe in Christianity. The family structures in the Australian society
are no longer the archetypal family type. With the increased number of divorces, remarriages,
and step-relations, the family structure of Australia is no different than that of American’s.
The stigma related to same-sex relations have decreased throughout these years and the
society is experiencing more common-sex couples and families (Gomes et al., 2014). Though
the structure of the traditional families in the Australian society is no more a realistic social
standard, the concept of the family and family values still are fundamentally important to the
people of Australia throughout their life. Another thing I liked about the Australian culture
and families is the concept of Individualism.Australian families encourages their family
members to follow their aspirations and dreams and become independent in their life despite
the family wealth and supports. Children in the Australian society are taught to think
themselves as unique and the values and norms of the social customs, family dynamics and
attitudes are incorporated in them while they grow up (Luke, 2018). The self-determining,
self-reliant and responsible attitudes of the Australians make them truly unique and special
before the world. I found out some of the cultural differences relating to social customs and
family dynamics between the Australian and the Americas. American people do not tend to
value their cultures and families like the Australians. People in America do encourage their
children but there lays a huge lack in guidance and care form the elders of the family. The
structure of the family and social attitudes varies widely from that of the Australians. People
here are more generous, helpful and believe in family bonding and long-term relations unlike
the American people.

REFLECTIVE ESSAYS 2
In this essay I will highlight my views regarding gender relationships, art and music
of the Australian society. The concept of Gender plays a very important role in the family
structure of the Australian communities (Kale & Luke, 2017). Australian people believe in
the concept of gender equality in the true sense and I have observed that gender does not
dictate the role or the duty of a person in an Australian family. In our American culture, I
have often seen that women are forced to stay back at home and look after the family. It is
considered as the duty of a woman to do household chores and leave their job if the male
partners do not approve it. In Australia, I have seen women enjoying equal opportunities to
choose their way of contributing to their home. Women in the Australian society tend to get
married and start their families after establishing a successful care for themselves (Banks,
2015). I have noticed that Australian couples commonly meet through social circles and
networking websites. A lot number of my university friends found their partner from online
dating apps which are on the rise these days.Coming from the country of America, I found
out some of the cultural differences relating to arts, music and gender relationships between
the Australian and the Americas. One of the unique features in the Australian world of music
is the Indigenous Australian music (Olding, 2013). The young population has an immense
craze for rock and popular music. Hip-hop, pun, and rock songs are the contemporary popular
music among the Australian crowd. American music on the other hand is the roots music.
The American music rules the global music industry and Hollywood. One of the most notable
music cultures of America is the Jazz. Besides, American music platform includes a broad
category of music like gospel, blues, country music, Cajun, jug bands and Native American
music arts (Moran, Abramson & Moran, 2014). Unlike Australian music, American music
industry is popular throughout the world. In the context of arts, Australia is famous for their
aboriginal paintings. I have observed some of the aboriginal arts which are painted in leaves,
rock carvings and sand paintings. Beside this, colonial, landscape and atelier are some of the
notable Australian art I observed till date. American arts on the other hand are more
renowned for their visual artistry (Gomes, 2015). The collection of American arts represents
cultural exchange and development. Mostly the paintings and sculptures were done on paper
and canvas structures. American artists are the beginner of the watercolor paintings, patriotic
art and modern art in the world. Students from all over the globe participate in the exhibitions
of America.

REFLECTIVE ESSAYS 3
References
Banks, J. A. (2015). Cultural diversity and education. Routledge.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/31056987/ze_2006_372.pdf?
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re=ATIy2fGNZbxTwpglr%2BAk87Wmuv8%3D&response-content-
disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DCultural_diversity_and_education.pdf
Gomes, C. (2015). Negotiating everyday life in Australia: Unpacking the parallel society
inhabited by Asian international students through their social networks and
entertainment media use. Journal of Youth Studies, 18(4), 515-536.
Gomes, C., Berry, M., Alzougool, B., & Chang, S. (2014). Home away from home:
International students and their identity-based social networks in Australia. Journal of
International Students, 4(1), 2-15.
Gunson, N. (2016). Traditional knowledge and invasive missionary culture: Australia and the
South Pacific.
Kale, J., & Luke, A. (2017). Learning through difference: Cultural practices in early
childhood language socialisation. In One child, many worlds (pp. 11-29). Routledge.
Luke, A. (2018). Critical literacy in Australia: A matter of context and standpoint. In Critical
Literacy, Schooling, and Social Justice (pp. 186-206). Routledge.
Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing cultural differences.
Routledge.
Olding, A. (2013). An investigation of the social relationships and social interactions
amongst international students studying in Australia: A case study using
facebook (Doctoral dissertation, University of Tasmania).