The ultimate definition of life is cultural relativism. We are all the products of the culture from which we stem. We often think ourselves unique and unsullied, but the fact of the matter is that the membership of any given culture will be far more similar than they will ever be different. What is true [...]

Turkey corespondent Serfie Turkoglu eloquetly reveals to REALTIVITY OnLine the multi-layered complexities of being a life-long international citizen and child of the world. The touchstones of culture are everywhere, unseen and in the shadows of our mind. These subversive elements help us define the cult of individuality that fuels the human experience. But what if one was “from” more [...]

Home is a concept many of us take for granted. When we have free time, when the holidays come, home is often the first place we go. For many of us, how our roots took hold and grew from our very beginnings defines who we are, and in turn, how we go about living our lives. [...]

  Culture not only comes in to conflict with those who come from outside it or those who are confused as to what place they hold within its walls. Sometimes, even those who are a part of it, members from birth, clash with how their society defines the roles of its inhabitants. Eman Al Nafjanone again [...]

From Lama J. . .    I decided to start my article with a phrase taken from a song that belongs to a Palestinian rapper called D.O.N.  He was born and raised in the United States, but is strongly connected to his Middle Eastern roots, especially those that stem from Palestine. His mom and dad, [...]

From Arinaitwe Rugyendo. . .   Today, we will traverse the world of African science. And without seeking to ruffle my atheist readers, I would like to submit that God is probably the greatest inventor of our times; having created the universe and all that inhabits it.   After him, virtually everything around us seems [...]

From Ron Villejo PhD…   13-year olds in the US aren’t supposed to be smoking.  Yet as a boy at that age, I managed to buy packs of cigarette – Marlboro, Kool, Salem etc. – from the man at the convenience store.    What’s more, at my school, there was a sanctioned, roped-off section outside [...]

 From Nora Fakim. . . Like many artists, Abdl Malek is expressing his voice and issues through RAP. These same issues are brought up through the youths from the inner-cities: the question of identity, the question of being Muslim in a secular country, the notion of the French slogan ‘liberty, equality and fraternity.’ These issues [...]

From James O’Hearn. . .     I came across an interesting article in the New York Times, about how the Internet may be irrevocably changing the way children and teens learn to read, including what they read, and how they read.   Right now I teach in a country that has no history of [...]

From Lute Wa Lutengano. . . I have, on several occasions, narrated how many a traveler have missed their flights taking off from Kilimanjaro International Airport on account of the harrowing and angst-producing traffic and delays on the road from Arusha to KIA. Some tourist friends of mine, a few weeks ago, missed their KLM [...]