Zaretta Hammond
Aliza Maynard’s Culture Tree metaphor presents culture as a living tree with three distinct layers, each representing different degrees of visibility and depth. At the top, the leaves correspond to surface culture—the visible aspects like food, dress, music, and rituals that people typically associate with cultural identity.
At the foundation are the roots symbolizing deep culture—the unconscious beliefs, values, worldviews, spirituality, and definitions of identity and kinship that underpin cultural systems. These roots anchor identity and provide stability, yet they are often invisible and under‑examined. The Culture Tree model helps educators and learners alike to acknowledge that visible cultural expression is only a small fraction of what shapes beliefs and behavior, and it invites deeper reflection on how schooling, colonial histories, and social systems have influenced those roots.